Now is a good time to take stock of your health
Just as the diligent grocer takes an inventory of his stock and sales as the year turns, patients with chronic conditions can take this opportunity to check on their bill of health.
Records show that 60 per cent of senior citizens succumb to cardiovascular accidents – heart failure, cerebro-vascular accidents and ruptured aneurysms. Thus they are advised to visit the cardiologist.
Diabetics and patients suffering from high cholesterol, thyroid deficiencies and renal conditions should consult their physicians for a progress report. To save a trip to their physicians, patients should prepare the results of their latest laboratory tests:
1. Chest X-ray
2. Blood chemistry – fasting blood sugar, serum amylase for the pancreas, SGOT, SGPT for the liver’s status, creatinine, BUN for kidney performance, prostatic specific antigen for older men
3. Complete blood count – for a general survey of nutritional anaemia and presence of infection.
4. Routine urinalysis for urinary tract infection, “silent” kidney stones or even bladder cancer.
5. Routine stool analysis for intestinal parasites, gastric ulcers or intestinal cancer.
For menopausal women with a history of cancer in the family, eliminate the most common malignancy in women by having a mammogram. To clear themselves of the second most common neoplasm in women, get a pap smear or trans-vaginal ultrasound. Better still: visit your gynaecologist.
After a full health evaluation, patients and their doctors can sleep well and look forward to enjoying the next holiday season.
Dr Santiago A Del Rosario
Former Philippine Medical Association president
(Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN)
