“You made me tell my story”: Why Men’s Health Awareness month is the perfect time to talk

Here’s a harrowing statistic: globally, men die on average five years earlier than women and it’s for reasons that are largely preventable.

That’s according to Movember, the leading UK charity changing the face of men’s health as we know it. By 2030, the good cause aims to reduce the number of premature deaths in men by 25%.

We need to talk

One of the main ways Movember is tackling the number of early deaths in men is by encouraging us all to open up and talk. Because as the charity puts it: we can’t afford to stay silent.

With the month of November marking Men’s Health Awareness Month, here at The Robin Kiashek Clinics, we wanted to talk about the benefits of speaking up about your health – be it in a mental or physical capacity.

If in doubt, check it out

It’s a well-documented fact that a great deal of men avoid going to see their doctor.

A 2019 survey that looked into how men approach their health and medical care, showed that 72% of respondents said they would rather be doing household chores, like cleaning toilets, than going to the doctor.

A further 65% of respondents said they avoid going to their GP for as long as possible. While 37% said they had withheld information from their doctors in the past, with many citing that they weren’t ready to deal with the potential diagnosis that might result if they told the truth.

“But all this medical avoidance and withholding of information doesn’t affect your GP,” Osteopath Robin Kiashek says. “The only person it affects, is you. By not sharing the problem you could be putting your own health at risk. More often than not, the earlier you address an issue the easier it is to solve – or at least stay on top of.”

A holistic approach is key

But that’s where Robin believes his holistic approach can be ideal. When a client comes to Robin’s treatment rooms, in Central London or North London, he takes a detailed case history including a full medical log. He asks about their symptoms, health problems and any medical care they have – or haven’t been – receiving.

Robin says: “This allows me to get to the root cause of the problem, rather than just paper over the cracks. By understanding the full history, I can help to not only heal specific conditions, but work towards improving a person’s overall health.

“My clients might book an appointment with me for one particular ailment or injury, but I often get them discussing issues much wider than what brought them to me initially.”

 “You invited me in to the process in a slightly intimidating way”

This was the case for one of Robin’s recent patients, who wrote to him after having a successful string of osteopathy sessions at his clinic.

The patient said: “You, through your skills, have greatly enhanced my quality of life. As you know, I had been to Osteopaths before and had ended up going for treatment every four to six weeks or when things got difficult. The attitude seemed to be that I had a crocked-up body (following a car crash and a fall) and that was that. Osteopathy seemed to serve to alleviate the hopeless symptoms.

“By luck, I was recommended to you and found an entirely different, holistic, approach. It was, to begin with, disturbingly collaborative. You wanted to know about the whole person and you wanted me to articulate how I felt, where the pain was, how it came and went and so forth. You wanted to know about my life and how it affected me. You wanted me to describe discomfort and tell the story. You were alarmingly perceptive and sometimes told me that I was presenting as being depressed, preoccupied or whatever. You made me tell my story.”

Robin has been working in the world of Osteopathy for more than 25 years.

He works with a range of people of different ages and backgrounds. So if you are suffering with an ongoing health problem and can’t get to the bottom of it, do get in touch with Robin. He would be happy to talk things through.

If you are suffering and need some general support, Mind offer advice and help to empower anyone experience a mental health problem. While the Hub of Hope is the UK’s leading mental health support database which can connect you to local support services.