You always worry yourself about making sure that your child goes to his regular appointment with his doctor. But how about you concerning yourself with a regular check up with your doctors? If your health checkups just end with a regular Pap smear, then that definitely isn’t enough.
Many diseases that start during your 20s or 30s often do not show their symptoms on the onset. Examples of which are heart disease and cervical cancer. However, there is a way to deal with the silence of these diseases at first. Screening tests can detect these diseases while they can still be treated or corrected and before they develop into serious complications. Thus, you should inform your ob/gyn that you come to her to give your primary healthcare. This is so she would know that you do not visit a family physician. Otherwise, she may not take notice of issues like cholesterol screening and skin cancer on your yearly visits to her.
For ages 18 to 40, the following are the health screening and exams you are recommended to take as they can help the doctors pinpoint the disease early.
The first important exam is the breast exam. Ideally, at age twenty, you should do yourself self- examination of your breasts every month. If you have no idea how, then here is the general description of it: Lie down and put a pillow at the back of one’s left shoulder then put the left hand at the back of the head. Using the right hand, palpate the left breast with your middle fingers’ flat parts (not with your fingertips). Press steadily around your breast on a circular motion (clockwise) or in an up and down motion. Or you can also examine your breasts into different sections then examine each section separately. Now, with the left hand, examine the right breast. After this, try doing the exam again while standing up this time. Make sure that you check up to your armpits. Lastly, look at the mirror and see if there are changes in your breasts’ appearance. If you see any lumps, do not panic immediately since breasts can just sometimes swell or feel hard because of hormonal fluctuations. Also, breasts of women can sometimes be just normally lumpy. But still, whatever may cause these lumps or changes such as discharge, pain or tenderness, always tell about them to your doctor. She can then decide if you need to take breast ultrasounds (to see if there are cysts) or mammograms (to check benign or cancerous tumors).
Remember that you should do these exams monthly. It is best to do so a week after your menstruation ends when you have the lowest hormone levels and when your breasts are neither tender nor swollen. If in case, you don’t menstruate anymore because of breastfeeding or pregnancy, still perform the exam on the given time every month. When your aged 40 and above (or earlier if your family has a history of having breast cancer), you must undergo mammograms yearly.
The second important exam for you to take is the gynecological exam which includes a pelvic and breast exam. The pelvic exam involves Pap smear, a vaginal wall examination and maybe a check- up of your rectum. What the doctor does in a Pap smear is to scrape cells from your cervix, to see if there are abnormalities indicating an onset of cancer. This is recommended for women above 18 as well as those who are sexually active.
Remember that you should undergo these exams once every year. For women who have family histories of cancers or ovarian cysts, your doctor may recommend more frequent visitations.
The third important exam you must take is the cholesterol screening. It is recommended that you have your blood tested to check if you have high cholesterol starting at the age of 45 years old. However, it is important to know that high cholesterol is linked with a heart disease. So if your family has a history of occurrences of heart disease, if your body weight is 20 percent more than the ideal one, if your blood pressure is always high, or if your diet mainly consists of high fats, whatever your age is, consider taking this test the soonest possible time. If the level of your cholesterol is higher than the normal, your doctor might recommend that you change your diet, undergo a particular exercise program and take a medication to lower your cholesterol. The most reliable test is to draw a blood sample from the arm and then send the sample to the laboratory for analysis. This will give you more accurate results than if you take a blood sample from your fingers and then have the results in an instant.
For those with normal conditions, you must undergo this screening every 3- 5 years. Otherwise, you must take this test yearly.
The fourth necessary test is the diabetes screening. People with an African, Asian, Hispanic or Native American descent as well as those who have parents or siblings with diabetes have higher risks of getting diabetes too. Diabetes makes the body unable to respond to insulin which is an important hormone that converts the body’s food intake into energy. It often starts gradually after the age of 40, and often for overweight people. But it can be controlled through proper exercise and diet. If you happen to belong to people who might have high risks of getting diabetes, then you should take the diabetes screening no matter what your age is. But if not, then you can take the exam until you’re 45.
It is recommended that you take this screening every 3 years.
Lastly, an important test to undergo is the screening for skin cancers. These tests are advisable to take from the age of 18. A dermatologist or a general physician should check your skin from head to foot seeing if you have suspicious freckles, lesions, moles or nodules. If you are just doing a self- examination, check if your freckles, lesions, moles or nodules might look bigger than an eraser, might have irregular borders or might be bleeding and if they are, tell your physician immediately.
This screening should be taken yearly by your dermatologist. But for people who always have exposure to the sun (maybe because of job, or to your hobbies like gardening and swimming, for those who had blistering sunburns before, or for those family has a skin cancer history, your doctor might recommend more frequent visitations. It is recommended that you do self- examinations every 3 months or more often that if you belong to the people who have high risks of getting the cancer.
For more:
How to start a daycare business by OwnADaycare.com
