Screening tests save lives. Talk to your doctor and do your own research on tests you need and how often. What the guidelines suggest and what you need may be different.
Common screening tests for women include:
1. mammogram/ MRI for breast cancer
2. PAP smear & HPV test for cervical cancer
3. stool check for blood (fecal occult blood test, colonoscopy)
4. EKG, ECHO (stress test if indicated)
5. bone density scan to check for osteoporosis
6. counseling for smoking cessation, alcohol/drug dependence, and domestic violence
7. evaluation for depression and other mental disorders if necessary
8. complete physical exam, and routine blood tests*
Common screening tests for men include same as above except mammogram and PAP smear.
Be sure your doctor goes over the test results with you and explains EVERYTHING! Leave with your questions answered! Be sure to follow up with your doctor to prevent any delays.
Get a copy of your test results. That way you will know if you were told everything and that the information is accurate. Research your results and diagnosis. Things you don't understand, ask again. Getting a second and sometimes third (because you were told different things by each doctor!) evaluation and assessment is sometimes necessary to get what is right for you.
Patients must be their own advocate and take charge of their health. Health maintenance and prevention are so important to one's quality of life. Make it an important part of yours - maintain and gain your best health!
*What Your Blood Tests Mean http://mypatienthandbook.blogspot.com/2012/03/what-your-blood-tests-really-mean.html
Basic Diagnostic Tests http://mypatienthandbook.blogspot.com/2012/04/basic-health-tests.html
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta medical test results. Mostrar todas las entradas
Mostrando entradas con la etiqueta medical test results. Mostrar todas las entradas
jueves, 2 de mayo de 2013
viernes, 5 de noviembre de 2010
Incidentaloma Incidents
When I had my initial body scan 10 years ago unexpected findings were discovered. These incidental incidentalomas had failed to cause any symptoms. An incidentaloma is the medical term for incidental findings that you may have been born with or acquired which are usually benign. Harmless and benign as they may be, further investigation is warranted, This may involve direct testing with a biopsy and possibly surgical excision.
Though most inidentalomas are benign, they may continue to grow inside the body. This may endanger other organs and become life threatening. Routine scans done at one, two, three, six months then annually is an accepted standard of care for following incidentalomas. In addition, periodic blood tests that correlate with it will help show any changes from the incidentaloma.
Of the five abnormal findings on my body scan, one proved life threatening. The ginormous kidney stone stuck in my kidney had caused no symptoms. Had it remained undetected, kidney failure and/or loss of a kidney surely could have occurred. Another incidentolama required biopsy and proved to be benign (was initially found on a cardiac stress test!). The others continue to be unchanged and asymptomatic. Followup with routine scans is the way they have been followed and they remain stable.
If you are concerned about cost and/or whether your health insurance will cover it, you may want to consider self pay. This test was worth each penny of my $750. Plus no prescription or referral is needed unless it is covered by Medicare. My insurance company now covers scans of each area with incidentolomas. Though not a body scan, the results are the same.
Incidental incidentolomas affect all of us. Once found they should be checked. Be sure to see any specialists that may be necessary to decide if biopsy, surgery, or simply following routine scans is enough.
Best health!
Though most inidentalomas are benign, they may continue to grow inside the body. This may endanger other organs and become life threatening. Routine scans done at one, two, three, six months then annually is an accepted standard of care for following incidentalomas. In addition, periodic blood tests that correlate with it will help show any changes from the incidentaloma.
Of the five abnormal findings on my body scan, one proved life threatening. The ginormous kidney stone stuck in my kidney had caused no symptoms. Had it remained undetected, kidney failure and/or loss of a kidney surely could have occurred. Another incidentolama required biopsy and proved to be benign (was initially found on a cardiac stress test!). The others continue to be unchanged and asymptomatic. Followup with routine scans is the way they have been followed and they remain stable.
If you are concerned about cost and/or whether your health insurance will cover it, you may want to consider self pay. This test was worth each penny of my $750. Plus no prescription or referral is needed unless it is covered by Medicare. My insurance company now covers scans of each area with incidentolomas. Though not a body scan, the results are the same.
Incidental incidentolomas affect all of us. Once found they should be checked. Be sure to see any specialists that may be necessary to decide if biopsy, surgery, or simply following routine scans is enough.
Best health!
miércoles, 30 de junio de 2010
How to Get Your Medical Records: Your Life on File
Communicating with your health care team is vital. To be sure nothing is missed, take the time to collect your medical records from all the doctors you see. This includes notes from your primary care doctor and specialists, tests, and surgery reports. You may want to start with your primary care doctor, the doctor who sees you the most.
To obtain your records, you should submit a medical record release form. This form gives your doctors and other health providers permission to release your records to you. This can be done at the doctor’s office, by mail, or by fax. You can get a record release form at doctors’ offices or at other medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics.
The medical record is your life and health on paper. Once you get your records, it is important to review them for accuracy. If any information is inaccurate or any reports are missing, bring it to your doctor’s attention. You might find some
things your doctor did not tell you about or things you simply do not understand. If your doctor is unable to get the missing information, contact the source directly for copies of your reports.
Gather this information into a folder or notebook. Add a cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, email, and date of birth. On this page make a list of your medical conditions, all the medicines you take, your allergies (and any other reactions to medication), operations you’ve had, and a history of diseases that run in your family. You will be able to make copies to take to any doctor you go to. This also prevents the delay that occurs when records are sent from doctor to doctor, which can take from weeks to months to years.
Best health!
by J.L, Richardson, M.D., family medicine doctor and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.
Patient Handbook to Medical Care provides 112 pages (large print) of health information that will tell you what your doctor should be asking you, telling you, and doing for you - as taught in medical school and used since Hippocrates.
www.mypatienthandbook.com/
www.twitter.com/MD4U
www.blogtalkradio.com/drjfpmd
To obtain your records, you should submit a medical record release form. This form gives your doctors and other health providers permission to release your records to you. This can be done at the doctor’s office, by mail, or by fax. You can get a record release form at doctors’ offices or at other medical facilities such as hospitals and clinics.
The medical record is your life and health on paper. Once you get your records, it is important to review them for accuracy. If any information is inaccurate or any reports are missing, bring it to your doctor’s attention. You might find some
things your doctor did not tell you about or things you simply do not understand. If your doctor is unable to get the missing information, contact the source directly for copies of your reports.
Gather this information into a folder or notebook. Add a cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, email, and date of birth. On this page make a list of your medical conditions, all the medicines you take, your allergies (and any other reactions to medication), operations you’ve had, and a history of diseases that run in your family. You will be able to make copies to take to any doctor you go to. This also prevents the delay that occurs when records are sent from doctor to doctor, which can take from weeks to months to years.
Best health!
by J.L, Richardson, M.D., family medicine doctor and author of Patient Handbook to Medical Care: Your Personal Health Guide.
Patient Handbook to Medical Care provides 112 pages (large print) of health information that will tell you what your doctor should be asking you, telling you, and doing for you - as taught in medical school and used since Hippocrates.
www.mypatienthandbook.com/
www.twitter.com/MD4U
www.blogtalkradio.com/drjfpmd
jueves, 20 de agosto de 2009
Doctor-Patient Communication Suboptimal
This email reply is in regards to my poll question on preferred way patients wish to be contacted by their doctors for their test results (http://twtpoll.com/mn9yin), if they are contacted at all.
Of course, "if you don't hear anything that means all is okay" is definitely not the answer. Many patients have been wrongly diagnosed, diagnosed too late, or died with this mantra. Lack of followup by patients and doctors is one of the top reasons for adverse outcomes and wrong diagnosis that lead to malpractice suits, delay in diagnosis, etc.
Make it your decision to contact your doctor if you don't hear about your test results in a timely manner. How you wish to contact your doctor is up to you. Make sure you followup if your doctor fails to do so.
Much thanks to Rachel Rosenfeld for allowing me to share this insightful information.
Dear Dr. Richardson,
Thanks for the DM regarding how to contact patients about test results.
In various roles as patient, family member, friend, caretaker and advocate, and in being in late 50s and having seen medicine (when did it become healthcare) change over a half century, here's my take:
40 years ago, medicine was less rushed, docs had time to pore over test results and a call from the nurse "everything came back ok" was the norm . Why did patients need specifics, they knew their doctor-god would watch over them.
Fast forward to the present with informed, educated patients as consumers, overworked physicians providing assembly-line medicine and yes, occasionally forgetting Mrs. Cardwell's first name. We know our numbers these days, or we know about our chronic conditions, we know when our hypothyroidism is not quite under control for example and "normal" won't cut it when that number is outside our personal normal limits. My cholesterol is "a little high but ok" - but what's the
change since last year? My lymphocytes are high but total count is normal - and you didn't bother to call me and I have sarcoidosis and almost died from that untreated infection that lingered for six months....
We patients watch our numbers, or our conditions ... in my case, let's watch my CA and my BUN and creatinine and the white blood cells, I'm not too worried about anything else. For my brother, it would be trends in glucose and cholesterol ...
And we know where to find the results from last month, last year, we know how we feel compared to those lab results and we know how to adjust behaviors for something trending negatively (e.g. cholesterol), or how to get hold of our specialist for something outside normal limits (e.g., elevated CA or lymphocytes as in my sarcoidosis).
But we have to be told, whether it's by direct access (hospitals in Northwest FL have been doing this for years), email, fax or phone.
"Everything's normal" is no longer the accepted norm.
Shalom
Rachel Rosenfeld
Of course, "if you don't hear anything that means all is okay" is definitely not the answer. Many patients have been wrongly diagnosed, diagnosed too late, or died with this mantra. Lack of followup by patients and doctors is one of the top reasons for adverse outcomes and wrong diagnosis that lead to malpractice suits, delay in diagnosis, etc.
Make it your decision to contact your doctor if you don't hear about your test results in a timely manner. How you wish to contact your doctor is up to you. Make sure you followup if your doctor fails to do so.
Much thanks to Rachel Rosenfeld for allowing me to share this insightful information.
Dear Dr. Richardson,
Thanks for the DM regarding how to contact patients about test results.
In various roles as patient, family member, friend, caretaker and advocate, and in being in late 50s and having seen medicine (when did it become healthcare) change over a half century, here's my take:
40 years ago, medicine was less rushed, docs had time to pore over test results and a call from the nurse "everything came back ok" was the norm . Why did patients need specifics, they knew their doctor-god would watch over them.
Fast forward to the present with informed, educated patients as consumers, overworked physicians providing assembly-line medicine and yes, occasionally forgetting Mrs. Cardwell's first name. We know our numbers these days, or we know about our chronic conditions, we know when our hypothyroidism is not quite under control for example and "normal" won't cut it when that number is outside our personal normal limits. My cholesterol is "a little high but ok" - but what's the
change since last year? My lymphocytes are high but total count is normal - and you didn't bother to call me and I have sarcoidosis and almost died from that untreated infection that lingered for six months....
We patients watch our numbers, or our conditions ... in my case, let's watch my CA and my BUN and creatinine and the white blood cells, I'm not too worried about anything else. For my brother, it would be trends in glucose and cholesterol ...
And we know where to find the results from last month, last year, we know how we feel compared to those lab results and we know how to adjust behaviors for something trending negatively (e.g. cholesterol), or how to get hold of our specialist for something outside normal limits (e.g., elevated CA or lymphocytes as in my sarcoidosis).
But we have to be told, whether it's by direct access (hospitals in Northwest FL have been doing this for years), email, fax or phone.
"Everything's normal" is no longer the accepted norm.
Shalom
Rachel Rosenfeld
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