By Kevin Wang
Ask Dr. Wang is BTL's new medical advice column and will appear once a month.
My name is Kevin Wang and I am a recent graduate from Wayne State University's School of Medicine. I am currently in my first year of residency in Family Medicine with a particular interest in HIV/AIDS and Obstetrics. I am an out physician and have always wanted to reach out to the LGBT community. This column is my way of helping LGBT people get answers to questions related to their unique heath care needs. For my first column, I chose to answer a question that is asked frequently by the LGBT community. In future columns I will respond to readers' questions, so if you have any health questions, please write me.
Why should I come out to my doctor?
This is a question that I, myself, asked many times and unfortunately, no one was really able to answer that question for me. When I first came out, I felt uncomfortable telling my family physician. I wasn't going to tell him what my sexuality was let alone what I did in bed with men! Fast forward seven years and knowing what I know now only makes me regret not coming out to a primary care physician, let alone attempting to find a gay/lesbian/transgender/bisexual friendly one earlier.
Now I know there are those skeptics that say telling your doctor your sexuality is not important. Of course, being a family doc here, I beg to differ. Keeping that part of your life hidden only prevents your physician from completing the medical picture. I need to know if my patient is bottoming with his boyfriend or if he's being promiscuous and not practicing safer sex. If all I know about you is you have chronic sinusitis and occasional sore throats, I may simply blame that on the common run-of-the-mill bacteria as opposed to the possibility of gonorrhea or Chlamydia. Now wouldn't that be a messy situation?
As for you lesbians out there, the Mautner Project (www.mautnerproject.org) performed studies and found lesbians are less likely to visit a doctor for routine gynecological services such as pelvic exams and pap smears. Therefore, you are less likely to have cancers detected at earlier and treatable stages.
Another important part is forming a trusting bond between patient and physician. I'm not saying that you should come out and start telling your physician about all the sexual escapades and experiments you've had (and believe me, there are lots out there!), but you need to get to know and become comfortable enough with one to express your concerns, fears and problems. It'll be a faster cure for you and a lot less work for your physician.
So what are some solutions here? Well, the first is coming out to your primary care physician, whether it's an internist, family doctor or Ob/Gyn. I'm not saying you should just waltz into the office and proclaim that you're LGBT and waltz right on out. You can discuss this during a routine physical or just schedule a visit to update your doctor about your medical health. As for the second solution, you can shop around for physicians who are LGBT friendly. You can try going to www.glma.org and see who is LGBT friendly in our area. Affirmations Lesbian & Gay Community Center offers a physician referral list at www.goaffirmations.org/health_services.asp.
I'm looking forward to reading your questions and sharing them with everyone interested in maintaining their health. My goal is to serve the LGBT community to offer friendly advice and to answer questions.
