10 ’secrets’ you shouldn’t keep from your doctor

March 6, 2009 · Filed Under Health

Do you remember the scene in the movie “Something’s Gotta Give” where Jack Nicholson’s character lies about Viagra to a doctor in the emergency room?

via 10 ’secrets’ you shouldn’t keep from your doctor – CNN.com.

Admit it, you’ve gone to the doctor and either lied (or failed to admit) some sort of behavior or problem. We all have. One of the stories in this article scared me, though:

“I once had a patient who literally died of embarrassment,” Rackner says. “She had blood in her stool, but she was too embarrassed to tell her doctor. A year later she was in terrible abdominal pain, and did go see her doctor. It was colon cancer, and it had spread to other parts of her body.” The patient came to see Rackner, but it was too late to do surgery. She died six months later.

Embarrassment is preferable to dying, I think.

photo credit: j.reed