Ryan asks: I have gynecomastia, a common problem in many today. I’ve been mocked by my friends, called names and embarrassed all my life. Recently my relationship almost broke up due to this. The girl found out and started to ignore me. I’m unable to work or think about anything else. Please help.
Hi Ryan –
For those who don’t know, gynecomastia is a condition where men develop breasts like women’s. This is a true medical condition, not the “man-boobs” people jokingly refer to in overweight men.
The good news is that this is fully treatable. Just as cosmetic surgeons can enlarge or reduce women’s breasts, they can reduce the sizes of yours to give you a normal male chest. I don’t know where you’re from, or what health insurance will cover where you are, but it’s absolutely fixable, depending on your ability to afford it.
I do have a story about this condition, though. Which might help you from having them grow back once you’ve had them reduced.
You probably know that there was a culture in the west in the 1960s-70s called Hippies, who rebelled against society in many ways, including their clothes, their hair, their homes… and their, umm, medication. A big part of this was marijuana.
So there was a man who lived in a commune, which is a fancy name for a house with a lot of other people, where if he wasn’t smoking marijuana, someone else always was, so he was inhaling it 24 hours a day. And after a while, one of his breasts started growing. Embarrassed (like you), especially when swimming, he went to a cosmetic surgeon. They agreed to reduce it, and inquired about his history, finding nothing notable in him except that home.
The operation went well, and the man left happy. But a few weeks later, another man walked in with the same problem. And as time went on, the surgeon developed a practice based on reducing men’s breasts – all men who took abnormally high amounts of marijuana.
After a while, the surgeon and his young resident started doing some experiments with rats and mice, finding this same thing, that when given huge amounts of THC (the ingredient in marijuana that makes people ‘high’), the male animals would become docile and start developing female body traits.
Why?!
Well, what they found is that the actual chemical of THC has almost exactly the same structure as the female hormone Estrogen. So the bodies of the rats and mice, and men, mistook the THC for estrogen, and so turned more female! This cosmetic surgeon and his resident suddenly gained worldwide fame, all because this one guy had chosen their practice to attend in his embarrassment!
Now how in the world would a dog know all this? Even a kind of unique dog like me?! Well, that surgeon’s young resident happened to be the uncle of my human friend Handsome. Who’s been bragging about him for decades!
But I’m not here to brag about my human’s family (I’d rather tell you about what a great cat-hunter my father was – but I don’t think I ever met him). I’m just saying that… if you happen to be an imbiber of marijuana, weed, pot, whatever you like to call it… I’d suggest you stop.
Because for whatever reason, your body is making a choice that others aren’t making.
Just consider it an allergy. The way some people can’t have nuts, or wheat gluten, or milk. Or, to my endless joy, the way Handsome is allergic to CATS!!!
But all this is secondary. For now, just go see a doctor and get that breast, that boob, that hooter… or those hooters… taken off. And get the life you want, and that you deserve!
All my best,
Shirelle