7 ms·
That's odd. I just looked at what I thought was a pretty standard piss and blood STI test results of my own, and it covered: - Syphilis - Hep B - Hep C - HI
by nly 2mo ago
That's odd. I just looked at what I thought was a pretty standard piss and blood STI test results of my own, and it covered:
- Syphilis
- Hep B
- Hep C
- HIV 1 and 2 and P24
- Chlamydia
- Gonorrhoea
- thex10 2mo agoI forgot to mention my experience was in the northeastern USA in the 2000s-2010s. I’m happy you got a better standard of care than I did!
- nly 2mo agoAh OK, this was in London
- Aurornis 2mo agoHep C screening at least once for adults >= 18 is recommended and considered standard of care in the United States. I checked my medical records and I have a negative Hep C result in an old checkup when I was younger, and another one from a new provider who insisted on a big panel of standard testing for new patients (despite me having no risk factors). It’s unfortunate that your early providers dropped the ball. I wonder if they assumed you had already been tested for some reason?
- nly 2mo agoCrazy how different healthcare is in different countries. In the UK once you've had your childhood vaccinations it's entirely possible you'd simply never see a doctor again in your life until you're ready for your prostate exam in older life. There are no regular checkups or preventative care on the NHS for mid life adults unless you're proactive
- basisword 2mo agoTo be fair, almost nobody is going from childhood vaccinations > late-middle age without seeing a doctor. And when you do go with an ailment general blood tests seem pretty standard these days at GP's along with standard vitals checks. They also do preventive care where necessary. Every woman is invited for cervical screening once they turn 25 and then every few years until they're in their 60's. Regular mammograms are also a thing after a certain age/depending on risk factors. Bowel cancer screening too. STI testing is free and, depending on where you live, done by post. Also depending on your definition of 'childhood' there are a few vaccines given when you're a teenager (HPV for example). And if you ever travel you'll be visiting the doctor for vaccines then too.
- SoftTalker 2mo agoI don't think I've been to a doctor in close to 40 years, except for treatment of a few acute injuries. I've had a few vaccine boosters, but I get those at a pharmacy.
- frereubu 2mo agoI presume you're not a woman, because there's cervical screening for women aged 25-64 every five years. Also depends on what you mean by "mid life", but there's breast screening offered to women aged 50-70 and bowel cancer screening offered to people from 50 to 74 every two years. There are real trade-offs with screening, and screening too much has harms as well as too little, although I'm not qualified to make a judgement on where that line sits relative to where it is in the UK.
- Tangurena2 2mo agoThe HPV vaccination eliminates most forms of cervical cancer. Australia reports a 95% drop in cervical cancer in the cohorts that got mandatory widespread HPV vaccinations. I didn't look into how that changed pap smears.
- amarant 2mo agoThis is the real reason women live longer than men. Doctors won't see me unless I'm dying, or at least tell them I am. And I am, if I understand things correctly, which I might not tbh, in a high risk group for prostate cancer, given that I was diagnosed with chronic prostatitis at 22. I've even asked for checkups but was denied. And where I live you can't really pay for health care (but you can pay to skip the line, which I guess is almost the same thing).
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- unethical_ban 2mo agoWhat country are you in? Not challenging, I'm gathering perspective. I am in the US with health insurance through my employer and I get blood tests every 6-12 months to check for abnormalities as well as a standard interview for how I'm feeling and whatnot. Also have a few prescriptions that require 3-month checkins.
- amarant 2mo agoSweden. Our system is pretty good at emergency care, but absolutely abysmal at preventive care, imo.
- gs17 2mo agoIn the US it's entirely possible to do that as well. I've never been forced to see a doctor outside of getting a form signed before grad school.
- 1234letshaveatw 2mo agoInteresting, my insurers, through my employers, have always required a annual physical
- alpinisme 2mo agoRequired in what way? Better coverage (or lower rates) if you do it? Or is it literally no coverage if you don’t?
- CoastalCoder 2mo agoMaybe they meant life insurers, not health insurers?
- deleted 2mo ago[deleted]
- _heimdall 2mo agoWell that's interesting. Mine always say it is covered, I've never had an insurer (in the US) say its required. I could see it for certain types of life insurance, maybe?
- cm2012 2mo agoUSA, I havnt had a physical in ten years. I would be shocked if someone asked for it in a professional setting.
- lotsofpulp 2mo agoI have never seen or heard of this requirement before. I don’t even see how it could be enforced. What would even be the point, the insurer (even if employer funded) is not allowed to deny or price coverage based on health risks of the insured.
- roryirvine 2mo agoThat's not quite true - there's a 5 yearly Health Check which is offered to those over 40 with no other known health issues (in England, but Scotland/Wales/NI have similar schemes). Local councils are responsible for arranging invitations for those not currently registered with GPs, so it ought to be more or less universal - though there are inevitably a few people who'll slip through the net. It's pretty basic, but the evidence suggests it's been reasonably effective at dealing with the "he didn't see a doctor for 40 years and then just dropped dead from a heart attack" stereotype. https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/nhs-health-check/ https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/nhs-health-check/
- Aurornis 2mo ago> In the UK once you've had your childhood vaccinations it's entirely possible you'd simply never see a doctor again in your life until you're ready for your prostate exam in older life. It's entirely possible to do this in the US, too, but it's not the default path. I know some people who think it's a point of pride to brag that they haven't been to a doctor in 20 years. I know other people who never miss their annual checkup and are frustrated that their doctors won't order every test they hear about from their podcasts. The US approach to healthcare is varied and confusing to outsiders, even if you remove all of the unreasonably complex insurance stuff from the equation. > There are no regular checkups or preventative care on the NHS for mid life adults unless you're proactive If you wanted to request an annual checkup, could you ask for one and get it without problem? Or would they require a specific reason to visit?
- ButlerianJihad 2mo agoThe last insurance carrier I had, through an ACA Marketplace plan, has an incentives program for members. If you go see the PCP for an annual checkup, you get about $50. If you "go paperless" 100%, you get another $50. There are about four incentives altogether, and the money is loaded on a Prepaid Visa card that is branded by the insurance carrier. The funds are not restricted, and you can spend them on anything where Visa is accepted. The cards are sometimes cycled out and replaced, but I do not know if the funds had an expiration date. There were no fees to hold the funds, and no fees to spend them.
- laurencerowe 2mo agoOne of my employers had that incentive but only for one year. I assume they wanted to demonstrate that as a population we were low risk but after testing us once there was no reason to do so again.
- SoftTalker 2mo agoI'm not a big proponent of restricting speech but "Ask your doctor about..." advertising should be banned in the USA. If you don't have medical training you're in no position to decide what medical conditions you may have or what treatments might be appropriate. If you want to be a doctor, go to medical school.
- tuesdaynight 2mo agoIs that necessarily bad? I mean, aren't there studies showing that annual checkups don't make much difference in mortality or healthy longevity?
- davidpapermill 2mo agoThis isn’t true. Women have regular smear tests and there’s also the midlife MOT every 5 years, to give but two examples.
- iamflimflam1 2mo agoI don't want to pile into the - this is not true. But it's not true. We get regular bowel cancer screening - you get it every 2 years once you hit 50 - https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/bowel-cancer-screening/ https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/bowel-cancer-screeni... And there are also regular health checks available once you hit 40 - https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/nhs-health-check/ https://www.nhs.uk/tests-and-treatments/nhs-health-check/
- tjohns 2mo agoFrom a US perspective, even this seems wild to me. I've always been told that at least an annual physical exam with bloodwork is highly recommended as the standard of care for adults of all ages. Not everyone chooses to get them, of course. But ACA insurance plans here offer at least one annual physical exam free of charge (considered preventative care).
- iamflimflam1 2mo agoThat tends to be part of the regular health checkup. I think that there's a working assumption amongst US folk that because the NHS is is publicly funded, it must be terrible.
- tjohns 2mo agoActually, I would've have assumed the other way - that the NHS was better than the US system. Which was why I was shocked when you said health checkups aren't allowed before age 40. :) US healthcare plans offer an annual physical exam every year at all ages. Looking at the UK NHS website, it seems to be only offered there after age 40, and limited to once every 5 years? Am I reading that right?
- rootusrootus 2mo ago> Actually, I would've have assumed the other way - that the NHS was better than the US system. I thought it was relatively uncontroversial that the major problem with US healthcare is not quality but cost. And the UK NHS is widely regarded as one of the lower quality implementations of single payer in any modern social democracy [0]. [0] https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/health https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/rankings/health (#23, but Canada is actually worse!)
- Reason077 2mo ago> “There are no regular checkups or preventative care on the NHS for mid life adults unless you're proactive” This isn’t quite true. There is a free “NHS Health check” for adults aged 40-72, which you’re supposed to do every 5 years and includes basic checks like blood pressure and cholesterol. I certainly get messages from my GP nagging me about it from time to time.
- throwaway2037 2mo agoBirth control? Pap smear? Mammogram?
- celticninja 2mo agoYou can get sti tests and other tests as and when required or requested. I have had blood pressure checks, blood diagnostics etc offered regularly by my doctor. Usually they are just to rule things out but they definitely offered.
- andsoitis 2mo ago> In the UK once you've had your childhood vaccinations it's entirely possible you'd simply never see a doctor again in your life until you're ready for your prostate exam in older life. It is not customary in the UK to see a doctor at regular intervals for checkups?
- MarceliusK 2mo agoThe downside of that model is that "be proactive" assumes people know what they should be proactive about
- jadyn513 2mo agoAnd even in the US the Hep C screening recommendation is new. Before 2020 it was only recommended (and therefore covered by most US insurance carriers) for people who injected drugs, had received a blood transfusion or product before 1992, or born between 1945-1965.
- sfilmeyer 2mo agoYou had me curious about what I was tested for, also in the northeastern USA in the 2010s. It looks like they included Hep C when my PCP ordered STD tests in 2015, along with most of the tests the other commenter mentioned. I'm glad they caught yours in time to treat it well!
- paulmist 2mo agoIn Europe I don't think it's commonly done. For example, the standard Dutch MSM STI test [1] covers HIV, Syphilis, Chlamydia, and Gonorrhoea only while Trichomoniasis, HPV 2 and Herpes are rather common. That being said, it's freely available at most hospitals. [1] https://www.mantotman.nl/ https://www.mantotman.nl/
- Teknoman117 2mo agoHerpes screening is discouraged in the US unless symptoms are present as the widely available IgG tests have terrible specificity. While the false negative rate is practically 0, they have a false positive rate of around 20%. The only high-accuracy confirmatory test (at least in the US) is the Western Blot but there's only a handful of labs in the country that offer it. The current tests would result in a substantial fraction of the population running around thinking they have a highly stigmatized STI that they in fact do not have with little to zero ways of getting a more accurate test.
- jijijijij 2mo ago> HPV 2 and Herpes are rather common Seems like both HSV-1 and HSV-2 seroprevalences are actually rather low in the Netherlands. As for STI testing: Serological testing is pretty meaningless regarding infection risk and direct viral detection is only done on visible lesions for differential diagnostics AFAIK. You can shed the virus without lesions, HSV-1 can be contracted without direct mucosa contact, and while HSV-1 is associated with oral herpes and HSV-2 with genital herpes, both types can cause lesions anywhere on the body. Sure someone without positive antibody status very likely can't transmit it, but that's a very small minority of people of relevant age. I believe talking to Americans about "herpes" can be misleading, as it's weirdly stigmatized over there and people seemingly conflate visible "cold sores", genital herpes and antibody status. Incidentally, genital herpes and HSV-2 in general is more common in the US, which may be a direct outcome of this cultural dynamic. Due to lower incidences of early oral HSV-1 infections, compared to most western Europe, Americans are more likely to get infected with genital herpes of either type, but in particular HSV-2, too. Prior oral HSV-1 infections are somewhat protective. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_herpes_simplex https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epidemiology_of_herpes_simplex
- globular-toast 2mo agoHep C isn't commonly sexually transmitted so it's odd they would test for it. It's more of a concern in certain occupations, like healthcare, where you may come into contact with blood.
- anon84873628 2mo agoNote that doesn't include HSV (especially 2) which can be transmitted asymptomatically, and even with a condom. The medical establishment doesn't consider it a concern, but it's worth having both parties check.
- Teknoman117 2mo agoThe problem with screening for HSV is that the HSV IgG tests are pretty terrible (the blood antibody tests). They have a false positive rate around 20% and re-running the tests several times won't yield different results. This would result in more people thinking they have HSV but don't than people who actually have it.
- anon84873628 2mo agoSo the medical establishment doesn't consider it enough of a concern to solve those problems? I believe people should be informed of this so they can make the best choice for themselves.
- HDBaseT 2mo agoI've never had a piss or blood test.