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Many men admit they put off going to the md equally long as possible, sometimes even when they're experiencing life-threatening symptoms. Getty Images
  • A new survey highlights the negative mental attitude many men accept about seeking medical care.
  • About 2-thirds of respondents said they avert going to the medico as long as possible, and 37 percent said they withhold data from their doctors.
  • Experts say this is an ongoing outcome that keeps doctors from detecting life-threatening problems early on, resulting in bigger health dangers and sometimes death.

For the fourth year in a row, Cleveland Clinic is embarking upon their MENtion Information technology campaign, a push button to get men into their doctors and discussing their health.

Every bit part of this year'south campaign, their survey asked men how they approach their medical treatment.

The results institute:

  • 72 percent of respondents said they would rather exist doing household chores, like cleaning toilets, than going to the doctor.
  • 65 per centum of respondents said they avoid going to the doctor as long as possible.
  • twenty percent admitted they aren't e'er honest with their doctors about their health.
  • 37 percent said they had withheld data from their doctors in the past, specifically because they weren't ready to deal with the potential diagnosis that might consequence if they told the truth.

All this medical avoidance and withholding of the truth puts men at risk. But what's behind information technology and how tin can club work to ameliorate accost information technology?

Mike Gnitecki is a fire fighter and paramedic who recently told Healthline he's had male patients initially refuse send to the hospital even while in the heart of an active eye attack.

"I accept had to ask family members to aid convince the patient to go with the states to the infirmary," he said. "I have also sometimes telephoned the emergency room physicians to help convince the patient to go to the infirmary with us."

Having witnessed this extreme avoidance of medical care immediate, he said a lot of men just take the attitude of, "I don't need to come across a doctor."

One reason for this attitude, Gnitecki explained, may be the fact that many men convince themselves their status volition improve on its own, non wanting to "bother" a doctor in the meantime.

Dr. Tisha Rowe, founder of the telemedicine network RoweDocs, says there are often a few other things contributing as well: fear, superhero syndrome, and the fact that "vulnerability sucks."

"Every bit a primary care doctor, I retrieve the number one reason men avoid the doctor is fear," Rowe explained. "They worry near a bad diagnosis or a bad outcome."

Then there is the superhero syndrome, which Rowe explained is men wanting to see themselves as forever strong and capable of treatment anything. "They see going to the doctor every bit a weakness."

And finally… vulnerability. "Vulnerability sucks," Rowe said. "Men don't like being vulnerable."

She said that fright of vulnerability can extend to several issues, particularly sensitive issues like erectile dysfunction. These are often topics men would just rather avoid talking about altogether, fifty-fifty if talking to a physician about information technology could potentially help.

And then at that place are the men who will go to their doctors, merely who withhold information or purposefully lie well-nigh their current medical state.

Dr. Nikola Djordjevic is a medical advisor and physician who explained some men do this because they fear an embarrassing diagnosis and sometimes because of the stigma many men believe: that they should be strong plenty to handle things on their own.

"Women, on the other mitt, tend to be much more responsible when it comes to healthcare," Djordjevic said, pointing out that men and women face different societal stigmas about seeking medical care.

Rowe agreed with that statement, maxim that she'due south found male patients are more likely to withhold information.

"Women are used to sharing intimate details of their lives with friends, then information technology's not hard for them to open up up. Men, still, are non conditioned by order to discuss feelings, so it'south more of a challenge," she said.

The consequences of putting medical care off, or keeping data from ones doctor, can be dire according to Djordjevic.

"I retrieve the number ane problem is missing the early alert signs of a more serious condition," he explained. "Especially when information technology comes to 'silent symptoms,' such as diagnosing pre-diabetes and other chronic medical conditions that should exist addressed every bit early on equally possible."

The other instance he gave was prostate cancer, which tin be detected with a unproblematic physical exam. "Patients that are diagnosed at an early stage take a much better prognosis than those who show up too tardily at the medico."

By putting those exams off, men may be in much worse condition by the time a affliction is caught than they would have been if they had gone in early and regularly.

Rowe explained, "Unfortunately, due to delays and denials, by the fourth dimension they come, sometimes the disease is no longer treatable. They may have to bargain with consequences like dialysis, limb amputations, and sometimes expiry."

And so how tin nosotros work to change the attitudes some men have toward receiving medical intendance?

Djordjevic suggested doctors and clinics could begin past offering discounts to partners who get their almanac exams together. In this fashion, he says, female person partners may exist able to bring their male partners along to the md at least one time a year.

Rowe agrees this could help.

"Accompany them to the doctor," she says to anyone who is trying to get the men they love in for medical care. "It may seem like hand holding, but make the engagement for him to go. Make it an almanac 'date,' whether it'due south your male parent, uncle or husband."

Djordjevic added, "Another mode is for doctors and clinics to engage in outreach or marketing campaigns targeted at men, highlighting some of the more serious medical atmospheric condition that can affect men, such as prostate cancer."

Rowe said this blazon of outreach could take place in barbershops, cigar bars, golf game outings, and gentlemen's clubs. Anywhere that men might exist reached.

However, Djordjevic believes attitudes are start to shift for the ameliorate.

"I would say this trend is slowly irresolute with millennials, who tend to be more informed virtually general health thank you to Dr. Google and a myriad of websites offering health advice," he explained.

Information technology'due south a move in the correct direction, simply the most contempo survey results out of Cleveland Clinic prove we're still a long way from where we need to be.