I'm scheduled for a checkup every six months including a blood test. Medical conditions don't turn on like a switch and it's better to know if you have a health problem in it's earliest stages before it grows into something severe.
Whoopdeedo... Three years ago I was not on meds and saw a doctor only when necessary. All that changed within the blink of and eye. As for annual exams have read not necessary for most people. However to each his own. .
How are you doing, Gloria? I have to agree; I don't believe annual exams are necessary for many people.
This is true. People used to know more about their own and their family's health, and neighbors, etc, and how to preserve their health all as a community (mostly by farming or knowledge of what foods were healthy and what was not healthy. Family members used to watch out for one another, daily, and / or others they saw less frequently they would get together and talk about things related to health, and learn from one another what grandma and grandpa and even great grandparents wisdom about maintaining good health, as good as possible, and knowing when something was wrong, how to figure it out, or where to go to find out without being tricked into worse conditions..... people helping people, not professionals hurting people like the system developed into. "To know you have a health problem" is not something that requires a professional most decades at all. (or did not used to be, anyway) .... And the poisons put in the food supply (duck search 3 white poisons to see what some of them are) , caused a huge increase in problems after world war one, and even more after it was identified as the cause after world war ii. (you would think normally that people would stop taking stuff that is bad for them, but, no, they did not for the most part of the nation.)
I disagree. Annual exams that include a complete Blood Count CBC can detect many diseases and conditions in their early stage before becoming critical. My Prostate Cancer and years later Lymphoma were detected by a ANNUAL PHYSICAL I am alive today thanks to that. Once you have a disease a Annual Physical may not be necessary.
A few years ago, there was a man on another board who boasted that he hadn't seen a doctor in X number of years. He said he was very athletic, ate healthy, and took natural supplements. Then one day he lost consciousness. He was found to be severely diabetic. He lost his legs and, eventually, his life. If he had seen a doctor during those X number of years, been diagnosed and treated, he would still be alive.
Yes - likewise the several or many athletes seemingly healthy dying on the court or in the field during a game in the last 40 years. They did see regular ama doctors, who did not know the proper methods/ testing to do do know what is going on in a person's body. Heart attacks can or could be predicted months , sometimes years ahead of time if the right information is seen, known, and understood. Other diseases likewise. The 'famous' Chinese doctors were paid every month or year, as long as their patients or those in the area they were taking care of were alive and well. If someone got sick, the doctor had to take care of that in order to continue receiving payment. And it was very small amounts compared to us doctors. Note that not seeing an ama doctor does not mean to not pay attention to your health - rather pay more attention and if something/ anything happens, learn what it is, in case medical or other care or intervention is needed. The problem in the usa system, is that those who were somehow appointed to ... do whatever they are supposed to do, does not usually prevent people from being sick nor from dying. Lack of knowledge leads to perishing. Gain knowledge, learn what is right and true, to not perish before your time.
Ever since I went on Medicare, my annual physical may as well consist of my doctor driving by and honking his horn. When my prior doctor was on a concierge program, my fees paid for an Executive Physical. I was in his office for at least 3 hours with all the tests, lifestyle questionnaires and conversation. I really miss that guy. At least I still get the annual blood and urine tests (there's another "increase-the-fees" story there). I should have liver function tests done quarterly since I'm on statins...but he renews the script without them.
I just sweated out a prostate biopsy because my current doctor says "PSA tests are the gold standard." All those decades of getting that nasty exam, and when a nodule shows up, I gotta have a doctor that does not believe in them. I have no idea when that abnormality showed up. It was found by a urologist when I visited for a bladder stone (still caught between providers on related side issues.) That exam is only once a year, is very brief, and can save your life.
I thought everything was fine with me, but I'm still struggling with related issues. I gotta stop making doctor appointments.
I have a Physical every year. Not the complete workout, just a blood and urine sample, from which much can be determined from analysis. Yup Yup Yup Harry