Welcome to another edition of Health Talk. May I humbly ask our female readers to please read this! Can you also kindly pass on to the wonderful men in your life. Husband, brothers, fathers, friends… please don’t exclude anyone. 🙏🏽 Thanks.
Aunty Lulu.
This month on Health Talk, let’s talk about Men’s health …
Hello 👋 everyone … it’s time to give men some attention .
Men generally have much lower health care seeking habits than women. Some men feel it’s not manly to seek such help and would man it up for as long as they can. We want men to be aware that it’s okay to discuss freely with their doctors and timely too, to prevent the negative outcomes of delayed health seeking behaviours .
A lot more men are coming forward to seek health care realising that many men share these concerns and can choose to see male doctors if it makes it easier to disclose sensitive health concerns ..
Two particular areas where men find it difficult to seek help are :
- Mental health
- Male genital problems
MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health conditions can creep in slowly and it can be a challenge at times to actually come to the realisation and the acceptance that one is struggling with it .
Depression and Anxiety – which are the commonest types can start insidiously and can be subtle resulting in most men suppressing it . These conditions when not not dealt with it can soon take over, become obstructive and interfere with optimal functioning in every areas of life .
Please seek help early and there are lots of interventions available from talking therapies and/or medications among other means.
MALE GENITAL PROBLEMS
These are, but not limited to testicular /scrotal pain or lumps and bumps which can be a symptom of infection, cysts, hydrocoele, varicocoele or something more serious like testicular cancers which are common in younger men.
Erectile dysfunction is another condition that men find difficult to discuss but these are amenable with medications and can alert doctors to underlying heart problems or diabetes amongst other causes that would otherwise be missed. Erectile dysfunction also commonly occur as a side effect of some medications . Doctors do listen and treat this with confidentiality and lots of sensitivity.
Prostate problems can manifest as difficulty in passing urine ,poor stream or needing to urinate frequently amongst other symptoms.This is common in older men and most find it embarrassing but again there can be sensitive discussions about treatment options as well as the important need to exclude prostate cancer .
***Breast swellings and lumps can occur in men and this should necessitate an urgent visit to the doctor to exclude serious causes .
The above is just an overview to raise awareness and to encourage men to seek help early and I will be discussing each problem more deeply as necessary as we go along .
Thank you for your time and I will be happy to answer your questions.
Adeola.
