What's the deal with men not wanting to visit the doctor?

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I gave in some time ago, mainly when I began to suffer from ectopic heartbeats (a form of arrhythmia). Nothing like a heart scare to get you to your GP, pronto (but not too pronto). Admittedly, I'm quite taken with my doctor, who said, rather frankly, when I asked if this could kill me: "We all die sometime." I appreciated his candor on the existential vagaries of life, if perhaps a bit unnerved.

Oh, and get your prostate checked!

it's pretty basic we'd rather ignore the problem and hope it goes away or somehow avoid the possibility of finding out we have a terminal case of something.

also possibly just some macho thing.

Same with the dentists.

rather not find out, is the main reason. and not wanting him to poke me in places unknown.

tnis tendency is common for women too,btw

Some masculine ideal of always being in control of your body?

Suspect this is mad truth, loss of bodily control is at the heart of a lot of OMG SCARY film scenes involving a man as the victim.

xpost

Definitely, but I think Tuom is right, it's more prevalent in men, at least in my observation.

take that human condition.

I've been to the the doctor probly twice in my lifetime, once for my in-growing toenail (obv needed to be sorted) and the other time my girlfriend forced me to go because i was feeling sick. But what a waste of time, they took a blood test. Two weeks later I was fine again, i rang them up asking erm how come i hadn't heard anything. "Oh, you had glandular fever" hey thanks for letting me know then.

If i feel poorly, i rest. it gets better. If my limbs are falling off, i'll go see them.

wait till you get a persistent dull ache in your left bollock, you'll be waiting outside the door in the morning.

did you notice this in a movie?

but Jarlmai that's my point, if i suspected something was important then yes of course I'd go.

This thread doesn't really mention too much about *what* men aren't going to the doctors for tho.

Number of reasons including:

Healthcare promotion for men is shockingly underfunded in the UK.

As a result, there's not the same encouragement as there is for women to seek medical help.

Men are more likely to be in full-time work and find it difficult to get to the doctor.

We don't have many 'Well Man' clinics.

Why is there no seinfeld.jpg in this thread yet?

Why is there no seinfeld.jpg in this thread yet?

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Every doctors' waiting room I have ever been in is full of old men with seemingly nothing wrong with them. Y'know visit for someone to talk to.

Young dudes on the other hand...

are IMMORTAL

and have people to talk to obv.

xxxposts I guess so Ste, its just people seem to misinterpret what could actually be important.

Therefore we can include a further reason -

Men think they know more than doctors

There's also the worry of "wasting the doctors time" ie we feel we are young etc whatever, why take up the docs time blah blah. Also the eternal battle of taking time off work and synchronising it with a doctors appointment.

At the moment I need apparently need to go see a nurse to have an initial checkup as for some reason I was removed from the list of patients at my doctors even though I've been registered there for 30 years this was not my fault, some sort of database cock up. however I now need to take some time off work to go see the nurse, but she's only in during my working hours. But i'm not actually ill so will my work let me have the time off without having to take a holiday, who knows?

For me it's exactly the opposite -- when I feel like I need to, I go to the doctor. (Otherwise WTF am I paying insurance premiums for?) If I could self-diagnose and prescribe medicine it would be different, but I can't.

My wife, though, has to be dragged kicking and screaming. She hates it. It's like I have to threaten her PLEASE MAKE ONE DR APPOINTMENT.

Fuck sake Jarl, pull a sickie.

I mean, technically you're ill, right? You don't know for certain that you're not, right? Not until you see a doctor.

We're all Christian scientists.

No, but seriously, this:

rather not find out, is the main reason. and not wanting him to poke me in places unknown.

is OTM. The older a man gets, the more likely a prostate-themed visit becomes.

At 32, though, I would LOVE to be seeing a doctor regularly, but I have no insurance. If I had some, I would surely be making up for lost time. I'm an uninsured hypochondriac. Shit is real.

I've been thinking of paying for an MRI out of my own pocket just to err on the side of caution - I think I may have some neurological shit going on from several car accidents - fasciculations, pain in my arms when I sneeze, etc - but you can' even SEE a damn neurologist without a referral from a general practitioner - bullshit!!

Anyway, yeah. Pokey pokey in the nether regions, that is why men don't like doctors. It's pretty immasculating / humiliating.

Prostate exams, bummer, man. If only they were as much fun as having a speculum and giant Q-tips and a relative stranger's fingers prodding around my vagina just to get an annual prescription for birth control -- THEN you'd see some doctor visits!

the one word answer to this question is "urology"

GUYS DRIVE LIKE THIS

The term is "digital rectal exam". Thanks, informative poster at my urologist's office!

nobody wants to be naked in the same room with an "alpha type" who knows how to use a scapel. no doctors, no cops

alpha type, huh

:-/

how 'immasculating'

Anyway, yeah. Pokey pokey in the nether regions, that is why men don't like doctors. It's pretty immasculating / humiliating.

Unlike the examinations that are done on women on a regular basis at the gynecologists? I don't think the fear of getting one's nether regions poked explains the discrepancy as such, unless you can explain why men would fear this stuff much more than women.

men are men.

this is obviously because they don't have a vagina

My insurance is only useful for catastrophic health events (I assume). I'll probably buy myself a colonoscopy for a 50th-birthday present. Oh what a wonderful present that will be. :-(

xp: it's also because they have balls

They don't want to visit the doctor because they don't want to ask for directions to the damn place.

unless you can explain why men would fear this stuff much more than women

Because, on the whole, women are probably a lot more familiar with their vaginas and how they work than men are with their buttholes? And women start going to the gyno pretty early on and - please correct me if I'm wrong here - it becomes a fact of life one has to deal with, as opposed to a man, who, aside from needing an enema or something, rarely has to confront the stubby intrusive fingers of an alpha type until his 40s.

I still have rectal thermometer flashbacks. I don't like anyone touching my butt.

Not saying the gyno is fun, by any means - but I think maybe men are just pussies.

Too much hassle.

I was going to suggest that men are pussies several hours ago, but I restrained myself to an IM sent to another ILXor.

laurel, is there anything you do not despise?

deeznuts, deeznuts, what a joyless impression of me you seem to have! I fear the rumors of my villainousness have been greatly exaggerated.

just a dude with a stethoscope, get over it ppl

Then what are the rubber gloves for?

Dude checks my colon with his stethoscope, he'll get an eyefull of elbow.

my doc explained last week that the DRE is basically useless, "but we like to abuse people." Then he performed it.

I'll probably buy myself a colonoscopy for a 50th-birthday present. Oh what a wonderful present that will be.

colonoscopy is a breeze, mostly cause you get doped up to the gills

getting a DRE from a urologist is quite different than getting one from a GP. trust me on this one.

then there's a little something called a cystoscopy. you don't want to know.

Every time my dad has a health problem – which is oftener, now that he's in his mid-50s – I have to call and CAJOLE and PESTER and NAG him every day until he finally goes to the doctor. This process takes weeks. My mom won't do it bcz it starts fights, but surprisingly, not if I keep bothering him. This is how he discovered he did not, as he thought, have a torn rotator cuff (yay!), and that he has macular degeneration (*cries*).

I also have to drive my man to the doctor. I find it easier if you don't even form it as a question, just make him get dressed and say, "We're leaving now before walk-in hours end."

Dude spent his whole life in hospitals, so he's not crazy about going to the doctor.

it's kinda fucked up to have flu-like symptoms and not get tested for flu if you are around people regularly and have the means to do so, right? Not shaming anybody who can't afford it, can't get an appointment quick enough, can't afford to miss work, or have abusive employers who won't let them take off work, etc. I'm talking about people who have the means and ability to do so who just decide not to and then just keep going about their business, possibly infecting whomever they want.

like it just seems weird like maybe a byproduct of COVID fatigue but people in my orbit who I knew that used to go to the doctor as soon as their nose ran are now just telling the world they have flu symptoms, but nah, they didn't get diagnosed, they just rested for a day and feel all better now so they're fine and probably not contagious.

multiple people w/ flu-like symptoms asked to hang out w/ me while simultaneously not knowing if they had flu (both knew I live with a cancer patient so I more or less asked "are you HIGH right now?").

Yes, this. My (adolescent) students will come in, sick as raccoons, and say “my dad is home with the flu but my mom wouldn’t let me test, so here I am.”

Men can’t get sick because sick leave is a relatively recent invention - it meant lost pay - the men earned all the money - can’t afford to go without money - can’t afford to get sick - doctors tell you you’re sick - stay away from the doctor - power through it - kids at home need food - bring home bacon - never be sick - never visit doctor - ME AT NEARLY 48 STILL NOT HAVING DONE MY COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING AND SLOWLY LOSING MY DISTANCE VISION

I go to the doctor all the time and spill the beans about my bad habits like I’m the kid from goonies