Health Care Professionals: what screening do you do to monitor your health?

[Crampulet]

Hello, I am interested in knowing what Health Care Professionals do themselves for their own health screening? Is it regular blood tests, ultrasounds, whole body mri, or something different? I am wondering what my best option is for screening at early 40s. Mammography doesn't start until 50, no lung screening seems to be offered as far as I know, gynecology is only smear which regularly goes unsuccessful at my GP anyway. I would like to consider private screening either in UK or abroad, but don't know what my best options are. Obviously budget will limit the choice as well, but don't know what is best worth. Thank you very much!

Does anyone do that without reason?

None - if it ain't broke don't fix it.

Maybe people don't then? You so often hear for cancer that by the time there are symptoms it can be too late. And I feel with perimenopause and just general life stress it is hard to know what is actually a symptom?

I check my blood pressure every year or so.

Are you in the UK? The NHS carefully considers benefits and harms of screening tests and I think has the balance right. I wouldn’t do anything on top of this.

I screen nothing more than a sensible member of the general public would. My only difference is that if I do notice something worrying, I'd be more likely to phone a colleague at home and ask whether they think this is a GP issue or something that their specialty would want to see quickly. So far, given that I have no particular health issue, in 20 years I've never had any issue that couldn't be managed through the usual available routes. I do screen my own mental health regularly though, and do a check in with myself about any symptoms or signs that I know personally mean that I'm working at a higher stress level or lower capacity than optimal. I think that over screening can raise more issues and health anxiety than you might think, so I'd bear this in mind with whatever you choose.

Just seen Paddington post. Agree.

Nothing bar general blood tests once a year (liver, kidneys
, full blood count etc)

I do eat well, exercise (strength and cardio) 4-5 times a week, drink minimally, not smoke and stay at a healthy weight to reduce my chances of ill health in the future.

@TheRealProfessorYaffle @PaddingtonsHat Thank you, this is really helpful. How does one check mental health?
About nhs having the right balance, can I just check what you mean is that screening is not effective and it is only worth doing blood tests...etc when there are particular symptoms?

@Floralsofa Ah, general blood test is one of the things I have been wondering about. I guess for HCPs there are probably more routes within nhs but for general public could I ask GP for this or do I need to go private?

If you are over 40 you can get an NHS health check, which looks at some bloods and blood pressure. See if your GP offers it.

Yes regarding screening. You have to consider what the risks are of the tests (not always risk free), how reliable the tests are and whether the test actually affects the outcome.

Forget the screening idea and put your efforts into ensuring your lifestyle is as good as it can be. Many cancers can be avoided, as well as almost all cardiovascular problems and musculoskeletal issues, by healthy living.

There are no more/extra routes for HCP’s, we’re still the general public and have to go through our GP to access anything.

We could ask a colleague for an opinion if it’s something related to the area we practice in but couldn’t access the service without a referral through the same channels as everybody else.

I don’t do anything extra than what’s offered based on age/need.

I check my blood pressure, normally a few times until I like the reading 😂😂😂

Meant to say you can ask your GP for bloods if you’re not feeling right, even if it’s just something like tiredness. Not sure they’d do them just because though, may need to go private if there’s nothing that’s concerns you.

Thank you, yes, I have done the 40+ check but it appeared to be a one off?
I must say I am very surprised with what all of you are saying, I thought HCPs would be doing some screening for themselves as imagined they would have more access. Also other countries offer mammography from earlier ages and also lung screening, do you feel these are unnecessary?

Z

@littleblackcat27 that's the attitude of my friend who is a doctor. We were talking about those private blood tests people pay for, where you collect your blood sample and send it off for a result. She said "The thing is, all these results need to be interpreted in context. If you take any random healthy person off the street and give them every possible test, you're going to find some values indicating a problem or a potential problem." So then what happens? People pay for more tests.

@Minniejam How interesting about no extra routes, I am surprised!
Blood tests probably not too expensive, I will look into private option.

It's five yearly.
I check my BP at home. That's about it. Doing this randomly found DH BP to be very high, and subsequent tests found his cholesterol very high too despite a good lifestyle. He started meds for both in his 40's.
I did do ECG's at work on DC who played a lot of sport when both were teens too.

I go to the screening I'm invited to (smears, mammogram) and am really pleased that the benefit of smears is rapidly dropping now that the HPV vaccination is taking hold at a population level - apparently I'll only ever need one more smear in a couple of years and I'd imagine they'll stop completely within a decade or so.

I'm focusing my energy on trying to get my weight to a healthy level and increasing my exercise levels again - I was quite fit a few years ago. I did once ask a nurse friend to check my blood pressure. It was at a time I was very stressed and was going on Twitter a lot. If I go to the GP there's a BP machine in the waiting room, but then I haven't been in 3 years.

I don’t do any extra screening. Any screening programme has risks as well as benefits. Screening tests are not risk free (eg radiation from imaging), some tests can pick up on minor problems that will not go on to cause physical harm but cause anxiety once found, and sometimes unnecessary screening leads to unnecessary treatments which have side effects and no benefits. There is also no benefit to screening for conditions for which there is no good treatment or no advantage from earlier intervention. Most tests are designed to look for something specific and results need to be matched with clinical symptoms so whole body scanning for screening generally isn’t helpful. The UK National Screening Committee is made up of experts who consider all of these things and recommended which screening programmes are implemented so I would not currently opt for any screening beyond that which the NHS offers. I would go for an NHS Health Check when eligible.

@iloveeverykindofcat Thank you, yes, I can sort of see the pitfall of spiraling into further tests until bank account is depleted!

I personally do trust the NHS screening levels, yes. I work for a stroke team so I am most interested in sorting out my blood pressure, but I used to work for a cancer team and I suppose 'shit happens, don't smoke, do some exercise' captures my view of things.

Thank you everyone, this has been very helpful and also eye opening for me!

@PermanentTemporary Very interesting, thank you!