story of a college freshman

[aggie13]

so here i am the first time i have really talked about this with any one. i hardly talk about my condition with my only family which is sad but even that embarrasses me. here it is i have had gynecomastia since i was about 13 but i had had puffy nipples even before that through out my middle school years. im currently 19 and i have just finished my freshman year at college. i feel gynecomastia has been debilitating to me over the years i.e. not being able to take my shirt off in public and intimacy with girls. dont get me wrong i have been on dates and made out with girls and even gone further. the problem is that the time where i have gone further than making out my shirt never comes off. i feel disgusted with my body so i cant make myself do it. i always feel like this makes the girl uncomfortable and it makes me feel weird as well. as for not being able to take my shirt off in public gynecomastia forced me to quit one of my loves when i was 15, swim team. i just couldnt do it anymore with the amount of looks i received and by the fact that i was beginning to feel more self conscious time after time when i took my shirt off. ironically enough i lifeguard over the summer but i never take my shirt off no matter the temperature (and im from texas it can get really hot). so back to where i am now. i have never had a girlfriend because i have been scared of intimacy issues. im at the point in my life where im starting to want a relationship and where little flings arent good enough. my gynecomastia is holding me back. i finally want to be able to do things with my friends such as good swimming and go to a water park or go to the beach. my gynecomastia is holding me back. most importantly i want high self confidence and for my to be happy with the body i have. my gynecomastia is holding me back.
if you read my post thank you. feel free to comment. im new to this site so i hope to find a friend in a similar situation.

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You don't need to "find" someone with a similar situation. Pretty much everyone on this site have had a similarly stifling effect on their social life thanks to gynecomastia. But the degree to which gynecomastia has an effect on your life can vary based on the way you think.

I agree that gynecomastia definitely does mess up ur confidence and interaction with people, but the key is to not let it rule your life completely. Because once it starts doing that, its a self-perpetuating cycle of depression and self-pity. You dont mix around with people coz u feel unconfident. Not mixing around makes you feel depressed. In your state of depression, you notice your gyne even more. During this state of extreme self-loathe, you want people, who are close to u, around you to take your mind off gyne. But you dont have anyone, becoz u were too petrified to interact coz of ur gyne in the first place. Result, MORE depression! and the vicious cycle continues.

My point is that if it effects you to such a great deal, sometime eventually, you will have to go for surgery to correct it. But until that can happen, try to put it at the back off ur mind when it comes to fostering relationships.

As someone very aptly said on this website, fortunately for us guys, girls do not measure a guy's likability on the basis of what on his chest. They care more about whats in between your ears, or in your wallet, for some   

Lastly, if you have gotten so close to a girl that you are actually thinking of being in a relationship with her, and she is the right one, then whether you have a A cup, B cup or C cup, wont affect her thinking process in whether she wants to be with you or not. Agreed, that your gynecomastia wont exactly be a turn-on for her, but it wont be a deciding factor in her accepting or rejecting you.

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As far as my relationship was concerned, gynceomastia put a damper on our sex life at worst. Otherwise, it was more of a self-esteem issue  inside my head as compared to other people's behaviour towards me.

Which reminds me of an interesting tale a few months ago. I was sitting hunched up at my laptop on my girlfriend's bed, not coz  I was shy or nething, but just coz I was tired. My girl, her friend and I, all three of ur were chilling on the same bed. Suddenly, the friend yelled out, completely out of the blue, "Dude, you got MANBOOOBS!!!" I was soo shocked nd embarassed for a sec, that I felt like vanishing into the thin air that sec. Suddenly I had a quick flashback of all those painful highschool memories of my gyne. But I told myself, hell no, I am not gonna let this happen to me once again.

Without even flinching, I calmly and rather condescendingly told her that they are called "pectorals", not "manboobs". She teasingly chattered on, "no u got manboobs...manboobs". I tell her, "Ok, you can touch them and check for urself.....but u know wht...if u touch mine, then I get to touch urs"....she was like whtever... As she raised her hand towards my chest, I jokingly (and purposely) tell her to punch my chest instead, as hard as possible. And she does exactly that. There is a huge "thudd" heard, not the kind when u hit something floppy, but when u hit something rock solid. I had flexed my pectorals, and I have had some rather thick pectorals thanks to months of working out.

While she was still shocked at the muscularity of my chest, I pulled by arm back making a fist ready to strike, and announced "MY turn NOW!!" The look of pure horror on the girl's face was priceless, she let out a scream, covered her boobs instinctively, and said "No no!...i am sorryy...i believe u, u got pecs"!

Ever since that day, the girl thinks that I have got some massive beefy pecs 

Oh yeah, the best part, watching all this drama unfold actually turned on my girlfriend at how witty and funny I was