NHS Health check AIBU to not bother?

[Covgal83]

I am mid/late 40s. Good BMI. Walk well over 10,000 steps a day and do weights and regularly, comfortably run over 10km (do a couple of half marathons etc). Work and rarely have a day off. Don’t smoke. Drink slightly more than 14units/week. Have a reasonable diet. Stressful job but, generally, manage it well and am happy. Two kids. No signs of PM really.

I have been booked in for an NHS health check six times by my GP. It’s been cancelled every time. They want me to rebook.

Is it going to tell me anything I don’t know? Feels a bit of a farce and - as per first paragraph - I feel like I’m not in bad health. Are any of the tests going to reveal anything I don’t already know?

They get offered from 40 now

They check your Hba1c (sugar levels) liver function and cholesterol. I went for the blood test, but didn’t bother with the follow up - I work at a GP surgery so I knew what they were going to talk to me about. If you have had these bloods done recently and they were fine, I wouldn’t bother, but if you haven’t I would get them done - it does sometimes pick up issues for people who are slim, fit etc.

I'd go. Presumably they'll do some basic checks that you can't, like BP and basic bloods?

I go for mine. Blood pressure and blood tests for cholesterol, anaemia, diabetes, kidney function. It only takes a few minutes.

This.

I didn’t go to mine either though.

I did the 50 year old one and found out I had an under active thyroid. I think it’s worth it for the cholesterol and thyroid checks

When my friend was dying from lung cancer in her mid 50’s we found a message the previous year inviting her for a lung scan. Wish she had gone.

Are you female? Your booze intake is at the top of the recommended range (not judging btw).

I'd be inclined to take it, what's the worst that can happen and you also get confirmation that you're as healthy as you think you are

Yabu. Just go. It gives them a baseline blood and weight record for you. Useful when things start to go really wrong in older age.

And it might pick up a problem now. Just because you're healthy doesn't mean something sinister isn't brewing.

A GP health check blood test found DH had, after a lot of further tests and investigations, a life threatening blood disorder. He’d probably be dead or at best very ill if it hadn’t been picked up. He had no symptoms at all.
It beats me why people turn down a free service.

My friend who is fit enough to run a marathon recently found out she has sky high blood pressure at a check through work. I had a cholesterol test as part of a check up for something unrelated and mine is high despite me being very slim with a reasonable diet. I know you've already said you'll go OP but just in case this sways anyone else.

You started off saying "total waste of time in my experience" - but then said it was worth it for the blood tests.

NOT a waste of time at all, in fact.

Indeed. I could say much the same as the OP about my activity and fitness levels, very healthy eating, less drinking than her - felt fit as a fiddle. Then my health check revealed - and the only reason for it they could give was "genetic" - very high blood pressure. Not going for the check could've been disastrous for me.

I went, it's really useful. They do cholesterol & blood sugar etc. They look out for prediabetic or prehypertensive indicators. They also give you a risk score for cardiac events which I found very reassuring.

However for and healthy you are, things can happen. Best to catch them early. YABU.

The only thing that was useful was the blood test which proved I was healthy. The actual health check itself was a waste of time done by a nurse who lectured me on being a bit overweight ( bit rich as she was clearly very overweight and sitting next to a half eaten pack of chocolate biscuits) and suggested I could cut out sugar in my tea and eat low fat foods. She seemed a bit put out when I pointed out that many low fat foods are very high in sugar…Also, not only do I not take sugar in tea, I also do not eat sweets, biscuits, chocolate, crisps, very rare takeaways, and eat most days with a calorie deficit. I swim 2 miles a week, do 3 aqua aerobics classes and two 50 min programs on my static bike including interval and upper body weight training. She didn’t have any other suggestions from her silly little tick lists. I think it’s really just a way of surveying the health of the population as opposed to being of any use.

Definitely worth having blood pressure and cholesterol checked if not done recently. They can creep up and sometimes even having a good diet/lifestyle isn't enough. They increase your risks for heart disease, stroke, dementia...always worth keeping an eye.

Well aren't you a charm. Maybe put your prejudice against fatties aside and listen to what she's suggesting rather than assuming she is a token model for her own advice...

We don't make a lot of money out of health checks. By the time you factor in the admin time calling and booking the appointments, and the equipment needed (the testing strips, machines and consumables are frighteningly expensive) it's hardly making us much. It's also not a QOF requirement but a contractual one so no huge financial benefit to us.

NHS health checks can be really useful; we've identified lots of patients with hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and diabetes or pre-diabetes, and supported them with medication, lifestyle changes etc.

Don't want it, don't go. It's an invitation not a summons. But it's offered for a reason.

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I am fairly fit, exercise lots, eat fairly healthily, hike at least 7 miles a week and my health check picked up (probably hereditary) high blood pressure. I'd had BP tested a few months earlier and it had been normal. So I would do it unless you're already monitoring BP and the other stuff they test for.

I have a healthy BMI, am active, have a healthy diet but the blood test from my latest NHS check showed borderline cholesterol. If they include a blood test I’d definitely have it.

You know this is self-defeating behaviour, don't you? The fact the nurse was bigger than you doesn't mean the process wouldn't have been useful. It's possible you might have found your cholesterol, blood pressure and blood sugar were perfect, which would reassure you your weight isn't having an effect on those crucial long term markers for health. Or you might have got the wake up call that motivated you to prioritise your health for the future.

I was very overweight most of my adult life until a new high on the scales at 50 - and some very truthful photos - led me to get a grip in my early 50s. I've seen what's happened to contemporaries who haven't been able to face up to the impact their weight is having on their health as they age, and it is really sad to see how disabling it is to be obese and immobile in your 60s and beyond.

Honestly, it's worth having the scientific information to make informed decisions rather than just assuming everything is fine until it isn't

I had it at 44 and thought it would be a waste of time. The nurse suggested HRT though which wouldn’t have occurred to me (this was 12 years ago so menopause not so high profile).

Don't be ridiculous. High cholesterol and often high blood pressure are symptomless but can lead to strokes, heart attacks etc. Even in those who appear fit and healthy and with a normal bmi.

These healthchecks are preventative. If the op does have these conditions she can be given medication to reduce the risk of the nasties happening. That is definitely worth half an hour out of someone's day.

I'm 52 and get invited regularly. I know my BP - I check it monthly because I've been on medication for high BP for years and it's always fine. When I have it done at the surgery it always goes bananas and gives a stupidly high reading because I get so anxious, so it's completely pointless having it done there.

Also I have RA and have blood tests every eight weeks because of the meds I'm on. They check liver and kidney function etc. I had tests for diabetes and thyroid function last year on a separate hospital visit.

I'm not sure what else they want to see me for? I know I'm overweight but I'm very precariously in ED recovery so being lectured on weight loss is the last thing I need. GPs do this almost every time I visit for absolutely anything, I had an appointment for a skin complaint last year and was told I needed to lose weight - she suggested I try running even though my feet are completely fucked from the RA and sometimes I can't even walk! Imagine giving someone with RA/ED history advice like that. Do they even bother reading patient notes?!

But anyway, yes, I say thanks but no thanks every time they text me. I don't see what the point is, honestly.