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The bend-over examination stand

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Posted 2/9/2009 9:51 PM (GMT 0)
It has taken nine months for the humilation of the bend-over examination stand to wear off enough to be able to write about it and ask if anyone else has suffered the same indignity. 

I encountered this device in the office of a colo-rectal surgeon.  This is how it works.

You are instructed to kneel on a padded stool located on one end of padded table.

You are instructed to pull down your pants as you kneel

The attendant then lowers the table to waist/hip height.

You are instructed to bend over and lay your chest on table and wait for the doctor, because he'll be right in.

Can you picture that?  Gosh, I hope not. 

Has anyone else run across these sadistic devices?  Am I just too squeamish, because I am still haunted by the experience.

Posted 2/9/2009 10:04 PM (GMT 0)
I have had the "drop your pants and let me look at you anus" or rather "let me put my finger or this swab in your anus" more than once and it is ridiculously embarrassing! You aren't alone.
Posted 2/9/2009 10:08 PM (GMT 0)
OOh Totally awful isn't

I had it looked at lots of time before since I have had surgery twice in that area, but before it was always "roll over on your side". I never before could have imagined though, that was a contraption invented that could make a humiliating experience moreso.
Posted 2/9/2009 10:12 PM (GMT 0)
Mine was just stand up, bend over on the examination table and drop em. No contraption. I agree, that would be even worse.
Posted 2/9/2009 10:28 PM (GMT 0)
Wow, that is horrible! I thought it was bad when Dr. McDreamy walked in to give me a sigmoidoscopy, but your experience sounds much, much worse!
Posted 2/9/2009 11:52 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, I hate to admit it, but yes I have experienced this contraption.  I think the absolute worst part is that you feel like they are turning you upside down on your head.  I didn't think my doc would ever stop making me come in for followups, it was awful.  It is amazing the situations you can make it through that you never thought you'd be in in the first place.  I really hate this disease...but then I have to laugh or else I'll cry! yeah
Posted 2/9/2009 11:56 PM (GMT 0)
I can't believe you had to do that BEFORE the doctor came in. I could see doing it after he was in but having to wait like that is unreal.
Posted 2/9/2009 11:58 PM (GMT 0)
That's crazy! I won't even let my doc do that kind of exam, with the fingers. Why should I? It will just cause irritation, we know what's going on in there. She also doesn't do the blood culture of the stool, because, well, duh. Remember, all that stuff is YOUR choice, not theirs.
Posted 2/10/2009 12:06 AM (GMT 0)
If you are put into a position that makes you feel humiliated, speak up about it! At the very least, change doctors & write the offender a straightforward (+ insulting, if deserved) note of complaint. These clinical exams are being handsomely paid for by us or our insurers-- so we have every right to stand up for our personal dignity as in any other consumer transaction. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 2/10/2009 12:08 AM (GMT 0)
Been on that darn contraption 3 times this month alone for my fissure... eyes
Posted 2/10/2009 12:28 AM (GMT 0)
Oh man, I would die. I've never had to experience that luckily, but I have had numerous "Okay, pull your pants down and roll on your side so I can prod you with a gloved/lubed finger" moments. Totally traumatizing for a 14 year old girl, that's for sure. Though not much worse than the gyno appointments when they're poking around down there and making small talk with you at the same time.

I'm so glad, my new doctor hasn't done a single rectal exam in his office, the only times he's peeked up there I was completely sedated, which makes it a lot more bearable! Sorry you had to deal with such humiliation.
Posted 2/10/2009 12:36 AM (GMT 0)
I would get up and tell them THEY can wait. We have UC yah know...what if one has a sudden urgency, which is common among UC sufferers, and you're in that thing.


You have ONLY to blame yourself, Doctor, if your walls get poop on them.
Posted 2/10/2009 12:41 AM (GMT 0)
That's horrible! My GI has only seen my butt once (outside of a c-scope) and that's all I'll allow! And it was twice as awkward cuz he's a male so a nurse had to be in there with us. I mean I totally understand why but still...a w k w a r d!
Posted 2/10/2009 1:08 AM (GMT 0)
What is that thing you are talking about? Seriously, I have never heard of such thing! confused
Posted 2/10/2009 2:38 AM (GMT 0)
It's normally in the office of a Colorectal Surgeon/Proctologist...(AssMan)
Posted 2/10/2009 2:54 AM (GMT 0)
When I was 26 I had surgery to repair a fistula that was right around my anus and experienced this table with a surgeon. Much to my despair it was a teaching hospital so there was more than just the surgeon in the room. I have suffered through a lot of humiliation with this disease but none of my experiences were as humiliating as this one. I know exactly how you feel.
Posted 2/10/2009 1:07 PM (GMT 0)
You all are so funny and supportive.  It is amazing what patients are expected to put up with.  Luckily, it doesn't seem like too many have had the dubious pleasure of the contraption.

Like JingleBell, I encountered the bend-over device in the office of the surgeon who operated on my fistula.  I complained about it, but they had heard it all before I think because no one reacted to my horror. 

Actually it is funny now in a perverse way. Especially when I add in the part about getting up gracefully from the kneeling position with my pants down and blood....nevermind.  Too bad I can't tell the tale at dinner parties. It might be good for a laugh.  smilewinkgrin

Posted 2/13/2009 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
Never had to use that, but have had a rectal exam with several residents observing and ongoing discussion of what it looked like, including the strength of the sphincter etc. An all-time low... done without even asking permission.
Posted 2/13/2009 3:04 AM (GMT 0)
The first time I went to my GI doctor, the nurse comes in and says ok just take off your pants and underware and then sit there on the table till the doctor gets in here, and she starts to leave, so I said hey wait a minute, where is the paper gown, she says oh no one ever uses them they just sit there bare till he comes in, I am like I am not everyone and for what this office call is costing me I want the paper gown. A paper gown isnt the best but at least it made me more comfortible and wasnt setting there butt naked when he opened the door for anyone in the hall to see. She wasnt happy but I got the gown. I have to agree with old hat speak up. you pay them and there is always another one you can see.
Posted 2/13/2009 3:32 AM (GMT 0)
"No one ever uses them." What a nerve!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I swear, some of those assistants are total perverts who get pleasure out of humiliating patients. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC ... [etc.])
Posted 2/13/2009 4:52 AM (GMT 0)
I've never had the bend-over examination. My GI tries to make his patients feel as comfortable as possible.
Posted 2/13/2009 5:38 AM (GMT 0)
I feel sorry for all of you who have undergone or felt that agonising moment. But for me, with 20 years of UC and so many surgeries, it has become a ritual. There is a saying "When the r... is inevitable it is better to enjoy". At times I feel most of the doctors may not know me by name or face, but definitely they would recognize me from my base. All of them have had the sadistic pleasure of finguring down there. I could never help. I still remember those colonscopy bings which I used to have. In some hospitals it used to be big open halls with everybody with pants down and lots of students/research analyist/senior surgeons making new discoveries. At one of the institutes I had lost of my mobile just before I was to go for colonoscopy and I told this to the doctor who was to conduct the test. Can you believe, what he told me, please take care of your pants, because, here people even steal your pants and we have to give them newspapers to cover them till they get someone with a change. After my surgery they wanted to check the pouch and I remember there were lots of them just fingering and checking the pouch and then another one comes and says "me too me too" as if it was an exhibition or film premiere going on. Can't help. I have even lost count as to how many times I have dropped my pants. I still remember another center where the patient's waiting room was just opposite the Colonscopy Room and the door used to open right facing the patients. The candidate used to be taken in and told to drop down everything and  then it was free for all because everybody would just enter the hall without even a knock and it was most humiliating experience as one had to face this till the doctor came in and was through with the test. Can't help. I don't even remember how many times I have objected to it. But no one listens. Has anyone gone through the agony of having the polyps removed. They use that tool which is like a fishing hook and try to fish inside the bottom. In one such fishing session the hook was not working properly and the doctors were going on and on inside my ocean to catch the polyps. What a shame. They can't even have proper instruments despite charge through the roof.

Posted 2/13/2009 2:42 PM (GMT 0)
     Brought back memories.....Thirty two years ago when I was pregnant with my youngest daughter I was suffering with...what I thought..was a hemorrhoid.  No bleeding but terrible discomfort.  I went to a proctologist (now deceased).  He told me to remove my slacks and underwear and lean over this board.  He then proceeded to CUT out a blood clot..or so he said.  No anesthesia mind you.  I thought I was going to sail through his roof and I am pretty good at coping with pain.  He informed me that I had some pretty bad internal hemorroids and that after I had my child I would need an operation.  Needless to say when I left that office I thought to myself..."I'm never returning to you pal."  I never did need that operation.  I didn't develop UC until 1998 and that was in 1977.
Posted 2/13/2009 7:12 PM (GMT 0)
I've had the exact procdure that you describe madabs...there really is no dignity when it comes to this DD in any aspect, it's just as embarassing to crap your pants or to be running with a frantic look on your face in public to the nearest toilet hoping that when at the mall the security guard doesn't try to apprehend you because they think you've just stolen something from a store (that hasn't happend to me but I could definitely see that scenerio happening to any IBDer)...no dignity with this disease.


:)
Posted 2/13/2009 7:15 PM (GMT 0)
Oh yeah!  Been there for sure!  I was diagnosed that way!  The worst was that my hubby came with me to the doctor and was in the room with me while this was happening!  He couldn't stop laughing.  He thought it was the funniest thing!  (In hindsight I can see it from his perspective now - but then it wasn't so funny.)  Don't worry - I had my revenge when he got a hemmie & had to go through the same thing.  He didn't think it was so funny when it was him in that nasty contraption! :)

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