5 Health Tests You Need to Ace This Year

i am 49. take multiple drugs for brain trauma. to many problems to list. why do dr.s talk as if you dont exist. i know me why not listen instead of telling me?

the last bloodtest that I got from the hospital cost 900.00! my Ins. has a 1500.00 deductable! If my Dr. would have done this in his ofc. it would have been covered under my 25.00 co-pay!

Don't you just love it when people write and get it wrong? OK, the thyroid has been hit by a couple of people already so no comment. They are correct. Blood Pressure recommendations have been manipulated by the drug companies. My BP runs 130/70 and my cardiologist thinks it's wonderful. Basically, you don't have high blood pressure until you hit something around 150/100 but the Pharmaceuticals got the recommendation changed by defining a NEW category called PRE-hypertensive. That means you don't have high blood pressure but you are close enough they want the doctor to prescribe medication anyway. More profit is always a good thing in their minds. Blood Glucose level is another one manipulated by the drug companies. You are diabetic when it gets above 130 and even then you can likely control it with a little care regarding what you eat. But, the drug pushers got a NEW CATEGORY defined a few year ago of (you guessed it) PRE-diabetic! That is set at 110 so again they can get you on drugs sooner and keep you there for the rest of your life. Finally, cholesterol numbers here are actually pretty good. But, the raw numbers can still be misleading. Our body has a thermastat just like our homes. If you eat too much cholesterol it goes up a little but if your thermostat is working properly it won't go up much. If you don't consume enough cholesterol your body will manufacture it as you can't live without it. People who actually NEED cholesterol medication runs between 5% and 15% of the population depending on what study you check. Everyone else can forget about it. But, when you have it checked don't look at raw HDL and LDL levels as they can be misleading. Ask your doctor to have the lab check both and do the check for the LDL/HDL ratio. If it is below 4.0 you can forget the rest of the numbers. If it is below 4.5 you do NOT need statin drugs but you should keep an eye on things. Get above 4.5 and you can probably correct with diet alone but just might need some help at least temporarily. So, get checked and be sure you don't have danger signals but don't panic either. As an example, a friend of mine lowered LDL count from just above 280 to just above 200 this past year through diet change alone. Another lowered Blood Pressure from 150s/100 by dropping a whole list of "health" supplements, all of which were supposed to make you healthier, but that were interacting in a way that made BP skyrocket. It is now running 120/70 on the average.

These numbers are all wrong, don't believe them. I'm a physician, and only people with certain other diseases (such as diabetes, previous history of heart attacks, etc) need to be held to some of these stringent goals. For most people, your blood pressure can be over 120/80 and its fine. Same thing for LDL cholestrol; young people with no other health problems can go as high as 160. Talk to your doctors about these numbers because these recommendations aren't as set in stone as the authors of this article make it seem.

Yea - then change jobs and have the insurance not pay cause there is a preexisting condition. I have a family member who's Dr. talked them into a physical. They then changed jobs, and the new insurance refuses to pay for anything pertaining to what they found in the physical. Of course the Dr got paid - and I doubt that the Dr would have done the physical for free. The extra stress is just sooo healthy.

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Whenever I hear some bright young person say they are going to medical school, I feel very sorry for them. Doctors these days are starting to be perceived to be as bad as lawyers, and most certainly worse than used car salesmen.

I'm a vietnam vet and the my va doctor takes great care in making sure all of my test are good. I fought for my country and gave my blood, now its nice to see my country taking care of me for FREE......

For possible genetic health risks and such high-threat diseases and things, go to the doctor. Otherwise, just skip the medicine and let that cold or virus sort itself out. For about the last five years I've been sticking to this and I find that before (when I was entirely reliant on medication when sick with even the silliest of things) I was getting sick way more often than I am now. At most once a year anymore, if at all. Don't depend on meds for the little insignificant things and let your body work it out on it's own and you'll get sick a lot less. Works for me! Costs less too.

Get the tests, research what your scores mean if they are abnormal and what treatments, and make sure the doctor you have doesn't push 1 or 2 certain meds. Get a whole list of treatment options and make sure your doctor listens to you as you try to determine what is best for you. Then, just do it and take care of yourself.

I'm a physician and I couldn't disagree more with these recommendations. What they forget to tell you is the number needed to treat for any reduction of MI, CVA or death for cholesterol or HTN with medication is typically between 100-200. Meaning you need to treat 100-200 people for one of them to have avoided a heart attack, stroke or death over 5 years. When you factor in false positives (which all tests have), you are literally spending millions of dollars, subjecting hundreds of people to "benefitless" side effects, increasing risks of anaphylaxis all to prevent one MI/CVA/Death when lifestyle changes have been shown to be far more effective than any of the pills. You should exercise daily and eat reasonably well no matter what your BP or cholesterol is. To take an asymptomatic patient and recommend screening random blood glucose when there has never been any evidence of benefit of finding out sooner as opposed to when you're symptomatic from your elevated glucose is nothing short of dishonest by this author. To say you "need" to have these tests is clearly a lie. Sensational writing like this gets you published, so they don't care because in their little world getting published on yahoo is for some reason meaninful and that's why our health care costs continue to soar.

I'll tell you what, I'll take the tests if you pay for them. Otherwise, I just can't afford it right now. I'm too busy just trying to survive pay check to pay check.

Don't have health insurance? Do what I do--go give blood--they check BP and Iron. Some health food stores give cholesterol tests pretty cheap and if you know someone with diabetes you can ask to test your own blood sugar with one of their strips (offer to pay them back for the strip). As to the thyroid, you'll need to see a doctor for the test.

I would argue that anyone in the northeast would benefit by knowing their vitamin d status as well (especially those with darker skin or who spend most of their time indoors). most docs don't volunteer to do it unless you ask.

Wow, how did we ever live up until Yahoo came along and constantly told us what "tests we must have" and what "things we must do".

The last place I would get medical advice from is Yahoo and the comments section.

Ok....while you should get all of these tests done at one point or another in your life...there is no where on here that tells you the price of all of these blood tests and that insurance companies do not pay or only pay for part of the tests, which can be very, very expensive. $600.00-$800.00, which is a bit high for me.

Our recent (incompetent) "American medical reform" process didn't include concrete price containment measures or medical insurance reform. If you must have these lab tests (which is debatable), know EXACTLY what these tests will cost ~before~ you agree to them.

What is the point of having these tests? If you do get any of these diseases the Insurance Company will cancel your insurance. That is if you have insurance. We do not have health care in this country we have health insurance.

My husband has Iron Overload this means way too much Iron and this can kill any one who has a iron account higher then 100-900 then you should be checked out by a doctor ASAP, My husband all mosted died. Iron Overload is not anything to mess with.