2024-01-11 09:22:30
Not having a culture of preventive medicine and not going to a medical check-up once or twice a year can cause different silent diseases such as diabetes or hypertension to “hide”, explains Dr. Minerva García García, general practitioner at the Universidad Veracruzana (UV ).
The issue of health prevention, he said, is an issue that is not widespread among Veracruz residents.
“If a year there are three patients who come just to undergo a medical check-up without having symptoms of anything, there are many,” he says.
For health and economic reasons, it would be important for people, mainly children and older adults, to go to the doctor to check their health, “but the reality is that most of us Mexicans forget.”
In that sense, he regrets that curative medicine predominates over preventive medicine in the population, “when we have to focus on prevention due to costs and complications, to improve quality of life.”
The specialist assures that going to a trusted or public sector doctor for prevention should be done even if the patient feels well or believes they are healthy. “You have to get checked without having any symptoms, but almost no one bets on that to avoid complications.”
He adds that the problem is that everyone believes that because they feel well they are fine and that is not always true since even if someone feels well they may have a silent illness. “Not having any symptoms does not mean you are completely healthy.”
To avoid silent diseases, he points out, it is important to prevent, because they can be detected in time and avoid complications or a poor quality of life.
In the special case of checking glucose and pressure levels, he pointed out that it is important because it is associated with obesity and heredity.
“We have a red light due to the type of diet we have, high in carbohydrates and with little physical activity. That makes us get sick. More and more I see more children and young people with cholesterol, triglyceride and high sugar problems. So that indicates that a medical checkup is important despite being a teenager or younger. There are those who think that only adults should take care of their health, but that is not the case, many children and adolescents should also take care of themselves. “We should have a culture of taking them for a check-up every six months.”
Dr. Minerva García recommends having a medical check-up every six months or at least annually, “many do not do it because they consider it an expense, but it is more expensive to attend to a complication.”
HIDDEN EVILS
Of the silent diseases, he comments that the most frequent are diabetes, hypertension and anemia.
“I have many patients who come in because they are tired and it turns out that they are anemic. “They believe they are well fed, but it is not balanced and adequate.”
“By not preventing, it turns out that there are people who suffer from anemia for three years before being medicated: Or in the case of diabetes there are people who have lived more than five years with the disease without realizing it, because they did not go to get checked.”
In the case of blood pressure problems, he comments that there are patients whose body has become accustomed to high or low levels, “and they do not pay attention, because the pressures do not always cause symptoms. They already do it when the levels exceed adequate levels, because they can lead to heart attacks or strokes.”
It highlights that following five years of being hypertensive without being treated it can trigger diabetes, which is why it is important to get checked on time and regularly.
A medical check-up should be a priority for everyone, regardless of age, minors, adolescents or adults. “We all require a medical check-up to avoid health complications,” she concluded.
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