Prof. Dr. Roswitha Budge. — Photo courtesy of Hanoi French Hospital

By Prof. Dr. Roswitha Budge*

Regular health check-ups will give you the peace of mind to an overall healthy lifestyle and to either maintain or achieve good health. Prof. Dr. Roswitha Budge from Hanoi French Hospital offers answers to common questions about regular health check-ups.

Do you like going to the doctor?

Almost no one does, and I am no exception, but it is something that everyone should do on a regular basis. You may be asking why you should, especially if you are not sick and feel perfectly fine. Well, the answer is even if you lead a healthy lifestyle and feel your body is in top condition, regular health check-ups are extremely important.

Why are regular health check-ups important?

Annual check-ups can detect serious conditions in their very early stages, even before you start showing any symptoms. The reason why they are so important is that most conditions can be reversed and cured at this stage, before they become a serious health threat. You may not realise if you have, for example, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, or high levels of blood lipids (cholesterol), as they rarely cause any symptoms in the early stages. They can, however, damage your arteries and other organs if left untreated. Once there are symptoms, the damage is usually already done. The same applies for some types of cancer. You may feel healthy and fit but you could still develop them. Prevention is always the best cure and definitely less burdensome and cheaper than treating a disease.

How can they benefit your health?

Visit your doctor or schedule a health check-up regularly, at least once a year. They can help determine your overall health and whether there are any risks you need to take care of. Health check-ups can either detect conditions early or give you the peace of mind that everything is fine. When you have regular health check-ups, you are taking your health in your own hands.

There are a number of tests you should do. These include a full blood count, blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol tests. You should also undergo Hepatitis screening, a mammogram or breast ultrasound, a resting ECG, and some cancer screenings for men and women, among others.

Diabetes, for example, is very common and can cause many health issues if not detected in time. It develops gradually. At first, sugar and insulin levels are elevated. There are no symptoms, but your organs, your blood vessels, your immune system, and other organs may already be damaged. Early diagnosis of pre-diabetes and silent diabetes can help one reverse the condition through simple lifestyle changes or through efficient treatment, without causing problems later on.

This also applies to high blood pressure. You may not feel it all but it can already cause certain changes to your heart and arteries. Detect and treat it early and you will avoid many of its complications later on.

In Việt Nam, there is a high prevalence of bad stomach bacteria (H. pylori), which can cause inflammation (gastritis) and even stomach cancer if left untreated. A simple Urea Breath test that can detect the presence of these bacteria and allow for timely treatment is now available.

Another common thing in Việt Nam is liver cancer. The country has a high incidence of people living with Hepatitis B and C. A health-check can detect whether you have the disease and how active it is. New and very efficient medication is now available to keep these diseases controlled and regular check-ups can help you manage them and avoid serious complications such as liver cancer.

Simple tests, when done regularly, can benefit your health immensely, which is why you need to be aware of how important regular testing is.

Why should prevention be your highest priority?

Apart from the benefit of detecting the symptoms of a potential disease in time, prevention also avoids the stress and burden you and your loved ones would have to endure if a disease has already become serious. It is also equally important to be reassured that everything is fine and that you are actually fit to do certain activities. If you take control of your health, it will make you feel more energetic and more productive every day.

But not only is prevention the best cure, it is also far less expensive to do a regular check-up than to undergo costly treatment.

What can you do to stay healthy?

I mentioned the health check-ups. Done regularly they will give you the peace of mind to life an overall healthy lifestyle and to either maintain or achieve good health.

One of our greatest assets in life is our health. Ask your doctor which health check-up is best suited for you and start taking care of your health now. — Hanoi French Hospital

* Prof. Dr. Roswitha Budge is an Austrian-trained specialist in Angiology & Internal Medicine with over 20 years of experience in the treatment and prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

The Hanoi French Hospital offers a wide array of health check-up packages and an expert team to recommend the package that is the most suitable for your needs.

If you have any questions or want to book an appointment with our doctors or book a health check-up package, please contact us at our phone number 84 – 24.3577.1100, or email us at contact@hfh.com.vn