For our fathers, brothers and husbands...

An open letter to our men...

To our dear Yodaai fathers,

E nle, e ku ijoko o. Se alafia ni? 
Did you think we'd only address women's health and forget about men's health?
Ka ma ri o! Alafia lo ju gbogbo nkan lo!

 The topic of alafia is the reason for this letter. 


What would I tell you if you were my patient, siting across from me,
 face to face?
Well, since you ask... allow me.

How are things going with that general practitioner of yours? Your family doctor? 


What? You don't have one? FIND ONE. 

Don't be afraid of changing your doctor.  Finding a doctor that will listen to you could be the difference between life and death. Your health insurance company usually gives a list of in-network physicians you can choose from. Ask one of us for recommendations from that list if we know them. There are on - line reviews of many drs now given by their patients as my own patients tell me all the time-they found me by reading my reviews online.

Annual Physical Examination

 "Ko si ohun ti o'n se mi". Yes, I know. Olorun o ni je. But you still need to see the family doctor at least yearly. Routinely, they should be weighing you and giving you advice on the recommended healthy weight for your height, checking the basics like your blood pressure and doing simple basic blood work like your cholesterol, triglycerides and thyroid and maybe other things like your blood sugar depending on your symptoms or family history. 

Prostate Check: Yes, I know- an uncomfortable test for our men. Your doctor may want to examine you.  An enlarged prostate may just be an enlarged prostate, causing you problems going to the bathroom, with problems starting and stopping in the bathroom. There are new medicines that help with "flow" issues. You may see them advertised on tv. Ask your dr about these symptoms.


 Your doctor may want to run a PSA (Prostate specific Antigen) test.  It is one of the tests that may identify prostate cancer.  There are however, new recommendations out now suggesting that the PSA test is not very reliable with a lot of false positive results with  people receiving unnecessary treatment for something that may not kill them anytime soon. This issue, if you have any concern about it at all, is to be discussed with your doctor. Prostate cancer is one of the silent cancers in men, and a silent killer especially of black men because of  delayed diagnosis because black men are notoriously reluctant to have that physical exam.  Get over your embarrassment / discomfort and get checked/tested if you are of a certain age, 50 and above or younger if you have a family history.



Your "nature" - Something affecting your "nature"? (as we say here delicately in the south). It could be your blood pressure medicines, prostate problems, alcohol use in excess, blood sugar issues, obesity or simply your age. There are medicines for this kind of thing now- you see them on tv too. Ask your general practitioner.

Middle age crisis (or as we say in psychiatry, depressed)? Don't buy a sports car or a convertible or worse still, don't replace awon mummy with a younger slimmer model! It is very common around middle age to make an assessment of where one's life is and some people get depressed  just thinking about that... Email me confidentially on that one. Referrals can be made even when we can't help directly.

That whole weight thing? Let's just say unlike what we believe culturally, our increasing abdominal girth is not a sign of good healthy living. It is one of the more obvious predictors of heart disease. Enough said.

If you have a first degree relative with colon cancer, let your doctor know so they can set you up for screening earlier than most. At 50, regardless of family history, you should ask the doctor if you need one.

Alcohol? Every thing in moderation. No more that what counts as one drink a day. Less is better still.

Diet?  Increase your fibre intake with more vegetables, reduce your fat intake - less frying of dodo and eja din din, etc and moderate your carbohydrate intake (smaller servings of iyan, amala, eba, bread, isu, pasta etc).

Exercise? At least 30 minutes daily of active exercise like a brisk walk to get your heart pumping faster.  If you don't currently exercise, start with a 10 minute walk. Maybe pelu awon mommy...

Friends? Make time to socialize and de-stress with your friends. Laughter, after all as they say, is the best medicine.

Sleep? At least 6-8hours a night. Tell your doctor if you are not getting that many hours. We have simple medicines for that now. Simple herbal things like chamomile tea also help with sleep without needing medicine. Melatonin, over the counter tablets, helps too.

So there it is. 

 I ask other medical doctors in the association to jump in here and fill in the gap.

The doctors will take your questions now.

Funke Abolade, M.D.

 Social/publicity Secretary