Keeping Up With Your Regular Health Screenings

Most peo­ple know they should go to the doc­tor reg­u­lar­ly. And most peo­ple, at some point, let it slide. A busy week turns into a busy month, and before long it’s been longer than you’d care to admit since you’ve had a checkup.

The prob­lem with skip­ping pre­ven­tive appoint­ments isn’t usu­al­ly that some­thing ter­ri­ble hap­pens imme­di­ate­ly. It’s that con­di­tions have a way of qui­et­ly pro­gress­ing when no one’s look­ing for them. Ear­ly detec­tion changes out­comes — for can­cer, for chron­ic dis­ease, for just about every­thing. And the only way to catch some­thing ear­ly is to actu­al­ly show up.

Here’s a look at the vis­its worth keep­ing on your radar, no mat­ter where you are in the year.

Annu­al Physical

Think of this as your year­ly base­line. Your pri­ma­ry care provider (PCP) reviews your health his­to­ry, checks in on how things are going phys­i­cal­ly, and can flag any­thing that looks off before it becomes a big­ger prob­lem. It’s also a good time to talk through nutri­tion, exer­cise, stress, sleep — any­thing that’s been affect­ing how you feel day to day. Rou­tine blood­work often gets ordered here, too, so you walk away with a clear­er pic­ture of what’s going on inside.

Pri­ma­ry Care, Sev­en Days a Week

Good health isn’t just the absence of sick­ness — it’s some­thing you active­ly build over time. Duly’s inter­nal med­i­cine providers work with you on a per­son­al­ized pre­ven­tive care plan that cov­ers annu­al phys­i­cals, can­cer screen­ings, vac­ci­na­tions, and more. Appoint­ments are avail­able sev­en days a week, when and where you need them.

Find Pri­ma­ry Care Providers Near You >

School, Sports, and Camp Physicals

For par­ents, this one tends to sneak up fast. In Illi­nois, health exam forms are required for chil­dren enter­ing preschool, kinder­garten, 6^th grade, and 9^th grade, as well as for new stu­dents trans­fer­ring from out of state. Sports phys­i­cals are also required annu­al­ly for any stu­dent par­tic­i­pat­ing in school ath­let­ics. Get­ting these done well in advance keeps you ahead of the rush.

Wom­en’s Well-Visits

A year­ly well-vis­it with your OB-GYN or PCP includes a gyne­co­log­i­cal and breast exam — two screen­ings that can catch seri­ous con­di­tions ear­ly when they’re most treat­able. For any­one who’s preg­nant or plan­ning to be, keep­ing up with pre­na­tal, intra­partum, and post­par­tum appoint­ments is espe­cial­ly impor­tant. That con­ti­nu­ity of care sup­ports both you and your baby through­out the whole journey.

Can­cer Screenings

This is the one peo­ple tend to post­pone the most, often because the screen­ings them­selves feel daunt­ing. But catch­ing can­cer ear­ly changes out­comes sig­nif­i­cant­ly. The screen­ings to stay cur­rent on include:

• Mam­mo­gram
• Prostate screen­ing
• Colonoscopy
• Lung can­cer screen­ing (espe­cial­ly for those with a his­to­ry of smoking)
• Pap smear

If you’re not sure which ones apply to you and when, your PCP can help sort that out based on your age, fam­i­ly his­to­ry, and oth­er risk factors.

Der­ma­tol­ogy

Skin changes are easy to ignore — a new mole, a spot that looks a lit­tle dif­fer­ent than it used to. But der­ma­tol­ogy vis­its aren’t just for skin con­di­tions like eczema or pso­ri­a­sis. They’re also where sus­pi­cious moles and irreg­u­lar patch­es get exam­ined before they have a chance to devel­op into some­thing more seri­ous. If you haven’t had a full skin check recent­ly, it’s worth sched­ul­ing one.

Ongo­ing Treat­ment Appointments

For any­one man­ag­ing can­cer treat­ment or dial­y­sis, keep­ing these appoint­ments on track isn’t option­al — it’s essen­tial. If yours have slipped due to sched­ul­ing, ill­ness, or any­thing else, reach­ing out to resched­ule as soon as pos­si­ble helps ensure your treat­ment plan stays where it needs to be.

Men­tal Health

This one belongs on the list just as much as any of the oth­ers. Stress, anx­i­ety, low mood — these aren’t things to just push through indef­i­nite­ly. Talk­ing with your PCP or a behav­ioral health provider is a real option, and a good first step if you haven’t tried it. Men­tal health is part of over­all health, full stop.

Need Care Today? Duly­Now Has You Covered.

Some­times some­thing comes up and you need to be seen right away. With Duly­Now, our pri­ma­ry care team offers same-day and next-day appoint­ments every day of the week at loca­tions through­out Chicagoland’s sub­urbs — so you can get the care you need with­out putting your life on hold.

Book a Same-Day Appointment >

Stay­ing on top of pre­ven­tive care isn’t about being hyper­vig­i­lant — it’s about giv­ing your­self the best chance to catch prob­lems ear­ly, when they’re eas­i­est to address. If you’re not sure where to start, your PCP can help you fig­ure out what’s over­due and what to prioritize.