Do You Only Go To The Doctor When You Are Sick?

Are you one of those people who only goes to the doctor when you are sick? If you are one of those people, you are doing yourself a disservice. Everyone should see their healthcare provider at least once a year. The rebuttal I often hear is, “But I’m fine! I only go to the doctor when I’m sick.” The problem with this argument is waiting until you are sick allows diseases and conditions to worsen over time while wreaking havoc on your body. Waiting until you are sick to go see your healthcare provider is a reactive approach to healthcare rather than a proactive approach. I see my healthcare provider at least once a year, if not, twice a year. We should all see our primary healthcare provider, or HCP, at least once a year. A primary healthcare provider, or HCP, is usually a doctor or nurse practitioner who is responsible for meeting our basic healthcare needs.

Even if you are feeling well or think you’re healthy, there are diseases and conditions that you could have that will worsen over time. Many of these diseases or conditions may have vague or minimal symptoms that you may dismiss or attribute to external factors such as work. For example, you may attribute ‘feeling tired all the time’ to long stressful hours at work. While work may be a factor in feeling tired, fatigue can also be a symptom of a serious underlying condition or disease. Seeing your healthcare provider regularly can help diagnose and treat these conditions before they worsen and cause other health issues. High blood pressure or hypertension is a great example of a condition that generally has no symptoms. It is often called the ‘silent killer’. This means, you could have high blood pressure and not even know it. Left untreated, high blood pressure will worsen over time and may lead to other health issues such as heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. Seeing your healthcare provider regularly can help diagnose and treat high blood pressure before it leads to these other health issues.

If you have health insurance through your employer, you or your employer are paying for your healthcare already. So, you might as well take advantage of this money that is being spent on your behalf. Yes, you will probably have to pay a co-pay, but the co-pay is usually the smaller portion that you pay to cover the expense of the visit while the insurance company pays the higher portion of the visit. As a former case manager working for a health insurance company, I know that insurance companies want you to see your HCP. Seeing your HCP regularly can help save money for both the insurance company and for the individual. Remember the old saying, “You have to spend money to make money”? When it comes to healthcare, I could argue, “You have to spend money to save money”. Spending a little bit of money now for appointments, lab work, and medications may help save you from spending even more money in the future. Remember what I said about high blood pressure causing other health issues such as heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure? Spending money now for healthcare may save you even more money later that you may have to spend on surgery, rehab therapy, assistive devices, or dialysis treatments.

If you do not have health insurance, there may be free or low-cost services available to help you. Start with an internet search or phone call to your local or regional health department. If your local health department is not an option, there may be other free or low-cost healthcare organizations that may be available to help you. Remote Area Medical, for example, is an organization that hosts free healthcare clinics across the country throughout the year. I was pleasantly surprised when I performed an internet search for free healthcare clinics in my region. I discovered a faith-based clinic as well as a student-led clinic at one of our local universities. If you cannot locate a free or low-cost service in your city, be sure to expand the search to include other nearby cities and counties.

I have a love-hate relationship with the business side of healthcare. Love it or hate it, it is the system we have to work with. I have a business argument for seeing your HCP regularly. Like any business, if a healthcare clinic is not patronized, it is not generating money to pay for staff or other expenses. If the healthcare clinic cannot pay for expenses, the clinic is at risk of closure. If you are one of those people who only goes to the doctor when you are sick, I encourage you think twice about this. Patronizing your HCP for an annual wellness check helps the clinic generate income so that they are able to remain open for those times when you need to see them because you are sick. One of our rural clinics recently lost it’s HCP. There is currently no replacement HCP. This has forced some of us to drive many miles away into the city for our healthcare. Our local clinic never really seemed to be all that busy to me. While there may be other factors in this situation, I have to wonder if a lack of healthcare consumers was one of those factors. My point is, patronizing your healthcare provider helps them stay in business. Make a point to see them at least once a year. By doing so, you will be doing your part to make sure they stay in business for those other times you need to see them when you are sick.

In closing, I have a helpful hint for you. You know those free blood pressure stations that you see at your local pharmacies? Take advantage of those! They are free and easy to use. Record your blood pressure and pulse on a piece of paper or a virtual calendar. Share the findings with your HCP. Providing several blood pressure and pulse readings taken over several weeks or months may be helpful for your HCP in diagnosing and treating conditions such as high blood pressure and heart arrhythmias.

Thanks for reading!

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Clifton Joullian, B.S.N., R.N.

The Nurse Farmer