Going to see doctor soon...

[VT]

So i'm 16, first noticed gyne in about march/april of 2005, and I can't handle it anymore. I go to the gym 5 nights a week but I just feel like I'm wasting my time because I'm never going to take my shirt off looking like this and thus I'm not really that motivated to keep it up. I went to see my doc back in april and he basically said there was nothing he could and left it at that.

Going to see him again at the end of the month, and tbh I'm actually looking forward to going (I've apparently managed to convince myself that he will say something different this time), but I'm terrified that he'll just blow me off again and tell me to come back in a year or something if it doesn't go away by itself. I'd love nothing more than to have surgery this very moment, but I don't know if that's an option at my age. Is there anything else I/ the doc can do? I've heard there are some medicines or something that some doctors prescribe (Nolvadex or something?), anyone know if this can help at all?   

[Mr_Nip]

First, about the gym:  Congrats about your discipline.  The problem is that gyne is not like a fat gut or flab that can be worked off.  It's hard-wired into your body like your ears.

At age 16 most surgeons won't operate because your hormones haven't yet become stable.  At 17 or 18 if your gyne hasn't gone away it probably won't.  See an endocrynologist to make sure your hormones are balanced.  An endocrynologist can help you correct your hormones if they are found to be out of balance.  Then go see a gyne-qualified plastic surgeon.  To be honest, a general practicioner will generally not be much help to you regarding your gyne.  See the endocrynologist and plastic surgeon in that order if you want to be rid of the gyne.

[VT]

Okay thanks. I've never heard of an endocrynologist before

In terms of surgery, how rare a procedure is it? Just looking at these boards it seems like quite a few people from all over the country used the same handful of guys, is it not something just anyone will do?

[VT]

Nah he was just my GP. I dunno about seeing a plastic surgeon... I haven't even discussed that road with my parents or anything. I guess this all sounds a bit stupid; I really don't know what good news the doc can give me. I'm not really sure why I am expecting positive results out of this appointment... *sigh*  I'm just sick of feeling like shit about myself all the time.

[Mr_Nip]

Better start talking about this with your parents now.  Don't hold it in until you're 18 and dump all of it on them at once.  They need to grow through this with you in order to better understand what you're going through.  If you just all of a sudden say, "I want to see a plastic surgeon", to your parents it's equivilant to your saying as a child, "Mom, I want some candy".  The parental gut instinct is to say "no, it'll ruin your dinner", or in this case, "No son, you look fine.  Just lose some weight".   We see it happen all the time on these boards.  Communicate now with your parents and don't be discouraged if they don't immediately understand.  Let them become educated WITH you on this.  Include them in the long term and when you're 18 they'll be more likely to respect and support you with this.

I repeat:  Forget the GP because they're almost all clueless on hormones and gyne.  See an endocrynologist first.  Then go to the PS. 

[VT]

Thanks. They'd better not tell me to lose some weight, I'm way underweight for my age I'm not sure if it's a good thing or not that my gyne wasn't caused by being overweight...

[Mr_Nip]

Gyne is actually women's breasts on men.  If a woman loses weight she still has breasts, even though a little fat may/may not come off of them as with the rest of her body.  Same is true with a man with gyne.
Anyway, congrats on not being overweight.   

As for being underweight, if you were to put on some lbs, then your gyne likely wouldn't look worse because once again, weight in those amounts isn't really a contributing factor to gyne.

My point really was that a parent can come up with something like weight to deflect the "womens breasts" thing off to something that's a little easier for them to deal with in their heads.  "Lose some weight" is something we frequently see parents say when first told about gyne.  Also, "Build some muscle", "you look fine, honey", and a multitude of other gyne avoidance techniques (GAT's)  are used by the parents of gyne sufferers.