Improve Your Life Having a Health Check up

Do you remember when was the last time you went for a health check up? Do you know that having a yearly check up can spot many killer diseases in time to be treated and cured? Do you know that you do not even need to go to the doctor to have a check up? In the comfort of your own home you can check yourself for some serious diseases in only a couple of minutes.

Some of the tests that can save your life and you can even do by yourself at home are:

Breast awareness and screening is the key to early detection of breast cancer. All you need to do is to look for any breast changes. Symptoms to look for are changes in the size, shape or feel of your breasts; a new lump or thickening in one breast or armpit and any puckering, dimpling or redness of the skin. See your doctor if you have any concerns.

This is an incredible life saver. I know a few people, some of them close friends, who have had breast cancer spotted and treated just on time. Thankfully, their cancer has gone.

The national health service in the UK screens of woman aged 50 to 70 every three years. The test consists of a mammogram. In France women are offered the test by the national health service from the age of 35.

Early treatment for testicular cancer is very successful so that is why men should check their testicles for any changes. The highest at risk age group is between 18-32 years old. A simple regular self-examination is now known to help detect the early signs and reduce the amount of treatment needed. Not sure what you are looking for? You can download a Testicular Cancer awareness fact sheet from: www.orchid-cancer.org.uk

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that you should be tested if you are Overweight and over age 45

Otherwise, some of the early signs of diabetes are:

• Increased thirst • Going to the loo (for a wee) all the time – especially at night • Extreme tiredness • Weight loss • Blurred vision • Genital itching or regular episodes of thrush • Slow healing of wounds

Here : You can take a two minute free test to find out whether you are at risk of being diabetic. You will need to measure your waist and enter your height and weight. As a bonus it will also calculate your BMI (body mass index).

An advantage of testing yourself at home is that with self-testing you avoid the risk of having a "diabetes" diagnosis written into your medical records which might make it impossible for you to buy health or life insurance.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States.  According to the Skin cancer Foundation, one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime.

Did you know that skin cancer is 100% treatable if detected early?  The survival rate for patients whose melanoma is detected early, before the tumour has penetrated the epidermis, is about 99 percent.  This is why it is so important to check on the change in the appearance of moles as that can be an early indicator that there is something wrong.  Other common symptoms are skin that does not heal, ulcers in the skin and skin discoloration.  If in any doubt, consult your doctor; diagnosis is only confirmed with a skin biopsy.

This is one of the few tests that you cannot do by yourself but you will need to visit a specialist. In the UK all women between 20 and 50 years of age are eligible for NHS cervical screening test every three years. After the age of 65, women are eligible every 5 years. Remember that early detection and treatment can prevent 75 per cent of cancers developing.

I have myself been treated with laser surgery after a regular pelvic exam and Pap testing detected cancerous changes in my cervix. It has been more than 10 years now that my smear tests come out clear. Cervical cancer cells can quickly spread. They can travel through lymph vessels to nearby lymph nodes and through the blood vessels to the lungs, liver, or bones. Thus the importance of early detection.