EAR: Checkups?

[El Presidente]

EAR=Email Assistance Required. 

 

"Rob I was wondering what your medical checkup protocol is these days. I know you have a few issues a couple of years back. Doctors and me have never seen eye to eye but the Mrs is on my back and I work best to a locked in timeline"

Well I put this overnight email up because I thought it best to get a wide range of input + we have some medicos on site. 

I am a firm believer that in your life you need a great accountant, a great doctor and a great lawyer. You should all see them as essential parts of "Team You". 

I am 57 so take that into account and adjust. 

• Doctor checkups with full bloods every 6 months. January and July. Lock it in. 
• Specialty tests as designated by your doctor/specialist. Let them take the lead and don't miss one.  
• Dentist every 4 months. 

Fear factor is the biggest reason my mates don't have regular checkups. It is insane. 

 

[btort910]

At 73, I've been getting a physical every 6 months for some time now. Same with blood work (and make sure it includes PSA test). Also, a colonoscopy when you hit 50 and then as often as doctor recommends thereafter based on results of 1st one. Good friend died at 68 because he never had one and ended up with stage 4 colon cancer. He died 6 months after discovering it.

[JohnS]

It's human nature to reach middle age and opine that the usual tragedies of life, whether foreseen or not, happen only to other people.

In this context, listen to the wife and do the check-up. In regards to health, we all meet the same end and doing something about it is a much better plan than putting it off.

[Cigar-Therapy]

34 here… my older brother had colon cancer, discovered it at 48, so I have my first colonoscopy coming up soon.

I have check ins with doctor every 3 months, bloodwork once a year.   All my panels say I’m healthy, just working on this overweight part.  
 

Food has always been a tough spot, being from New Orleans - food is life. 
 

Dentist every 6 months, with an extensive oral exam.  Dentist still says he wouldn’t know that I smoke if I didn’t tell him.  I Listerine and brush (teeth and soft tissue) after every smoke.  

Just go see the doctor, if you don’t like him, go see another.  I went through 4-5 doctors before finding one I liked- he doesn’t sugar coat possible risks but also realizes I’m going to continue to enjoy cigars so he changes his tone to - let’s make sure we keep our eye on the baselines incase something pops up - we catch it early. 

[benfica_77]

I'm 35 and would be defined as fairly close to ideal health (minus stress) and I have to fight my doctor (here in Canada) to get bloodwork done every 5 years. It's nonsense. 

Preventative medicine is not an option here and very frustrating. I might start next year looking at a private practice to get more tests done once a year. 

[Cigar-Therapy]

30 minutes ago, benfica_77 said:

I'm 35 and would be defined as fairly close to ideal health (minus stress) and I have to fight my doctor (here in Canada) to get bloodwork done every 5 years. It's nonsense. 

Preventative medicine is not an option here and very frustrating. I might start next year looking at a private practice to get more tests done once a year. 

That stress will get ya!    Sorry to hear about the challenges with preventive blood work. 

[JustDave]

4 hours ago, El Presidente said:

I am a firm believer that in your life you need a great accountant, a great doctor and a great lawyer.

+ a great mechanic

my 2 cents

[anacostiakat]

WOW!  Painless Parker checkups every four months?  Norm here is every six but I guess that isnt so different.  Primary croaker visits every six months with full blood work every other visit.  

[ayedfy]

Let me sneak in an oft-neglected checkup near and dear to my heart.

Once you’re 50, a hearing test every three years. From 65, every twelve months. If an audiologist ever tells you to get hearing aids, do it. If you don’t trust them, get a second opinion. If that second opinion agrees with the first, get them. And wear them. Even if you think you can hear everything you need to hear, or want to laugh off not hearing what you don’t.

When I was studying, the first whispers about cognitive decline/dementia and untreated hearing loss were circulating, but the evidence as presented to me seemed kinda wishy-washy. I decided not to even mention it in my counselling, would rather spend more time discussing the aspects of hearing loss and hearing aids that I had more confidence in, instead of scaring people over what seemed liked a fairly tenuous link.

After years of practice and the light of new evidence, I’ve changed my tune. I still hold back from going full scare tactics in my consultations, but I do make a point of discussing the potential consequences of untreated hearing loss with every single patient who presents with a significant hearing loss. When you’ve shuffled around countless dementia wards in nursing homes, you want to make sure everyone has the information they need to reduce their chances of ending up in one.

(Oh, and if you ever wake up one morning with a sudden significant hearing loss, that wasn’t there yesterday, for no explained reason - ear wax occlusion is unlikely, you don’t have a head cold etc - get tested. That day. Emergency department if you have to. Extremely uncommon but it can happen, and if it does you have about a 48-hour window to possibly reverse it.)

[BrightonCorgi]

19 hours ago, El Presidente said:

 I am 57 so take that into account and adjust. 

• Doctor checkups with full bloods every 6 months. January and July. Lock it in. 
• Specialty tests as designated by your doctor/specialist. Let them take the lead and don't miss one.  
• Dentist every 4 months. 

Fear factor is the biggest reason my mates don't have regular checkups. It is insane. 

I am on the same exact schedule...  Go figure.  I would suggest also using all of your insurance benefits for chiropractic services.

[Glass Half Full]

Agree with all of the above -- though would like to add in the need for eye care as well, especially if family history indicates a need.  

My father was sharp as a tack mentally up until the day before he died at 96 last year.  (Up to the end, he had the mathematical skills of so many of the "Greatest Generation," who all learned to do computations in their head rather than with a calculator, let alone a computer :)  

Sadly though, he had lost his much of his sight in his early eighties due to macular degeneration.  It made reading and general enjoyment of life much more of a challenge in those late years.  The progression of age-related macular degeneration can be kept at bay when caught early (which he did not).  It's worth asking your eye doctor about it, and knowing your family history for that, as well as for cataracts and glaucoma.  

Hopefully that's helpful. 

[Cigar Surgeon]

Well as you know I'm in Canada. I've never had an issue booking bloodwork and general physical with my doctor. Unfortunately my Mom passed away from colon cancer last year, and my birth father passed away from colon cancer when I was a teenager.  So my risk factors are obviously through the roof.

Turning 48 this weekend and I've always taken my health seriously. I eat balanced meals, I've always cooked for myself, I limit takeout, I cut out soda/pop from my diet more than a decade ago. I drink in moderation, and I've always tried to keep my weight at health levels.

I feel like I'm doing everything I can that is in my control. 

Just keep plugging on annual checkups and colonoscopies and what not. 

[bassistheplace]

On 1/16/2023 at 2:07 PM, El Presidente said:

I am 57 so take that into account and adjust. 

• Doctor checkups with full bloods every 6 months. January and July. Lock it in. 
• Specialty tests as designated by your doctor/specialist. Let them take the lead and don't miss one.  
• Dentist every 4 months.

57 here too

same protocol!

an ounce of prevention

the machine has a lot of  miles on it   more maintenance is required