Sign In / Register
Most Mahurangi Matters readers would have a male friend or family member who rarely talks about their health issues and stubbornly refuses to visit a doctor unless absolutely necessary.
When we spoke about this with Coast to Coast director Dr Tim Malloy for Men’s Health Week, which runs from June 9 to 15, he stressed the importance of Kiwi men front-footing their wellbeing and getting a check-up sooner rather than later.
“There are a number of conditions that specifically affect men, but it’s also the fact that men are somewhat reticent to seek help and to monitor their health in a way that would enable us to be more preventative of poor outcomes for them,” Dr Malloy said.
What would he say were the main conditions facing New Zealand males?
“Men are over-represented in cardiovascular disease. In my opinion, one of the single most important variables, apart from the obvious like smoking and being overweight, is the reality that lots of men do not have their blood pressure checked,” he said.
“It can be a significant correctable risk factor, so just having a check-up solely for blood pressure would be a great place to start. But also, if you’re in for any other reason at all, just ask somebody to check your blood pressure.
“And it’s important to check for cardiovascular disease even when you’re perfectly well. That hasn’t changed in a number of generations.”
He added, “Hypertension is a precursor to cardiovascular disease relatively early in life – if you have hypertension in your 20s, chances are you’re going to have coronary artery disease by the time you’re 50-something.”
Dr Malloy said that getting a prostate check was also a good idea.
“Prostatic disease generally speaking doesn’t occur until you’re much older. However, there are some prostatic cancers that occur at a very young age, but they tend to occur within families.
“So knowing your family’s medical history is important. If you have a family history of prostate cancer at a young age then you should be checked at a young age.”
He added that it was worth getting checked if symptoms related to the prostate gland were present: going to the loo more often than usual (frequency); waking up at nighttime to go more often than previously (nocturia); and where there isn’t much warning before having to go (urgency).
Another important check for men is getting a mole map.
“This country has some of the highest incidence of skin cancer.
“A number of men work in environments where they get a lot of sun exposure, such as on farms or construction sites, and that may become a very real risk that they need to manage, like using adequate sun protection and getting screened for skin cancer.”
But Malloy said the single biggest ticket item for men was mental health.
“We still see some resistance from men to engage in processes that will begin to address mental health issues. There is still the stoical behaviour that is a hangover from the past.
“Many men feel compromised in their ability to manage the demands on them around work, parenting and the provider-type image of themselves, while trying to actually address the issues of their own mental health problems.
“The consequences of that may be counterproductive in that they may tend to abuse or use alcohol or drugs inappropriately, when in fact they need to solve the problem.”
He said it could be a challenge for men to access the right place to get help.
“Men aren’t particularly good at knowing where the right place is. However, they will seek our advice on that. The fact that they are talking to their GP is still something that shows they’re not completely closed off.
“What I find intriguing as a male doctor is they’re happy to come and talk to me, but they may still be quite reticent to go on and speak with somebody else, for example if we refer them to a counsellor, psychologist or otherwise.
“I’m not sure if that’s a trust issue or a comfort zone issue. Maybe it’s the fact they’ve shared some reasonably uncomfortable commentary, and then to have to do it again with somebody else, they may not be that comfortable.
“But we do have guys coming in regularly now, whereas nobody came in 30 years ago, which was disastrous. It’s just been a gradual improvement over time. We’re not there yet but there is progress being made.”
Dr Malloy said Men’s Health Week was important because it was a way to focus on and bring to the fore the issues “that we confront as men”.
“It becomes, therefore, an issue around awareness in the community. And hopefully that becomes part of the process in breaking down barriers (for men accessing healthcare) in its own way.”
