Though we celebrated Mother’s Day on May 9, my focus today is on those special men in our lives.
For men who spent time teaching their children how to ride a bike or drive a car, who provided the midnight feedings so their spouses could sleep, who requested that their daughters change clothes when they were too revealing and for those awesome men who taught their sons how to be a man, we salute you!
It is with that appreciation that I want to focus our attention this week on the health and well-being of one of God’s greatest creations.
If you scan medical offices across the country, most people sitting there would be women.
The lone exception would be at a veteran’s facility. You would think, since women live longer than men on average by almost 5 years, that men would frequent the doctor more often so they could improve their odds.
However, as we all know that is not the case. In my practice, most of my male clients who are present for the first time are doing so either because their significant other or a co-worker has harassed them into making an appointment or because they have a specific concern.
There are many theories as to why men do not see the doctor on a regular basis, one of which is stoicism.
Men may equate seeing their health provider with vulnerability. My counteroffer to this belief is that preventing disease is always easier than trying to treat it. We should remind our male loved ones that independence becomes difficult once a person has multiple illnesses, hospitalizations, etc.
Another reason for lack of participation in the healthcare system by males, and the one probably most cited by my patients, is fear of a prostate exam.
Apparently, men are not too keen about a 1 ½ to 2-inch finger being inserted into their rectum. I try to use analogies to ease my male patient’s trepidation about that aspect of their exams. I show them the size of the speculum used in pelvic exams for women and compare that to the size of my finger. I then ask, “Which would you prefer?”
The argument that “I feel fine” is not enough to justify not seeing your doctor regularly.
I also believe that many men think that when they go to the doctor, as soon as they walk in the room, the doctor will say hello and immediately ask them to bend over and drop their pants!
My dear beloved brothers, there is more to a wellness exam than your anus. There are many other important health topics that need to be addressed, such as heart disease.
Cardiovascular disease is still the number one cause of death for both men and women.
Risk factors for heart disease are hypertension, diabetes, obesity, smoking, family history and simply being male!
The goal of yearly check-ups with a provider is to try and prevent some of those diseases and to try and modify the factors that are modifiable. For example, regular visits can provide needed cognitive or medicinal support for nicotine cessation. Roughly, 22 percent of men over the age of 18 smoke cigarettes.
Furthermore, a 2011 national survey showed that about 12 percent of men over the age of 18 are in fair or poor health. In males under the age of 65, a little more than 18 percent of them did not have health insurance. In men above 20, approximately 31 percent had high blood pressure, which is blood pressure 140/90 or higher.
We consider high blood pressure the silent killer. Most people have no symptoms when their pressure is high. Therefore men, the argument that “I feel fine” is not enough to justify not seeing your doctor regularly.
Everyone needs annual wellness exams. For men, this exam entails: vital signs (blood pressure, weight, body mass index), a full physical which may or may not include a prostate exam and some lab tests, depending on the patient. Most patients need a lipid panel, electrolytes with kidney function and a diabetes screen.
These visits are also utilized to update immunizations such as Tdap and influenza and to ensure that preventative tests such as colonoscopies are scheduled at the appropriate age of 50 and every 10 years thereafter.
Men, our society needs you to continue to be the strong, fearless leaders you have always been. But you can only achieve that by being proactive about your health.
If you love us, we implore you to take care of yourself. Make an appointment to see your doctor today!