…which is not surprising really given that men are notorious for avoiding GPs etc. But somehow the “man flu” idea has become accepted as a social reality by people who never actually encounter it. A study conducted by the Medibank 24/7 Health Advice Line may put the cliche to rest:

THE myth of the man flu has been disproved, with new research showing men don’t exaggerate cold and flu symptoms as much as we think.
Men have been keeping quiet about illness, which slows them from opening up about more serious health risks, according to a study conducted by the Medibank 24/7 Health Advice Line.

Men’s Health Week begins today, aiming to promote physical and emotional health and wellbeing among Australian men, who have a life expectancy of four years less than women, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Four-fifths of male respondents to the study say they aren’t badly affected by colds and fewer than one in ten expect to be looked after by their partner.

Telephone data shows women are twice as likely to call the advice line to discuss their symptoms and ask for information than men.

..And while nearly half of women tell their loved ones when they feel under the weather, men are more likely to keep it a secret, thwarting the cliche that they complain unnecessarily.

The study shows that only a quarter of men tell their partner if they have a cold and fewer than one in ten tell their friends.

More than half of men don’t take cough or cold medicine and only a third take Vitamin C or a natural remedy.

More: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/manflu-a-myth-new-study-shows/story-e6frg8y6-1226661275493

Why is it the default assumption that “making less fuss” is a bad thing?

Maybe the life expectancy for men would be even less if on average they made more fuss about minor illnesses.

marys_lamb said:

Cause their probably drunk!

Why do you say that?You seem to have a fixation on the subject.

(Grammar: The difference between knowing their shit and knowing they’re shit?

This seems to be disputed territory…

The terrifying true story of ‘man flu’

Women of calibre my hairy male arse. They’re all sniffling malingers. And scientists have proven it with science. Man flu science. And they were male scientists, too, of course. The lady scientists are disputing the results, as they would. Because they’ve denied for years that the accursed winter curse even exists. Now they feel bad about not bringing us our Lemsip and fluffing up the pillows like we asked while we just checked the TV schedule.

Men scientists from the University of Newcastle’s FluTracking program have proven that because men are much harder than women, our man flu bugs are also much tougher and not to be trifled with at all, even though they don’t deign to even bother with the ladies, who aren’t much of a challenge to their lethal deadliness. Some lady scientists disagree but, whatever…

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/blogs/blunt-instrument/the-terrifying-true-story-of-man-flu-20130508-2j7hq.html#ixzz2VnEEAUw8

so about two weeks ago I was in the garden getting rid of weeds, dead bushes etc

I had taken precautions, long trousers, hat, gloves, boots etc

I was pulling out this dead grass that was extremely tough and grew in large clumps, it was a pernicious weed

as I did so suddenly something managed to pierce the gardening glove and bury itself into the joint of my left thumb

I couldn’t remove the glove because the stick was jammed into my thumb

I carefully pulled the stick out and blood poured out

I washed it thoroughly but over the days the thumb swelled and grew hot, at first I though it might have been infected , eventually the thumb grew cooler but then a swelling appeared at the point of impact, it grew and grew and the thumb was painful to move

I could see a liquid under the swelling growing

finally tonight I had enough

I found a new Stanley knife blade and put it into my knife

after wiping it, washing it and then dipping it into alcohol I started

carefully at the dining table (that I made) I started slicing into the swelling using a motion away from the thumb and parallel to the joint (it was right on the joint)

soon enough suddenly the liquid popped out, it was that sickly yellow green that said infection of some sort

I washed it all out to expose the skin underneath, I was sure after 5 minutes that there was definitely something buried into the thumb that wasn’t removed, the joint was hard to move still.

I started digging around a little to probe the wound (with the knife tip) blood would come forth and i’d wash it away, so that any infection would get washed out by the blood

finally the tip of the knife discovered something solid, there was something still buried in there

I worked away with the knife slowly, then with tweezers without much luck, I couldn’t find it with them

I returned to the knife and then worked whatever was still in there with the tip, then I saw it.

there was a very thin and hard green needle, bingo, the culprit is exposed

I then carefully took hold of it with the tweezers and gently pulled on it in one motion straight out.

what had got lodged in there the first time was a hard needle of the grass that had entered with the stick

I pulled out a 16mm hard smooth green needle that had in at an angle downwards and towards the tip of the thumb

after making one more exploratory dig I found a few bits still hanging around the mouth of the puncture and have washed up

the joint now feels normal and is bathed with tea tree gel

by the way, my finger is fine, thanks for asking.

Arts said:

by the way, my finger is fine, thanks for asking.

need something removed or put in

I should have been a surgeon

at school I remember very gingerly removing bits of clay out of someones eye

theres nothing so satisfying as cutting something bad out of the body

one job i’d put my hand up for is removing shards out of peoples eyes – its a good feeling knowing that something bad has been removed from the body

wookiemeister said:

at school I remember very gingerly removing bits of clay out of someones eye

theres nothing so satisfying as cutting something bad out of the body

one job i’d put my hand up for is removing shards out of peoples eyes – its a good feeling knowing that something bad has been removed from the body

I was just using a bit of tissue to get the clay out not a knife!!

wookiemeister said:

I should have been a surgeon

You’re dangerous enough without the scalpel.

Hardly surprising. Men’s tolerance to pain is three times higher than women’s.

dv said:

Hardly surprising. Men’s tolerance to pain is three times higher than women’s.

I’ve heard the opposite. It’s references at 12 paces…

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3185-why-males-bear-pain-better.html

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16290886‎

http://www.unethical-studies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010-06-29-Woodrow-548.pdf

I mean really … this is not remotely controversial.

http://www.utoronto.com/pain/Publications-Articles/Women%20feel%20it%20worse%20-%20oct%2006.pdf

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4641567.stm‎

www.thebody.com/content/art12175.html‎

dv said:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn3185-why-males-bear-pain-better.html

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16290886‎

http://www.unethical-studies.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/2010-06-29-Woodrow-548.pdf

Goodo. Now I don’t need to go looking.

Like the door says, “glad to be of service”.

I must admit I was of the mistaken belief that women had the higher pain tolerance.

Thankyou , dv, for correcting my erroneous knowledge. You, Sir, are a prince amongst commoners.

It’s kind of ridiculous that women point to childbirth as an example of women’s pain tolerance when it is the one test that can’t be applied to men. It any test that can be applied, for any kind of pain, men have higher tolerance.

So we can only assume that men would probably not even feel childbirth. They’d need a beeper or something to alert them to the fact that it had occurred.

“Hey, it’s been a great party but I’d better go. I’ve given birth.”

dv said:

It’s kind of ridiculous that women point to childbirth as an example of women’s pain tolerance when it is the one test that can’t be applied to men. It any test that can be applied, for any kind of pain, men have higher tolerance.

So we can only assume that men would probably not even feel childbirth. They’d need a beeper or something to alert them to the fact that it had occurred.

“Hey, it’s been a great party but I’d better go. I’ve given birth.”

Let them try that when they’ve given birth via their existing genital openings.

Let them try that when they’ve given birth via their existing genital openings.
—-

Bring it on.

dv said:

It’s kind of ridiculous that women point to childbirth as an example of women’s pain tolerance when it is the one test that can’t be applied to men. It any test that can be applied, for any kind of pain, men have higher tolerance.

IME, women just don’t get the traumatic injuries that men get, so are somewhat less likely to have an educated painfulness index.

My wife makes very little fuss when it is me who is ill.

http://softenthefckup.com.au/man-facts/

good site

IMO, Men get just as ill, but are predisposed to not admit it due to a loathing twoard showing any weakness.
It brings to mind a cat I once had that would fearlessly make great leaps between the gaps between very high pieces of hutch furniture. Pretty amazing!

One day while preforming his death defying aerial leaps, a family member came between the 2 hutches,
and I’m assuming, the cat became overly cautious, or perhaps it just threw-off his timing, but for the first
time he missed the perch, and slammed hard into the side of one of the hutches.

My heart was in my throat as I ran to him, thinking “BROKEN BONES” at the very least!!!

..but to my shocked surprise, he immedietaly leapt to his feet, and shook it off as if saying,
“I’M ALRIGHT! NO BIG DEAL! DON’T MAKE SUCH A FUSS!” >:-p

Yeah.. right… :-/ …but I took note of the fact that we had him for another 15 years…
…And He NEVER Attempted That Jump Again in all that time. :-(

Ogmog said:

IMO, Men get just as ill, but are predisposed to not admit it due to a loathing twoard showing any weakness.
It brings to mind a cat I once had that would fearlessly make great leaps between the gaps between very high pieces of hutch furniture. Pretty amazing!

One day while preforming his death defying aerial leaps, a family member came between the 2 hutches,
and I’m assuming, the cat became overly cautious, or perhaps it just threw-off his timing, but for the first
time he missed the perch, and slammed hard into the side of one of the hutches.

My heart was in my throat as I ran to him, thinking “BROKEN BONES” at the very least!!!

..but to my shocked surprise, he immedietaly leapt to his feet, and shook it off as if saying,
“I’M ALRIGHT! NO BIG DEAL! DON’T MAKE SUCH A FUSS!” >:-p

Yeah.. right… :-/ …but I took note of the fact that we had him for another 15 years…
…And He NEVER Attempted That Jump Again in all that time. :-(

cats get one look at me.. they either know it is their last and try to outsmart me or.. they actually manage to.. but it = they know it is their days are numbered.

roughbarked said:

cats get one look at me.. they either know it is their last and try to outsmart me or.. they actually manage to.. but it = they know it is their days are numbered.

That wasn’t the point I was attempting to make :-p

but since you brought it up;
I might say the same thing in reverse given a bigger cat… say YOU verses a Siberian Tiger >:-( O-8=

Ogmog said:

roughbarked said:

cats get one look at me.. they either know it is their last and try to outsmart me or.. they actually manage to.. but it = they know it is their days are numbered.

That wasn’t the point I was attempting to make :-p

but since you brought it up;
I might say the same thing in reverse given a bigger cat… say YOU verses a Siberian Tiger >:-( O-8=

it is a good point you make but for the fact that though I’ll most probably never meet one, they wouldn’t have ever been a problem for one such as myself. Why a feral cat anywhere is a greater problem than a native one.. should be indicative in the title.

..anyway…

my point was that they view themselves as supremely self-reliant creatures
…much the same as the average male of our species…
They’re both adverse to showing signs of weakness or failing health, as it’s
pretty much a death sentence to be sick, wounded, helpless and left to die.

Ogmog said:

..anyway…

my point was that they view themselves as supremely self-reliant creatures
…much the same as the average male of our species…
They’re both adverse to showing signs of weakness or failing health, as it’s
pretty much a death sentence to be sick, wounded, helpless and left to die.

being born is a death sentence anyway. We do sign in partnership.. in sickness and in health..

roughbarked said:

Ogmog said:

..anyway…

my point was that they view themselves as supremely self-reliant creatures
…much the same as the average male of our species…
They’re both adverse to showing signs of weakness or failing health, as it’s
pretty much a death sentence to be sick, wounded, helpless and left to die.

being born is a death sentence anyway. We do sign in partnership.. in sickness and in health..

Yup… as per the illness thread…
the pair-bonding that further insures successful survival & reproduction.
Otherwise who’d take care of our sorry arses once we could no longer fend for ourselves?

‘Man Flu’ is probably a product of informal behaviour controls, and indicates something of the vulgarity of some of that latter thing.

For women I think psychic discomfort can be more global, when pushed. To generalize, and wouldn’t recommend giving that too much importance, but it is true some brain and body chemistry is different, in fact the entire cognitive apparatus may be a bit different. Much as I agree with sexual egalitarianism, denying likely chemical and structural differences can be counterproductive to individual health.

I think men maybe more given to bursts of effort, which can be more extreme. Most women I doubt are made for these extremes. Women though, may tend to be more consistent with effort. Some of it may be to do with testosterone , but wouldn’t propose a testosterone-centred view of the matter.

Meaning that the capacity for those greater bursts comes with feeling more pulled down by infections.

There may be some difference in natural painkillers, opioid type chemicals, for example.

I think it quite natural to talk of discomforts, I don’t do it much myself, probably should do it more. As people age they do it more, as these things tend to become part of life, which interestingly is the same situation with younger people with more permanent discomforts.

There’s a lot of territory to do with quite normal talking of discomforts that isn’t complaining so much, but it maybe the case there is a bit of a stereotype aversional conception to do with communicating discomforts. Part of behaviour controls.

Humans empathize a lot too, wizards you know that way, and communicating mental states isn’t all about tasks you can hope to fully achieve and move on.

There’s very practical reasons for communicating discomforts, often worth more than a perfunctory indulgence.

I don’t mind moaning about feeling vaguely ill, but I tend to steer clear of GPs (although I am finally going in for a blood test on Thursday morning, two months overdue).

Bubblecar said:

I don’t mind moaning about feeling vaguely ill, but I tend to steer clear of GPs (although I am finally going in for a blood test on Thursday morning, two months overdue).

I’ve just made an appointment for the morrow. A suspected skin cancer.

sibeen said:

Bubblecar said:

I don’t mind moaning about feeling vaguely ill, but I tend to steer clear of GPs (although I am finally going in for a blood test on Thursday morning, two months overdue).

I’ve just made an appointment for the morrow. A suspected skin cancer.

do you have a boat?

A friend’s mother just had a skin cancer removed from her face. Forty seven stitches. If you’re gonna do it, you have to do it right.

Bubblecar said:

I don’t mind moaning about feeling vaguely ill, but I tend to steer clear of GPs (although I am finally going in for a blood test on Thursday morning, two months overdue).

what are they going to test for?

Arts said:

Bubblecar said:

I don’t mind moaning about feeling vaguely ill, but I tend to steer clear of GPs (although I am finally going in for a blood test on Thursday morning, two months overdue).

what are they going to test for?

Cholesterol I’d presume and possibly liver tests ;)

poikilotherm said:

Arts said:

Bubblecar said:

I don’t mind moaning about feeling vaguely ill, but I tend to steer clear of GPs (although I am finally going in for a blood test on Thursday morning, two months overdue).

what are they going to test for?

Cholesterol I’d presume and possibly liver tests ;)

i was going to back type 2

Just to have something different, put me down for thyroid.

>Cholesterol I’d presume and possibly liver tests ;)

Yes, the usual stuff. Have to fast for 12 hours, so afterwards I’ll treat myself to a nice lunch in the Red Bridge caff.