Preventive Check Ups: Of Course Or May Be?

Modern medicine has come a long way. Life expectancy all over the developed world has improved by leaps and bounds.

Preventive medicine or the art of identifying problems before they surface, is one essential tool to make this possible.

Why is this so vital? Most diseases if picked up early can be tackled well.

Many diseases do not cause any aymptoms at all when they start. For example diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney problems, cancer, thyroid diseases all can be detected in very early stages, but may not produce any significant symptoms in people.

When should you start having preventive check ups? A good age to start would be 35 years.

The money you spend on this is well worth it and not more than a few thousand rupees.

This is also the time you should get a health insurance policy. Medical treatment in good hospitals is always expensive and having health insurance handy when there is a health issue.

In women ultrasound scans of breasts and abdomen is important to pick up early changes which might point in the direction of cancer. Both breast and ovarian cancers are treatable and curable in early stages.

In men prostate and colon are two cancers that should be screened for in ages above 50.

Just getting blood tests is not enough when it comes to health screening. Cardiac and lung evaluation is vital. If there is a family history of heart attacks in young, screening for heart ischemia by treadmill or CT scan or angiogram is well worth the extra expenditure.

These days we hear of fatal heart attacks and sudden deaths most of which are due to silent heart problems.

To summarise preventive checks go a long way in ensuring we maintain decent health as we grow older and take note of the early warning signs of disease.