yesterday's car buying question went so well, i thought i would post another query.

i am scheduled for my annual physical.

i am a relatively healthy 61 year old male.

i exercise 3-4 times a week (2-3 runs/1 crosstrain/1 weight lift)

my weight and bmi are in the healthy range.

i never smoked.

i maybe have a drink per week.

i do have stress-i run a small media production business in a tough market-nyc, how could i not have stress.

i am the dad of two daughters in their early/mid 20s (how did THAT happen?)

i am in love with my wife and we have been together since we met in november 1980.

(and yes, we hold hands when we walk places and i still often open her car door before i get into mine)

i get regular sleep but could probably use more.

i am asleep most nights by 10-1030pm (read myself asleep) and awake by 6am.

what tests are needed?

(now i like my doctor but i only see him once a year so i'm never sure if i should be asking for additional blood work-ups)

i have done the google look-ups but also figured i would crowd source the issue if others have thoughts to share.

thanks in advance.

be well.

rob



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2016 10:18AM by robfilms.

It depends on your medical history and your doctor. Suggested tests change all the time based on research and the resulting AMA recommendations. Good luck !

PSA
Cholesterol (fasting blood test)
Blood sugar if you have any family history of diabetes

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Check the PRAM battery while you're in there.

What will your insurance company allow?

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clay
Check the PRAM battery while you're in there.

So THAT's what the doc does when he puts on the glove. Resetting the power management !

Complete blood workup. DRE (PSA is blood test). If you haven't had one or it's been a while -- colonoscopy (even more fun than the DRE). If your family history has something, tests for that. Endoscopy if you have frequent heartburn or digestive issues. See what your insurance recommends for patients your age.

Something our doctor recommended for me years ago was an EKG -- so they have a baseline (if you're in relatively good shape) in order to cross-reference should an issue arise in the future.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/15/2016 10:56AM by MikeF.

When was the last time you had a colonoscopy?

Download and take Dr. Agus' "Physical Health Inventory"

[davidagus.com]

that was originally published in his book "The End of Illness."

Reading that book (and taking the health inventory) sent me to the doctor to verify that a skin rash was cancer. Fortunately, it was detected early and dealt with. (It was also a fairly easy cancer to deal with.)

Todd's proselytizing keyboard

yeah I was going to throw colonoscopy in there if you haven't had one in ten years. I'm scheduled for my every decade one next month.

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"Success isn't about how much money you make. It is about the difference you make in people's lives."--Michelle Obama

PSA and A1C. Liver enzymes if you take statins. Second MikeF's recommendation on colonoscopy. Take a list of any concerns you want the Dr to take a look at; make a physical list, don't just keep it in your head, you'll forget something.

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robfilms
...

i am the dad of two daughters in their early/mid 20s (how did THAT happen?)

i am in love with my wife and we have been together since we met in november 1980.

(and yes, we hold hands when we walk places and i still often open her car door before i get into mine)
...

rob

you have the perfect life, it can only go downhill from here. Be careful what you wish for.

I'm sure your doc will order a complete metabolic panel and a CBC.

If your doc is female, ask for a recheck on the prostate exam as well as the hernia check. And mention the small lump on one of your testicles.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Look at www.choosingwisely.com

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Speedy
If your doc is female, ask for a recheck on the prostate exam as well as the hernia check. And mention the small lump on one of your testicles.

Well, I guess we know how you got your user name.. lol

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“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

PSA and DRE are essentially useless tests. Sort of like mammograms for women.

Good suggestion on checking what insurance will cover, but good luck getting a useful answer from any insurance company.

At a "well" visit (aka annual physical) there is a list from somewhere of what insurance will cover. (There will be an arcane reference in your health insurance policy document/contract, but you won't find an actual list.) The rub comes when your doctor orders a test for something that isn't part of the "well" visit, and isn't part of a "sick" visit. So insurance likely will say they don't cover it.

It's an odd loophole that I don't fully understand, but it's caught us several times for a couple of hundred in unexpected expenses.

I'm told that if the doctor is careful about how things are coded (a "sick" issue, or suspicion of one, can come up in a "well" visit, after all - that's part of the point of an annual physical) then you can be pretty sure insurance will cover it. Might want to ask the doctor about this.

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Be seeing you.

There's no set way of knowing, since they change things all the time. Went to the drugstore to get my current meds refilled today, the hospital's decided they had to be updated. Guess they were itchy to get me back in their clutches.

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dochocson
PSA and DRE are essentially useless tests. Sort of like mammograms for women.

If you have a PSA of 25 and last year it was 0.4, that tells you something needs further investigation. No, it doesn't necessarily mean you have prostate cancer and no, it doesn't necessarily justify a biopsy, but it tells the doctor something is amiss. So it's hardly "useless."

If a DRE shows you have a giant lump on your prostate that wasn't present in your previous year's DRE, that merits further investigation as well.

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