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Post by EspadaIII on Feb 7, 2024 18:53:17 GMT
Over the last few months I have had a series of investigations and scans following a medical for some IHT protection life insurance. I was diagnosed with microscopic blood in the urine in the summer.
The concern was related to prostate, bladder and kidney and following Dad's demise from pancreatic cancer I was a little worried. Anyway after fingers up the backside, cameras up the urethra, CT scans with a rather unpleasant injection and an MRI scan, yesterday I got a 99.99% all clear. The blood in the urine is just 'one of those things' and whilst I need occasional MRIs to check on something in/on one of my kidneys, the chances of it being problematic are so small as not to warrant any worry.
So, a relieved Espadrille. Somehow I was less worried as I had no noticeable symptoms. By coincidence a friend from the US has had a series of tests etc and has also had a clean bill of health after something came up in a medical.
Whilst I have not been one of those men that avoid going to the doctor, I have seen enough of them recently to last a reasonable period.
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Post by Humph on Feb 7, 2024 19:13:25 GMT
Great news Esp! Must have been a bit worrying for a time. Always good to get a fresh MOT!
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Rob
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Post by Rob on Feb 7, 2024 19:36:18 GMT
Good news. When King Charles' news of cancer was announced I said I am surprised he doesn't just get a lot of checks/scans annually anyway to make sure there isn't anything.
One day I am sure there will be a blood test to check for various cancers early on.
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Post by Alanović on Feb 8, 2024 9:19:11 GMT
Good stuff, EIII. In my mid-50s now and yes, I need to go and have the Doc check me over. Just got to motivate myself to make that appointment...
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Feb 8, 2024 9:49:13 GMT
Or not. Untargeted screening has a poor record of improving health outcomes and a long list of unnecessary interventions and avoidable anxieties. Esp had a sign that warranted investigation (which is then the right thing to do) but that’s not a reason for us all to rush in. Think carefully.
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Post by Alanović on Feb 8, 2024 9:52:07 GMT
Yesh, but at least a prostate check, right? That's we're told to do at least...
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Feb 8, 2024 9:55:23 GMT
We are but it’s pretty meaningless, especially without a family history. Useful overview here from a source that isn’t an insurer looking to sell products. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279418/
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Post by Humph on Feb 8, 2024 9:57:21 GMT
The trouble with doctors I find, is that they almost always tell you that you’re ill. Depressing coves in the main. I avoid them as much as possible. Self help in the form of healthy eating and regular exercise goes a long way towards keeping out of their clutches. Doesn’t help with unpreventable things of course, but the routine stuff can be mitigated.
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Post by EspadaIII on Feb 8, 2024 10:20:50 GMT
Very much so. Another friend aged 52 dropped dead in October out for a run. We were all warned by a doctor friend that taking up running was not a good thing but that gentle resitance training and little cardio (which is what I had started doing anyway) was the way forward. So I have 50 minutes with a PT at home doing weights and stretches etc and swim from time to time each week.
Lots of other friends who are or were partners in big law or accountancy practices had annual check-ups from 45. Usually its the finger up the bottom to check on prostate and a wide spectrum blood test, which to me make sense. But as Dubya says, an MRI scan on a regular basis is probably not worth it.
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Post by Alanović on Feb 8, 2024 10:34:14 GMT
We are but it’s pretty meaningless, especially without a family history. Useful overview here from a source that isn’t an insurer looking to sell products. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK279418/Thing is, as we can see from EIII's post, not all symptoms are visible or detectable without medical screening. Imagine copping prostate cancer and being told "well, if we'd have caught it 5 years ago, you would have survived it. Hard cheese". You're right that I can't give any meaningful family history though, grandfathers dead at 45 and 64 (heart disease), father at 40 (Austin Princess disease).
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Feb 8, 2024 12:02:00 GMT
That’s how we like to imagine it, and it’s what we’re presented when someone high-profile dies or reports being ill. Bob Willis is one fairly recent example: “Go and get tested,” say a lot of well-meaning celebrities. But get tested for prostate cancer and you’re far more likely to get a false positive and a lot of treatment that may wreck your quality of life, than you are to genuinely catch something aggressive that might otherwise kill you. Remember that most men with prostate cancer die years later of something else.
Let’s not make this too personal to Esp, but he (now I’ve read his report properly) had no signs, went through a lot of investigation, discomfort and anxiety, yet now knows nothing he didn’t before. He got what may not have been a false positive but might as well have been for all the good it did.
Of course, the whole ‘health MOT’ idea suits the American private model of healthcare as it gives healthy people a reason to visit (and pay) their doctor. The insurance plans that employers like yours and mine offer have borrowed this model because it’s good for their business too. Whether it’s any use to our health, individually or collectively, is far from clear.
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Post by EspadaIII on Feb 8, 2024 15:04:51 GMT
There is a balance between a battery of tests every year and regular but infrequent simple tests (rather like mammograms or smear tests for women who were born women) like the prostate finger or similar. Of course if there is family history it is different, but for someone like me whose parents died in the mid and late 80s, the risks are modest.
But note that my original diagnosis of microscopic blood in the urine remains present. It is just they don't know what is causing it; have ruled out all of the likely sources and are not particularly botherd about it. A GP friend said a reasonable proportion of the men our age will have it for no obvious reason. However the fact I did have it meant I had other tests which found something else. That something else is not an issue but it could have been, which means that I am glad the tests were done.
So maybe an overall medical with some basic blood and urine tests every five years post 50 years old is not a bad thing.
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