Men naturally are expected to be strong and courageous, bear pain or at most suffer in silence to show their masculine make up. 1kings 2:1-2 reads “Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man. David expected Solomon to be man in deed irrespective of conditions he finds himself.  Also Joshua was charged to be strong and courageous to face challenges of leading children of God to the promised land.

It then means that spiritually, right from creation, man is to lead and bear certain pains but what is noticed recently is that men are not only leading but are also progressively getting careless about their health.  I want to enjoin us to ‘show thyself a man in good health.’

Dr Holts, a physician from North Carolina says when it comes to their health,  guys are notorious for doing too little, too late. As men, we’re told to play through the pain, tough it out, shake it off, and suck it up. There are a dozen other variations of the same message, and they’re all code for: Ignore your symptoms.

After all, what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, right? Here’s the problem: Things kill us all the time, even when we’re young. In fact, guys between the ages of 20 and 40 are twice as likely to die as women. Better still, in this era of ‘gender equality’ women health are getting better attention than men. Dear sir, that pain or swelling on your forehead or other parts of the body is enough reason for you to consult your physician.

Some symptoms are obvious  to everyone that even when you want to tough it out, people around will take you to hospital for example , stroke or sudden blindness which before it finally occur would have shown certain warning signs obviously ignored.  I want to take  you through some of  these subtle symptoms that signifies inner danger.

1.      Severe Back Pain
Sudden severe pain not related to exercise which is not relieved by rest or pain killer should not be ignored. It could be sign of aneurysm of aorta (major conduit vessel that carry oxygen rich blood to the lower part of the body). Particularly troubling is an abdominal aneurysm, a dangerous weakening of the aorta just above the kidneys. If it bursts, death ensues within minutes.

A less threatening possibility: You have a kidney stone, in which case you’ll only wish you were dead, but not as bad as the aneurysm. Kidney stones can be managed on time to prevent permanent damage to the kidney.

Aneurysms can be treated with blood-pressure medication or surgery to implant a synthetic graft. A middle aged man from our center had his own fixed recently and he is alive and well. The man did not tough out the pain, he presented early for care.

2. Sudden Groin Pain
The pain is as if you were kicked below the belt, but the pain is not quite as intense. Sometimes, it’s accompanied by swelling.

It’s probably testicular torsion. Normally, a man’s testicles are attached to his body in two ways: by the spermatic cords, which run into the abdomen, and by fleshy anchors near the scrotum.

But sometimes, in a relatively common congenital defect, these anchors are missing. This allows one of the spermatic cords to get twisted, which cuts off the flow of blood to the testicle. The specialist in this area says “If you catch it in 4 to 6 hours, you can usually save the testicle,” but after 12 to 24 hours, you’ll probably lose it.”  A young man lost the two testicles to this type of condition. The first time he felt the pain on one testis, he bore the pain as a man and after some days the pain ceased as the testicle had died.

Another time while on a bicycle in the village, he felt same pain on the second testis. This time around the guy could not tough it out. He informed the parents who after encouraging him to bear it as man, eventually resorted to native treatment. Of course the second testis also died. The man without testis now married to an innocent lady and the wedding has not been blessed with fruits of the womb. Whose fault? Before you apportion blame let us just pray for the family to stay together and await the uncommon miracle. But do not be careless with that groin pain.

Another possible cause: an infection of the epididymis, your sperm-storage facility.

If   you present early a surgeon will straighten the cord, and then construct artificial anchors with a few stitches near the scrotum. If it’s just an infection, antibiotics will take care of it quickly.

3  Painful Urination
Passing urine has become an exercise in expletives, and your urine has a rusty tint. It could be straightforward as urinary tract infection or worst still , a bladder cancer. The pain and the blood in your urine are symptoms of this, the fourth most common cancer in men.

Smoking is the biggest risk factor. Catch the disease early, and there’s a 90 percent chance of fixing it. Bladder infections share the same symptoms.

Doctors diagnose this by process of elimination. Urinalysis first, to rule out bugs, followed by inserting a scope to look inside the bladder. If you have a tumor, it’ll be treated with surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy.
(To be continued)