WHAT Should You Do This Year Once you are above 40 years, please check your blood pressure regularly. More so, if you have a family history of hypertension, have a stressful job or you are a hard driving not easy to relax person! If any, or all of the above are true about you, check once every three months or so.Hypertension is the commonest cause of stroke and heart attack. Not jazz or curses!You must also realize that no one wears hypertension on his face like a cap!! This condition does not show on the face and you may feel perfectly well until something snaps. All those native doctors who diagnose hypertension without using the instrument to measure blood pressure are only taking you on a ride.If you are hypertensive, attend your clinic regularly and have your blood pressure taken. The drugs you are given are not in perpetuity. Your doctor may have to adjust your drugs dosage, change it or add others. You should leave such decisions to him.Avoid cheap hypertension drugs as they most likely have expired or are fake! Good effective drugs do cost a lot these days.Note that hypertension may not present with any symptoms, hence its nicknamesilent killerIf you are a bit on the big side or you have a family history of diabetes, please contact your doctor. He may request regular blood tests to pick up diabetes.If you are diabetic, you must exercise regularly, reduce your carbohydrates and above all, take your medications. You cannot be treated without these blood tests even when you do not have the symptoms of excessive thirst, passing excessive urine, impotence or recurrent boils.If you are on the big side or have a family history of sudden deaths, heart attacks or high blood fat, you must have blood test for cholesterol at least once a year.If you fall into this category, please watch what you eat. Fast foods are fat foods and may translate to fast deaths. Foods to eat and not to eat have been discussed in Part I of this topic, last week.If you have a family history of glaucoma (hypertension in the eyes), have your eyes checked annually by an ophthalmologist.If you are a female and above 40 years, have someone check your breasts regularly. Your spouse can do this; otherwise you do it yourself or get a trained nurse to examine you. Any lump in the breast, any sore around the nipple are worthy of a closer look. An unexplained bigness of the breast or in-turning of the nipple should be looked into.You may wish to have a scan of your breastmammogram - every year if there is a family history or every two years, if there is none. There are also certain breast cancer genes that may be detected in children of breast cancer victims.If you are a male above 40 years and have problems with the water works such as incontinence, straining to pass urine, you should see your doctor. It may just be due to enlargement of the prostrate. But dont take chances as cancer of the prostrate is common among black persons and seems to occur earlier than others. A blood test called PSA (Prostrate Specific Auligen) is readily available in Nigeria and you are well advised to run it every year or so.If you are above 50 years and developing back pain for the first time, please have a doctor do a background check on you to exclude cancer spreading to the back. Most times it is innocuous.If you are above 50 years and developing unexplained alteration of your bowel habits or you repeatedly see blood in your stool or notice blood in the toilet paper you use, consult your doctor to rule out cancer in the colon. You may need to have your stool tested for occult blood or you may need a colonoscopy.You may, if you have the money, do a whole body Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). You may also do certain blood tests called tumour markers. Early cancer may be picked up this way.Over and above all, recognize your body very well and be sensitive to changes. Also have an abiding faith in God.
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