nudity during physical exam

[Industrialsize]

For insurance purposeb I had to undergo a full check-up last month. I had received the medical form from the insurance company in advance and saw that invloved a genitals check. I was getting really excited when I saw the doc was a young and really cute dude.
He asked me to strip but to keep my boxers. Then he checked me out.
When we got to this part of the form, I was semi-hard and prepared to drop my boxers.
Then the doc just asked whether I had any sexual issues, problem to get erect, itchyness, infection, etc.... Since all my answers were 'no' he just ticked all relevant boxes and told me I could dress up....
What a disappointment!
Next time, I'll say 'yes' to one of them

What did you expect to happen?

 

[RamblingCock]

He will not react at all. If you do "anything" you will be labeled as a "provocative" patient. You don't want that in your record. I'm a registered nurse. Medical professionals are not there for your sexual pleasure.

I have a question for you then. My last half-dozen "physicals" haven't been nearly as in-depth as they were a decade or so ago. Most of the exam is reviewing test results and going over lifestyle, etc. On the computer. It takes a half-hour or so. Yesterday was my first physical with a new doctor's office. As with my previous practice it was conducted by a female nurse practitioner. I've got no problems with this, they're medical professionals.

One of the reasons I changed practices is that I have a number of issues related to my lower left side and groin - a varicocele, as well as scar tissue from a number of surgeries including three hernias and a kidney operation which left scar tissue causing other problems later.

So, obviously I'm not very shy when it comes to being in front of medical personnel. But neither of the two nurse practitioners did much more than inquire about the problems, with no physical examination of the genitals or pubic region. The only reason I even dropped the underwear was for the prostate check, and not even that with my previous practitioner.

Are genital checks becoming a thing of the past? Or should I look around for a male nurse practitioner/PA for the exam? I'm not looking for anything exciting, but given my history I'd have assumed at least a hernia check would have been warranted.

I'm curious if, as a nurse, you can shed some light of this apparent shyness amongst nurses.

 

[Industrialsize]

I have a question for you then. My last half-dozen "physicals" haven't been nearly as in-depth as they were a decade or so ago. Most of the exam is reviewing test results and going over lifestyle, etc. On the computer. It takes a half-hour or so. Yesterday was my first physical with a new doctor's office. As with my previous practice it was conducted by a female nurse practitioner. I've got no problems with this, they're medical professionals.

One of the reasons I changed practices is that I have a number of issues related to my lower left side and groin - a varicocele, as well as scar tissue from a number of surgeries including three hernias and a kidney operation which left scar tissue causing other problems later.

So, obviously I'm not very shy when it comes to being in front of medical personnel. But neither of the two nurse practitioners did much more than inquire about the problems, with no physical examination of the genitals or pubic region. The only reason I even dropped the underwear was for the prostate check, and not even that with my previous practitioner.

Are genital checks becoming a thing of the past? Or should I look around for a male nurse practitioner/PA for the exam? I'm not looking for anything exciting, but given my history I'd have assumed at least a hernia check would have been warranted.

I'm curious if, as a nurse, you can shed some light of this apparent shyness amongst nurses.

I will not play along with medical fanatsies.

 

[RamblingCock]

I will not play along with medical fanatsies.

That wasn't my question. In fact, just the opposite. It isn't a medical fantasy, it's an actual medical concern. Please reread the question if you've taken any offense at it. (Though your response may, in and of itself, give me the answer: nurses are becoming shyer and more worried about patient motivations.)

 

[miamirt]

I will not play along with medical fanatsies.

WTF??!!!

 

[FRE]

I feel that requesting an adequate physical examination would brand me in some way that could be detrimental. I don't know what to do about it.

My experience indicates that physical examinations have become less thorough than they used to be. That may well result in failure to find medical problems before they become serious. Probably it is not a coincidence that this has occurred along with increased squeamishness about nudity. As most of us are aware, until the late 1970s or so, in school gym classes boys swam nude and took showers nude in open-type showers. This was widely accepted and considered completely normal.

 

[hardboy_fll]

My experience indicates that physical examinations have become less thorough than they used to be. That may well result in failure to find medical problems before they become serious.

That's why God invented malpractice lawsuits.

When your medical "professional" refuses to do a thorough job because you are perceived to be "provocative" and you suffer as a result...

 

[dude77007]

I was so naive at my first prostate exam as an adult. He told me to drop my pants and underwear. He had me bend over the table and spread my legs. He fingered me for what seemed like forever and it hurt a bit. I began drooling a white, milky, watery substance on the floor. It's not actually dick honey because it isn't clear, sticky and doesn't produce ropes. Some of it was dripping on my pants which were around my ankles. When he finished, he handed me a tissue. I wiped the stuff off my dick and balls and disposed of the tissue. I started to pull up my briefs and he handed me another tissue. That's when I realized that I was supposed to wipe my butt with the first tissue. I was embarrassed. At subsequent exams, I drip wherever and don't wipe my dick. I just wipe my ass. Thought about asking for two tissues but never have. They should give you more than one tissue. Surely, every guy drools a bit or alot, when someone puts their finger up your ass.

 

[Max_Polo]

That's why God invented malpractice lawsuits.

When your medical "professional" refuses to do a thorough job because you are perceived to be "provocative" and you suffer as a result...

Multiple separate issues here.

If your physician thinks your behavior is inappropriate, it's his/her job to inform you and recommend another physician. Simple as that, I've done it and assume most or all have.

Next, however, is the perception that "thorough" is the same as appropriate or best. A full body CT scan monthly might be thorough, it also would increase cancer risk in the long term.

Maybe a better example is prostate examination. In the past, not terribly controversial but is now. No data to support any value and in fact, several professional associations now recommend against prostate cancer screening in most men. Assuming that recommendation persists, eventually prostate examinations will become much less common...but there will be a delay because harms of omission (ie failure to diagnose a prostate cancer) are more routinely punished by malpractice litigation than are harms of commission (ie harm caused by treatment of a prostate cancer that was never likely to cause symptoms or other harm).

 

[Dave NoCal]

Next, however, is the perception that "thorough" is the same as appropriate or best. A full body CT scan monthly might be thorough, it also would increase cancer risk in the long term.

I think this is an exaggerated dichotomy, perhaps for the purpose of making a point, but fails to address people's sense of receiving medical care that is cursory, not reassuring, and unhelpful. Another issue is self-determination. If I book, make time for, and make my copayments for a physical and associated labs, I want to get one. If you think there is no valid purpose for running a PSA or checking the prostate's size, tone, presence of lumps, etc... Then please appraise me of the current controversy and let me make an informed choice in a matter that is potentially about survival.

You got to understand, however, that I had a tick attachment in 1986, started developing a variety of symptoms and syndromes. I went to all kinds of best docs who diagnosed in accordance with specific organ systems (asthma, COPD, Graves' disease, arthritis, bursitis......) In 2003, a PA at a Doc In The Box asked me if I had ever been tested for Lyme and finally was offered a Western Blot which was positive. I started taking antibiotics in 2003, and have improved dramatically over the years (No asthma, no COPD, no bursitis, minimal arthritis typical of someone now approaching seventy, my thyroid was oblated). I say I have chronic Lyme disease. You probably figure I'm crazy. However, there is nothing like a chronic Lyme to instill total contempt for the medical profession.

I do like and trust a select few physicians including my current PCP who saved, if not my life, my quality of life.

 

[Max_Polo]

Next, however, is the perception that "thorough" is the same as appropriate or best. A full body CT scan monthly might be thorough, it also would increase cancer risk in the long term.

I think this is an exaggerated dichotomy, perhaps for the purpose of making a point.

Precisely that.

Another issue is self-determination. If I book, make time for, and make my copayments for a physical and associated labs, I want to get one. If you think there is no valid purpose for running a PSA or checking the prostate's size, tone, presence of lumps, etc... Then please appraise me of the current controversy and let me make an informed choice in a matter that is potentially about survival.

Whether you pay for a specific service or not, the "annual physical" is precisely the time when your physician should discuss screening issues, particularly any about which you express a concern. Unfortunately, sometimes paternalism is substituted for that discussion in the interest of saving time - it should not be.

I say I have chronic Lyme disease. You probably figure I'm crazy.

I'm fairly certain I've never met you, let alone seen you as a patient. But you don't seem crazy at this point. Chronic Lyme disease is controversial but so are other diseases (fibromyalgia for example) that are diagnosed based on symptom clusters and can be neither proved nor disproved. So even if I did not believe that Chronic Lyme disease explained your symptoms, I think if you're better, why should I argue? I don't care if the antibiotic is killing spirochetes or is placebo. Definitely better to be successful and not sure why than to perfectly understand why a patient is deteriorating.

I do like and trust a select few physicians including my current PCP who saved, if not my life, my quality of life.

You are very fortunate; primary care physicians may soon be an endangered subspecies.

 

[Dave NoCal]

Precisely that.



Whether you pay for a specific service or not, the "annual physical" is precisely the time when your physician should discuss screening issues, particularly any about which you express a concern. Unfortunately, sometimes paternalism is substituted for that discussion in the interest of saving time - it should not be.



I'm fairly certain I've never met you, let alone seen you as a patient. But you don't seem crazy at this point. Chronic Lyme disease is controversial but so are other diseases (fibromyalgia for example) that are diagnosed based on symptom clusters and can be neither proved nor disproved. So even if I did not believe that Chronic Lyme disease explained your symptoms, I think if you're better, why should I argue? I don't care if the antibiotic is killing spirochetes or is placebo. Definitely better to be successful and not sure why than to perfectly understand why a patient is deteriorating.



You are very fortunate; primary care physicians may soon be an endangered subspecies.

Thank you for your response. It is very challenging to live in the middle of one of the nastiest medical controversies of recent times. When I was so ill it was crazy. Bronchitis all the time for years, night sweats, exhaustion, falling down stairs, losing my car, losing my apartment, bumping into the furniture, getting disoriented two blocks from work and not knowing my way back, sudden arthralgias, facial numbness, sudden muscle cramps, drooling, couldn't operate the copier or my voice mail, absolutely losing my train of thought in the middle of a lecture, etc, etc, etc... I was sure I was getting early onset Alzheimer's. Once treatment began, I began to recover and within a couple of years got promoted to Professor, designed and built a house and gradually the brain fog began to lift. I stopped getting bronchitis. The night sweats stopped. I returned to the gym and can currently do squat sets with weigh equal to my body weight on my shoulders (age 67). Yet any encounter with the medical profession can result in a challenge of this reality. I went to a walk-in clinic for systemic poison oak. The physician challenged me on why I take antibiotics. I explained it was for Lyme disease. When He asked and I told him how long I had been taking them the responded: "Antibiotics are only effective for Lyme disease the first month. Any symptoms after that are post Lyme syndrome (and you are fucked)." So I went Columbo on his ass and mildly asked: "Is that like post tuberculosis syndrome after a month of treatment?" He looked at me slack-jawed and I said: "Just order my Prednizone shot." Welcome to my life.

It is actually getting a bit better around here. A few years a local physician's son died unexpectedly at age twenty-two of an AV block due to Lyme disease. Having it hit so close to home seems to have woken them up a bit.

 

[Max_Polo]

Thank you for your response. It is very challenging to live in the middle of one of the nastiest medical controversies of recent times. When I was so ill it was crazy. Bronchitis all the time for years, night sweats, exhaustion, falling down stairs, losing my car, losing my apartment, bumping into the furniture, getting disoriented two blocks from work and not knowing my way back, sudden arthralgias, facial numbness, sudden muscle cramps, drooling, couldn't operate the copier or my voice mail, absolutely losing my train of thought in the middle of a lecture, etc, etc, etc... I was sure I was getting early onset Alzheimer's. Once treatment began, I began to recover and within a couple of years got promoted to Professor, designed and built a house and gradually the brain fog began to lift. I stopped getting bronchitis. The night sweats stopped. I returned to the gym and can currently do squat sets with weigh equal to my body weight on my shoulders (age 67). Yet any encounter with the medical profession can result in a challenge of this reality. I went to a walk-in clinic for systemic poison oak. The physician challenged me on why I take antibiotics. I explained it was for Lyme disease. When He asked and I told him how long I had been taking them the responded: "Antibiotics are only effective for Lyme disease the first month. Any symptoms after that are post Lyme syndrome (and you are fucked)." So I went Columbo on his ass and mildly asked: "Is that like post tuberculosis syndrome after a month of treatment?" He looked at me slack-jawed and I said: "Just order my Prednizone shot." Welcome to my life.

It is actually getting a bit better around here. A few years a local physician's son died unexpectedly at age twenty-two of an AV block due to Lyme disease. Having it hit so close to home seems to have woken them up a bit.

I'm a pretty smart guy, but the book of all the shit I don't know is way bigger than the book of shit I do know. And beyond that, there's the "unknown unknown." Glad you're doing well!

 

[japetty]

I feel that requesting an adequate physical examination would brand me in some way that could be detrimental. I don't know what to do about it.

My experience indicates that physical examinations have become less thorough than they used to be. That may well result in failure to find medical problems before they become serious. Probably it is not a coincidence that this has occurred along with increased squeamishness about nudity. As most of us are aware, until the late 1970s or so, in school gym classes boys swam nude and took showers nude in open-type showers. This was widely accepted and considered completely normal.

Much more than my primary, and that is the same for the last 3 or 4 primary care physicians depend mostly on what the blood and urine tests tell them. If I have further question that they think they don't want to answer then they refer me to a specialist and sometimes the first specialist will refer some other specialist which I have to go back to her then she and I will discuss what the first specialist wrote in his recommendations and refer me to the next specialist. Each specialist i have to go see will cost me a $50.00 co-pay and insurance picks up from there to the reasonable and customary charges. If the specialist is network then he eats anything above reasonable and customary. If he is out of network I have to pay those charges.

The only way I have gotten a complete prostate examination is at the urologist. I have not seen had that from primary care physician in maybe 10 years. The reason I have been to that many primary care physician's is insurance reasons.

 

[Max_Polo]

Much more than my primary, and that is the same for the last 3 or 4 primary care physicians depend mostly on what the blood and urine tests tell them. If I have further question that they think they don't want to answer then they refer me to a specialist and sometimes the first specialist will refer some other specialist which I have to go back to her then she and I will discuss what the first specialist wrote in his recommendations and refer me to the next specialist. Each specialist i have to go see will cost me a $50.00 co-pay and insurance picks up from there to the reasonable and customary charges. If the specialist is network then he eats anything above reasonable and customary. If he is out of network I have to pay those charges.

The only way I have gotten a complete prostate examination is at the urologist. I have not seen had that from primary care physician in maybe 10 years. The reason I have been to that many primary care physician's is insurance reasons.

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against prostate-specific antigen (PSA)–based screening for prostate cancer.​

 

[japetty]

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends against prostate-specific antigen (PSA)–based screening for prostate cancer.​

I was not complaining it was just something I have noticed that the primary care physician did not give me the finger wave with all that lube they used then they only give me one somewhat small tissue to wipe it all off. I just kinda thought I was of an age they did not do it any longer and I was not about to ask. Didn't want them to get the idea I might think I needed it for some reason. Thanks for the information.

 

[Max_Polo]

I was not complaining it was just something I have noticed that the primary care physician did not give me the finger wave with all that lube they used then they only give me one somewhat small tissue to wipe it all off. I just kinda thought I was of an age they did not do it any longer and I was not about to ask. Didn't want them to get the idea I might think I needed it for some reason. Thanks for the information.

Sound like they're actually keeping up with the data...that's good!

 

[Dave NoCal]

Or keeping up with the data that suits them.

 

[Max_Polo]

Or keeping up with the data that suits them.

How so? As long as they are discussing the pros and cons of a test, that's good, right?

 

[japetty]

Sound like they're actually keeping up with the data...that's good!

If I knew what I was reading I could go online and read all the data as well. I know little about it. My wife thinks she know cause she reads a bit of medical documents etc online. The issue I have with that is this one true or is that one true or somewhere in the middle for both. There is just to much BS posted on the WEB which I have told her many times.

The other issue I have are these small emergency health care center and here where I live we find them on almost every street corner and I know people who depend on them for their heath care. My son is one of those because he works for the Union Pacific Railroad and has no regular work schedule so he don't really know when to make a medical appointment with a primary care physician, in fact he don't even have a primary care physician. I hear stories about some of these places but I can't really say these stories are true or just BS cause the place pissed someone off with a bill or something that maybe their insurance did not cover and they wanted them to pay and they probably owe. We have no way of really knowing except personal experience of your own with the place. Even then they change personnel and then who knows. To me medical attention in the USA has been getting worse over the last 10 years. I know here where I live if you have cash to pay when care is delivered you get good health care. The don't want anything to do with health insurance. They do give you advice or instructions how to bill insurance yourself. I did not think this was allowed?

To mention the nudity at the Physicians office, The only place in say the last 10 years I have experienced this is when I have to go for a colonoscopy and i only have the that stupid backless gown. I have even experienced less nudity when I visit medical office of most any kind than I use to experience say back 10 years and further. One other thing though I am a healthy person and only visit medical personnel for my regular examination and have very seldom experienced an emergency for which I am very thankful at my age still.