Real Men See Doctors
By: Source: AARP Bulletin Today Date Posted: 2004-02-20 13:27:00-05:00
Robert Guillaume had no idea what was happening to him as he floundered on the floor of his dressing room one day in 1999.
Whatever was going on, he wanted to ignore it. "My attitude was, 'The show must go on,'" recalled the award-winning actor and star of TV's "Sports Night" and "Benson." "Disney forbade getting sick on the job."
Guillaume had been erratic about taking medication for his high blood pressure, a well-known risk factor for stroke. "I am still asking myself what kind of mind-set prevented me from recognizing that I was having a stroke," he said. "I didn't know until I was on a hospital gurney."
Guillaume's once-casual view of personal medical care is shared by plenty of American men, contributing to what some doctors call a growing and silent health crisis. The actor, now 76, was one of several male patients and medical experts who spoke last year at a press conference held by the Washington-based American Public Health Association (APHA) to highlight the perilous consequences when men do not get checkups and needed treatment.
As Louis Sullivan, M.D., former secretary of Health and Human Services, pointed out, "This is not just a problem of men's health." Family health suffers, too, when men who don't get needed medical care become sick.
Doctors at the briefing said men tend to "tough it out" unless they are in real pain—they are three times less likely to go to a physician than women are.
The health statistics for American males compared with those for females are not encouraging: A man has a one-in-two lifetime chance of developing cancer, compared with a woman's one-in-three chance. Men typically die about five years before women do, and African American men die nearly 12 years sooner, on average, than do white women.
Unquestionably, low incomes and a lack of health insurance keep some men from going to the doctor. But other men simply refuse to acknowledge that they need health care.
"Women complain that [men are] the biggest deniers and the last to go to doctors on the face of the planet," said Georges C. Benjamin, M.D., APHA executive director.
OVER MY DEAD BODY?
Patrick McCathern, 50, a retired Air Force sergeant in Sierra Vista, Ariz., struggled with depression for years before seeking help. "Women will talk about their problems, but men have to be 'strong' and 'tough,' " he told the AARP Bulletin. "Some men would like to talk, but they don't know how."
Afraid of jeopardizing his military career, McCathern tried on his own to fight off the darkness consuming him. But without medical help, "you just dig yourself a bigger hole," he says.
When his marriage unraveled, McCathern's depression spiraled into an abyss so deep that he became suicidal. In 1994 he finally sought help from Air Force doctors and was successfully treated with an antidepressant drug combined with counseling. His depression is now a distant memory, and today he works for the Army as a civilian.
McCathern has a blunt message for men: "If you're feeling depressed, get help. You can't work it out for yourself."
That's a sore point with many males. "Men generally don't like to appear weak and not in control," Sullivan said at the briefing.
Donna M. Christian-Christensen, M.D., of the Virgin Islands practiced medicine for 20 years before her election to Congress. "Men did not seek medical care unless they were really in pain," she said. "We need to pump up the volume on this issue."
IN PAIN? JUST SUCK IT UP
Alwyn Cohall, M.D., director of the Harlem Health Promotion Center, said macho attitudes about not seeing a doctor start in youth and become ingrained as men age.
Former Miami Heat star Alonzo Mourning grew up, like many males, with a "suck it up, tuck it in" attitude about pain. A pro basketball player since 1992, he routinely ignored his aches and injuries and avoided doctors. "I felt invincible," he said.
But when Mourning, 34, was diagnosed with a severe kidney disease, he changed his tune. "We need to create a positive awareness," he said, "and an attitude that getting checkups is cool." Mourning left the New Jersey Nets in December after a kidney transplant.
To help close the gender gap in health care, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has earmarked $3 million for initiatives in six U.S. cities urging men to get essential screening tests for cancer, high blood pressure and other conditions.
In another effort, the National Institute of Mental Health has launched the first national campaign to encourage men with depression to get help. Called "Real Men, Real Depression," it features the personal stories of some of the 6 million American men who have been treated for depression, among them a firefighter, a diving champion, a publisher, a college student—and Air Force retiree McCathern.
"It's time to awaken the nation," said Sullivan of the gender gap in men's health. "The realities we confront today have not gotten the attention they need or deserve."
Peggy Eastman is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.
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