Getting the nerve to talk to parents...

[Alex18]

Anyone else have any advice?

[headheldhigh01]

 I have honestly never understood why people have difficulty talking to their doctors and parents about this.  Yes, it's embarrassing, but you can bet your ass that your doctor of all people has seen much worse/stranger things in his/her life.  

 that may be, but it doesn't change the fact that the reasons people have this difficulty, and it was probably most of us, are that it's humiliating, it's confusing, and it most often strikes at a time, teen years, when people are especially sensitive to shame and derision by peers, and may be experiencing more than normal tensions with their parents.  they say hindsight is 20-20.  

Take it from me: don't wait any longer; you need to see a doctor.  I'm 28 and I wish to God I had tackled this problem 10 years ago.  The past 10 years of my life have literally been ruined.

consider yourself lucky, the discovery took more like 23 years for me and lots more for guys like dan.  make the most of what you've got anyway.  

"GETTING THE NERVE TO APPROACH PARENTS REGARDING NEEDING A REVISION"

 don't hit the panic button yet, you need to give it recovery time.  flare-up is common, and few cases are normal right away.

one past post by me on the subject

General / User Photos / Re: How to talk to your parents (was 18 with Gyne)    Oct 31st, 2004, 8:02pm
Quote:
If surgery is the only option, how can I bring up surgery to my parents, I have never even talked about my nipples with them before, its kind of a strange subject.

if i try to picture myself telling parents years ago the way i wish i had if i'd known what this was, it might run something like this.  

"mom, dad, i've had something on my mind i wanted to discuss.  this is a little embarassing, but it's something i think i have to deal with.  

i've noticed i've had a physical condition, so i did a little research on it.  the technical name for it is gynecomastia, and it happens a lot in puberty, in fact most men get it in at least some degree temporarily.  in most cases it goes away in the first 2-3 years, but in others it can stick around.  

apparently if your hormone ratios go a little odd, guys can develop enlargement in the breast area.  normally it makes people's lives hell because they get teased about it pretty mercilessly, they get depressed and don't talk about it, -- but there are surgical procedures that can correct it too.  apparently the price range runs anywhere from $3-6000 depending on surgeon, location, complexity of the case, and so on.  

i'm still researching this and talking to a bunch of people i've discovered online who've suffered from the same condition, but i'm learning a lot.  in any case, this is something that's really important to me.  some people try to minimize it and say oh it's nothing, but it can really mess things up, and i'd like to explore getting it fixed and having a normal life."  

(optional if finances become an issue):  i understand, so i just want to mention again this one's really important to me.  a lot of surgeons won't operate till the hormones restabilize a little, but if i have to take a job or two to help pull my weight on this one and start saving, i just want you to know that that's how much this means to me.  

adjust to fit your circumstances as needed Smiley  

in case of further interest, two past threads on this were  

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=1;action=display;num=1066861852;start=1#1 and  

http://www.gynecomastia.org/cgi-bin/gyne_yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=11;action=display;num=1062304280;start=1#1

-- h3