‘Hey Tough Guy. Yeah You!’

Frank Komola retired in 2012 following a 23 year career at UPS. He belongs to the retirees chapter of Local 25, International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Boston. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Haverhill.

Frank Komola retired in 2012 following a 23 year career at UPS. He belongs to the retirees chapter of Local 25, International Brotherhood of Teamsters in Boston. He and his wife, Lisa, live in Haverhill.

Grow up. Stop whining. Suck it up. What do you mean you feel dizzy? Stop complaining? Get your clothes on and go to school. What duh ‘ya mean your ankle hurts? Get back in the game ‘ya sissy!

The list of admonitions that a lot of men heard as kids could fill a small book, and that stuff stays with these boys as they age and become men. Many of these grown men enter professional football, making and receiving jarring blows to their bodies, some even dying from the damage some of those hits have done to their brains. I’m going to beat your brains in is more of a reality than an expression of aggression to many players. Some of those who are or have suffered and possibly died are profiled in the media, but there are probably others out of the limelight that suffer in silence. Many of the problems that led to the deaths of professional athletes started to show themselves as things as simple as a headache!

I’m not here to discuss the issue of encouraging your children to take up a sport. What I am saying is that a lot of men need to drop the macho image when it comes to taking care of their physical and mental health. If you feel the least bit out of sorts, particularly in ways that you never have before, it’s important to think about sharing your symptoms with a doctor or therapist.

A brain aneurism, subdural hematoma, heart attack, stroke or some types of cancer sometimes signal their presence in very subtle ways. Headaches, chest pains, indigestion, slurred speech and having trouble urinating are all symptoms that seem rather trivial, particularly in the male world of presenting the tough guy image. These innocuous abnormalities can be a normal sign of something harmless. But in many cases they’re a message that something more serious is happening inside your body!

While you might want to blow them off as minor annoyances, many of the people, personal experiences, family and friends that you enjoy, and who enjoy and need you around can be brought to an abrupt end in a matter of seconds, hours or days.

Fifteen years ago I felt my right arm go numb. I wrote it off as a sign that my arm had fallen asleep. The next day my right arm, right shoulder and the right side of my face went numb. That night I was in Massachusetts General Hospital being treated for a blood bleed on the inside of my head. I was lucky, but if I’d ignored it, I might not have lasted through the night.

Some older men start to urinate more frequently, urinate in smaller amounts on a regular basis, or have a weak stream when they do urinate. In some cases, this is a sign of prostate cancer.

So my message is simple: Show yourself, your family, your friends and the many activities you care about that you’re willing to suck it up and seek some answers from a doctor. You and I both know that if anyone you care about or love were facing a potentially serious medical situation, you’d be the first person to urge them to seek help, and would probably take them to get the problem addressed. Take your own advice and pay attention to things that seem out of the ordinary, no matter how small. It could save your life!