A check-up: an assessment from head-to-toe
Is keeping healthy important to you? Having a complete check-up is the best way to take care of yourself by preventing future illnesses or keeping them under control. A complete check-up involves urine and blood tests, ultrasounds, electrocardiograms and other tests to identify risk factors so that you can make changes to your lifestyle. Your doctor will tell you which tests to do for your general check-up and he'll also go through the benefits of doing them. The end result? You'll be examined from head-to-toe.
A urine test is a snapshot of your health
You'll start your check-up with the traditional urine test: the results will give you a cross-section of the health of your body. It will analyze physical characteristics like colour, appearance, and smell, but also some chemical components like protein, blood and glucose. You'll no doubt know that it's the concentration of glucose in the urine that's a really important factor in the screening for diabetes.
You can check for anemia with a blood test
Doing a blood test will be useful for your doctor for checking that your values are all normal, like your red blood cell count, liver function and many more... But first of all, you'll be able to check if you have anemia, a blood condition which can seriously affect the state of your health if your hemoglobin drops too far below normal levels.
Keep cholesterol under control
Do you love fatty food and you can't give up eating meat every day? One of the most important results you'll get from a blood test is the percentage of cholesterol, which is a crucial sign for finding out whether you might be at risk of cardiovascular illness.
White and red blood cells are the map of your health
A blood test will help you and your doctor count the number of red and white blood cells in your blood, as well as your platelets. These are important factors for determining your overall health, from your kidneys to your liver function and your bones.
It can preempt cardiovascular conditions
At your doctor's discretion, a check-up could also include a specialized cardiac examination where you'll have an electrocardiogram. The trace of your heart's electrical activity will let you find out ahead of time if there is any suspicion of heart disease.
Ultrasound and mammograms for identifying tumours
If you're a woman, on top of urine and blood tests, a check-up will also include a breast ultrasound scan and a digital bilateral mammogram. These are very important tests, because breast cancer is still the primary cause of death from cancer in women, and early diagnosis can mean prompt and therefore as effective treatment as possible.
As you're there, have a gynecological examination too
If you're a woman, as well as ultrasounds, your doctor might suggest that you have a gynecological examination too, which you should have at least once a year. During the check-up, if you want, you can ask him about any concerns you might have about contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, assisted conception and the menopause.
