# Regular health check ups: Yay or Nay **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 14, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013 "2016-03-14T21:34:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/41 "2016-03-16T02:41:41Z")
I started having annual exams in my late 40’s (I think, that was 20 years ago). Always covered by health insurance with a small co-pay. I had an unnecessary (and unnecessarily painful) prostate biopsy because my PSA score started rising. Doctor never told me to avoid sexual activity for 72 hours before the blood was drawn. Once I knew that, my PSA score went back down to normal. I take medications for asthma, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. As mentioned above, I can’t get them renewed without regular doctor visits; I could probably stretch them out to 14 months or so but not more than that. Nevertheless, I am glad to go to these checkups. Last year my doctor only had to say out loud something that I knew myself but wasn’t admitting, that I had gained 70 pounds in three years, for me to start doing something about it. Seeing someone on a regular basis who knows me and who knows medicine is both useful and comforting in a way that I don’t want to give up. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/42 "2016-03-16T03:18:53Z")
If you take medications for asthma, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, you should absolutely be seeing your doctor at least annually, and probably more often than that. ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/43 "2016-03-16T03:38:03Z")
I had my last annual physical about 18 months ago. Prior to that, I hadn’t had one in 7 or so years. The doctor noticed a nodule on my thyroid that turned out to be a tumor. Had my thyroid removed and the tumor measured 3.96 cm. I don’t know how I missed that big a growth in my neck, but I understand it’s slow growing, so it probably just came on too gradually. I don’t plan on waiting another 7 years for a once over. Maybe every two to three years? I have to see the endocrinologist every 6 months due to the thyroid issues, so my hormone levels are being checked. I figured on getting another physical this year, so I guess I’m in the very other year plan. I could get my BP, etc. checked by machine, but I like having a professional explain the results and having everything in one place. Actually, mostly I just don’t want to go through the same second guessing of myself that I did after they found the thyroid tumor that could have been there for years. I mean, I missed a golf ball growing in my neck! ---
**Author:** ![spamforbrains](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@spamforbrains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spamforbrains)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/44 "2016-03-16T05:11:23Z")
> [@](#): > > If you take medications for asthma, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, you should absolutely be seeing your doctor at least annually, and probably more often than that. There’s a big difference between seeing a doctor for symptoms or a diagnosed disease and a completely healthy, symptom-less person going to a doctor for a completely pointless “wellness check.” Look on the USPSTF website for what is recommended for you (based on age and sex) and adjust depending on your personal and family history. The key to health is: Get vaccinated. Assume you’ll get heart disease (all humans get it) so exercise daily and try to eat vegetables with every meal. Wash your hands and stay away from doctors. That’s pretty much it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/45 "2016-03-16T05:20:16Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Going 20 years without checking the vital fluids is probably not a good idea. To make sure the Commies aren’t messing with them? Sorry – Dr Strangelove flashback. But I’m much better now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/46 "2016-03-16T05:21:42Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Okay, let’s play dueling anecdotes then, if that’s what you want instead of actual data. > > … Actually, I’m the guy who took a great deal of flak for stating that I was opposed to routine prostate screening. On these boards. Very recently. The question was asked “Why does my insurance company want me to see my PCP?”. I answered the question: earlier detection makes for cheaper treatment. I did NOT say “run every scan known to medicine and follow up most aggressively”. I will not have any prostate screen. I had a lung X-ray about 16 years ago. As I smoked for 23 years and had both of my parents die of lung cancer, I might want another screen in 4 years. Whether or not I pursue what treatment: I will make that call if/when required. My most recent “What happened to \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_?” that ran into an obit was another of those “cure may be worse than disease”: Testicular cancer treated by Chemo. The Chemo destroyed his liver. But: the answer to the “Why does ins. company…” is STILL “because the odds are earlier = cheaper”. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/47 "2016-03-16T05:32:37Z")
The damned prostate is my favorite “live long enough and it will go bad”. But, as mentioned many, many times: There is a huge difference between dying WITH prostate cancer and dying OF prostate cancer. Laura Nyro’s Wiki has this tidbit: “She died of ovarian cancer in Danbury, Connecticut, on April 8, 1997, at 49, the same age at which the disease had claimed the life of her mother.” How do you explain that to a rational god? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/48 "2016-03-16T05:36:33Z")
> [@usedtobe](#): > > But: the answer to the “Why does ins. company…” is STILL “because the odds are earlier = cheaper”. I don’t know that the numbers bear that out, actually. I seem to recall some number crunchers figuring out that if we just let everyone die of undiagnosed heat disease, we’ll save a hell of a lot in diabetes and cancer treatments. Also something about smoking cessation raising medical costs because people live longer, but not necessarily healthier. But then people started squawking about “death panels,” and that line of research went suddenly quiet. Anyhow, I’m too tired to look it up tonight. Maybe in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/49 "2016-03-16T05:37:14Z")
> [@spamforbrains](#): > > they are safer than aspirin, and easier to use than aspirin. Aspirin is our benchmark for what should be OTC or not. A friend of mine was killed by aspirin (Reye’s syndrome, post-partum). The hospital changed protocols to help ensure that obgyn patients will not be given aspirin for headaches ever again; they will be paying for her baby’s education up to and including doctoral studies, in any school or university worldwide. Multiple female relatives of mine have been hospitalized due to bad reactions to HRT or other steriods; those who got on The Pill did so without any testing (it was the years when women got on The Pill and men didn’t worry, as it was her responsibility to be on The Pill) and each and every one of them later discovered that decades of “minor health ailments” were secondary effects of The Pill. Medication here comes with its prospectus, but enough people don’t or can’t read them to make gatekeeping important. ---
**Author:** ![ProDentite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@ProDentite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ProDentite)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/50 "2016-03-22T01:51:33Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > I’ve had maybe 2 check-ups since leaving school ( a long time ago ); it wouldn’t occur to me to bother a doctor \* unless there was something seriously and obviously wrong. I broke my hand in a fall last year, and since there was no resetting needed and bones mostly mend in 6 weeks I didn’t seek medical help since there was nothing they could do. > > And I am not a fan of taking drugs. > > - And all this stuff is utterly free in my country. The original quote brought up evidence based medicine…research has shown that one of the top risk factors for dying from infection (at some point in your lifetime) is lack of access to health services. Going to the doctor is important to stay healthy. Obviously when you are young you don’t need the doctor as much as when you are older because your body is operating at peak capacity. But if you want to keep it that way you should still get check ups. More important for young people is going to the dentist…you should definitely not skip that one. ---
**Author:** ![Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/do_not_taunt/32/2968_2.png) [@Do\_Not\_Taunt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Do_Not_Taunt)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2016, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013/51 "2016-03-22T16:20:13Z")
I’m late 30s and male, and just had a checkup a few weeks ago. No symptoms, it just seemed about time (it had been five years or so.) I got a fresh TDAP, which I didn’t know I needed, so I guess that’s one good outcome. The doctor told me to come back in another five years, unless something goes wrong first. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regular-health-check-ups-yay-or-nay/749013.md?page=2)