Have you ever put off a visit to the doctor because of how embarrassing the issue is?

I broke my penis masturbating when I was a kid. There was an audible snap and it had an offset in the middle like you see on a road after an earthquake, was constantly weeping blood from the opening, and hurt like hell.

I wrapped that sucker in toilet paper daily and carried on, never told a soul.

Edit: apparently, I was lucky https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/sexual-health/expert-answers/penis-fracture/faq-20058154

You should never fell embarrassed to talk to your doctor, they are there to provide the medical care you need.

It's just another day for them is all it really is.

When I was younger. Now... Just strip and show the doc.

Yeah, I’ve also had doctors shame me for the issue too. It pisses me off because people leave shit untreated over this type of thing. Doctors are there to do an impartial job. They should keep their stupid personal opinions to themselves.

Yes I indeed have. That and the dentist.

I had a weird red spot on the tip of my dick for almost 2 years that I put off going to the doctor for. I knew it wasn't an STD (or at least trusted my wife enough to not consider it), but it had me worried for a while.

Eventually showed it to a doctor and they were like "oh you have Psoriasis, which is nothing to worry about. Here's a cream that will clear it up in a week."

Honestly I can't believe it took me 2 years to work up the courage to get it checked out. In the end it was a simple 5 minute conversation that relieved a ton of stress.

I had a reoccurring tear on my frenulum that I waited a long time to see the doctor for. It needed surgery, but I'm glad I finally did it.

No but I have put it off because it's expensive

Oh boy do I have a story for this. For reference (m27).

About a year ago I was having a pretty prolonged period of frequent digestive issues. It wasn't anything continous that would have made me go to the hospital; it was just ocasional bouts that were more frequent than would be considered normal. I didn't really think much of it considering my diet at the time made a college student diet look healthy. I went on like this for at least a couple of months.

Then I started waking up with back pain or abdominal pain fairly frequently. Once again I didn't think much of it because my mattress is crap and it always went away throughout the day.

That continued for about a month until one morning I woke up with what felt like back pain so bad I couldn't stand up straight. I took a shower bent over and took some painkillers to try and fix the problem before I had to go into work. It didn't get better and I took the day off.

The next day it was more of the same except I was nauseous and had abdominal pain that felt like really bad gas except it didn't go away. So I called in that day as well and just figured I had added a stomach bug to my back issues.

The next day the nausea got so bad I could barely drink water without puking it back up and my back hurt so bad that I couldn't even lay down without being in pain. Once again it just felt like really bad gas pains and back pain. But considering I could barely drink water I figured it was finally time to stop in to urgent care. So I went and drove myself to the local urgent care hunched over in the shrimp position in the drivers seat. I shrimp walked my ass in there and told them what the issue was. Then I sat down in the shrimp position the waiting room.... and suddenly.... all of the pain and nausea completely vanished with a feeling that felt like a gas bubble moving.

At that point I was convinced that I just took myself into urgent care for bad gas and I was dreading talking to the doctor but I had already checked in and at this point I needed a doctors note to return to work (COVID rules), so I would just have to get the doctor to tell my work that I had gas.

Eventually I get into an exam room and talk to a nurse. She is glad that I'm feeling better but wants to do an ultrasound anyways. So we go and do that and she sends it off for someone to look at while I wait in the exam room. About 30 minutes go by where I am dreading having a doctor walk back into the room and tell me I had gas in medical speak. Eventually the doctor comes in and says "well, unfortunatly you have a gall stone." And then he was a little surprised that I seemed releaved by that news.

So a couple days later I had my gallblader surgically removed and the surgeon came and told me afterwords that my gallblader had swollen to twice the size of a healthy gallblader and likely had a gallstone at least partially obstructing the bile duct for months which would explain the frequent digestive issues I had been having.

So I had been living with a gall stone for months because I thought I had a shit diet and bad gas.

I had a skin tag on the tip of my nipple. Embarrassing and terrified it would hurt getting it removed. It wasn’t till I was going to need to breastfeed my daughter, I went and got it removed.

I was about 17-18 and hat a tick on my nutsack. Tried getting it off myself but it ended up getting infected. Only after the pain got worse than the potential embarrassment I slinked to the doctor.

Definitely and still do.

No, my fear of it being something horrible and permanent is always stronger than any embarrassment I feel.

I wonder what the medical community thinks about that? I'm sure the public health repurcussions are significant.

Bro, you gotta work on your technique.