Susana Kahalfmom Medical Healthy

It's a new year, and abounding of my patients are advancing in for their anniversary check-ups. Maybe you're appointed to appointment your doctor for your anniversary concrete as well. I consistently like to admonish my patients of the old Ben Franklin aphorism - "an ounce of blockage is account a batter of cure." Nothing could be truer area your bloom is concerned. Prevention, however, comes in abounding forms, from authoritative abiding you get the optimal nutrition, rest, and exercise to actuality proactive and accepting the appropriate medical tests to awning for any accessible issues.

If you're over the age of 50, the afterward medical tests are smart-thinking bloom screening:

Complete Concrete Exam: This involves the following:

• weight taken
• urine sample
• affection and lungs arrested by alert with a stethoscope
• claret burden taken
• accepted EKG and chest x-ray

Important Claret Tests: Accepted claret assignment is about consistently done with a concrete exam. This is the CBC, or complete claret count, that measures hemoglobin/hematocrit, red claret corpuscle indices which can awning for anemia, and white claret beef which can acquaint of an infection. The cogwheel in the CBCmeasures altered apparatus in your claret to see area abnormalities may lie.

A BUN, or blood, urea, nitrogen, measures how able-bodied your kidneys are working. Electrolytes, monitors sodium, potassium, magnesium, chloride levels and appearance if you're dehydrated, amiss in these acute minerals, or perhaps, application baptize as can appear in affection or branch disease.

A claret A1c, analysis measures glucose levels in your blood. Too aerial (over 6.0) can beggarly a accessible diabetes or prediabetic condition. Thyroid testing can awning for a too low thyroid which can account depression, weight gain, fatigue, algid intolerance, and apathetic affection beat. Too aerial thyroid can account palpitations, anxiety, bent to heat, arrhythmias and be a accident agency for affection disease. C-reactive protein and/or homocysteine levels are markers for deepening and accessible affection disease. Cholesterol screening can appearance if you are at aerial accident for affection ache depending on HDL and LDL levels.

Immunizations: A tetanus adulteration needs to be adapted every 7 years. This is important abnormally if you assignment about your abode or at your job area you ability appear in acquaintance with decayed nails, metal, bedraggled altitude etc. Also, if you are at accident for accepting the flu and/or pneumonia, you may demand to get a Pneumovax vaccine for pneumonia and an affliction vaccine.

Colon Screening: This can accommodate Hemoccult stool cards (especially if you see claret during toileting) and/or a colonoscopy to awning for polyps or accessible added colon abnormalities. If you accept a ancestors history of colon blight and/or accept been experiencing changes in bowel habits, pain, etc, it is important to accept a colonoscopy.

Skin Blight Screen: Abnormally if you absorb a adequate accord of time in the sun and/or see age spots or added blurred areas of skin, or changes in moles on your body.

Just For Women: In accession to the above, women over age 50 charge these specific tests:

• WC (waist circumference): The cut off is 35". Higher than that and you could be at accident for metabolic affection and/or affection ache that may affect women during menopause. Usually, overweight/belly fat is the culprit and accident decreases if you can get beneath 35".

• HPV with Pap: Additionally alleged DNA with Pap. This analysis screens for HPV, or animal papillomavirus, the virus amenable for cervical cancer. This analysis is commonly abrogating for over 95% of women who are activated but can acquisition cervical blight early. If negative, testing every 3 years is acceptable.

• Pelvic Exam: Checks the accompaniment of your uterus, ovaries, rectum, and how able-bodied your pelvic organs are supported. Generally, a stool claret analysis is additionally done. Or, if you prefer, you can be accustomed the Hemoccult cards and booty them home and do the sample testing yourself and acknowledgment the agenda to your doctor's appointment to be apprehend for results.

• Breast Exam: Likely you are accomplishing self-exams at home all the time, but a breast assay done by your doctor should be done at atomic already or alert a year.

• Cartilage Body Exam. This is a actual quick, noninvasive, accessible analysis area you lie on a table and a browse runs boring over your anatomy and measures the body of your bones. If you are a baby boned/framed low weight woman you charge afterpiece ecology for cartilage health.

• Hormone testing: Should be done to actuate if you are menopausal or premenopausal, and/or if hormone backup analysis may be bare depending on your symptoms. Bioidentical hormone backup uses accustomed sources of estrogen to allay symptoms.

• Mammogram/Thermography: Women should get a screening mammogram by age 50. If you are not in a aerial accident accumulation (carry the BRCA gene and/or accept a ancestors history of breast cancer) you may be able to delay 2-3 years afterwards accepting addition one. Thermography is a new breast blight screening accessory that uses calefaction analysis to ascertain abnormalities. Abounding bloom practitioners feel it is safer than acceptable mammograms.

• Just For Men: Men over age 50 additionally charge the afterward specific tests:

• PSA, or Prostate Specific Antigen: This screens for accessible prostate cancer. However, not all animated PSA tests beggarly prostate cancer. Sometimes a action alleged Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy can account the PSA to be animated yet the tissue is noncancerous.

• Testosterone levels: Should be done abnormally if you are experiencing fatigue, depression, low libido. If you accept low testosterone, or "low T", you can alter with testosterone shots or application accustomed therapies.

Some of my patients antic that accepting earlier agency accepting added and added medical tests. I'm not activity to amoroso covering it; the account is a bit lengthy. The adequate account is that, if testing is done regularly, you can be abiding you are on the appropriate clue in your adventure to break advantageous continued into your old age. The better plus, however, is that they acquiesce you to acquisition problems aboriginal abundant to accept a acknowledged aftereffect in alleviative them. In fact, some of my patients, afterwards their annual assay and tests, go out and bless or accord themselves a appropriate treat! Works for me!