A higher result requires a visit to a doctor for heart disease and diabetes risk review. Those with diabetes are advised to keep their level at less than …
Smart Medical Tests
Most of us practice preventive medicine with our children and preventive
maintenance with our cars and appliances Were rarely as proactive about
self care, limiting visits to our health practitioner to when we feel sick
Add a plan for healthy self maintenance to your fitness activity by using
the chart below to learn what tests are important and when you should
schedule them
|What to Get When |How Often |Keep in Mind |
|Beginning at age 18-Self Exams |
|Breast self-exam |Monthly women |Probe a week after |
| | |your period ends Any |
| | |lump requires review |
| | |by your physician |
|Skin self-exam |Monthly |Moles that are ragged,|
| | |multicolored, have |
| | |changed shape, or are |
| | |wider than a pencil |
| | |eraser
require a |
| | |doctors attention |
|Abdominal Measurement |Monthly |Goal for women is 35 |
| | |inches; men 40 |
| | |inches A higher |
| | |result requires a |
| | |visit to a doctor for |
| | |heart disease and |
| | |diabetes risk review |
|Note: Have a tetanus-diphtheria shot every ten years |
|Note: At any time in life, if you have a hysterectomy or are treated|
|for cancer, request a bone density assessment before surgery or |
|before treatment begins Repeat the assessment in 6-12 months to |
|find out if bone health has been compromised |
|Beginning at age 18, see your doctor for |
|Pelvic exam; Pap |Yearly |These exams screen for|
|smear; Clinical | |cancers and sexually |
|breast exam | |transmitted
diseases |
|Hearing exam |Every ten years |After age 50, get |
| | |tested more |
| | |often-especially if |
| | |you use earphones to |
| | |listen to music |
|Chlalmydia and other |Pregnant or planning |Recommended even for |
|sexually transmitted |to be |women in monogamous |
|diseases including HIV| |relationships |
|At age 20, add the following |
|Blood pressure reading|Every two years |More frequent readings|
| | |may be scheduled by |
| | |your physician |
|Dental checkup |Every 6-12 months; |Cleaning should be a |
| |x-rays every other |part of the checkup; |
| |year |it helps prevent gum |
| | |disease Floss |
| | |regularly-plaque
from |
| | |your mouth can |
| | |dislodge and attach |
| | |itself to the arteries|
| | |to your heart |
|Fasting lipoprotein |Every five years |This blood test for |
|profile | |triglycerides fat in |
| | |blood and cholesterol|
| | |levels for tendency |
| | |to form plaque in |
| | |arteries screens for |
| | |heart disease, our 1 |
| | |killer |
|At age 35, add the following |
|Thyroid-stimulating |Every five years |One in eight women |
|hormone TSH test | |will suffer from a |
| | |thyroid disorder |
| | |during her lifetime
|
|At age 40, for women only |
|Mammogram |Yearly |Screen earlier if |
| | |theres a family |
| | |history of breast |
| | |cancer |
|At age 45, add the following |
|Fasting glucose and, |Can be added to annual|A1C measures how well |
|if you have a family |blood test Every six |blood glucose has been|
|history of diabetes, |months if you have a |controlled in recent |
|add glycohemoglobin |genetic tendency to |months Those with |
|A1Ca |diabetes or are more |diabetes are advised |
| |than 20 pounds |to keep their level at|
| |overweight |less than seven |
| | |percent |
|hsCRP highly |Can be added to annual|Recommended for those |
|sensitive C reactive |blood test, if at |who have a family |
|protein |risk; if not, every |history of heart |
|
|three years |disease |
|At 50, add the following |
|Bone mineral density |Annually, if bone |Recommended for all |
|test for |density is low or you |postmenopausal women |
|osteoporosis |are being treated for |and those at risk for |
| |osteoporosis; every |osteoporosis eg, |
| |five years, if bone |cancer patients, women|
| |density is high |whose ovaries have |
| | |been removed Men get|
| | |osteoporosis too but |
| | |testing for them |
| | |typically begins ten |
| | |years later |
|Fecal occult blood |Annually |Tests for blood in |
|test | |stool This is only 40|
| | |percent accurate but |
| | |it is a test you can |
|
| |do at home |
|Double contrast barium|Annually if you have |Rules out colorectal |
|enema or flexible |gastric reflux disease|cancer Start |
|sigmoidoscopy or |or blood in stool |screening earlier if |
|colonoscopy | |you have an |
| | |inflammatory bowel |
| | |disease or your |
| | |parent, child, or |
| | |sibling has had |
| | |colorectal cancer |
|Note: Ask your doctor if you should take a flu shot |
|At 65, add the following |
|Ask your doctor if you should take a one time pneumonia shot |
|For Men Only |
|PSA test |Annually in men over |Detects prostate |
| |age 55; earlier for |cancer better than the|
| |African American men |digital rectal exam |
|
|or if a relative has |Note: Prostate cancer |
| |been diagnosed with |is the second most |
| |prostate cancer |common cancer in men; |
| | |average age of |
| | |patients at time of |
| | |diagnosis is 70 |
Family history, race, and gender all play a role in your risk of developing
a disease The best prevention is regular exercise and a healthy diet
Keep a personal/family notebook I use a notebook with pocket holders in
the dividers to keep lab results, tests, important information, and forms
This makes record keeping simple You can also visit wwwrondagatescom and
get a downloadable form of the chart above to record screening dates
LIFESTYLES by Ronda Gates
