6 BOCNEWS.com SEPTEMBER 2018 "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." — Psalms 103:2 Going to see a physician is one thing people may put off as long as pos- sible. There is the expense involved, which may be a deterrent. People put things off, and say to themselves that the discomfort they may experience may just go away on its own. Or they may just minimize the symptoms and say that what they may experience is "nothing", and they may put things off for a surprisingly long time. People may finally go to see a doctor when it is too late and they may actually present with some advanced stage of illness that should have, and could have been treated successfully earlier. It is difficult to give hard and fast rules as to when you should seek medical attention, but we will consider some, and hopefully we can give some useful guidance. Some actually believe that If they feel well, they do not need to see a doctor. This may not be true. Let us enumer- ate some basic information that may be helpful. 1. You can have a serious illness, and have no symptoms: This includes disorders such as heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer, kidney disease, sexually transmitted disease, HIV infection and other dis- eases. You will have to find an astute physician to assess your risk factors, consider your exposures, do a good examination, ask the right questions and do tests that might yield useful information. I am not saying the medi- cal provider is infallible, but consider- ing your risks, age, gender, etc. make a good attempt to help you, with needed testing. Needed tests like mammo- grams, colonoscopy, and certain blood and urine tests should not be missed. 2. Consider your risk factors: If you smoke, drink in excess, are sedentary, are overweight, have the wrong or mul- tiple sexual partners, you are putting yourself at risk. You should share the information needed with your medi- cal provider and accept advice such as quit smoking (not just "cut down"), exercise, lose weight, reduce or elimi- nate alcohol consumption, or other recommendations. Also do all ordered or advised testing, at intervals needed. 3. Consider your family history: if relatives (especially parents, broth- ers and sisters), have certain health issues, you are at risk. This includes things such as diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease, and certain cancers. You may need testing and surveillance to detect those conditions and others that occur in your family and get help managing them. 4. Do not ignore chronic issues: If you know that you have had in the past diabetes, prediabetes (the ten- dency to have full-blown diabetes) heart disease, or hypertension, these things may cause future issues and need monitoring, at home or in the medical office. No matter how good you feel these and other medical conditions needed to be monitored. You medical provider can give you guidance in this area. 5. See your medical provider at time intervals as advised: if annual is acceptable or more often such as every 3-6 months or so, do as advised unless you have to come in earlier, or call in. Medical providers are usually quick to get people in for return visits as indicated. 6. Listen to family members as needed: If your spouse suggests you need to go in to be seen for a medi- cal facility evaluation, do not ignore this. Frequently men are asked by their spouses to go in to be seen, and it turns out they have a serious issue. When your spouse or other fam- ily member suggests this-and does so repeatedly--just do it! 7. Get needed immunizations: As a rule, you have to go to a medical facil- ity to get these. This will include more than just a flu shot. You clinic provider will have a list of the shots you have had and those you need. I will not list these but they are essential and your provider may mention these. Once I saw an individual when I was doing community health screening. He just happened to have a blood pres- sure taken at the screening and his blood pressure was extremely elevated. I asked when he last saw his doctor and he told me it was about ten years previously, and he had had health insurance all that time! I strongly advised him to get to the clinic he should have been going to and be seen and treated for his severe blood pres- sure elevation. I would like to make a plea that no one who needs medical evaluation do such a thing. This is a preventable health hazard. May God bless you, and may you get the medical assistance you need. When Should I Go To See a Doctor? Dr. Conner By Byron E. Conner, M.D. HEALTH