Are you Man enough to face the Doc?

Open the lid of an tight jar? He's your guy. Drag a heavy bucket? He'll volunteer. But visit the doctor for a regular health checkup? You can count him out.

Among the many quirks that men are generally accepted to have, is also their general disinclination to visit doctors. Urban myth or simple truth, discussion boards and men’s websites teem with multiple reasons for why men hesitate in matters medical. The reasons may range from misplaced macho pride to not wanting to talk to the doctor about uncomfortable physical symptoms.

Most men avoid seeing a doctor because they think they are strong enough to overcome minor ailments. They also tend to ignore symptoms, which may culminate in more serious conditions,” . My friend Investment adviser Diane Judy explains her misgivings over going to the doctor with a sardonic, “The last time I went to my doc, he gave me a thorough physical. Not an experience I want to repeat!” Indeed, a dislike for the often uncomfortable and intrusive, yet essential, examinations men have to go through is one of the foremost reasons cited for avoiding the doctor’s office.

My brother Jack Black recounts our own father’s reluctance to see the doctor to corroborate the men-don’t- approach-doctors phenomenon. “After much coercion on the part of my mother, my father agreed to go in’ for a battery of tests as part of a checkup. His blood pressure was on the higher side for which the doctor prescribed certain medication. He was asked to return within a couple of months. But try as we could, he never went back. He just continued with the same prescription:’ she says, adding, “He admitted that he didn’t want to know if anything was wrong, after visiting the doctor.

”While women too tend to put off going to the doctor, they do tend to accept when they need help, one reason why their visits to the doctor are far timelier. But even within the say-no-to- doctors tribe, there are exceptions, says HR professional Andrews. “My fiance certainly isn’t afraid of going to the doctor. He once went to the doctor with a severe tummy ache, which he tragically ascribed to a tumor. The doctor told him it was acidity!” she laughs.