Am I a coward, or can't I be arsed?

I made the mistake of seeing a doctor about a minor problem. By the time they had finished with me I had been diagnosed with two problems, for both of which I have no symptoms and need no medication.

I have probably had one since childhood, and it is the last physical remnant of a childhood medical problem that was dealt with 60 years ago and the other, which probably dates back to the birth of my first child, is merely a 'watch list' possibility that has remained unchanged for nearly 10 years.

However I have to mention both when I apply for travel insurance, which affects how much I pay.

The only good thing that has come out of it is that I get invited to an appointment with the nurse every year where they check my blood pressure and ask for the usual specimens for other tests, so if there are signs I am developing anthing else it should be picked up.

GandT I should go to the wellman clinic, my father did, and they picked up his bladder cancer while it was still in the precursor stage and it never developed or became of any danger to him. He lived a full life, otherwise on good physical and mental health until a short final illness when he was 92.

Agree with mumsy it's all to do with age. I don't diet but watch what I eat, drink plenty of water tho go the the loo more, which is a pain, especially early hours of the morning
That hot weather we had a while back was so uncomfortable wake up n the night really hot and had my flushes years ago. Get checked out with your Dr. Best thing if you can
Or google and see what comes up. Wish you well anyway

No, it's not all to do with age, but it is part of the equation.

I am amazed at the number of posters, who have some symptoms of varying severity, who ignore them, despite suffering worry and discomfort. I've had some major health problems but I'm not at the Drs every five minutes. In the last 2years I've only been for a medication check. However, I'd be there like shot if I thought I had something serious. My judgement has been right in the past.
Also, if it's not an emergency, what's wrong with waiting a while for an appointment?

Dear Oldgoose I would take yourself off to your GP and ask for an MOT.Get blood pressure, cholesterol etc checked. I think we older ladies are like lovely older Rolls Royces. Superb engineering that just needs tweaking now and then.
If you don't feel comfortable with your GP then change to another one. It is surprisingly easy.
I changed after my GP of 24 years left and the one who replaced him actually whistled at me and pointed to his mouth when he felt I wasn't listening to him. It was humiliating. You need to trust your GP.

albertina that is truly shocking

please, anyone go for a check up. I waited to late and ignored my symptoms, luckily they were able to treat my cancer but I have been told it will probably come back at some point.

I think we have moved from an NHS GP who we felt would guide us with respect to what was best for our health to a situation where we now have to decide what help we need.

As has been suggested lots of us start on google. Then we go to the chemist and discuss what we experience and what it might mean with the pharmacist at our local chemist. then we either buy something or make a GP appointment.

It is a good idea to think about anything that might be in the family i.e. stroke, heart failure, deafness, cataracts.

This is a site which deals with medical tests for the over 6o's
www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide/milestone-medical-tests-60-up

I keep a file on my health with a folder for each system of the body or issues such as cholesterol.

I do ask for a full blood test once every 2 years. I do have high cholesterol but diet (meusilli every morning) has kept the ratio reasonable. My vitamin D was low so I took the NHS pills got the level up and now take 7 Seas Original Codliver Oil and a dash of orange juice each morning. (hope this does not increase the Cholesterol)

I do think it is a good thing to stay ahead of problems if you can. I had a joint x-rayed so I know I have osteo arthritis in it and I purchase or take medication (not NHS) as needed.

I had my cataracts done as soon as the first eye could not read a number plate at the required distance with spectacles. A friend of mine waited until she could not read the signs on a round about so took a 'green' one so as to have a chance to stop and orientate herself!!

So there are lots of choices, similar to having a car serviced. Not that you can buy a new body!!

I also once had a private check up. I took their report to the GP who scanned it for my medical records. That was quite good.

This is an example of one I found on the internet:

www.getlivesmart.com/?gclid=Cj0KEQjwuJu9BRDP_-HN9eXs1_UBEiQAlfW39uDolA1Gpx47dhqmrmk0tSuZH0oGLPEk2-ms5B2l_4caAlVf8P8HAQ

I am not sure which company did mine but I was happy to receive their detailed report and to know that every system seemed to be functioning.

Good luck.

The receptionist at my GP surgery told me just to say that it's personal when ask why I need an appointment and no more questions would be asked.

Just a word of warning about ignoring things. At this time last year I was getting pains in my chest after doing some heavy gardening. Just to keep my DH quiet I went to the doctor and explained that it was just a muscle strain in my chest. He hummed and said it would do any harm to have an angiogram which took place two days later which I thought was a little bit OTT to get it done that quickly. Two days after that I was in Southampton Hospital for a triple coronary bypass as my three main arteries were 97% blocked. Its been a tough year gradually recovering but just yesterday I was out in the garden with DGC turning over stones and looking for creepy crawlies and it hit me that I nearly died and I just don't want to go yet. Little girl wanted to know why I was crying over an ants nest. One day, if spared, I will tell her.

Gadaboutgran it's awful. How do they treat your mouth lichen? I don't have it there and I don't take BP pills. It maybe connected to any of the stack of pills I have to take daily so I'm going to investigate ☺

Our surgery offers a health check done by a nurse if you are over 50. Weight, BP, bloods. It's a good start, more relaxed than a 10 minute appointment with a doctor, & she may be able to work out what would be worth making a GP appointment for if you tell her all your issues.

Regarding smear test I've just had mine done by a lovely practice nurse who put me totally at ease - no problem & the bonus is that result is clear.

I no longer accept invitation for mammogram as I had a benign lump removed as it was growing & there was a chance it would cause irritation with my bra. 1st op fine but I had to be rushed in for a 2nd op (verging on septicemia) which has left me with lots of scar tissue, mammograms have always been painful so self checks will do for me

Some really good advice on here - hoping all those who have health niggles go & have them checked out - it's such a relief to know what's wrong.

I'm being monitored at the moment for a blood problem & my diabetes (type 2) - hope they find out what's causing my problem & then we can deal with it

I have been reading this with interest. I have a number of serious health conditions, but am notorious for thinking I can manage them without much intervention, apart my visits to various clinics. My GP once told a group of medical students, that if I had come into the surgery to see him, I must be really unwell.
However, last year I began to feel unwell, absolutely exhausted and in a lot of pain from my rheumatoid arthritis. I thought I could keep going and work through it, without seeing my GP. Anyway, I was "indispensable" at work, or so I thought. I had a routine hospital appointment and was basically "grounded" by my consultant, who could not believe I was still working as a teacher with very challenging children. The result of my stubbornness: after being off work for over a year, I was told I would never be fit to work again and had to give up my much loved job. My advice, go and see your GP if you have any health concerns, I should have!

Hi, I had a virus at the beginning of the year, visited my GP a couple of times and had to be supported by my husband because I could hardly walk, only to be told to go away because 'it's just a virus'. Saw a different GP who got me into hospital so fast my feet barely touched. Turns out I had such a bad chest Infection it ripped a hole in my lung as big as a 50 pence piece! So now I don't know whether to have faith in my GP or not

Please do see your GP! Your snoring could be sleep apnea. This may also account for you fatigue

I'm getting up the courage to see the doc after reading this thread and the advice given. It's better to be embarrassed than to leave things too late to be treated?

Reading all these posts makes me feel so fortunate. I am approaching 70 and take no medication and have regular MOTs. Am I unusual. or are there lots of other people like me out there?
We pay a fortune for our NHS and our GPs are incredibly well paid, so no one should be put off from seeing them.

You've all just made me feel really grateful for the understanding and accessibility of my GP. She has never trivialised what I have gone for even if it was something that didnt need immediate action, and she even took the trouble to phone me at ten one night when she had been working all day and evening but was concerned for me after a hospital discharge. There are some really lovely, dedicated doctors out there and they deserve much better than they get from the government and the media.

I had a CT scan for my symptoms - what happened, all normal! The specialist said wait and see....
So although I still am not right, I am trying to sort myself out, watch how I sit to eat, have taken gluten out of my diet (quite an improvement, at least my itching rash has stopped) and am doing slow breathing exercises as when you are not feeling well and "they" can't find anything, you do feel stressed/depressed.
Unless you regard yourself as an emergency, we have to wait three weeks to see a Dr, don't like to do that in case things improve and I don't want to waste their time!

Whenever the receptionist asks me to say what I want a doctors appointment for I lower my voice and say "well you know - ladies problems". I havent ever been asked anything else and after all its the truth, I am female and all my problems are therefore ladies problems.

I would not ignore anything that you are concern about, after all if it wasn't for us the GPs would not get paid.
In the early years of our marriage, my husband didn;t even like to go to the chemist to collect his prescription. I don't think he wanted anything to know if he wasn't well. In his later life he got pneumonia badly due to not wanting to attend a clinic, so I went for him, then persuaded him to have a GP to the house. The day before he died he did go to the GP but never mentioned about the bleeding he was having in his urine, he just said he had a virus as our granddaughter had had a virus the week before.

So don't leave anything.

I would not ignore anything that you are concerned about, after all if it wasn't for us the GPs would not get paid.

In the early years of our marriage, my husband didn't even like to go to the chemist to collect his prescription. I don't think he wanted anyone to know if he wasn't well. In his later life he got pneumonia badly due to not wanting to attend a clinic, so I went for him, then persuaded him to have a GP to the house. The day before he died he did go but said he had a virus, as our granddaughter also had had a virus the week before. He never mentioned about the bleeding he was having in his urine.

So don't leave anything.

Oops! Sorry about the two emails, I just noticed that I had made a few mistakes so found how to write it again, but not delete the previous one.

Ditto OLDGOOSE and I thought it was just me, so many aches and pains I wouldn't know where to start