Mens health - the NCT for men -

R

readysteadygo

Registered User
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39
I've heard about the NCT promotion for men, i.e. male health check, and decided to get it done. So along I went to my GP and asked for a this checkup (as instructed by the promotion)- he just stared at me blankly and asked what I wanted checked. Not being a medical person I just mentioned something about blood test, general check, cancer check.
Anyway, he just took a blood sample, blook presure check, listened to my heart - said I was grand and charged me 50 euro.
Now, maybe I am missing the message here but should GP's not have a standard checkup checklist? I am not a medical person and I cannot afford to spend 1000euro for a checkup in the Mater Private or some other private hospital. I've check with friends who have also gone and asked for this checkup - the majority have had to have the same experience as me with their GP.
Has anyone had a similar experience?
 
billygruff said:
I've heard about the NCT promotion for men, i.e. male health check
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Where did you hear about it? For what it's worth (possibly nothing) I never heard anything about this myself.
Anyway, he just took a blood sample, blook presure check, listened to my heart - said I was grand and charged me 50 euro.
Now, maybe I am missing the message here but should GP's not have a standard checkup checklist?
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In the absence of any specific symptoms, problems or (e.g. lifestyle or hereditary) risk factors that sounds like a pretty thorough check to me.
 
Would it be this?

[broken link removed]

Had it done a couple of years ago. Expensive, but nowhere near E1,000. Ring them up for a price.

Typically for preventive medicine, waste of money if there is nothing wrong, but if there is......


Murt
 
There's a big, childish, cartoon-filled brochure for it sitting in lots of GPs' surgeries at the moment, and they were lying around cluttering up the coffee-making area in the smokers' section in work all last week...
 
am I alone (probably not) in thinking you have to tell your doctor what's wrong with you? and when you do he confirms it, writes a prescription and away you go. Thank God I dont need to go near doctors very often, last time was in 2002 and that was pretty obvious ( in more ways than one) - hernia repair required. aside from making an appointment with the consultant and later removing the stitches he never for one minute took blood pressure etc. yet we are all informed that over 50 we should get certain check-ups done if not regularly at least now and again. I suppose he would have liked another visit for before actually doing any such checkup.
 
cuchulainn said:
am I alone (probably not) in thinking you have to tell your doctor what's wrong with you? and when you do he confirms it, writes a prescription and away you go.
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Not my experience. I explain my symptoms to my GP and he makes a diagnosis based on the symptoms and, if necessary, further examination/investigation. And he doesn't always prescribe anything. Seems reasonable to me. Most recently I had a problem with severe inflammation of the elbow. He reckoned that it was olecranon bursitis (due to work related RSI) and did prescribe an anti-inflammatory but also did a physical examination and blood tests to rule out some other possibilities (rheumatism, gout etc.).
 
Chloesterol and prostate check should be in there somewhere surely?
 
Hello All

I had a full medical done two months ago at a clinic in town. It was €150 for the full check up over two consultations. This included ECG, blood tests, blood pressure, cholesterol (spelling) check, prostate check, BMI and general fitness / well being check.

I was extremely pleased with the thoroughness of the procedure and would highly recommend it. I asked the doctor whether I should have the same check every year. He said that it was not necessary for me at the moment, and that a two to three year gap between checks would be sufficient.

PM me if you would like further details.

SM
 
ACA said:
Chloesterol and prostate check should be in there somewhere surely?
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You mean in my examination? Well, for what it's worth, the blood test included an indicative (no fasting beforehand so not precise) cholestrol check. I guess he didn't check the prostate because (a) I may not fall into the risk category at this stage and (b) it wasn't necessary to check my prostate in order to get to the bottom (no pun intended) if my elbow problem.
 

You are not set-up to receive PMs, SM. Could you PM me with the name of the clinic? The last such check I had cost over E600!

Many Thanks.
 
I think the Male Health NCT referred to above may have something to do with the Irish Cancer Society's annual [broken link removed].

This campaign takes place each year around 6 November and aims to highlight information around [broken link removed] The section on [broken link removed].
 
How do you know he didnt have a check done on the blood for your PSA (prostate). a friend of mine went to the nurse in his local GPs to have a cholestrol check done and she asked him if he wanted any other tests done on the blood like prostate and as it happens he has prostate cancer. Very early stages - but had the nurse not ask it would have being some time before he would have ever thought of having a prostate test done.
He has had his treatment and his fine T.G.
 
1 point re prostate checks.A well known blood test is the PSA(prostate specific antigen),initally poularised by Arnold Palmer in the US.
It is quite misleading to "rely" on the PSA result.Far more important are clinical symptoms eg getting up at night to go to the toilet etc & arectal exam where the doctor sticks his/her finger into your back passage to see how hard the prostate feels.
PSA's usefulness is in monitoring response to treatment.PSA has a relatively low sensitivity & specificity,so can be quite misleading.
 

I know there are questions re: PSA blood test. The man I posted about in my post had no symptoms what so ever but he still had prostrate cancer. He is finished his treatment and still never had any of the symptoms you refer to. So again my point is if he hadn't the PSA done he could have gone for another 12 months before he would have got the symptons you talk about.
 
the problem as a man WE thinks we are immortal and doesn't want TO see a doctor unless something serious happened... obviously a macho attitude.

aged 40 onwards a chekc up (NCT) should only do us good
 
Clubman - When is the pm function going to be up and running again?
I'd be interested in getting the name of the clinic from Square Mile as well.
 
I thought that it was working for Frequent Posters? I got a few PMs today but maybe that's because I'm a moderator/administrator?

Update: ah - I think the PM system works right now where both sender and receiver are Frequent Posters. Since Square Mile is not I presume that this is the problem?
 
Square Mile said:
Hello All

I had a full medical done two months ago at a clinic in town.

PM me if you would like further details.

SM
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Hi SM,

Arising from some problems with spam PM's the facility to send and recieve PM's is restricted to frequent posters. Perhaps you could post the details on the open fourm? If you have an interest in the clinic be sure to declare it.

Thanks,
aj
 
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