Auscohedonism - deriving pleasure from the auscultation experience

Hello friends. I've been on Zity for some time now and used to enjoy regular postings by fellow stethoscope lovers, but it seems these days that the surest place to find them is in the archives. If you're all out there, please come back!

I love words and do my best to use them deliberately, which is how I came up with a word to characterize my own love of auscultation (see above). I don't identify much as a cardiophile ... my interests are narrowly focused on the act of auscultating the heart and lungs more than on heart sounds, or EKGs, or defibrillators. Which is what prompted me to write the following brief reflection. Apologies if this isn't the appropriate place to post such a thing ... I'm not a blogger and usually post my writing to the Library, but this piece isn't a story.

What’s in a Name?

The practice is auscultation, by which a doctor listens slowly, attentively, and methodically to my body through a stethoscope.

The focus is my beating heart, the seat of my truest emotions and deepest longings, a secret and exquisitely intimate space of pure authenticity.

The physical sensations are cold metal touching bare, exposed, hypersensitive skin; the doctor’s hand on my shoulder as I feel the stethoscope navigating my chest; hardening nipples and flush skin.

The aural sensation is the sound of the diaphragm as it lifts from my skin, the quiet instruction by the doctor … deep breath in and out, again, and again, breathe normally; the distinctive crinkle of my gown and the paper lining the exam table.

The visual aspect, almost defiantly unfocused to avoid awkward eye contact.

The emotional sensations are visceral and reflexive, complex in their dissonance: dread and anticipation; aversion and desire; intrusiveness and surrender; vulnerability and strength; resentment and longing; detachment and intimacy; refusal and insistence.

The experience relived is heady, hot, arousing, tingly, desperate, delicious, insatiable.

It is, ultimately, deriving unparalleled pleasure from the auscultation experience.

I call it auscohedonism.

I am much the same as you. For me is it the stethoscope rather than the sound. I like lung listening as much as, or more than the heart. Your doctor is than listening to a bigger part of your body.

But i dont think listening to my stomach is a big thing for me. I dont know why, but maybe i dont was examinated in that was when i was a little kid.

But i dont love stethoscope exam in whole. I hate it at the same time. Cant talk about it to others. Cant say the Word stethoscope at loud. Cant even say the Word doctor, without feeling embarracement. I fear going to the doctor, because she or he has the stethoscope. But i have managed to buy me a couple of them anyway. But never shown them to others. There you have me.

I also remember the goose bumps when the stethoscope was put on my bare back and chest and then lying down as the doctor listened to my stomach while I was lying there in my underwear. It was so close and arousing.

This is written so beautifully! These are my sentiments exactly.

That's it! I'm like that in many ways too. I love stethoscopes and the process of listening to them. His touch, the sound of an adhesive membrane, the feeling of cold metal, the sight of a shiny metal head and how the doctor removes the stethoscope from his neck or picks it up from the table, inserts olives into his ears and forces him to lift his clothes to apply the stethoscope to bare skin. All this is great, including when I do it for myself.😍😍😍

I don't think that I would single out auscultation as a single main pleasure of examination for myself, as I find all aspects of being examined to be pleasurable and exciting, and there perhaps another part of being examined that would fulfill that box for me,

However it is more intense in having to breathe as instructed, "deeper" "hold now" etcetera, and not knowing what the dr is hearing and thus determining what any further interventions may be,

The longer the "stething" takes the more heightened my anticipation becomes.

the cold stethoscope first touching the skin is an exquisite sensation, which for me is as much reminiscient of boyhood examinations as physical examination where my med fet began,

The stethoscope is perhaps the most defining item of a medic in my mind.

I cannot imagine being intimate with a woman without listening to her heart as a pounding heart and heavy breathing is a reliable indicator of sexual arousal. For that, I prefer ear to chest.

I also enjoy non-sexual auscultation of women's hearts as an end in itself. For that I want my cardiology steth with the Eko device to crank up the volume. As much as I appreciate beautiful breasts, auscultation is not just an excuse to get a woman topless . The patient needs to be bare chested for cardiac auscultation and larger breasts require lifting the breast for a good listen to the mitral valve. I like to watch a woman's facial expressions as I listen intently to her heart.

And yes, Iove hearing a woman with a good cardio steth telling me to take off my shirt.

My sentiments are very similar! It's intense when the doctor says they want to listen to me and I'm sitting/lying there shirtless and the doctor goes over me with their stethoscope. I like my heart being checked and not knowing the sounds they're hearing inside, but even more so my breathing as I'm told to take deep breaths in and out, hold my breath etc.

My favourite though is when they listen to my abdomen, especially the childish way they'll say "I'll just have a listen to your tummy now Scott" which gives me a kick inside each time, and butterflies as the stethoscope is slowly moved around my bellybutton.