5 Medical Investigations All Women Should Undergo

Minoti Dighe Gadre
HealthDekho Healthcare
4 min readFeb 8, 2019
Medical Blood Test

In today’s world, women not only take care of their family by doing the household chores, cooking, making time for their kids etc. but also work outside the house to make their own identities and careers and support the family financially as well. A woman is literally the pillar of a family.

They should set aside some time for themselves especially for health and fitness. Doing regular exercise, managing stress, and eating right helps in maintaining good health. Going for routine health check-ups which can identify probable health issues timely, is one of those healthy habits that will help keep women hale and hearty.

To avoid falling prey to various lifestyle diseases, you should take an initiative to encourage the women of the family to follow a healthy routine and ask them to do the following investigations.

You might need a doctor’s advice on when and how to get them conducted. A prescription will be needed for few of the following tests.

Pap smear

Cervical cancer is a grave cause of death among women. Pap smear test may help in early detection of the same. This test can be performed between the ages of 21 to 65 years. Experts suggest to have it done once every three to five years.
In the Pap smear, a swab is inserted in the vaginal canal to take cells from the cervix.

These cells are then examined in a laboratory for any changes that may lead to cervical cancer.

If you’re 30 or older or sexually active, you can do the test every five years in combination with a screen for HPV, which is a STD that can lead to cervical cancer.

2. Breast Cancer Examination

Breast cancer cases are on the rise globally. Deaths due to breast cancer have also increased to a great extent in the last decade. So, regular physical breast examination becomes obligatory.
Physical self-examination of breasts for cancer is the simplest way for early detection of cancer.
All what women need to do is to check for any physical changes in the skin on and near breasts, hardening of skin, check for dimpling of nipples or for any nipple discharge, lumps in breast or underarm areas, inflamed skin, tenderness etc.

Any change similar change as given above or different than normal change that you experience in the breasts should be reported to your doctor.

Mammogram is an advanced test performed for detecting breast cancer, but it is generally prescribed by a doctor. It involves x-ray scan of the breasts for cancer. Experts suggest it can be done once in two year after the age of 50 years. However it is always better to take your doctor’s advice regarding the same.

3. Cholesterol Testing/Lipid profile

Serum (blood) cholesterol is a good indicator for atherosclerosis i.e. blockages in blood vessels providing blood to your heart. These blockages lead to heart disease and heart attacks. Due to sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle and faulty food habits, blood cholesterol is a decent parameter to know your risk for heart disease.
A lipid profile (cholesterol screening) consist of HDL (Good) cholesterol, LDL (bad) cholesterol, Total Cholesterol (which is the sum of both types of cholesterol) and also, Triglyceride (which another type of fat in blood).

Your blood is collected and then an analysis is done on it in the laboratory and the count of these lipids are found out.

Any female who is at a higher risk of developing heart disease due to lifestyle or family history. If she is not at risk for cholesterol still it should be tested once every 3–5 years as a preventive step.

If a woman has a higher risk of heart disease (family history of heart disease, having high blood pressure, if she is an obese, if she is a diabetic, having unhealthy eating habits, sedentary lifestyle etc. then can get it done twice a year and keep monitoring the changes.)

4. Thyroid Screening

Blood thyroid screening gives an idea of how well are the thyroid hormones functioning. It gives the count of TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone), free T3 and free T4 hormones.

TSH is produced by the pituitary gland in the brain, plays a crucial role in regulating thyroid hormone production. Abnormal TSH and T3, T4 levels can lead to malfunctioning of the thyroid gland and cause a variety of disorders.

Hypothyroidism & Hyperthyroidism are the disorders common in women.
Signs and symptoms of these disorders are rapid weight gain or loss, lethargy, thin hair, excessive sweating, and difficulty in conceiving.
Blood is drawn from the vein and analysed in the laboratory and then the counts of TSH, T3 (tri-iodothyronine) and T4 (tetra-iodothyronine) are depicted.

5. Tests for Diabetes

Diabetes is the cause of organ damage, tissue damage if not diagnosed at the right time. Most common complications of diabetes are nerve damage, kidney problems and vision disorders. Also, is a grave cause of heart diseases and attacks…

The screening for diabetes includes fasting blood glucose test and HbA1c (glycosylated hemoglobin — an average of three months of blood glucose), which gives an idea if you are a diabetic or pre diabetic or not at risk of diabetes.

Sometimes the doctor may prescribe random blood glucose test or post (2 hours of) meal blood glucose or a glucose tolerance test as well.

For fasting blood glucose levels, minimum 8–10 hours of overnight fasting is required, while for HbA1c fasting is not required.

For all these tests, blood is drawn from the vein by a phlebotomist and then, similar to lipid profile and thyroid screening, the sample is studied in the lab and then the results are given out.

These were the five very important medical tests that women should undergo to keep a check on their health.

References
https://www.everydayhealth.com/womens-health/10-screenings-all-women-should-have.aspx

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