Men’s preventive health knowledge

Avoid health risks that are within your control, do targeted physical examinations based on your age, and don’t carry on if you feel uncomfortable.

I'm not making this up. I just met a 32-year-old product manager of an Internet company in the clinic last week. The wolfberry, maca, and American ginseng soaked in a thermos cup were almost more than the water. He also asked a friend to bring more than a thousand bottles of men's multivitamins from abroad. When the annual physical examination report came out, the uric acid was 480, the fatty liver was mild, and the blood lipids were also at the red line. I squatted outside the clinic for a long time with the report, wondering why I was taking supplements every day and still had problems?

Let’s start with the controllable risks that are most easily ignored by everyone. Smoking and drinking definitely rank first. I have come into contact with many 40-year-old smokers who have been smoking for 20 years. Climbing to the third floor makes them gasp like bellows. Their lung function test results are worse than those of a 70-year-old non-smoker. As for drinking, there is actually still controversy in academic circles: one group of studies believes that drinking a small amount of red wine may have a weak positive effect on cardiovascular disease, but the other group of evidence-based medicine evidence is more direct - as long as alcohol is consumed, it will increase the risk of liver cancer, gastric cancer and other cancers. Ordinary people don't have to worry about who to listen to. Here is the most practical advice: Don't drink if you can. If you really can't avoid socializing, don't consume more than 1 tael of 50% liquor a week. Don't use "you can't do it at work" as an excuse. When you are lying on the hospital bed with cirrhosis of the liver, no one can suffer for you.

There is another problem that young people today cannot escape: sitting for long periods of time. I sit in the office for 8 hours, then go home from get off work and lie down on the sofa for another three or four hours. I have received two patients in their 20s in the past two months. One is a programmer who sits in the office every day coding. His varicocele has affected the quality of his sperm, and he has been trying to get pregnant for almost a year. ； The other one is a designer. The lumbar protrusion compresses the nerve and the pain is so painful that he can't even put on his socks. It's all caused by sitting out. You don’t have to listen to other people tricking you into getting a fitness card that costs tens of thousands. I have seen too many people who apply for a fitness card and only go there less than three times a year. If they really don’t have time to exercise, they stand up every 40 minutes to get a glass of water, walk in the corridor for two minutes, take one less bus stop to walk home after work, play basketball with friends for half an hour two or three times a week, or even stand at home and watch TV for half an hour while shaking their arms and kicking their legs. It is better than being paralyzed every day. There is no standard answer. What suits you is the best.

Apart from avoiding pitfalls, the most cost-effective health care is actually regular targeted screening. Too many men don’t take this seriously. Last year, there was a 45-year-old man from a state-owned enterprise. His work unit organized a free physical examination. He didn’t want to go, but his wife forced him to go. It was found that the PSA (prostate-specific antigen, a specific screening indicator for prostate cancer) was high. A further puncture showed that he had early-stage prostate cancer. After minimally invasive surgery, he is now recovering like a normal person. There is a man in his department who is about the same age as him. He feels that he is in great health. He has not attended a physical examination for three consecutive years. He only came for a blood test this year. He has advanced prostate cancer and has missed the best time for treatment.

There is no need to do all the tests, random tests are a waste of money: young men in their 20s should not go crazy and have their liver function and uric acid checked every year. Those who have had high-risk sexual behaviors should also be screened for sexually transmitted diseases. Don’t be embarrassed. If there is a real problem, early treatment is better than anything else.； After the age of 30, there is a lot of work pressure and a lot of social activities. Add blood lipids, blood pressure, and abdominal B-ultrasound to check the status of fatty liver. ； People over the age of 40 must have their PSA checked every year and have a gastrointestinal endoscopy every two to three years. Don’t be too troublesome. The cure rate for early-stage gastric cancer and prostate cancer is over 90%. It’s often too late if you wait until you have symptoms to check again. Oh, by the way, the "prostate care packages" that are so popular on the market include massage and fumigation. The consensus among regular urologists is that if you don't have symptoms such as frequent urination, urgent urination, and distension of the lower abdomen, there is no need to mess around. Improper massage may damage the prostate. If you really feel uncomfortable, go directly to a regular tertiary hospital. Don't go to a private men's hospital to pay the IQ tax.

One final reminder: Don’t bear any discomfort. I have seen too many men. When their stomach hurts, they say, "You can just carry it after eating too much." When their back hurts, they say, "You can rest for two days if you are tired." Of course, it doesn’t mean that you should run to the hospital if you feel a little uncomfortable. Nowadays, many people think that “the medicine is three parts poisonous” and they will not take the medicine if they can. This idea is also correct. A common cold will be cured in a week. If the fever persists for more than 3 days, and you still cough up yellow phlegm and have chest pain, then it will lead to pneumonia. Don’t use ignorance as a strong factor.

I have been doing urology clinics for almost 10 years. I have seen a lot of kidney-tonifying drugs that damaged the liver and kidneys, and I have also seen early-stage tumors turn into advanced stages. To be honest, men’s health care is really not as mysterious as it is advertised on the Internet, and you don’t have to spend so much money. Just remember not to make up your body, don’t bother with physical examinations, and don’t ignore minor ailments. It is more effective than any sky-high-priced health care package. Oh, by the way, don’t believe the nonsense that “men must replenish their kidneys”. “Kidney deficiency” in Chinese medicine is not the same thing as the kidneys in Western medicine. If you really want to treat it, you have to find a regular Chinese medicine doctor to identify the syndrome. Don’t just buy Liuwei Dihuang Pills and Jingui Shenqi Pills and eat them blindly. If you don’t eat the right medicine, the more you supplement, the worse it will be.