Worried? No.

[MikePollard]

I was recently forced to have a health check at my local GP surgery.

The circumstances were that unless I got my doctor to sign a medical declaration my NPPL microlight pilots licence is invalid, thus invalidating my insurance. Not only that, it would cost me between £60 - £100 for him to look at a computer screen then tick a couple of boxes and stamp the form. I cost me nowt last year, so I was bloody furious. Nonetheless I was between a rock and a hard place so agreed to a blood test and answered the health nurse's questions ('How much do you weigh, do you smoke, how much alcohol do you consume, do you exercise etc').

Anyway, got the results yesterday.

Liver and kidneys - normal.

HBA1c (how much sugar is attached to your red blood cells over 3 months - diabetes check) - normal.

Liver and kidney function - normal.

Triglycerides, HDL/LDL (cholesterol) - normal.

Hemoglobin a little low, but of no concern (I don't eat a lot of meat and donate blood regularly).

In all, and no surprise to me, I'm A1, though my wife might demur!

This is in the face of my diet consisting of 70 - 80% saturated fat from all the great stuff such as grass fed butter, cheese, cream, that we are constantly urged to eschew and eating very little carbohydrate in the form of healthy whole grain (?) bread, potatoes, rice or pasta. Death wish or what?

Maybe I'm in a category of one (like a 95 year old who's smoked all their life) but I doubt it.

Hey ho, all that's left is for me to grit my teeth and hand over a ton to a doctor who, if I'm generous, I wouldn't let near my car were he a mechanic!

[sandybrown]

why do you say you were forced to have a health check?

At least you know you are in good health.

Do you still have to pay money to get your health papers?

Thanks for food list.

Good luck.

[MikePollard in reply to sandybrown]

If you read the post carefully you will see why I was forced!

Yes I do have to pay, and it is purely arbitrary, most doctors don't charge. And by the way, I already knew what the results would be!

[Janeish in reply to MikePollard]

Perhaps you had to pay because it's an overhead of your hobby or profession .... whatever, it's your choice to hold a pilot's licence. The free treatment provided by your GP is funded by the tax payer and is to provide healthcare for people who are or believe themselves to be ill or to provide a public health screening or prevention service. Perhaps you could have queried with whomever asked you to have a health check for your licence, why they didn't fund it ... or advise them that you didn't need one because you already knew the results?

[bobski1]

Can`t see why your moaning about the doctor on this one he/she just did the job you requested them to do. Where your comment should go is to the issuing authority of your licence ,but they will come back with the answer you already know about your fitness to fly.

[KatyB]

Mike, I've just had to pay £160 for a doctor to sign the form for the cremation of my brother so think yourself lucky. I've also had to pay all his funeral costs as he did not believe in saving money!

As to your diet, I'm eating a little of everything. Seems they are now finding double the increase in kidney stones which they are putting down to diets, especially low carb. And after you shot me down over the goodness of lemons, Mr Leye Ajayi, consultant urological surgeon at St John & St Elizabeth Hospital, London recommends drinking water with added lemon juice as a preventative. Daily Mail, "How low-carb diets may be causing more kidney stones". 6 April.

[sandybrown in reply to KatyB]

Lemon and lime are good and good value for money in UK.