Yes, without fail, you should go to your doctor for an annual exam, as well as a regular mammogram, but there are some health tests you can do on your own to gain insight into your body’s well-being. Check out these simple procedures:
Examine Your Nails
Yellowish, brown, or black stripes under your nails are a sign of cell damage, possibly from melanoma. With early detection and treatment, about 95 percent of cases are curable. If you see stripes, make an appointment with your dermatologist -- now.
If you’ve been feeling tired lately and notice long horizontal bands of white discoloration on your nail's surface, it could mean your kidneys aren’t properly filtering protein from your urine. Visit your doctor and ask for a urine test.
Look Under Your Armpits
If you see a patch of rough, dark skin it probably means there’s excess insulin in your bloodstream, causing your skin cells to multiply abnormally fast and leading to a buildup of tissue and melanin. A simple blood test can determine whether that’s what’s happening. This condition is often not diagnosed.
Check Out Your Eyelids, Knees And Elbows
Are there small, soft lumps that look white or waxy? They could be deposits of cholesterol -- and by the time they appear, your cholesterol levels are probably sky high. This is a serious factor for heart disease. The good news? Reducing your numbers by just 10 percent cuts that risk by as much as a third. See your doctor for a cholesterol check, and ask about lifestyle changes or prescription drugs that can get your levels down.
Notice If Your Hair Is Thinning
As if you could ignore it! Excessive hair loss is a common indicator of a thyroid disorder that affects about 10 percent of American women. When your thyroid is out of order, it can disrupt the balance of male and female sex hormones. The result is thinning and coarser, more brittle hair. Your regular doctor or an endocrinologist, who specializes in these issues, can measure the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone with a blood test. There are medications to help regulate it.
Give Your Tongue A Once-Over
If you see a white, yellow, or orange coating you could be suffering with acid reflux. This condition occurs when this valve between the stomach and the esophagus opens spontaneously and the contents of your stomach heads for your throat, leaving your tongue coated in digestive acids. Most reflux can be treated with OTC antacids or simply by avoiding acidic and spicy foods. If that doesn’t work, speak with your physician about prescription medications.
Check Out Undereye Circles
If you’re not losing any sleep, and those dark circles won’t go away, you might blame allergies. If that’s the case, here’s what’s happened: An allergen hits your body, which in response releases histamine; this chemical makes blood vessels swell with blood and other fluids. The result? Dark patches show up where the skin is thinnest. A skin test can determine which allergen is causing your symptoms. See your dermatologist.
Robin Westen is ThirdAge’s medical reporter. Check for her daily updates.
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