Men, it seems, find it difficult to share awkward problems with their doctor. Statistics suggest that men are more reluctant to see a doctor for embarrassing medical problems. Instead, they choose to live on with them or try out medication bought off the counter.
“Most men are shy about seeking professional help for embarrassing conditions,” agrees Mumbai-based psychiatrist Dr Rajiv Anand. “They tend to personalize their problem and don’t realize that such problems are quite common and that other men suffer from them too.”
What's taboo?Inability to get or maintain erection and early discharge, inadequate sexual performance and STDs top of the list of taboo conditions,” says Dr Anand. Men are also embarrassed about discussing depression, phobias, and excessive or inhibited sexual desire with their doctors,” he adds.
Hemorrhoids (bloody stools),
urinary incontinence (involuntary passing of urine), flatulence (passing of stomach gas), and obesity are some of the other problems that men choose to ignore.
Dr Anand explains that the reluctance to see a doctor stems from fear or guilt. “Men are afraid of being judged and ridiculed. They fear that the doctor will find faults with them or will scold them. They also feel inadequate about their lack of knowledge or feel guilty about the kind of lifestyle they are leading.”
Medical practitioner and journalist, Dr Graham Easton, describes his trauma when, as a fourteen year old, he began to grow 'breasts'. His fear, “I was turning into a woman," echoes the shame felt by men who deny help for gynecomastia, the medical term for this common condition.
Why speak up The irony is that doctors say many of these "shameful" conditions can usually be helped. Many STDs, hemorrhoids, or flatulence are easily treatable. In such cases, men often choose to suffer in silence when they could easily be relieved of unnecessary suffering.
Absence of a professional diagnosis, on the other hand, results in misunderstanding. Dr Easton writes, "If the internet had existed in those days and I'd searched for 'breast swelling in boys', I'd have come up with gynecomastia and breathed a huge sigh of relief. But if I'd typed in 'breast lump' or 'male breast cancer' it might have been a very different story." He says, "Either way, my best bet was to get properly checked out by someone with medical expertise to assess my particular problem." Choosing to ignore a pesky embarrassment may, however, have worse repercussions.
Medical studies, have established
erectile dysfunction as a strong predictor of coronary heart disease. The good news, according to cardiologists, is that a decrease in sexual function proves to be an additional warning sign for heart disease. “In both
coronary heart disease and erectile dysfunction, the first abnormality is the dysfunction of the innermost lining of the blood vessel called endothelium. In the former, it is the coronary vessels and in the latter, it is the vessels of your organ” says Mumbai-based cardiologist Dr Mansukh Gandhi. “Doctors should also probe their patients about their sexual function, which may help identify those at risk for heart disease, allowing their physicians to stratify that risk with further testing, and get them engaged in an aggressive program of risk-factor modification or treatment," he explains.
Certain studies double the risk of heart disease in diabetics who suffer also from erectile dysfunction. Erectile dysfunction -- one of the warning flags of cardiovascular heart disease -- may make men take notice but men with type 2 diabetes can't afford to ignore the warning, even if it's embarrassing.
Following a heart attack, there are many who avoid sex, simply because they are too scared to ask their doctor about it. Even many cardiologists fail to get this information out of their patients, simply because both patients and the doctors are too shy to ask and talk about it.
Confront the fear Even with awareness, persistent inhibitions can be hard to confront. How can you be at ease discussing embarrassing problems with your doctor? Here are five tips to help you:
Real men don't cry. Nor, it may be added, do they like to share details about their intimate physiology in public. Which is fine most of the times – your jock itch does not exactly make for exciting conversation around the water cooler or at the party circuit. At the doctor's clinic, however, it can be a different story.