OBGYN or GP? (for the ladies)

Bullymom

I prefer a male.  In my experience, males are way more gentle that females.

I use an obgyn.  I used to have a male obgyn, but since the move, I have switched to a female doctor.  I didn't see much of a difference.  They are both professional, willing to answer my questions, & very helpful.  IMO, that's all that really matters.

 ETA:  Jenn52, if I had a doctor ask me that, I would have kicked him in the side of the head.  I'm sure that you handled yourself with much more grace than I would have.

I think the male/female thing is probably split maybe close to 50/50.  I've had women tell me they wouldn't go to a *woman* because they felt too "uck" having a woman touch them.  I think it's all valid cos each of us are individuals and have different life frames of reference. 

And Jenn ... shoot -- I'm gonna be right behind Amanda on that one ... altho maybe some woman will re-arrange his teeth someday.  That was beyond awful. 

calliecritturs

I think the male/female thing is probably split maybe close to 50/50.  I've had women tell me they wouldn't go to a *woman* because they felt too "uck" having a woman touch them.  I think it's all valid cos each of us are individuals and have different life frames of reference. 

And Jenn ... shoot -- I'm gonna be right behind Amanda on that one ... altho maybe some woman will re-arrange his teeth someday.  That was beyond awful. 

I see a male Gyn now and I really like him. He's very professional, but friendly and always listens to any concerns I have. Prior to this Dr., I had a female Gyn and I'd gone to her and really, really liked her. She knew my family hx and my concerns and genuinely seemed to care. She was somewhat open about being a *** and talked about her partner, but it didn't bother me in the least. The most important thing to me is that I feel taken care of as an individual and not rushed in and out. 

Where I live we only see an actual Gynecologist if we need some sort of other treatments or test done that a family doctor can't do. It's weird, but our doctors have too many patients so they said they had to limit it (same with pediatricians). But on that note, I had to see one for my pre-cancer and it was a male. Very nice doctor, but I generally prefer female doctors. My family doctor and my doctor that will deliver my baby are woman. Just seems weird to me having a man assess that part of my body lol.

I go to a gyn because I've known my gp for my entire life, and I'd totally uncomfortable if I went to him for that. I know him too well, and it would just be way too weird.

I use my female GP just because it's more convenient than traveling out of (our SMALL) town for a specialist. Never a pleasant experience--she has the hands of a lumberjack, but is extremely nice. We were discussing this topic at work a few months ago & I mentioned who I went to. Apparently she's a well-known ***. Even though she's very professional, it's still an awkward feeling finding out after the fact that she wasn't quite who I'd assumed. I'll probably still go to her though just out of pure laziness.

Something interesting about this topic, at least to me...just the other day I went to my OBGYN who is a man and he no longer delivers babies...he did for years and I went to him then.  I even had a day surgery he performd on pre-cancerous cells a few years ago.  I LOVE my OBGYN.  When I get pregnant I will go to whoever he suggests b/c my mother also goes to him and has had several referrals from him who she has loved just as much if not more and since my mom always ends up being right I will follow her lead in this area. 

To get to the point, the other night I was talking to some of my friends who have had babies.  They all feel like their OBGYN loves them when they are pregnant and rushes through them when they aren't.  I have never had this feeling with my Dr. even when he did deliver babies.  I don't know if it is b/c he is a man and all my friends go to women or if it is b/c he no longer delivers babies, but when I did go to a woman GYN I wasn't as comfortable as I am with him.  Or maybe it is b/c I have never been pregnant and don't know what they are talking about.  Although I have been through a da operation with him and he made me feel so comfortable that my brother was suprised by how calm I was about it.  I know it seems crazy but I feel like he is more sympathetic than the one woman I went to before was.  It might just be that I really trust him b/c when I had a serious issue, he took a really aggressive approach which is right on target with what I would have wanted and turned out to be a really good decision.

No matter what, it is an uncomfortable situation.  I try to remind myself that my OBGYN has seen a thousand different woman parts and it is just as routine for him as the tax returns I see everday.  It is what it is and I can't remember what I saw without reminding myself by looking at the notes from last year.  He must make good notes though b/c he seems so personable and makes me feel so comfortable asking whatever questions I may have... 

I go to my GP for everything purely for an economical reason - my insurance covers one appt a year for a physical and they pay for the pap, but if you go to an OBGYN they don't cover the cost of the appt.  So I can go to my GP once a year for free, basically, and get it done then, or go to an OBGYN doc and pay for the appt.  I am cheap, but then again I've never had any problems.  I go once a year for the BC script and I figure if something is abnormal then I can worry about the specialist.

So far I've only had women even though my GP was a man he had a PA or something doing that the one day I was there......  I don't really have a preference, but if I had a guy that was about my age and rather attractive, well, then that might be another story.  DH might not like it either!  I think men invoke more confidence when they are older/more mature, whereas I tend to see women of any age as just fine.  I dunno.  My next appt is at a new practice, in May, with a male and I can't find any pictures of him on the practice's website (they often have bios of their docs) so I couldn't see if he was 25 or 65.