Do you schedule regular appointments with your Austin, TX, family physicians, Drs. Paul Keinarth and Kelly Alberda of Margolin, Keinarth & Alberda, MD? Preventive healthcare visits help you protect and maintain your good health.
How preventive healthcare can help you
Chronic diseases and conditions, like diabetes and high blood pressure, can affect your health even if they don't cause symptoms at first. Thanks to preventive healthcare, health issues can be identified and treated promptly, helping you avoid serious problems or complications.
Your preventive care visit will include a physical examination, blood pressure screening, height, and weight checks, and heart and respiration measurements. Your Austin family doctor may also recommend blood or urine tests to check for high cholesterol, diabetes, and kidney, liver or blood issues.
Although you may see your Austin family doctor throughout the year if you're sick or injured, these visits don't take the place of preventive care visits. When you're sick or injured, the visit focuses primarily on your complaints.
Preventive care visits can help you:
- Reduce Your Risk of Developing Chronic Diseases and Conditions: If your doctor determines that you may be more likely to develop high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol or another condition, he can recommend changes that may lower your risk. Eating a healthy diet, exercising more, and losing weight are simple ways to reduce your risk of many chronic conditions.
- Manage Chronic Diseases and Conditions: Regular preventive care visits are a must if you have heart disease, high blood pressure, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), thyroid disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), and other chronic conditions. Keeping your condition under control may require periodic screenings and tests or changes to your medication.
During your preventive care visit, you'll have plenty of time to talk to the doctor about any changes in your physical or mental health. If you've been feeling depressed, stressed or anxious or have other mental health concerns, your doctor can discuss medications and lifestyle changes or make a referral to a mental health professional.
Preventive healthcare helps you stay healthy! Call your family physicians in Austin, TX, Drs. Paul Keinarth and Kelly Alberda of Margolin, Keinarth & Alberda, MD, at (512) 459-9889 to schedule your appointment.