I think my sons are ready for me to change docors. They have been going to a female pediatrican (ages 13, 15 & 17) and they become extremly uncomfortable during the coughing exam.
My 13 year old found blood in his urine last night and we have an appointment with the doctor. He is already feeling tension of having to show his “package” to the doctor.
I’ve had a female doctor, and a problem of a male nature at the same time. My feelings were, the necessity to have the problem dealt with outweighed any feelings of embarrasment.
I’ve had female doctors for the past eight years and get a physical every year. I was nervous the first time, but she held up a finger and said, “if this is the biggest thing you ever have to have stuck up your ass, consider yourself fortunate.”
Some guys at work were ribbing me about having a female doctor, so I said “So am I to understand you prefer to have a man cupping your genitals?” The conversation quickly turned to basketball.
Had one. Cute too.
I was 24 years old, first (and only) colon exam.
Had a BIG reaction.
Never went back.
My Endocrinologist is a nice lady, about my age.
I find it easier to talk about the (ahem) affect of my injuries to a lady than to a man. My wife does too.
You know what, I agree with Paul there. I feel much more comfortable telling a female doctor where my owies are. I guess it’s an anxiety that the owie won’t be “bad” enough for a male doctor to respect, if you know what I mean.
“What? Your arm hurts? Wimp.”
Why is this seen as a bigger deal than a woman going to a male doctor? I have yet to have had a man do a pelvic on me, but if I did and he was a good doctor I wouldn’t be any more hesitant than I am ANYWAY. Is it just because any reactions are more…um…visible? Because I simply can’t imagine getting all hot and bothered during an exam involving my genitals…more like the opposite!
When I was 16, I had to get a physical to play soccer, so I went to this sports medicine place that specialized in high school sports physicals. Anyway, I’m in the waiting rooma nd this STUNNING blonde female doctor comes in. So I’m pretty excited, but a little nervous because of the turn and cough excercise. It’s near the end of the exam, and she asks me to drop my pants. Then she says casually that her hands are allergic to the latex gloves so she hates wearing them. I almost had to leave right then because of my 16 year old imagination thinking about her and my guy and no latex. I thought for sure it was my time.
Regretfully, she put on the gloves and did the exam. Oh well. A little anti-climatic, to be sure.
I don’t know that it’s a bigger deal, whiterabbit. I would think a woman going to, say, a male gyno would be much, much worse. You have your feet up on those stirrups, you’re on the cold, cold table, and you’re exposed for a certain amount of time. With us, it’s usually a lot quicker.
When I was 19, in the Navy, I had a bit of a urethral blockage. One doctor looked at it using a cystoscope (a steel tube the width of a pencil that they shove down your crank), he then used successively larger rods to “dialate” the urethra (ick). All was good.
A year later, the hard-to-pee symptom returned. This time I was sent to a Navy hospital to see a urologist who would perform a more permanent procedure.
I was sitting on the exam table in my dress white uniform waiting…
In walks this attractive blond woman in an officer’s uniform. She had a pretty face, soft skin, beautiful legs, pleasantly full breasts. She was also about seven months pregnant.
Of course, this woman was the urologist. I was waiting for a corpsman or a nurse to come in to keep things on the up and up. The odd thing is, nobody else came in. In a distant part of my mind, I wondered if the military followed the same rules (i.e. same-sex nurse present). She shut the door, talked with me for about ten minutes. All the while, I was dreading the inevitable, but I knew that it wasn’t for awhile: after all, I was still in uniform, and she would have to give me a gown to change in to. Suddenly, she asked me to lay down, and then she unbuckled my pants and pulled out my Johnson with her bare hands (!). She made some funny comment and then inspected it carefully. I don’t know how I kept it well-behaved, but I can assure you that nothing improper happened.
A few days later, I went in for the procedure and all went well. Much to my surprise, even though it was a simple outpatient procedure that needed no healing time whatsoever, she authorized ten days of medical leave for me. A free vacation
It wasn’t until about ten years later that I considered that it might be considered inappropriate by some for a female doctor to unbuckle my pants and extract my member.
Oh, and dantheman: hope that you never need a urologist. They have stirrups as well as big fat things that they insert in the end of your tool.
I’ve only had a few doctor’s visits where I’ve had to --er-- expose myself, once with a male doctor and a few times with a female doctor. Each time the docctor was like a mechanic looking at the underside of a car; oddly comforting in a way. I mean, think about it, it’s a job to them, just a job, so while I am vaguely unsettled with being treated as a piece of machinery, it is also immediately erases any sense of embarassment that might accompany such a procedure.
[hijack] I notice the OP mentions the person’s regular doctor, of which I have none, thanks to the wierd vagueries of medical insurance in this country. Started a new job a few months back with a small company which means right now I have no medical insurance … sigh … [/hijack]
I’ve had female doctors off and on forever (HMOs and health insurance, and when I’m sick enough to go to the doctor, I don’t care who I see) and it’s never caused any issues. Now I’ve had good and bad doctors, but it’s usually unrelated to gender.
:eek: You’re kidding, right? Yuck. Pain, pain, pain.
You know, funny thing about your story - think if a male unbuckled a female patient’s pants and touched HER there, would it be okay?
My regular physician is female. She’s truly excellent. She was my wife’s doctor, so I got to meet her fairly early on (my wife has a few ongoing health issues which I won’t describe in detail). Right about the time we got married, I switched my primary physician to my wife’s.
I don’t care that she’s female. It doesn’t bother me. All I’m concerned about is that she’s an excellent physician. In fact, the biggest hassle is that she’s such a good doctor, she has almost no patient turnover, and it’s difficult to get in to see her on short notice.
Being physically examined by a woman doesn’t faze me at all. Heck, I’ve had her finger in my butt, and it wasn’t a concern any more than if she’d been a guy. Not that you needed to know that, of course, but intimate physical contact seems to be an implication of the OP.
I’m not trying to suggest anything here, but how old are you?
My primary care doc is a female. Actually, most of the time I end up seeing her nurse practioner (also a female).
My previous primary care doc was a guy (although I sometimes saw his wife, also an MD).
The gender of my physician doesn’t matter a whit.
My last primary care doc was female. She got out of private practice and now I see a guy.
One of my sisters is a doctor, specializing in rheumatology.
If you’re not trying to suggest anything, what are you asking my age for?
Next time I’ll lock you in a small room with a hottie feeling all your muscles and see how ya do with it. I’d rather be red in the face then dead to the world.
I used to, and it was not awkward.
I found though, that getting tested for std’s after a bad break up with a cheating ex, that most of my discomfort came from the, uh, cotton swab rather than who was doing the swabbing.
I have female doctor. I actually look for female doctors when I need a specialist. I do feel more comfortable talking to them than a man. I’ve have had some female doctors who were good, some bad. I’ve only had the prostrate exam once and although my female doctor is the only person to shove something up my butt since I was old enough to use the big peoples thermomater I think I would rather have a woman do that then a man.
My current doctor is female and I had a sports physical done two years ago by her, the last portion of which involved the coughing exam. As mentioned above, they treat it as a job. I assume it’s part of what a doctor learns in med school, to seem mostly objective and detached for the patient’s comfort. I had a Healhcare/Medical Occupations class and during it we learned th at one of the important characteristics of a healthcare worker was a proper balance between being nice to make patients comfortable while remaining professional.
I had no problems during the exam and somehow I think I would have been less comfortable with a man doing it (in case context didn’t properly imply it, I am male) rather than her. Even though with sunglasses and different hair she just may have passed for a man, just the thought of a man having touched me there irks me a little bit.
Nothing against gays, of course. I just get really uncomfortable in such situations.