As the song says, I’ll second that emotion. I have had to remove the outerclothing of women of all ages in my short career as an EMT ( almost 3 years ). It’s more than all business. It’s incredibly careful, respectful treatment. Attention to whatever shred of privacy can be established, and quick and gentle care.
A C.P.R. call is the only exception. I have cut the bra off of several women in a thrice, to get to their sternum and start compressions. You’re dead? You’re not likely to be embarssed. And, since seconds count, well…sorry if it’s embarassing later on !
Otherwise, great great care is taken. An EMT does not typically palpate the breasts unless there is obvious and immediate trauma to the area. ( Broken ribs, lacerations, etc ).
Let me just say I really, REALLY hate the bimanual exam. One of the things I like about my current doc is I’ll tell her I have a yeast infection and she doesn’t insist on checking me. She just writes a prescription for Diflucan.
I don’t like mammograms, either…I go in as a 42F, and come out as a 56 long. OUCH!
Well, burning thru a finger- or toe-nail to release a subungal hematoma is always fun, as it gives the patient immediate relief from the pain they’re having, and it makes them think I’m a magician!
The only other things that give such quick pain relief and patient satisfaction are removing acutely thrombosed hemorrhoids and slipping a catheter into a bladder that’s acutely obstructed and overdistended.
I guess I enjoy those because I’m such a people person!
Qadgop - How would you conquer a paatient’s terrible fear of doctors? I’m not afraid of a bad diagnosis (there’ve been times when a “You have three months to live” would’ve seemed like a blessing), but I’m so hyper-modest that I can’t bring myself to go to the doctor about anything I might find embarassing. In fact, for 30 years I didn’t go to the doctor at all. I’ve now found one that I trust enough so if I have a horrible case of poison ivy, I’ll go. But let’s say it was something more…personal…like “I haven’t urinated in a week.” or “my heart sometimes does this funny sort of thing” or pap smear or anything where, God forbid, I have to remove my clothes I just can’t bring myself to do it. I don’t discuss things like that with anyone. Not family members, not friends, and not doctors. I’d truly rather be dying of cancer than have to go, take my clothes off and be examined or speak of personal things.
I come from a family were certain ailments are prevelant (my mother is on e of 11 children and half have had cancer. She’s had breast and uterine cancer - the uterine cancer while she was carrying me). Doctors nearly killed my mother when I was a child with mis-diagnoses and over-prescribing steroid shots. My father died of lung cancer and was diabetic. My sisters are diabetic. I’m not thinking I’m somehow exempt from illness. I do think my body was more or less designed to fix itself.
I’ve tried to get over my phobia. I was a participent in an AIDS vaccine study at Vanderbilt University (run by the NIH). They took blood, gave shots, which I could take, but nothing more. This was a huge step for me (even though we didn’t have the vaccine in five years, which they were predicting when I volunteered) but I can’t seem to go any further. Do you have any advice?
Yes, consider seeing a counselor or psychologist who deals with phobias. That would be my best advice. Another approach would be to set up an appointment with the doc you trust with minor things to talk to him/her about your phobia, and get their opinion on how they can help.
Your body is designed to be self-repairing to an extent, but most people will need help with diabetes and similar diseases, not to mention cancer. Certain maintenance procedures in certain individuals can be health-prolonging and life-saving.
I second Qadgop’s advice, and I have a family medical history that I don’t think is nearly as impressive as yours.
At this very moment, you don’t know what problems may be developing in your body. With your family medical history, the odds are very much against you. Both my mother and my maternal grandmother died of ovarian cancer. Because of infectious illness, I had to have a hysterectomy when I was 29. I still get pelvic exams every year, along with pelvic sonograms (there are bits of reproductive tissue still present, and besides, it’s possible to get “ovarian” cancer in the abdominal wall). Do I like it? No way. But I find it preferable to the alternative. The uncertainty would make me freak out.
Please, please do something. Do you think it would help to have a family member with you? Or would that make it worse?
Have you considered whether you’d be more at ease with a female doctor? There are lots of women doctors who becom gynecologists, and unless you live in some really remote area, probably at least one within easy driving distance.
In any case, I strongly second the recommendation for counseling. With the right psychologist/counselor, you should be able to work through this. My mother died when I was 13. It took me 30 years to get into counseling to deal with repressed grief (which interfered with my life more seriously than I have ever told anyone, even counselors and psychs, but counseling freed me, and made me able to make the connections). A good counselor can help far more than you can imagine.
And don’t forget that you can always find people here willing to ‘listen’ and try to help.
