I was talking to my 75-y/o sister-in-law yesterday and she shared a rather scary tidbit. When visiting some friends a few months back, they’d gone hiking or something and SIL said she felt breathless and some pain in her chest. It passed, and life went on. Then a few weeks ago, in preparation for cataract surgery, they said she needed to be cleared by her cardiologist first.
Upon relating the hiking incident to the cardiologist, he immediately sent her to the hospital, and the next day, she had 6 stents put in. So something she’d just kinda blown off turned out to be not so minor. On one hand I can kinda understand - I try not to overreact and run to the doctor for every ache and twinge. Plus in my experience, doctors often seem to assume women exaggerate their symptoms. On the other hand, chest pain at 75 - not so minor.
Which brings me to the topic of this thread - what does it take for you to decide a visit to the doctor is warranted?
I’m fairly decent at recognizing significant problems or events that have the potential to be dire, like when I made a semi-emergency appointment with the ophthalmologist due to flashing streaks of light in the periphery of my vision, which turned out to be harmless vitreous changes due to aging rather than a retinal detachment. Sometimes I even go in for that there preventative medicine.
The usual stimulus to see a doc is when I need drugs. Fortunately I have croakers who’ll write scrip.*
*in the immortal words of William S. Burroughs, author of “Junkie”.
Since I almost never get sick, I only go to the doctor for routine check-ups. I’m very lucky in that regard. The last time I was seriously unwell was due to a reaction to my COVID vaccination. I just toughed it out and felt better the following day. I didn’t even call the doctor since I saw online that quite a few people had bad reactions. I’ve never had any surgeries or spent a night at the hospital unless you count the night I was first born.
This is my approach of late. I see my Primary (she’s a PA-C) twice a year for a once-over, review of blood work, and refills as needed on my BP and cholesterol meds, plus mammogram and colonoscopy as needed. This year, she had me see a cardiologist to get a baseline stress test right after I turned 70 - all is good there. And I got a neurologist after a rather freaky seizure in May. Dentist twice a year, eye doc annually, dermatologist annually (after a couple of skin cancers.) And annual vaccinations, of course.
It’s easy to reach my Primary thru the portal or by phone, so if something that really concerned me came up, I’d reach out to her first. And, thankfully, she’s not inclined to dismiss my concerns as “female hysteria” or whatever.
Normally, not at all outside of checkups or injury.
But I experienced all the symptoms of a heart attack, and at 50+ I went right in. Did you know when you say the magic words “chest pains” you move to the head of the line? I didn’t! Anyway, turned out to be food poisoning.
I go annually as required for med refills, and when something goes terribly wrong, like an abscess or broken bone. Mostly I try to let things resolve over time.
Eye doc every year, and dentist every four months to keep my remaining teeth…losing five teeth encouraged me to take better care of my mouth.
A couple of years ago I was feeling very out of breath just from walking a little, which went on for a couple of days. I didn’t do anything about it, thought maybe my asthma meds were not working as well or something, but I happened to have a regularly scheduled checkup a few days later, and my PCP listened to my heart (normal procedure), then ran an EKG (not normal procedure) and packed me off to a cardiologist ASAP. I had an atrial flutter (since fixed by a procedure called cardioversion). I am now 75 like OP’s SIL, and because of that incident I pay more attention to noticeable variations in things like breathing. I also still see the cardio twice a year because apparently “fixed” is not permanent, once I’ve had one of these I am at risk for it happening again.
I also have other doctors I see twice a year: endocrinologist (due to my brief flirtation with type II diabetes), urologist (due to temporarily high PSA score) and of course my PCP, who doesn’t want to be left out. I finally found one who is young enough that he probably won’t retire before I’m dead, so I want to keep him happy. (Italicized parts are somewhat tongue-in-cheek)
+1. Plus or minus a few more days. Sp many things pop up ( aches, pains, soreness ) with no apparent reason for them happening and most go away on their own juuuust as I’m about to make a Drs appointment to see what’s what.
I have a family doctor at a clinic that requires pre-booking. Very rarely can you get a same-day appointment and if it’s an emergency they say to just contact the ER. I can usually get an appointment within a week or so though. I only do so when I need to get a prescription refill or if there’s something I need physically looked at, or a referral.
Hardly ever. Can’t remember the last time or what for.
(However… i really,really,really should go and get my enlarged prostrate
symptoms checked out. but i can’t do it until after i’ve got my mum’s estate
sorted… and then i’ll need a new excuse…)
Twice a year to my PCP (with blood work) and twice a year to my Cardiologist. This device in my chest (CRT_D (fancy pacemaker)), records everything my heart does and tattles on me if it does anything it shouldn’t, so they call me when it does. That’s convenient.
I used to go to the dentist twice a year, but haven’t gotten a new dentist since we moved.
Also see an optomologist(sp?) once a year 'cause diabetics have to watch out for their eyes.
Medicare has been good to us.
Significant obvious damage to my skin, muscle or bones. Something that I can easily look at and say “Well, obviously the problem is that I have a hole there with something poking out” and need a medical professional to make it not like that any more.
Anything else… well, I’ve had too many experiences of “Hey doc, I got a problem”, $4,500 worth of tests and a “I dunno… let’s keep an eye on it I guess?” to bother going to the doctor for that sort of stuff.
Once I had something that I hoped would clear up on its on but it kept getting worse until one night I decided that if I lived till morning (I wasn’t sure) I would go to the doctor the next day. It turned out to be pneumonia in both lungs. They told me I was almost to the point of needing hospitalization, but was given two shots and a prescription for some huge pills and over a number of days recovered. That was around 25 years ago, and the first and only time I’ve gone to the doctor for sickness. I’ve only become less social since then, and the next time I have a major health crisis I think I’d rather just let myself die than face hospital care.
