GP answers people’s six most common questions about their health – Lifestyle

Let’s be honest, most of us are guilty of typing something like at least one of the following into our search bar: “Symptoms of…”, “Why do I feel like this after…” and “Is it normal to feel…”

And then we often go and one up that and convince ourselves we need to go straight to the doctors (or the hospital if we’re really freaked out).

But then once we finally get through the phone queues and manage to see our GP, we have even more questions. This might range from interrogating them over our latest symptoms and if the latest TikTok trends work to if we can get Ozempic on prescription or what we should be doing in the gym.

So, as questions spiral around your head, a GP has answered the six most common ones people have about their health to save you an unnecessary trip.

I swear my back is 50 years older than the rest of my body (Getty Stock)

I swear my back is 50 years older than the rest of my body (Getty Stock)

What can I do about my back pain?

Often feeling like it’s came on randomly, back pain can be an absolute nightmare when it hits.

And Dr Oscar Duke wrote for The Telegraph that it’s one of the things people ask him about it the most as it is also a pain ‘for society as a whole’.

“Estimates vary, but the cost of treating back pain and the indirect costs associated with work absence, run into many billions of pounds of UK GDP each year,” he explained.

Our ‘modern lifestyles’ don’t help with it as we’re often sat at either our desks or on a sofa. So, if the pain gets worse when sitting or lying down, ‘walking, moving and back pain exercises will settle things for most’ but can take time.

And if you have any of the following red flags from your back pain, you should get an urgent medical review: “Weakness, numbness, unintentional weight loss and problems controlling your bladder or bowels.”

Is it chickenpox?

He says rashes can appear for a number of reasons (Getty Stock)

He says rashes can appear for a number of reasons (Getty Stock)

Dr Duke says childhood rashes ‘bring fear’ thanks to the publicity around severe infections like ‘bacterial meningitis’.

“Have you pressed a glass onto it to see if it disappears? A rash that remains – or doesn’t blanch – needs urgent attention,” he wrote.

But he added that the ‘most important’ question with this is: “How is the child?”

The GP explained that many simple viral illnesses bring out rashes in kids and can be safely managed at home with medical advice.

“But is it chickenpox? Characteristic fluid-filled itchy blisters? Surely it should be easy,” he added. “Can I finally answer with certainty and be the doctor that the world around me appears to need? Sometimes.”

What do blood pressure readings even mean?

I mean, surely most of us have wondered this one. Yeah, cool, the doctor says those numbers are great but we have no idea what they actually mean.

Dr Duke says ‘knowing your blood pressure is one of the single best things you can do to monitor your health’.

So, when we’re standing up, it takes considerable pressure to pump blood up to the likes of our brain. He broke it down: “As the heart muscle squeezes, the highest pressure is created – known as the systolic blood pressure – and when the heart relaxes, a lower pressure – diastolic – is recorded.”

Having a total drop in pressure can be pretty bad but so can extremely high pressures.

“Modestly elevated pressures, left unattended over time, wear away at the walls of our blood vessels, roughening the inner surface lining of the pipes and allowing fats such as cholesterol to deposit, fur up, and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack and stroke,” he added.

Why is my cough still hanging around?

Pesky coughs can often last for weeks. (Getty Stock)

Pesky coughs can often last for weeks. (Getty Stock)

A pesky cough that just won’t shake off can be irritating as f**k. And the more you look into it on the internet, the more freaked out you can get.

But Dr Duke says those rare causes are ‘never far from your doctor’s mind either’.

“The skill, the chase, and the ultimate satisfaction lies in balancing the patient’s clinical history on the scales of medically trained probability,” he wrote.

The GP says that a ‘viral illness that will eventually self-resolve’ outruns most causers of a lingering cough, adding that many coughs will drag out for ‘three or four weeks of misery’ due to a virus as he encouraged ‘self-care while it burns out’.

If trying out honey or over-the-counter cough remedies as well as allowing time to tick by doesn’t do anything to shake the cough off, then ‘further investigation is required’.

Surely I can’t need a statin?

The GP says suggesting these cholesterol-lowering drugs often seems to p**s his patients off. Dr Duke added that this seems to be because of potential side effects like ‘muscle pain and weakness’.

However, he pointed out that a study showed that over 90 percent of muscle pain ‘blamed on statins had nothing to do with the statin at all’.

He said there are great benefits of statins in ‘reducing the rate of cardiovascular diseases’.

“Not only do these drugs reduce the artery-clogging bad cholesterol, known as LDL, but they are also thought to have a separate anti-inflammatory effect on the blood vessels themselves,” Dr Duke explained as he encouraged patients to ‘rethink the grimace’ they make over the thought of a statin.

Do I need to go for screening?

People will often put screenings off out of fear. (Getty Stock)

People will often put screenings off out of fear. (Getty Stock)

Dr Duke expressed concern for the amount of women who are not up to date with their cervical cancer screening while it’s found that they offer ‘high yield – cost effective – early detection’.

“For many, the intention is there,” he added. “So often though, its added to the to-do list, well below arranging MOTs and switching electricity suppliers.”

But the GP points out that early cancer detection ‘really can save lives’.

And while people may be fearful of going for a screening, Dr Duke said: “My greatest fear is you forgetting.”

Source link

Visited 1 times, 1 visit(s) today

Related Article

Ditch The Additives: Here Are 7 Easy Ways To Prevent Common Lifestyle Diseases

Take a moment to think about how your day begins. Maybe it’s with an instant coffee, a slice of white bread, or a ready-to-eat breakfast bar. Most of us are racing against time, grabbing what’s quick and easy. However, those little conveniences come with a hidden cost. Additives, ultra-processed ingredients, and a sedentary routine may

Brewed for longevity: drinking coffee linked with healthy aging in women

image:  Dr. Sara Mahdavi, BSc, HBSc, RD, MSc, PhD, was a post-doctoral fellow at T.H. Chan Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University while conducting research on nutrition, genetics and women’s heath as a part of her research fellowship training at Harvard University. She is currently an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto, Faculty

A blood-based epigenetic clock for intrinsic capacity predicts mortality and is associated with clinical, immunological and lifestyle factors

IC declines with age Using clinical assessment tools, we developed an IC score that represents combined age-related decline in five domains: cognition; locomotion; sensory (vision and hearing); psychological; and vitality (Methods) (Fig. 1a). IC scores ranged from 0 to 1, with 1 indicating the best possible health outcome and 0 representing the worst. We examined

Want to stay healthy when you fly?

Whether your vacation plans involve a romantic getaway to a faraway locale or just a summer visit with the grandkids, odds are an airplane will be involved. Image for illustration purposes Mega Doctor News – Advertisement – By Michael Merschel, American Heart Association News Whether your vacation plans involve a romantic getaway to a faraway

What It Is, Why People Love It, and What You Should Know

A creamy cup of Bulletproof Coffee — a blend of brewed coffee, grass-fed butter, and MCT oil, popularized for its claimed energy-boosting and fat-burning benefits. (Image: AI Generated Representative Image) Bulletproof Coffee is a high-calorie coffee drink made by blending brewed coffee

Top Ten Places To Travel For Global Race Thrills

Image Credit: f1/Instagram Beyond pole positions and podiums, the F1 racetracks also journey through global cities and cultures, gracing precisely 21 countries through 24 races with the 2025 season. Slotted from March 14 to December 7, 2025, the Formula 1 weekends pack the perfect excuse to cash in those CLs and jet set to a

Healthy Lifestyle Tips: Not just genes: After 17 years of study, scientist discovers just 1 lifestyle change that could easily add 10 healthy years to life |

Image credit: (Sandy Huffaker/for The Washington Post) Seventeen years ago, Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and founder of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, set out on a personal and scientific mission. At the age of 53, he wasn’t just interested in treating disease anymore. Instead, he wanted to understand why some people seem to age

0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x