Men’s Healthcare & Screening; a neglected topic

31-03-2022 9:15pm #1

Was listening to Liveline today, yet more on menopause, an important subject. However the argument posed by so many of the (female) callers was that if female menopause symptoms affected men it everything to remedy it would have been sorted long ago. The same argument is going in nonstop in Twitter.

I’m female, in menopause quote some years, not on HRT. I even spoke about my own more positive take on Liveline when it was last aired for days on end, with the same take that women’s healthcare is constantly neglected.

Women have Breastcheck, Cervical Check, anti natal/post natal checks, and now a menopause clinic in Dublin. Men have nothing of the sort.

I argue the very opposite is the case. A PSC test to evaluate Prostate Health should be a standard annual blood test offered to men (maybe 40 & over but I’d leave that to experts) with at least optional testicular examination. A relative of mine discovered an extremely early testicular cancer when intimate with her partner, she noticed a very slight difference in texture he hadn’t observed.

A friend of mine very sadly died of prostate cancer a year or so ago, he was the life and soul of any party and very much missed by his wife, daughters, family and friends. I had an uncle die of it when I was just 4, and I very well remember visiting him with my mother a week before he died. It set my mind on a lifelong notion of how illness and suffering could possibly be conquered.

Men are often loathe to present to medical services for physical or mental illness (and both are intertwined) whereas women much more readily present to the doctor. Recently I saw a guy on Twitter, whom I follow, ask how long after chest pain commences should one seek help. This is quite typical of men, in my experience.

Stigura · 10-04-2022 7:59pm

Did my bowel screen thing, again, last month. By post. (Good result, back by post, before I'd even thought about it)

I like that we get that. Very much. Bit grim that they just cut us adrift, at seventy. Like; 'Get it now? Tough. Ye gonna die anyway ...')

True though. Pity they can't / aren't doing anything proactive about mens prostates. My GP's my age group too. He's never mentioned it.

Balls! Okay. I walked myself Right into That one! 'Why haven't I ?' Fair point. I will and Have turned up, when I've had something out of the ordinary going on. I'm perfectly happy to allow them to do any tests they feel is in my on going interest to be done.

Dunno. Is it more in their interests to let us get it and die, than catch and treat it?

One eyed Jack · 10-04-2022 8:55pm

The callers to the show did have a point, but not in the way they imagine. For example there is more funding goes into research involved in treatment erectile dysfunction than there is goes into research involved in the treatment of premenstrual syndrome -

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/2019/dec/18/women-have-been-woefully-neglected-does-medical-science-have-a-gender-problem

Holy crap I didn’t think the discrepancy was that much, it’s even more surprising than the fact that women are seven times more likely to die of cardiac disease than breast cancer -

https://irishheart.ie/news/heart-attack-its-different-for-women/

But as to why there’s no national screening programme for prostate cancer, there’s a few reasons for that, none of which have anything to do with the idea that it’s a men vs women thing in terms of funding for screening programmes -

https://www.mariekeating.ie/cancer-information/prostate-cancer/screening-for-prostate-cancer/

I did mention it to my own GP last week when I was in for something else though (this thread was stuck in my head, so fair play for that much!). At 45 my GP said there was no need, there’s no history of it in my family anyway.

Even at that if it were true that an issue like prostate cancer takes precedence over issues which affect women, it wouldn’t have taken as long as it has to come up with a PSA blood test as opposed to the more traditional, albeit more reliable means of detecting anomalies of the prostate gland.

I’d say it’s pretty much equal in terms of men and women both being loathe to present to medical services for physical or mental illness. I’ve never known a woman yet who willingly presented themselves to be poked and prodded with a speculum for example, nor are they too keen on having their breasts clamped. Of course there is the point that it’s being done with the intent of early detection of any potential issues, but that doesn’t mean the process is any less uncomfortable.

19-04-2022 9:03pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118908071#Comment_118908071

I had my entire colon removed due to ulcerative colitis, tough op but totally worth it no big deal with bag. Colon cancer operations can be done any age and they nearly always afford relief from discomfort fairly quickly. Sone cases are being done in a day case basis nowadays via robotic surgery, if you need a bag there is the added advantage that when you get to be older and maybe needing general care unrelated to present issue, a colostomy is really easier & neater for a trained carer to deal with than many other patients.

19-04-2022 9:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118908347#Comment_118908347

As a woman I don’t mind breasts being clamped at all, but speculum is annoying. As female nurse latterly and cheekily said to me “you definitely prefer men”. Actually there was a generally unrelaxed atmosphere overall in the surgery. It would be equivalent if saying to a man “get yourself erect now or we can’t do this examination”.

Men’s Healthcare & Screening; a neglected topic

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