Check-Up - Everyone needs it, REGULARLY

Check-Up - My opinion is that everyone needs it, regularly, but if it's done badly, it's more of a hindrance than a help!

My most recent video on the subject - Why don't you do a checkup and prevention?

Check-ups, consultations and services in Integrative, Orthomolecular and Functional Medicine. - What is needed

Checkup - My medical opinion

Each doctor can conduct his or her office evaluations, their “check-ups” as they wish (there is no standardization by official entities for this), BUT understand that, precisely because of this, YOU can have great diversity in terms of the QUALITY of the medical evaluation. Some factors for you to consider:

1 - When specialists conduct their check-ups, many tend to evaluate aspects of the body related to their areas of expertise with more interest/detail, which often leaves other parts of the body “under-evaluated”;

2 - A “bad” assessment can be one that is conducted incorrectly, incompletely (for example, fewer questions or tests than necessary to properly conclude on the patient's case), that “undervalues” what is found (“this is nothing”, “just observe”, etc.) or that does little to adequately inform the patient about the findings.Most of the “check-ups” I've had in the office have definitely not been carried out well, as they seemed to have been obtained by too short/summarized/objective anamneses (questions the doctor asks to obtain the patient's medical history) and too few tests (most of which were insufficient to properly investigate the patient and their complaints).

3 - If Health is “WELL-BEING of body + mind + spirit + social”, I really don't believe that a general check-up that doesn't minimally assess all of this is really complete and adequate (because not everything in Medicine has tests, but there are certainly questions and possible answers!).

4 - Every living organism also has countless physical and/or chemical and/or biological processes occurring simultaneously, which is why a truly complete assessment of the patient has to include as many of these as possible (that are relevant);

5 - An organ or system (set of organs) can basically be assessed by its composition (Anatomy) and functioning (Physiology) and it is not necessarily the case that a change in one of these leads to “problems” in the other, although most of the time they are associated;

6 - If a health professional, after your check-up, tells you that “everything is fine”, but this is false (they didn't diagnose, value or detect the severity properly), YOU could miss the moment to treat something while it's in its infancy and potentially even less complicated (and still curable, many times): that's why you really need to assess whether conclusions such as “you have nothing” or “nothing was found” or “everything is fine” really seem accurate from the questions and exams that the professional you've chosen has asked;

7 - Patients who “believe everything is fine” usually conclude that their CURRENT lifestyle is fine, adequate, healthy, and often disregard the moment, strategies and chances of actually PREVENTING, treating and living better.

Got it? In short, in my opinion, a good general check-up should be more complete, with more questions (diverse and in-depth) and more tests (than the few usually ordered “out there”).