There are some conditions seen as so embarrassing that people are hesitant to discuss them even with their spouses \u2014 with results that range from the painful to the disastrous.<\/p>\n
For Mumbai-based banking executive, Sheena Tripathi, the delay in consulting a doctor led to her cancer progressing to stage three.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old took six months to admit to her parents that she had a problem with incontinence. \u201cI finally had to,\u201d she says, \u201cwhen, on our way to Shirdi, I wet my pants.\u201d<\/p>\n
It turned out to be bladder cancer. \u201cI had seen the signs all along, but chose to ignore them. If I hadn\u2019t, my cancer would have been detected in the first stage instead of the third,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Because of the late diagnosis, Tripathi has needed six cycles of chemotherapy, after surgery to remove her urinary bladder. Doctors had to make her a new bladder from her small intestine.<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t gone to work for over a year,\u201d Tripathi says. \u201cAnd my brain no longer receives the signal, so I have to forcefully empty my bladder every hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dr Sonal Anand, a psychiatrist at Mumbai\u2019s Wockhardt Hospital, says, \u201cMen tend to stay silent also because they\u2019ve been brought up to be strong, bear pain without complaining.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWomen typically don\u2019t want to burden the family with problems, \u2018especially when they have big enough problems of their own.\u201d<\/p>\n
IT executive Samarth Mehta (name changed on request), 28, suffered for nearly 15 years from enlarged breasts caused by a hormone imbalance. \u201cDuring office picnics, I couldn\u2019t go swimming because I didn\u2019t want to take off my shirt,\u201d he says. \u201cI spoke to my parents about it for the first time last year and, with surgery and medication, the situation is much better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t stay silent, says Dr Vinod Vij, cosmetic surgeon at Mumbai\u2019s Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital. \u201cNever hesitate to talk about a problem, if not with family, then at least with a doctor. It\u2019s our job to listen and advancements in science mean that there is often a solution to the problem too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sometimes the problem is clearly visible, and acute, but the patient cringes at the thought of discussing it.<\/p>\n
Delhi-based architect Saru Arora, 25, had severe acne since her early teens.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost everyone I met had some expert advice to offer \u2014 you must be eating extra oily, spicy food. Stop eating sweets completely. Don\u2019t touch the pocks or you\u2019ll ruin your face. It was as if it was my fault that I had acne,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd in all that time, nobody told me I could see a doctor; they dismissed it as teenage problem that would go away with time, and so did I.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being a topper, Arora says she was relegated to the background in college.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not even on the magazine cover for our batch. I had become so uncomfortable in my own skin,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Last year, she finally met a dermatologist who told her the acne was a result of a severe hormonal imbalance. After a year of medication and treatment, Arora\u2019s skin problem is nearly cured.<\/p>\n
\u201cAcne is treatable, so don\u2019t suffer in silence,\u201d says Dr Deepali Bhardwaj, the dermatologist who treated Arora. \u201cIf acne doesn\u2019t subside within six weeks, despite trying gentle home remedies, then you should see a doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Excessive sweating is another issue that people tend to live with, often ridden with embarrassment, without realising there is a solution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are some conditions seen as so embarrassing that people are hesitant to discuss them even with their spouses \u2014 with results that range from the painful to the disastrous. For Mumbai-based banking executive, Sheena Tripathi, the delay in consulting a doctor led to her cancer progressing to stage three. The 25-year-old took six months […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9402","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9402"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9404,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9402\/revisions\/9404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9402"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9402"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9402"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}