Dialogue: We men are letting ourselves down

Last Thursday I took myself across town to my doctor for my annual dandruff-to-toenails health check-up. On Friday I took my car to the testing station for a warrant of fitness. I passed; the car didn't.

The warrant inspectors discovered that a bolt in the steering mechanism had developed a crack and there was uneven wear on the front tyres. On Monday the bolt was replaced and the wheels rotated. I can now drive the car for another six months knowing there is nothing seriously structurally or mechanically wrong with it.

That's comforting, for I am thoroughly dependent on my car and I have learned over the years that if minor defects aren't attended to immediately, they will multiply until the car one day comes to a sudden and inconvenient halt.

The doctor took my blood pressure, listened to my lungs, inspected me all over, asked all sorts of personal questions as he consulted his notes on me taken over the past seven years, poked his finger up my bum and took some blood for testing. The blood tests were done on Monday. I can now live happily in my body for another 12 months, knowing that there is nothing seriously wrong with it, no dread diseases lurking in there waiting to pounce.

That's even more comforting because my dependence on the proper functioning of my body is absolute. And if something does go wrong with it, however minor, I want it fixed straight away. I have no intention of allowing it to bring me to a sudden and inconvenient halt.

But I was astounded to learn from my GP, Warrick White, who specialises in men's health in general and sexual problems in particular, that I am rare among men. He tells me that many men, who will spend any amount of money on their cars, boats, gardens, sporting activities, wives, children, homes and even mistresses, are loath to spend anything on their own bodies.

The only time they go to the doctor is when the pain gets too great, they run out of breath, there's blood in the urine or bowel motions, they have trouble urinating or can no longer achieve an erection - problems that might well have been avoided had they bothered to have a regular health check.

They see themselves as resilient, but suddenly collapse in a heap.

And even some of those who do have an occasional medical inspection don't carry it through. Like the bloke who complained to his doctor that the laboratory wouldn't do the blood tests the doctor had ordered. He didn't seem to realise that a blood test request issued 18 months earlier was no longer valid.

I resolved to have a comprehensive annual health check when I turned 50 - for a smoker it seemed a wise thing to do - and have done so for more than a decade, including annual prostate examinations and blood tests, biennial chest x-rays and triennial colonoscopies.

Although there is no history of cancer in my family, I'm going to make damn sure that prostate cancer, bowel cancer or lung cancer don't get me.

My GP tells me that for men who have a family history of cancer, the annual prostate examinations tests should start at 40 and for those who don't at 50. And, he says, it's little use waiting until symptoms, such as difficulty urinating, having to get up in the night to pee or sexual dysfunction begin to appear. By that time the cancerous growth, if it has begun in the outer part of the gland, can be quite large and well-advanced.

The same goes for regular bowel examinations.

As for sexual dysfunction and difficulty, the latest American scientific research indicates that up to 50 per cent of men over 40 have problems one way or another.

Among the principal causes are stress (from the demands of work and family life), smoking (well I never!), too much alcohol, excessive weight, poor diet, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, side-effects of medications and - take note, for it is more common than supposed - undetected diabetes.

The thing about all these complaints, be they sexual or otherwise, is that they can usually be detected in a thorough physical check-up. But most men, it seems, are disinclined to go to the trouble and expense. Some, who have female doctors, refuse to have their GPs poking around in private places, as do others whose doctors are also personal friends.

The thing to do in that case - and it's common these days, I'm told - is to ask your GP to refer you to another to get the job done. It will cause no resentment or offence - in fact, the GP, who has your welfare at heart, will be only too willing.

So, guys, let's do it. After all, why should we continue to let women live longer than we do?

* garth_george@herald.co.nz