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What's the point of a routine physical?
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Anonymous
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I haven't ever had one, except of course the semi-annual visit to the lady doctor. I put up with the GYN exam because they're running a specific test-- cervical cancer.
But what's the point of a routine physical exam? If I don't have any complaints, what is the doctor going to do? Take my blood pressure? Look in my ears? If we're talking about the whole, healthy body, what is the doctor looking for? Has anyone ever gone in for an annual exam feeling fine and learned about a problem they didn't know they had? (A real problem, not a pharmaceutical-industry-hyped one like "high cholesterol".) Feels like an opportunity to get a lecture on how I should lose ten pounds and get more sleep... |
Anonymous
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depends on your age and family history.
We are pushing 40. My DH has family history of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and probably a slew of other things I don't know about. After nagging him for 10 years to have a physical, he finally had one last year. And agreed to go back for an annual exam. I think the point is to have a history so you can see what's "normal" for you and can identify changes from that baseline. I think changes are more important than the initial number. |
Anonymous
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In a routine physical they listen to your heart, your lungs and do a complete blood count, which checks for abnormalities. These can be silent. I found out I was anemic. They also test your urine for sugar and protein. Again, silent. As you age you are screened for colon cancer and other problems.
If you don't want a physical, don't get one. But not every problem will present with a complaint. |
Anonymous
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I went in about a year ago, without any specific problems, b/c I wanted a baseline. I figured if I had a healthy baseline, then anything out of the ordinary would be easier to pick up if and when I did go in with a complaint.
I figure if you go in for a physical every year (or even every 2 years), chances are they pick up whatever migh be brewing earlier than if you waited until you had symptoms. At least that's my theory. Once every two years seems a small price to pay for this "protection" - kind of like insurance, if you will. |
Anonymous
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At my first-ever physical (age 41), my blood work showed that I had a very pronounced deficiency of Vitamin D. Probably all that sunscreen and sun avoidance?
After 2 mos. of supplementation and more direct sun -- which I never, ever would have thought about had I not opted for this physical -- I felt tons better. All these niggling little physical issues and mental malaise went away. |
Anonymous
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I sympathize with your fear of getting caught up in some pharmaceutical company created illness - like pre high cholesterol or pre diabetes or pre high blood pressure. If they tell me I have that, I'm going to say "no thanks" to medicine and work on my diet, etc. But a previous poster is correct, things like dangerously high blood pressure are often symptomless - and then you have a stroke. It makes sense to get things checked every year or two. If they diagnose you with something, research it and get a second opinion. They can't make you take medicines, etc., that you don't feel appropriate.
If you don't have insurance and so are worrying about cost, my heart goes out to you. There may be ways of getting cholesterol, blood pressure and other checks at health fairs, etc. But do try to get checked out, if possible. |
Anonymous
| I recently had a physical and found out a few interesting tidbits. I had high triglycerides..big surprise to me because I thought I ate healthy. Blood in my urine..from a kidney stone..and back problems. Geez I thought I was doing okay but I am now handling all this stuff and I am glad I am getting ahead of it. |
Anonymous
| I have no use for medical doctors unless my head is falling off. If you're savvy enough to research, you can figure out almost anything. I've found that doctors are nothing but pharmaceutical vending machines....and they are on autopilot. I have yet to see a western medical doctor actually RESEARCH a problem further than his his book of big pharma. |
Anonymous
Exactly my experience, to a tee, last winter. I was 42. |
Anonymous
THis is awful advice. The reality is that most of the conditions that lead up to major disease are not noticeable. You won't necessarily feel "off" or in pain. For instance, you might have high BP or blood sugar. You can't tell by how you feel, at the point where the problem begins. Two people I know - healthy looking and acting people - got their high bp spotted because they were in car accidents and someone took their bp as part of the medical follow-ups. I know another person who found out about his blood sugar when he went to get term life insurance. This is not the way to find out about a problem. You might easily miss an enlarged node, which could be nothing or it could be cancer. Why should you wait until you have angina to get your heart checked? The doctor can do an EKG on you in a few minutes, and an early problem could be addressed. Or you could wait until you feel radiating arm pain. Just because you live healthy does not mean you won't have heart disease. |
Anonymous
I love you. |
Anonymous
| i went in for a physical and found out i had borderline high blood pressure. was shocked. not overweight, eat well, etc. started a low dose blood pressure med and started to do more cardio. |
Anonymous
Don't love her. She is costing you money. Your premiums are higher because of people who neglect routine preventive medicine. If she can actually feel pain because of her high blood pressure, the damage is already done. |
Anonymous
I love her, too. The last time I had a physical it was to fill out some forms and the whole thing was utterly useless. The blood work came back basically saying I had borderline high cholesterol, which I have had my entire life -- and nothing else. No test for diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, nothing. The doctor said the insurance didn't cover anything else (thanks for letting me know that ahead of time). The doctor also convinced me that I needed a mammogram for lumpy breasts -- which they just are normally -- and I got all in a panic and had the damn thing which was supposed to be covered by my insurance but, surprise, wasn't. My mammogram came back normal and I was $200 poorer for the pleasure of being told what I already knew. All the fancy heart monitoring equipment attached to the treadmill in the doctor's office just sat there collecting dust (also because my insurance didnt' cover it) so all I got was the doc listening to my heart through the stethoscope. It was a complete waste of time, money and anxiety. |
Anonymous
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See, the posters touting routine physicals because they found "borderline problems" like high BP, or pre-cholesterol or (wiping tears from my eyes laughing) Vitamin D deficiency, are EXACTLY why I think it's a dumb waste of time and money.
Did you know that keeping your cholesterol low delays your eventual heart attack by about six months? That's right... you'll still die, just maybe six months later. However, because of your ridiculous taste-free diet, you'll wish that you'd died five years earlier. I choose quality over quantity. Same for most cancer screenings. The five-year survival rates do not improve with "early detection". When Sweden introduced universal mammograms, they started finding and treating many more breast cancers. Guess what. In the 20 years since, breast cancer death rates have barely budged. The "early detection saves lives" bullshit that Komen pushes is just that... scientifically unsupported bullshit, invented by fundraisers. So many people seem to have drunk the koolaid when it comes to preventative medicine. I agree that maintaining a healthy weight is a good way to keep diabetes at bay, and to save the system money. But I don't need to sit around a chilly exam room with my bits peeping out of a paper robe to learn that. YMMV. |