Men often like to think of themselves as strong and macho, to the point where there’s a stigma attached to dealing with health concerns.
And it sets them back, even 30 years after US President Bill Clinton launched a week devoted to men’s health, which has since grown to the entire month of June. That sparked a special call by Dr Vikas Mehta, a physician at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London, to highlight how important awareness of preventable health problems in men continues to be in 2023.
“I’m here to tell you that even those of us that are accustomed to good health may encounter symptoms that affect our quality of life,” he says. “The key thing here is to mention them to your physicians, start a conversation which might lead you to getting help — and get that help early. And when you get diagnosed early, the treatments are easier, shorter, less toxic, and usually more successful.”
As a physician focusing on preventative medicine, Dr Mehta has found that often men relate their psychological health to their musculoskeletal health.
“Let me use myself as an example,” explains Dr Mehta. “I like to go out for a run through Regent’s Park in London — to clear my head and to help me deal with any stresses that I have. I’ve noticed that when I have an injury and I can’t run, that makes me more anxious and stressed out — because that is my release.”
(I can relate, because I just happen to be dealing with the unwelcome resurfacing of a long-dormant condition, which means I can’t ride my bike as much as I’d like — and I can feel my anxiety and frustration spiking too.)
“When you’re not exercising, a lot of the knock-on effects are immeasurable, because your cardiovascular health, your heart, your blood vessels are suffering as a result,” he says. “So you might say ‘oh, it’s just an ankle injury. I’ll give it some time’. But ‘some time’ can easily turn from one week, to one month, to one year. Get the cause of the problem seen to.”
And talking of running in the city, Dr Mehta says being aware of how you are breathing or performing over a period of time is really important. After all, any big city’s emissions will have an impact on respiratory health.
“So if you could run five kilometers without a problem and now you’re struggling to breathe at one kilometre, go and get help from your doctor early so that we can diagnose these things and get them treated,” he says. “Ear, nose and throat health sounds like a very small area, but it covers a ridiculously large amount of issues.
“Take a sore throat. It might be a something mundane, but if it’s repetitive then it can be a cancer or it might be acid reflux. You just need to get it looked at and then it can be dealt with early.”
Certainly taking the preventative approach to healthcare reduces the likelihood of huge issues revealing themselves in the future. Dr Mehta cites diabetes as largely treatable, if the triggers are understood and dealt with early enough.
“We call it the silent killer because there’s a lot of people who don’t realize that they have diabetes until it’s too late. Why would it be too late? Because diabetes tends to affect — amongst other things — blood vessels and nerves in your body.”
In fact, uncontrolled diabetes puts people at high risk of developing a heart attack or a stroke. It affects eyesight and can cause blindness or impaired vision. That tingling or numbness in your hands and legs affecting your exercise and mobility? That could be diabetes too — as could chronic abdominal pain. The key here is that individually these are issues that men might complain about and ignore.
If there’s one thing Dr Mehta hopes raising awareness of men’s health achieves, it’s positive action to prioritize well-being through preventative healthcare.
“I had a person in my clinic last week diagnosed as diabetic and the only symptom that he had was that he was getting more and more tired earlier in his runs. He thought it was because he was working very hard,” he explains.
“So we did the full screen for him. And, fortunately or unfortunately, we found out that he’s diabetic. I would say fortunately because he wasn’t in the high levels in terms of diabetes. So we managed him with lifestyle changes to begin with. And hopefully, I think the kind of person he is, he will do well.”
And all because the patient took action for a seemingly minor complaint that could easily have been put down to advancing years or the stresses of everyday life.
“This is what awareness does,” says Dr Mehta. “Getting early diagnoses genuinely saves lives. And as physicians we want to increase the number of years in your life — but also the life in your years.”
