There are some topics that seem too personal to share but what should you still be telling your doctor, even if you aren’t telling the general public?  Often, we don’t realize how important our symptoms or daily activities may be to our health.  For example, you should be open with your physician about your drinking behavior, whether or not you are employed, your smoking habits, any changes in cognitive abilities, or if you are seeing another doctor.  Let’s see why some of the most common info we leave out at our doctor’s appointments, can actually be very important to share:

1. Drinking and smoking habits:

Drinking can impact your liver function, can damage the part of the brain responsible for equilibrium, and damage the nerves in the feet that help maintain balance.  Certain symptoms you are experiencing may be due to the long term effects of drinking, so telling your doctor about your habits can point them in the right direction.

Smoking puts you at an increased risk for many health conditions such as COPD, lung cancer, hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and other cancers. Knowing that you are a smoker might change how often and how you get screened for certain conditions.

1. Forgetfulness: 

Although you might be inclined to dismiss this as a normal part of aging it can be a sign of another condition.  Forgetfulness could be the effect of a fall, vitamin deficiency, thyroid deficiency, or the early signs of dementia. Telling your doctor can prompt him or her to do the right tests and figure out the underlying cause.  Vitamin deficiencies can easily be resolved through supplementation or changes in diet.

1. Loss of sex drive or libido:

While many men experience this as a result of aging it could signal other disease, this could be a sign of low testosterone.  It is common for men to experience a decline in the production of testosterone with aging, but this can also be a result of another disease, such as diabetes. Other causes of low testosterone include:

o   Injury, infection or loss of testicles

o   Chemotherapy or radiation treatment for cancer

o   Hemochromatosis (high iron levels)

o   Pituitary gland dysfunction

o   Inflammatory diseases such as sarcoidosis

o   Medications, especially hormones used to treat prostate cancer

o   Chronic kidney failure

o   Liver cirrhosis or alcoholism

o   Abdominal obesity

·       Erectile dysfunction

Blockage of vessels that supply your penis can be a sign that you have plaques forming in your heart or brain that could put you at risk for heart attack or stroke.  Similarly it could be a sign of diabetes.

1. Second opinion:

It is important discuss that you are getting a second opinion, in order to avoid confusions over your treatment plan.  Different doctors might treat the same condition differently.  Furthermore, some medications can have serious side effects if taken together, so you want to make sure you have coordinated care.