5 strategies to address embarrassing problems with your doctor
Sitting down with a person that you’ve just known for a few minutes to share your innermost secrets and discuss your quirky symptoms can be an awkward and stressful experience. Embarrassing health woes can be anything ranging from sexual dysfunction, sexually-transmitted infections and diseases, urinary incontinence, to hair loss and body odor.
However, as embarrassing as the situation may be, if you keep the symptoms to yourself and delay seeing a doctor, it may be too late when things spiral out of control. After all, explaining your health concerns is the first step to finding a suitable treatment option. Not to mention that you can’t really shock a doctor since they have most likely seen a plethora of things much worse than that.
In today’s Pacific Prime Hong Kong article, we will discuss the common ice-breaking strategies to help you talk to your doctor about embarrassing health problems more easily.
Building a partnership
Unlike a date, when seeing a doctor you don’t necessarily need to keep eye contact and worry about the first impression you are making. However, the doctor can only understand and evaluate your situation properly if you are truly honest and open about your symptoms. In return, a professional doctor will not be judgemental about what you are going through. This kind of mutual trust between doctor and patient is the cornerstone of treating your ailments.
Write down your concerns
Too often, when we have bizarre health issues, the first thing we turn to is not the doctor but Google. However, neither Google nor Wikipedia is a credible source for medical information. These sites also often link mild medical conditions to serious illnesses, such as cancer, thus causing a lot of unnecessary anxiety.
Having said that, it is still a smart idea to do your research in advance and write down a list of questions that you want to ask, so as to ensure that you remember to disclose everything that’s on your mind. Having a note next to you also helps reduce the emotional load of the experience and makes you feel less nervous.
Use priming phrases
“Priming” is a psychology term that means “exposure to something that influences behavior later on”. A few examples of priming phrases include “I’ve never talked to anyone about this before.”, and “I haven’t shared this outside of my relationship with my husband”. These phrases serve as cues to your doctor that you are about to discuss something very personal.
This strategy can slow down the conservation and help you catch the attention of the doctor on what you are going to say. They are more likely to uncover crucial details in what you say and hence tackle your physical and emotional difficulties. And, should something be too embarrassing for you to say out loud, you can just hand the doctor your note.
Be straightforward
Once again, it’s not a date. So instead of using vague and socially appropriate wording, be direct and specific about your ailment. If your fart stinks, describe in detail how it smells like. If you experience pain in sex, explain where and when you feel the pain. Some issues that have plagued you for long periods of time may be surprisingly easy to fix. But if you continue to stay silent about those symptoms, you are most likely going to continue to suffer.
Address your conditions as soon as possible
The earlier you start to consult a doctor and voice out about your medical issues, the easier it will be for both you and the doctor to treat the symptoms. Patients should understand that doctors see the consultation room as a sacred place where they can talk about anything, no matter how sensitive it is.
Contact Pacific Prime Hong Kong for more health information
While a quick chat with the doctor can only last for a couple of minutes, debilitating symptoms may plague you for a long time. Besides, things may be easier if you have a doctor that you frequently visit as you’ve already developed a comfortable tell-all patient-doctor relationship.
To ensure that you can receive medical treatment from your desired doctor, you can secure a solid health insurance policy through a reliable insurance broker.
With over 19 years of experience and close relationships with over 60 insurers, Pacific Prime Hong Kong is a reputable insurance broker that specializes in international health insurance and corporate employee benefits solutions. Contact us today for impartial insurance advice, an obligation-free quote, and a free plan comparison.
His expertise encompasses a broad range of areas including international health insurance, employee benefits solutions, motor insurance, life insurance, and various other forms of general insurance. This breadth of knowledge enables him to distill an array of complex insurance concepts into a series of progressive, easily understandable articles.
Anthony earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Lingnan University, majoring in Translation and minoring in English. He also studied at West Virginia University in the United States as an exchange student.
When he’s not working, Anthony can typically be found on the badminton court, in the gym, or at the cinema.
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