I will eventually have to tell my GP that I'm gay...that will be an interesting conversation! What should I expect him to be asking me?
I suffer from bad headaches and migraines. Since I also had a fever at the time the doctor asked me about my lifestyle and since he has to keep it confidential and well I am out anyway I told him that I am a homosexual and I am sexually active with my boyfriend. He said okay, and said that a couple of my symptoms could match up with a couple of STDs so he wanted to give me a full blood test and a physical. The physical was erm interesting, he told me to strip down naked and he said he would need to see downstairs, since the doctor was kinda cute he said (Don't worry if you get hard when I have a look around, you are not the first and since you are only 21 its probably healthy) Turned out I just have a natural tendency to migraines (so am on stuff for that) and I happened to catch a winter bug at the same time, so at least I know I am 100% clean of anything,
Just curious...why would they need to know if their patient is gay? Not trying to be rude,again, just curious.
Yeah, I wouldn't know why you HAVE to tell your GP, but if you do... he should react pretty normally and accepting. Of course you can be very unlucky and have a homophobe GP, but I think the chances are small. Mostly it's mainly the very religious people you have to be careful with. Anyway, whatever you do; good luck!
Grin When i read this topic (should I tell my GP I am gay) i thought for a second and decided GRAND PARENT. Started reading the posts - it wasnt till i read several to realize GP not grand parents Sitting here with RED FACE
It doesn't matter. We're interested in behaviors, not orientation. So, if you're having trouble with coming out issues, it might be relevant for a referral to a gay-friendly therapist. I've had a few people argue that because of the anal sex issue, it might be relevant information but based upon what I've seen about the sexual behavior of young straight people, it's foolish to assume that straight people don't have anal sex. Even in the case of breast cancer and cervical cancer risk for lesbians, it's not the orientation that is the issue. In the case of breast cancer, the risk can be assessed by asking, "Have you ever been pregnant?" and cervical cancer risk can be determined by asking, "Are you sexually active with men?" and "Have you been immunized for HPV?". A good practitioner should be asking these questions regardless of what the sexual orientation of the patient is.
I've once gone to a doctor with some liver issues and was asked: - age? - known disorders in family? - sexuality? It came as a surprise and I was hesitant to answer. It was funny though, the doctor saw me hesitating, and he was like: "Sexuality. Heterosexual? Homosexual?" (me hesitating) "Or neither?" ( I lied as I was not really out to many people
He was indirectly asking about hepatitis. A very old school question since there's now blood tests that screen for hepatitis.
Yep, this. Exactly the same. I told him I was sexually active with my boyfriend, pretty much the first thing was a full STI screening haha, after he asked about condom use and stuff, that is. Also, the physical.. yeah.. I.. just.. yeah. It really wasn't that much of an interesting conversation. He just asked about what kind of sexual activities we engaged in, whether we played safe, if I needed more information about safe sex/sex in general/STIs. Then he did the physical -- because I had symptoms I came in for --, and that was it. I'm pretty sure doctors have these kinds of conversations quite often. It's not really a big deal. However, I don't think you have to tell him at all, if you don't want to.
