Getting a check-up

[masoth]

I'd enjoy making a reply to some of the posts, but will, instead, control my grinning to be serious:
I've used the same GP for 20 years - we didn't particularly like each other - then I began checking every thinG he said to me on the www, and went back to argue with him.
We had quite a hot debate/argument, the result is he no longer says "I'm the doctor, you're the patient, and I am the one who knows".
Much negotiation over medication, identifying surgery needs, hospital stays, and alternatitive trreatment later I can report that, last year in my pub, on a Saturday afternoon, there was a sudden silence - I was heard to laugh.
IT'S YOUR BODY. YOU TAKE CONTROL, AND TELL YOUR DOCTOR.

[RufflyRustic]

I'm afraid I have to be dragged kicking and screaming to go to the doctors, and that's only because I can't walk by myself due to being in so much pain, so when I do get there, I ask my Doctor to give me the full checkup as I don't want to be back again in a hurry.

Yeah, ok, so it's my turn to make that appointment

RR

[Wood Butcher]

Unlike Wood Butcher, if I gave up work, my physique would improve, not degenerate. Something about sittin' behind this damned computer all day....

See that's the opposite to me Stuart. I gave up physical work due to three crook discs to sitting behind a desk studying

[ozwinner]

Believe me Iain, it's VERY easy to lose weight ... trying to gain it is much more difficult.

Cheers
Tikki

Same here, try as I may I cant gain an ounce..
Never have been able too, maybe I should leave my body to science so they can come up with an antidote for the larger ppl.?

Al

[ozwinner]

Al will be disappointed.

Not so, I went last year for a prostrate test, and was very appointed to find out it is done by a blood test.
At least I had the balls to go, pun intended.

Al

[echnidna]

With some luck problems are found during checkups,
but not always.

Since my mid 30's I suffered from a painful left elbow.

Originally diagnosed as RSI or tennis elbow.
The pain would be indescribably excruciating at times.
Saw many different doctors about it.

About the time I turned 50 I moved into another small town.
Saw the local Doc about the painful elbow.

... The long shot of it was that I was suffering angina pains in my left elbow without any chest pains at all.
It seems I've suffered several minor heart attacks since I was about 35.

These days I can recognise the difference between the RSI pain and the heart pain. Even though they are very similar, they are slightly different

So just coz you get a clean bill of health,
you must remember its only an opinion!!!

[johnc]

Yep,

You can't tell without a check up and even then there is no guarantees. At 23 being 6' and about 75kg a check up showed Cholesterol near the seven mark and blood pressure of 180/110. That all went against what you would expect but it is the one thing I can truly blame on my parents as they gave me these genes. Since then it's been checkups each six months with the odd thing like prostrate, sun spots etc checked along the way. Early detection allows life style changes before the damage is done and the monitoring helps to identify when the genes rebel and medication kicks in.

My G.P. reackons my efforts read like a school report "could do better if you tried harder" but after using the one bloke for over 25 years you would have to say I must be happy with the service (or is that serves).

I would fully endorse the get an annual check up view, you get a chance to fix any problems before they became show stoppers.

John

[doug the slug]

but after using the one bloke for over 25 years you would have to say I must be happy with the service

thats a long relationship

[graemet]

Fortunately for males the digital examination is a thing of the past,

Sorry, guys, but both the PSA (blood test) and the DRE (digital rectal examination) are necessary to diagnose prostate problems. The pain is more to your pride or modesty than your bum.
My doc sent me for a full blood test including the PSA a couple of years ago, just a checkup, no symptoms, she'll be OK. YEAH!!! My lucky day - it found (very early) aggressive cancer. So, radical prostatectomy and then daily radiation for 6 weeks and now hormone injections every 3 months. What a drag, I wasn't having any problems and the treatment was the only thing that made me feel crook, but I'm ALIVE!!!, with the prospect of at least another 10 years. If the cancer had been ignored, I'd have been fertiliser in Rookwood by now.
Every doc I see wants to stick his/her finger where the sun don't shine but it doesn't hurt. You tend to lose your sense of modesty after a while, these people treat your private bits the same as a dentist does your teeth - not particularly attractive but necessary to your health.
Cheers
Graeme

[Daddles]

with the prospect of at least another 10 years.

Bugga

Richard

[Iain]

Graeme, I think that the digital examination is what your GP does because he does not have the other equipment available, I was told by the specialist that pressure on the prostate by the full bladder can be viewed with the ultrasound, which is what GP's do not have in their surgery....as a rule.

[havenoideaatall]

I'd enjoy making a reply to some of the posts, but will, instead, control my grinning to be serious:
I've used the same GP for 20 years - we didn't particularly like each other - then I began checking every thinG he said to me on the www, and went back to argue with him.
We had quite a hot debate/argument, the result is he no longer says "I'm the doctor, you're the patient, and I am the one who knows".
Much negotiation over medication, identifying surgery needs, hospital stays, and alternatitive trreatment later I can report that, last year in my pub, on a Saturday afternoon, there was a sudden silence - I was heard to laugh.
IT'S YOUR BODY. YOU TAKE CONTROL, AND TELL YOUR DOCTOR.

The advent of the Internet has seriously destroyed the kudos of the family doctor. A GP is a bod who has done many years of training - good luck to them - but shows most of his apparent skill level in a certain poise and bedside manner. A lot of people going to doctors go with bugs and symptoms they can suppress with medicine and say "there's a lot of it about". People who regularly patronise doctors tend to be the sort of people who are nervous, gullible and ill-educated. They may even be attention seekers. They are easy meat for the profession. It's absolutely true.

I've been in hospital - a bit of a manner and you can easily be mistaken for a doctor. I once chatted to a girl, reassured her, told her what to do, a Doctor then said exactly the same thing, and she said, "That's what that doctor said", pointing to me(!)

My brother is a medic and often covers and corrects Doctors - you'd be amazed.

When I go to the doctor with my wife, her first doctor hummed and erred and I found myself interrupting and explaining to my wife - instant realisation - of what the issue was. It wasn't rocket science and some of the sentiments and points covered did not need elaborate discussion or analysis. I almost refused to pay for part of the consultation.

[doug the slug]

It wasn't rocket science and some of the sentiments and points covered did not need elaborate discussion or analysis.

a visit to a gp for a common ailment usually requires no rocket science at all. they find out where it hurts then add -itus to the end, eg tonsilitus, appendicitus, some more obscure body parts they translate into latin and add -itus. sometimes they reduce it to an acronym. go to a doctor with a sore throat and blocked sinuses and you are likely to feel better when he tells you that you have Urti. It stands for upper respiratory tract infection. all they do is transform the info you gave them and it sounds like a diagnosis. they have given it a different name and given you whatever pill the drug companies are pushing this week then you give them some money and get most back from medicare, our tax dollars at work

[Tikki]

Got my checkup results today ...

Blood Pressure 120/80
Cholesterol 5.3 (normal <5.6)
Blood Glucose 4.8 (normal 3.0 - 5.4)
Kidney, liver and thyroid function, blood counts and protein - all within normal limits
Weight 47kg (healthy range for my height 46-55kg)

Left the doc armed with a script for happy pills (of the female variety) and the news they may help me gain some weight ... and walked out of the chemist with the pills and an upsizing of glucogels (which can only mean more black ones ... urk!!!)

Also got some info on prostate testing for you guys ... will scan and post later

Cheers
Tikki

[ele__13]

ill have the black ones !!! yummmo hugz jules