Why You Need Annual Checkups Now More Than Ever

If you are one of those people who religiously schedules maintenance appointments for your car, but avoids your doctor like the plague (and you know who you are) the bad news is you are not alone. Unfortunately, by ignoring your health and skipping your annual checkups, you could be making a problem you already have much worse by not catching it early.

I will admit I was one of those people who paid closer attention to my car than I did to my own health. Having worked as an RN for more than two decades I felt I was pretty qualified to take care of myself. I was pretty confident that I knew what to look for regarding medical issues, so I didn't get annual checkups. It turns out this was a mistake and I was wrong. I scheduled a checkup to see my doctor, who I hadn't seen in about 4 years, because I was having irregular heartbeats. He did my regular checkup, ordered laboratory tests, and did an EKG to look for irregularities with my heart.

Health Crisis Averted

Thankfully, my EKG was normal and all else appeared to be normal. However, two days later my doctor called to tell me that two of my lab results were abnormal. My triglyceride level was high and my potassium level was low. These were both serious health problems that, if not dealt with, could have led to a deadly heart condition. I wanted to see if I could bring my levels to normal levels through diet and exercise rather than starting any sort of medication regimen. My doctor agreed to let me try it only if we rechecked my levels in a few weeks to see if it what I was doing was working.

I knew what I needed to do to address the abnormal lab results. My diet was fast food-oriented at the time and I wasn't getting enough exercise. I started eating more fruits and vegetables and I stuck to my exercise schedule. To specifically address the low potassium level I ate more potassium rich foods. When my labs were rechecked, everything was normal. If my abnormal lab results had not been caught early through my checkup, then I could have ended up being part of the statistics of people who died from heart disease. Mine was a preventable issue; I just needed to pay attention to my health.

Be Proactive With Your Healthcare

The best thing you can do for yourself is to learn from my mistake. No matter what your current situation is your doctor wants you to be healthy. A large part of maintaining your health is your annual checkup. Hospital and clinic closures along with an aging MD and nurse population will lead to health care personnel having to take care of more patients than they did before. No one wants it to happen, but it may reach the point where health care personnel simply don't have enough time to spend with everyone who needs help.

You must take a proactive approach to your health. It is more important than ever that, during this chaotic time of change in healthcare, you become the leader of your own healthcare team. The first step to taking control of your health involves getting regular annual checkups. As Dr. Oz says, it's much easier to prevent a health problem than to fix a health problem.

Don't use the excuse of either not currently having a doctor or not knowing where the nearest health center is as a barrier to taking control of your health. In this day and age of massive online technology you can easily locate a doctor and a health center near you. Once you locate your doctor/health center take a couple of minutes and make your appointment, today. Take the time to take care of yourself; no one else can do it for you. Besides, your health is more important than maintaining an old car isn't it?