The Male Chicken Syndrome (MCS)

The Male Chicken Syndrome (MCS)

Well, I would like to describe here a syndrome, well known to health professionals but not officially documented in any text book: the male chicken syndrome (MCS). If you are a nurse, you know what I am talking about: men are chickens, and the bigger and tougher they look, the more they whine and the easier they faint. So, before I proceed, if you are a male reader, please sit down before continuing to read, preferably on a couch where you can lie down if you need.

Last night I got a perfect example of the contrast between general female x male behavior during suffering and pain. The first patient was a 19yo girl, with a broken and dislocated wrist. She walks into my department holding her hand (which she can’t move) very calmly, not crying or anything. Tells me her story as if we were just talking about the weather, and meanwhile I am looking at a grossly deformed wrist thinking that’s gotta hurt. After x-rays we decide that we need to reduce the fracture (put her bones back where they belong), that involves me starting an IV, to which she did not object to at all, and giving her some pain killers. Next the doctor proceeds to insert a long needle into her wrist and poke around to find the right spot to do a nerve block. In case you are wondering, yes, that is painful, and in spite of me pumping Fentanyl like crazy into the poor creature, she has tears running down her face, but even as the doctor asks her how she is doing she says “I’m ok”. She does not move, she does not complain, my only indication of her pain are her silent tears. The worst was not over yet. We still have to reset her bones, which involves pulling on her wrist with a lot of force and then putting a cast on. The doctor asks if she is ready and asks her to let her know if it gets too uncomfortable, to which she replies “ even if it hurts, just do what you have to do”. And so finally after all this, she is released from our tortures for follow up with the orthopedic surgeon.

Well, after that demonstration of bravery by this girl, I get yet another male with MCS in the department. This one came by ambulance after having some chest pain. Young guy, muscular and scared shitless of being there. To top up the picture, he has one of those “man jobs”, you know, those kind of jobs that requires a guy to have some balls. Tough guy, yeah right. The paramedics tried to start an IV, as it is protocol with anybody having chest pain, and he refused. Too scared of the needle. In the department he tells me he is the first to admit that “this place gives me the hibbie-gibies”.

As I said I have met many, many cases of MCS in my career. Another one was a big muscular guy that got into a fight and dislocated his shoulder. I thought he was going to pass out just at the mention of an IV, seriously, cold sweats and everything…. One guy just about chopped of his shin with an axe, again, preferred to be in pain then to let me start an IV on him and give him some good drugs. I guess an axe on your leg is less painful then a little needle, right? And many, many others… the tougher they look, the worse it gets.

I must say that not all men suffer from MCS, just a high percentage of them. And thank goodness that hey don’t have to deliver any babies… imagine how that would go!