Last week we began our discussion of the Ignite Book Club selection, Women’s Bodies, Women's Wisdom by Dr. Christiane Northrup. Specifically, we looked at Dr. Northrup’s discussion of inner guidance – the messages our body sends us about what it needs or doesn’t need.
As Dr. Northrup notes, learning to appreciate the signals from your body is one way to keep tabs on your health and well being. In her words, “If you don’t heed the message the first time, you get hit with a bigger hammer the next time.” In this vein, I wanted to take the opportunity in this week’s blog to talk about another important – and also underutilized – way to keep tabs on our health: preventive care. Preventive care accomplishes two critical goals:
· First, it helps spot small problems before they become big ones. Regular screens for everything from high blood pressure to breast cancer help you and your doctor pinpoint and control potential health issues as early as possible.
· Second, preventive care can help you avoid certain diseases, by keeping you up-to-date on immunizations.
As an OB/GYN, I can say that keeping up with these services can have a profound effect on the length and the quality of your life – yet many women are not following the recommendations of medical experts and keeping up with these services.
Fortunately, if you’re enrolled in the Lumenos plan, it’s easy to find out what you need and when you need it, using the Preventive Care Guidelines on our online health site. (To get there, log in to www.lumenos.com, go to My Health and click on Preventive Care Guidelines.) For example, if you’re a woman over 18, these recommendations include: Pap tests (every 3 years); mammography (every year if you’re over 40); diabetes screens if you’re in a high-risk group; and osteoporosis (for women over 65). You’ll also find the recommended immunization schedule.
Next week, I’ll return to Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom, and we’ll discuss the topic of fertility – page 393 of the book. Before then, if you have questions about prevention, fertility or any other aspect of the book we’ve discussed, you can respond to this blog.
Dr.Ray
