Get a checkup
More than 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates said that prevention is better than cure. This year I decided to see a lot of doctors as part of prevention and my Health Project.
To do it cheaply, it's worth getting a private medical plan. If you have a full-time job, you probably already have one. If not, I recommend joining as the life partner of someone who does.
I used LUX MED and Enel-Med, plus a lot of their partner clinics, for doctor visits and tests.
The monthly fee is so low that it pays for itself after your first private visit to any doctor, and the plan covers even expensive tests like CT scans, MRIs, blood work and plenty more.
Gastroscopy
The toughest tests I remember are the gastroscopy and the colonoscopy. Both involve putting an endoscope into your body, either from the top or from the bottom.
A gastroscopy doesn't need any special prep apart from stopping eating at the right time before the test, but the tube in your throat, which is nowhere near as thin as they promise, triggers a strong gag reflex despite the local anesthetic. The whole thing looks and sounds pretty gross, and when you walk out of the room your eyes are as bloodshot as after a weekend LAN party.
Rummaging around in your stomach and taking tissue samples brings a claw machine to mind. I was literally thinking about that during the procedure.
Before the procedure they tell you not to yank the endoscope out of your mouth, and sure enough, the thought does cross your mind. At one point I heard:
Please don't gag!
As if I was lying there doing it on purpose.
The test tells you whether you have reflux, inflammation, polyps or ulcers, what the stomach outlet looks like and the general state of your digestive tract.
Helicobacter pylori
Most importantly, during a gastroscopy they take a sample to test for Helicobacter pylori.
If you've never heard of it, it's a bacterium that can go a long time without causing any symptoms, but it's responsible for inflammation and stomach ulcers, and it can promote stomach cancer.
An estimated 50% of the world's population has it, so it's worth getting tested.
It can spread through drinking from the same bottle or glass and sharing plates or cutlery, in other words through normal social stuff like let me have a sip, which you've surely done plenty of times in your life.
If you have it, there's a good chance your partner has it too. The good news is that you don't have to go straight for a gastroscopy. A simple stool test you can buy at a pharmacy will do.
Getting rid of it is pretty unpleasant, because the antibiotic alone means 120 pills in 10 days. Add the acid reducers and the stomach-protecting pills and you get 160 pills in 10 days.
The antibiotic hits your digestive system hard, so without going into detail I'll just say it's not the most pleasant treatment, but it's not that terrible either.
I also had some interesting symptoms from carrying this bacterium. After eating grapes I'd get canker sores in my mouth. On top of that I had a sore throat pretty often. After the treatment my overall immunity improved a lot. It really is true that health starts in the gut.
Colonoscopy
The first colonoscopy is recommended after fifty, but since a lot of problems can be detected much earlier, I wouldn't put it off. The test is recommended much earlier if there's a history of colon disease in your family (e.g. colon cancer).
The test itself isn't terribly scary and is much gentler than a gastroscopy, but the prep means putting food aside for 2 days and drinking a strong laxative by the gallon.
A two-day fast combined with constant trips to the toilet is tiring and draining, and after the test you're pumped full of the air they blew in through the endoscope to make it easier to navigate your nooks and crannies. If you do it without general anesthesia, you can watch the whole thing on a screen, and it's a truly fascinating microcosm.
You bounce back pretty quickly afterwards, and I'll tell you right now that pizza is a poor choice for a light meal straight after the test. But after a two-day fast, nothing tastes better.
Blood tests
Among the things I recommend doing regularly are blood tests: complete blood count, lipid panel, ESR, CRP, liver function tests, TSH, blood glucose.
Preventive blood tests don't hurt, and they can be an early warning that something worrying is going on. It's also good to check your electrolyte levels, and as a man it's worth getting your testosterone and free testosterone tested every now and then. A low level will cause problems, and on top of that it drops with age.
Pants down
Around 35, it's a good idea to see a urologist to check that your little flute still plays the right tune, and while you're at it, get an ultrasound of your prostate and kidneys.
If you have hang-ups about seeing doctors like a urologist or a proctologist, try switching off those hang-ups in your head and think of it as taking your car to the mechanic. Everything has to work properly.
Personally, when I go to the doctor, I think of myself as a piece of meat and switch off all shame. I can even stand there naked.
I remember my visit to the urologist as the most professional doctor's visit I've ever had. I can recommend the guy.
Teeth
Other things I do often are dentist visits and professional cleanings. For these, I'd rather recommend finding a private dentist you trust than using your medical plan. They'll give you better advice and do a better job with better-quality materials.
After thirty, I decided I was financially ready and set out to straighten my teeth. I'd already worn removable braces as a teenager, but this time I had fixed ones put on, top and bottom, for over two years. Orthodontics is an expensive affair, and constantly picking food out is a pain in the ass, but a nice smile is worth it.
Back
If you sit in front of a computer, sooner or later your back will start talking to you. Then you're in for a visit to an orthopedist and a spine X-ray.
I had a car accident, so I've already been through that, and I get by with a standing desk, a decent office chair and a stool for working half-sitting. Links below.
Think about regular movement and mobility training. Yoga will do the job perfectly.
Vaccinations
Vaccinations are part of prevention too. Because of long-distance travel, I'm vaccinated against a ton of stuff.
Before some tests I also had to get tested for the hepatitis B antigen to see whether my childhood vaccine still works.
Before you go to Asia, don't go by nonsense from the internet; get every vaccine that's recommended. It'll set you back a few thousand złoty (around $1,000), but that beats viral hepatitis or something that could kill you.
Since 2006 there's been a vaccine against HPV, which can protect you from, among other things, the common cervical cancer and many other diseases (in men too).
The vaccine is most recommended for teenagers and people who aren't yet sexually active. For other age groups, you should get tested for the virus before getting vaccinated, otherwise the vaccine won't make sense.
Stay healthy!