Health
Screening, 45 and over
It is never too late to improve your health! Although as time goes by, it gets harder to break bad habits and there is more risk of injuring yourself if you suddenly start exercising vigorously. Your current healthstyle will determine your health in your old age and over 45, your body is no longer so forgiving!
Above all by now, you should have stopped smoking! Smokers are more likely to suffer from just about every disease in the textbooks. Accept help. Without help, 5% of people manage to stop. With Nicotine patches 10% of people stop, Zoban tablets have helped 30%. Hypnotherapy and Alan Carr's The Easy Way to Give Smoking are even more useful. More than 90% of people manage to stop after attending one of Alan Carr's
clinics - buy the book.
Exercise is great - but check your blood pressure first. If you have any doubts start with gentle walking and build it up gradually to three sessions of aerobic exercise a week. You do not need to train like Lynford Christie to get a real improvement in your physique and energy levels
From the age of 45, cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks,
angina, poor circulation and strokes and various cancers gradually become more common.
Without specific risks for heart disease, it is still rare under the age of
70. So rather than check for heart disease, it makes more sense to look at those things that increase your risks
of cardiovascular diseases such .
These include:
Smoking (this is greatest risk factor for heart disease)
Heart disease in the family
Raised blood pressure
Raised cholesterol, and other fats
Lack of exercise and stress
Excessive alcohol
Not enough fresh fruit and vegetables,
Too much salt, processed and restaurant food
Unemployment, poverty and poor housing
Poor mental health
Cancer
The commonest cancers include breast cancer, bowel cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and ovarian cancer. Lung cancer, almost without exception, is the result of smoking and passive smoking.
Government guidelines suggest that all specialist appointments, where cancer is suspected, should happen within 2 weeks of visiting the GP.
The best results for cancer treatment of cancer
follow prompt treatment in a specialist centre. These are usually located within Teaching Hospitals or major city general hospitals. Although local treatment centres may seem more convenient,
unless they are specialist centres, they may cost you your life.
Specialist centres have surgeons who deal regularly with each type of
cancer, automatically refer patients an oncologist for chemotherapy, and radiotherapist for radiotherapy. Almost all cancers are bets treated with a combination of therapies. If there is a waiting list of more than two or three weeks, ask for a private referral. Time matters more than money when you are dealing with cancer.
It is important to be familiar with your own body so if there are any changes, you can pick them up immediately. To learn about breast and testicular self examination and examination of other parts of the body, follow this link
Self-examination
Breast Cancer
Regular self-examination will help detect lumps. Not all breast lumps are cancer, nevertheless, every woman (and man) with a breast lump needs to see a breast specialist urgently. Mammography and breast ultrasound detect breast cancers, often before they can be felt. The NHS provides mammography all women over the age of 50, every third year. Ideally 'single view' mammography and breast ultrasound should be done alternate years. Private clinics charge around £100 for this service.
Prostate cancer
The prostate is a small gland that sits at the base of the bladder and surrounds the urethra like a doughnut. As prostate cancer tends to develop slowly, there has been a debate about the best treatment. Some doctors have suggested waiting and watching while others have recommended active treatment from the start. Generally, the older the man at diagnosis, the more slowly the cancer will grow.
There are effective treatments for prostate cancers (radiotherapy, surgery and drug therapy) so a more active approach is probably better. Each case is individual so this issue should be discussed with the urologist and oncologist (cancer specialist) in charge of the case.
The prostate gland produces prostate specific antigen (PSA), this is released into the blood and can be measured by a blood test. If there is a problem with the prostate the level of PSA rises. This problem may be an infection, cancer or be a reflection of a gradually enlarging prostate. PSA levels should be done annually over the age of 50. This is available on the health service but you will need to ask your GP specifically for this test. For further information follow this link
Prostate
Bowel cancer
Bowel cancer becomes more common with increasing age. It is more common in people who eat a lot of meat by comparison with vegetarians. Often bowel cancer does not produce any symptoms until it has reached a stage that it blocks the bowel or it perforates the wall of the bowel.
The first symptoms of bowel cancer are often a change in bowel habit. This may be an increase in frequency of bowel motions, constipation, or a feeling of not emptying the bowels properly. Sometimes there may be blood or mucus in the motion or the bowel motions may change to a dark
colour.
It is possible to test for bowel cancer at any earlier stage, by looking for microscopic amounts of blood in the
faeces. This test is known as the faecal occult blood test (FOB). Before taking the test, someone has to follow a diet that avoids meats and certain vegetables. The test is reasonably reliable but may show positive when there is not a problem. The next stage is to examine the bowel with a flexible sigmoidoscope or colonoscope. Unfortunately most people are reluctant to have these tests, despite the benefits they offer. (1)
Ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect at any early stage. However it may be detected by a blood test for CA125 (an ovarian cancer growth factor). This is not yet available in most laboratories. Alternatively an ultrasound scan of the ovaries will check
the ovaries for cysts and general shape.
Testicular cancer
Testicular cancer can be detected by self-examination. Every man, from puberty, needs to examine his
testicles every month and report the first sign of change.
Cervical cancer.
Cervical smears test the cells around the neck of the womb. These are usually done by practice nurses or GPs. As soon as a woman becomes sexually active, she needs to have regular smears.
She also needs to continue until five years after the menopause. There
is no information available for the need for cervical smears with HRT -
so it probably best to carry on having regular smears.
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