The realization hit Natalie like a ton of bricks.
Her mother, Joann, had literally died of embarrassment! Joann had noticed blood in her stool almost a year before she was diagnosed with colon cancer.
At first she told herself it must have been those beets she ate.
Then she thought it was most likely her hemorrhoids, although she had not had a flair-up of hemorrhoids since Natalie’s birth 52 years earlier.
The truth was that Joann was embarrassed to talk with her doctor about private topics such as her bowel habits.
She didn’t raise the concern with her doctor until she had bloating, cramping and abdominal pain.
This led to the diagnosis of colon cancer that ultimately took her life.
Natalie’s brother-in-law, who was a nurse, wondered whether Joann would still be alive if she had told her doctor about the blood in her stool when she first noticed it.
Let’s face it; certain topics are embarrassing to talk about with your doctor.
I call them the 5 P’s:
• Peeing
• Pooping
• Paying
• Procreating
• Psychic moaning
Although at first blush the challenge of talking with your doctor about embarrassing medical topics seems simple enough, for some people, it can cause significant suffering.
Hillary, for example, had what’s now called a shy bladder.
She had not used a public restroom in over 20 years.
She was too embarrassed to talk with her doctor about this; instead, she remained a prisoner to her bladder.
Ed was laid off from work and could no longer afford his asthma medications.
Instead of talking with his doctor about it, he decided to do without He wound up in the emergency room with an asthma attack that could have been avoided with regular medication. pkt.pl