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5 Important Medical Appointments to Make in Your 20’s
They say prevention is better than a cure when it comes to health. One of the best ways to prevent health related concerns is to do an annual or frequent medical examination to determine if there’s risk or concern.
Below are 5 important appointments to schedule starting in your 20’s. Each decade after will require a few additional examinations but for now, let’s focus on young 20 year olds.
1. Primary care physician — Family or Internal Medicine
You should be seeing your primary care physician at least once a year or at a minimum every other year. Checkup should include reading and taking a blood test to screen for problems including gastritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and colon cancer. You should also get a fasting blood sugar test every two years or so to screen for diabetes. If there are known diseases that are genetic, be sure to bring those up to your physician to determine if there are other tests or preventative care to take!
2. Gynecologist: Once a year. Examinations include pap smear, pelvic exam, clinical breast exam. If you are sexually active, consider examining for sexually transmitted diseases. If you have more than one sexual partner, you should have a Pap smear and STD tests every six months.
