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1. To maintain the machine!
“You get the oil changed in your car whenever it’s due, right?” Christopher Anderson, kick ass nurse practitioner & primary practice owner of Mystic Medical Associates, makes a valid point when comparing maintaining your car to ensure it continues to run, to the annual physical exam on our bodies. “You wouldn’t skip out on essential routine maintenance for your car, would you? Why would you do that to yourself?”
He makes a great argument. And if you’re in the eastern Connecticut area, you can see Christopher Anderson yourself if you’re looking for primary care. He’s a great listener, understands the daily hustle, & he knows the importance of an annual exam. Which leads me to my next point..
2. Routine annual check-ups can help you avoid crisis.
If you’re only checking in on yourself every few years, you could be missing out on catching various ailments & conditions where during a crucial timeframe – which is early. Chris Anderson was actually integral in finding my fiancé Ryan’s cancer in a very early stage, & we were lucky enough to get Ryan chemotherapy to knock the cancer out. Ryan is five years cancer free, & continues to live a happy & full life, thank God.
Routine annual exams come with blood tests & are an important space for you to share things with your health care provider. Your provider will listen & order tests if he/she thinks they’re necessary to ensure everything is on the up & up. So if anything is weird or you feel a little off, it’s the perfect time to bring those concerns to light. It could be nothing, but there’s also a small chance it could be more than that. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.
3. It helps you & your provider check in on your health goals.
Any goals that you may have set in previous visits – lowering your cholesterol, losing weight, getting you closer to quitting smoking, etc. These routine visits help hold you both accountable. It holds you accountable to continuing down a healthy path, & it holds your provider accountable to tweaking a plan if it’s not necessarily working or switching a medication if it’s not benefiting you. While it’s hard sometimes to face the fact that you’re not meeting your end of the bargain with maybe cutting back on cigarettes or eating better like you may have committed to doing – it’s better for your practitioner to hear this and work with you & come up with a better plan. You can’t do this if you avoid seeing them!
4. It helps remove Google from the equation & provide you with the correct information.
I’m guilty of this just like the rest of us are. You feel or see something weird happening physically, & instead of booking an appointment, you’re ripping out your phone & typing your symptoms into Google.
All you’re doing is reading about worst case scenario, and sometimes, it’s not even regarding the right scenario.
Medical professionals go to to school for yeaaaaarss & see tons & tons of REAL LIFE cases for yeaaarrss. Trust me when I tell you, that Google is going to do nothing but scare you. It won’t inform you. The best way to stay informed on the right information, is to book an appointment with your health care provider.
5. Your insurance plan covers it completely.
Yes, you heard me right. Despite the confusing & sometimes overly complicated terminology our health insurance companies like to use in our contracts – it is a law that you must get one free annual wellness exam every calendar year. That means no charge to you.
So, what are you waiting for?! BOOK yours foday!
For more life lessons I’ve learned by age 30, click here!
