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I'm 41 and pretty healthy. I don't think I even went to the doctor last year. Which is good because my health insurance isn't great.
Which doctor? I have had regular annual exams (dermatologist, eye dr, gynecologist, primary care/physical) for probably 25 years. I am not on any medications and never have been on any, other than an occasional antibiotic.
I went for my second-ever full-body skin examination, and they found four suspicious spots and did a biopsy on each. One of them turned out to be malignant melanoma. So I went back and had it removed. I went back and had the stitches taken out. I went back and had another checkup - they found three more suspicious spots and did biopsies. One of them - was another malignant melanoma. I went back and had it removed. I went back and had the stitches taken out. I go back again next week for another checkup.
So I've been to the dermatologist six times so far just this year. And twice for a previous dermatologist who was horrible, which was the only reason why I went to the second one. So that's 8 times to a dermatologist in one year.
Plus my audiologist, to check my hearing and adjust my hearing aids twice a year.
Then there is the dentist and the periodontist, because I have periodontal disease and needed osseus surgery and now have to get a perio maintenance cleaning every 3 months for the next two years if I want to keep my teeth. The teeth are totally healthy, not a single cavity. But the bone they're attached to is slowly disintegrating and the gums aren't in great shape.
Not everyone needs a doctor more than once or twice a year. Some need it much more often than I do, and some need tons of specialists. Everyone's medical story is different.
Twice in this century. Once for eye issue which turned out to be an internal stye, which he said was best left alone, and the other for a physical. To us, preventive medicine means being proactive in our choices. I swear as a kid, every time we went to the doctor, we came home with something worse than we went there to get rid of! So far, so good at almost 7 decades!
Let's be fair. Not everyone is as lucky as you. Lifestyle doesn't always translate into great health. Many folks live with or die from situations they did nothing to create. They were imposed on them by something lurking in their DNA and/or simple unpredictable bad fortune. Per the bolded...please. A person can tick all the healthy lifestyle boxes on the list but still end up needing medical intervention. Proactive choices are fine to a point. Every reasonably literate adult should know about all that by now. Crowing about never seeing a doctor can descend into virtue signaling dreck. I didn't do anything to cause either of the life threatening health situations that reared their ugly heads for me. I'd probably be dead three times over without a doctor identifying, treating, and keeping tabs on those. So count those lucky stars, be grateful, and be humble.
Last edited by Parnassia; 11-16-2023 at 05:57 PM..
Mid 50's and I go at minimum 6 or more time a year. However, it's not out of complete and sheer necessity but rather using the health care system to retain wealth.
Normal annual physical/bloodwork, and it saves 50% on my health benefits as an incentive from my company.
I like to go every other year to the cardiologist, there's a family history... thankfully no issues with me.
Occasional things that are necessary like colonoscopy and the like. If anything pops up, I want it caught as early as possible.
So yea, 2-3 times a year, making sure all is good inside.
Normal annual physical/bloodwork, and it saves 50% on my health benefits as an incentive from my company.
I like to go every other year to the cardiologist, there's a family history... thankfully no issues with me.
Occasional things that are necessary like colonoscopy and the like. If anything pops up, I want it caught as early as possible.
So yea, 2-3 times a year, making sure all is good inside.
So I am very much opposite, I dont want to know if there is anything wrong. Ive had bloodwork twice in the past 5 years. 5 years ago I was told I have high cholesterol, this year when I was kind of pressured into getting bloodwork done from the VA, I told them I dont want to know the results. As weird as it sounds, I prefer to be blindsided with death. I feel if you know something is wrong, the more you worry which decreases your quality of life. Id rather live a happy life and die tomorrow, my wife thinks im ridiculous, lol.
SO far I'm surprised how many people go one or less.
I would be one of those people except that about ten years ago I developed a rare thyroid condition and I have to go to the endocrinologist and get it looked at twice a year plus get occasional ultrasounds and biopsies.
However, I didn't go for almost two years when I was out of the country caregiving for my dying bf. I was just too far away. Finally he could not keep prescribing my meds without me coming in.
I have had a lot of tough situations in life, terrorist attacks, house fire, abusive husband, and I can deal with it all, but if I know I have a doctor's appointment, I go into such a state of anxiety that I can't stand it or think about anything else, so I just don't go unless something is really wrong, which is what happened with the thyroid thing (a hard substance was growing off the thyroid, surrounding my trachea, and causing difficulty breathing so I went to a doctor). I can deal with the endocrinologist after all that trauma, plus he is very nice and nonjudgmental.
I have always had some of the best health insurance in the country through my employer, which I took into retirement. Now I'm on Medicare, which so far sucks in comparison. However, we get offered a "Welcome to Medicare" checkup, so I might go ahead and do that in 2024 after I go on vacation in December. Figure if I go now, they'll find out all the things that are wrong with me that I don't know about now, and I want to enjoy that vacation before that in case it is my last one.
Oh, I do go to the eye doctor and the dentist regularly. It's people poking around looking at my insides that terrifies me. I had a C-section 32 years ago, and it still freaks me out that they cut me open.
I was one of those folks who almost never got sick and I went years without going to the doctor -- just to have babies. Now that I am 70 I have been to the emergency room twice in 2023, then follow ups and expensive tests with two different specialists as a result, a rheumatologist twice a year for an ongoing osteoporosis problem, a couple visits to the Urgent Care (an infected spider bite and a sinus infection), a once a year physical with my primary, another 2 visits with the primary for a couple of minor problems but needed antibiotics and a visit to the dermatologist because I had not been for years and had a previous basal cell cancer. And for the record, I am fairly fit and slender although I do have some family history of heart disease and cancer.
So -- you can see that as you age your body starts to break down some and your immune system doesn't work as well -- hence more visits and it all costs the healthcare system a LOT more. I have read where the last year of life there is an extraordinary amount of money thrown at keeping the patient going. I really don't agree with some of that -- who needs to take endless medications when you are in memory care and are 96 years old? But the doctors prescribe it and they get their paychecks and on and on it goes.
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