06-21-2023 Primetime Living - Flipbook - Page 10
10 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, June 21, 2023
PRIMARY CARE
Men’s health
matters
The importance of regular
check-ups
By Linda L. Esterson, Contributing Writer
Dr. Andrew Delapenha
M
any men consider seeing a doctor as a display of weakness. They think
about until the car stalls in the middle of
I-95. Then you’re in disaster, crisis mode.”
of the practice as emasculating. Others feel fine and think there’s no
need for an appointment. But they couldn’t be further from the truth.
Andrew Delapenha, M.D., an Assistant
Professor and General Internal Medicine
physician at the University of Maryland
School of Medicine, says that 20% of his
new male patients have not seen a primary
care physician (PCP) in the last three years.
And some of his patients have never been
examined by an internist or PCP.
“For whatever reason, men do not seem
to seek out care on their most times,” says
Dr. Delapenha, who admits that often it is
the patient’s wife or partner who initiates
the visit, tracks his medications, cites medical history and follows the directions of the
provider.
Annual physical exams: what to expect
Primary care physicians are a patient’s
first point of contact for all medical needs
and concerns. They anticipate and prevent
problems before any arise, as well as treat
and manage health conditions before they
become more serious. This begins with a
physical examination and basic testing and
lab work to check for abnormalities.
The provider also ensures patients stay
current with recommended screenings like
colonoscopies, prostate antigen checks,
lung cancer screenings, testosterone level
monitoring, and any needed immunizations.
The first appointment provides a baseline
for future comparison based on the physical
examination, lab work and testing results.
The appointment is quick and painless,
generally lasting just 30 minutes once a year.
“It’s basically a health tune-up, the same
way we take care of our cars,” Dr. Delapenha
says. “If you let your car run for five, 10 or 15
years without getting an oil change, without
checking to make sure the engine is okay,
without looking under the hood, you can
be running into issues that you don’t know
The importance of preventive care
A patient could find himself having a
heart attack after 30 years without seeing a
physician. Regular visits would likely have
shown symptoms of stress or signs of vessel blockages that could have prevented the
heart attack and the need for emergency
care and surgery.
“We need to know what your lab results
show. We need to know what your blood
pressure is. We need to make sure that
we’re doing what is necessary to keep you
healthy and keep you out of the hospital,”
Dr. Delapenha explains.
Other men may be aware of their medical conditions and avoid seeking care since
no symptoms are present.
“Putting it off and not worrying about
your health issues guarantees a shortened
life or a life in the not-too-distant future filled
with hospitalizations and complications. If
you are not seeing your PCP, if you’re not
taking your medications, if you’re not seeing specialists as needed, the damage that
you’re doing to yourself now can be irreparable in the future.”
Dr. Delapenha considers himself the
quarterback, directing all aspects of a man’s
health. He identifies potential issues and
directs care before they lead to major injuries or emergencies.
Primary care doctors screen for signs
of the “silent killers” or “gateway diseases”
that individuals don’t often think about. High
blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol have no symptoms in early stages but
can cause serious issues over the longterm.
*High blood pressure (also called hypertension) – levels that are higher for both systolic and diastolic pressure. Normal readings
are in the 120s for systolic pressure, which
is the pressure in the blood vessels as the
heart is pumping or contracting. Normal
diastolic pressure is in the 70s, indicating
the pressure in the blood vessels as the
heart is relaxed. When the blood pressure
is elevated, the heart has to work harder
to feed blood and oxygen to organs in the
Primary Care, continued on page 26
