Communication is the most critical aspect of the doctor/patient relationship. This seems obvious, of course, but all too often, we find that there is important information or clues that a man will forget to tell his doctor. It’s rarely intentional that men leave out information. For the most part, we hear a lot of “I didn’t think it was worth mentioning.”
Every aspect of your physical and mental health has a direct bearing on your sexual health. Your healthcare is a complicated mosaic of pieces that, when strung together, create an image of your overall health. If even the smallest of those many pieces is not looking good, it is going to have an effect on the entire picture.
I was talking to one patient who mentioned that he did not like his partner to touch his testicles. When asked why, he said they hurt – all the time. They did not hurt a lot, but enough that they did not enter into sexual play or stimulation. The doctor had not been told this small bit of information. Why? It just didn’t seem like that big a deal. The reality is, pain is not a normal state of the human body. While this man may have learned to live with mild pain in his testes, it is a pretty important piece of information for the doctor to know.
Before you see your doctor, take a moment and make an inventory of your body, your mood, your stress levels and your activity. Never assume that an ache, a pain, or a difference in your body is too unimportant to tell your doctor. Write it down so you don’t forget. Give him a copy to put in your files. He may see a pattern that you don’t. Let him decide which piece of the puzzle is going to affect the picture of your health.
