 The dirty little secrets you’re hiding from your physician may be harming your health. (Shutterstock)
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How many cocktails do you consume a week? Have you gotten into the habit of popping Xanax throughout the day to keep your nerves at bay? Do you have sex with multiple partners?
For many people, September is the month when annual “check-ups” are scheduled. Many people find that conversations about irregular bowel movements, foot fungus or itchy “private parts” are too embarrassing to discuss with others, and because of this patients often lie to or withhold information from their doctors. But what good is a trip to the doctor if you’re not honest about what ails you?
The truth is that the dirty little secrets you’re hiding from your physician may be harming your health. Here are some of the things you must come clean about during your next examination, and why it’s important to make true confessions:
Risky Sex
It’s a known fact that sex with multiple partners, especially if unprotected, will increase your chances of contracting HIV and other STDs. But did you know that with each new sexual partner your risk of getting HPV increases by 15 percent, and that certain strains of HPV are linked to cervical and prostate cancer?
And though it’s still considered a taboo topic, anal sex among heterosexuals is on the rise - - from a low of 9% in the Kinsey data to a high of 34% of men in a national survey in 2002 by the NFSG. The hazards include incontinence to various STDs such as HPV infection, which may lead to anal cancer.
Early detection of these life threatening diseases is critical but may be missed by your doctor if they are kept in the dark about your risk factors. And it’s not only the number of partners with whom you have had intercourse but how often you do it.
Smoking
If you fib about how many cigarettes you smoke a day you may avoid a lecture about quitting, but the misinformation you feed your medical practitioner may cause complications down the road. Smokers, for example, are advised to cut back on cigarettes at least 4-6 weeks prior to any operation to ensure proper healing after surgery. If surgeons are alerted to these habits, the recovery time, pain and scarring that is often worse among smokers than nonsmokers can better be avoided. Nicotine also acts as an inhibitor and does not mix well with certain medications such as anti-seizure, cardiovascular and anti-diabetic drugs which may have dosages prescribed based on the information you provide (or don’t provide) to your physician.
Eating Disorders
One out of every 10 eating disorder patients is over forty years old, and with midlife bulimia on the rise there are repercussions, particularly since heart disease is a top killer among this population of women. Problems breathing, heart palpitations, chronic fatigue or pain induced by purging may be a sign of something more serious, but cannot be properly treated if your doctor cannot get to the root of the problem. Exercise bulimia is also often left undiagnosed and is a serious condition that can affect fertility. It is important to make your gynecologist aware of any eating disorders gynecologist if you are hoping to start a family down the road.
No matter what you are hiding, those little white lies and half-truths are simply not good for your health. It’s up to you to take your health personally and the only way to act as your own wellness ambassador is to speak the truth and nothing but the truth during your next medical examination. Your physician needs your candor in order to help you achieve your best health.
