Preventative care - make it a priority

I mentioned a few posts ago how tough it can be for me to view OTC drugs as just as "important" to my medical regimen as my prescriptions are. I'm getting over it, which I need to do...but I unfortunately have to lump preventative care and annual check ups in this same category. With all of our appointments with the "specialists", how hard is it to motivate to make that annual check up with, say, the gynecologist? It's just hard to fit in, amongst the other "regular" appointments that we schedule for lupus - the opthamologist for plaquenil, the rheumatologist, the pulmonologist, the nephrologist, cardiologist, neurologist, etc., etc., etc.

But I recently pulled the trigger on scheduling both a dental check up and a dermatologist appointment, and I feel pretty good about it. Nothing's wrong - I don't detect anything amiss - but I just know that this kind of preventative maintenance is what keeps us out of trouble in the long run.

I'm proud to say that I've never had a cavity (knock on enamel), and I currently have no dermatological concerns (even though my genes don't bode well for skin cancer...), but the only way to keep it that way is to be seen periodically. And that's a fact.


Perhaps you're dragging your feet on an annual check up or exam. Follow my lead - pick up the phone - and make the appointment. It can only help - and it won't hurt. (At least the phone call won't!)