Random toughts about Gynecomastia

[Angel_of_Death]

Hi,

This is my 1st post on this forum, altough I have been reading for close to 2 years now. I, like many others on this forum have suffered of this condition since the age of 11-12, and still today at the age of 22. I think that most of the stories posted in this section of the msg boards I could relate to, so I won't go in the details of that. Im basicaly just looking forward to discuss some of my toughts of this condition, if the moderators feel this thread is more appropriate to another section, please feel free to move it.

There is 1 way I could describe Gynecomastia.

 It being a handicap

Maybe not to the same extent of being in a wheel chair, I would say it's more of a psychological handicap. It disables us to function as regular human beings, and I think I can speak for the majority of the ppl in this forum when I say, it affects every important aspect of your life, friendship, love, family, job, school, activites/hobbies ect... Having said that, I understand that there could be some people with incredible will, who didn't let this condition affect theire lives, but im sure there are very few. And to them, I say this : congratulations ! I respect you !

I think what makes this condition so particular is the fact that most including myself, suffer in absolute silence. The reason for that is humiliation. Let's say for example, tomorrow my doctor tells me I have a tumor, I could go to my family and friends and tell them about it, they could provide an incredible amount of support and be helpful trough the process.... But with Gyne it's different, we don't want to talk about it. Therefor don't get the support we should. Wich leads to other phsychological problems such as depression, and severe depression. And this is the main reason why I finally decided to atleast make the effort to register on this forum and post. I don't have to suffer in absolute silence, and I know ppl here support and understand eachother.

I wish things would be different, and they should. If a family doctor for example, notices that a young boy or teen that has a case of gyne, he would immeditately require and take the mesures for the boy to have surgery. And in Canada it should be covered trough the medical inssurance. For them not to do anything and suggest that at age 18 it might go away is aboslute non-sense! Why allow the kid to go trough his teen years with this kind of condition, when it is clear, atleast to us, that this is a severe condition that affects every aspect of that boy's life, and that in a negative way. I guess the problem is the fact that doctors and others don't really understand, or maybe under-estimate the impact of gyne on a kids life. It should be treated as any other severe disease. It dosen't threaten your life, and you cannot die from it, but it kills you from inside.

Today I am 22 years old. My goal in life is very simple : Being happy.

I cannot live a happy life with gynecomastia. It's impossible, atleast for me.

I took the 1st step last week, and that is calling to reserve a consultation with a PS. I live in Canada, so as any canadian gyne sufferer, I can list the 4 seasons from my favorite to least favorite as follow...

1- Winter
2- Autumn
3- Spring
4- Summer

For reasons im sure you understand, people could actually expect me to wear more than 1 layer in winter. Summer is always a painful time.

I do not want to go trough another summer with gynecomastia. I do not have the money to pay for surgery, but I don't care, I'll find a way... Summer of 2007 I WILL have a flat chest. Make it my new year's resolution.

It's going to be very difficult to go trough all the process, confronting the parents and all...but I have no choice.

Thank you very much for reading. May 2007 bring happyness to all of you!

[Grandpa Bambu]

AoD....

Awesome post dude... thanks for sharing!

GB

[headheldhigh01]

agree.  sometimes the unseen handicaps can be much more handicapping than the seen ones. 

[Grandpa Bambu]

agree.  sometimes the unseen handicaps can be much more handicapping than the seen ones. 

As a result of suffering in silence...

GB

[Angel_of_Death]

I think 99.9% of people who have gynecomstia also suffer from some sort of depression. I guess the serverity of the depression could vary from each person. On a personal level, depression is something I have dealt with for the past 8-9 years. I have my ups and downs, sometimes I feel really hopeless and other times I have a more optimistic mind-set.

As I mentionned in my 1st post, I discovered this site approx 2 years ago. Probably one of the best things that could've happend to me, under the circumstances... And for that period of time, I came to this site once every couple of months. Sometimes when feeling very depressed because of my gyne, just comming to this site and reading some of the stories, in a way helped me feel better...don't know exactly why, probably because it made me realize I wasen't alone fighting this.

For the past couple of weeks tough, things have been different. I come to this site on daily basis. I have been considering, and actually made up my mind that I was going to have surgery done ASAP. For the past couple of weeks the only thing I ever think about when going to bed, and wich is keeping me awake (take a look at the time) at night, is the toughts of having surgery and telling my parents about it. I make up the scenario in my head of how I will approach my parents about this.

Tonight I realized that over the past couple of years I have actually blocked alot of the bad memeories from the pervious years of my adolesence. Im 22 years old, and it seems I have to dig so deep to remember of the rough times I had to face 2-3-4-5 years ago...

I've had a rough night going over the bad memories and all, it's 6 am and I coudn't sleep. So I came here to post this... Now I will go back to bed and try getting some sleep.