The first patient was in his early 30s! He recently developed a bit of uncommon symptoms. He feels severe burning pain in his inner thighs, buttocks, private areas, etc; above the knee but below the belly button level! There were no skin lesions in the area. He also didn't have typical pain. He had no significant history of accidents.
On check-up, his HbA1c (one of the tests for Diabetes mellitus) was found at 8.8%! It's pretty high, indicating that his diabetes wasn't new—it's been there for a pretty long time! One of the complications of DM is peripheral neuropathy, which may present with burning pain or numbness. Our initial diagnosis was DM neuropathy! If he had done a sugar test before, DM would have been diagnosed and managed from the beginning! Hence, the complication could be prevented!
Another young patient came for left upper back pain. A few months before, he came to know that his fasting blood sugar was beyond the normal limit. He wanted to repeat the test. He also wanted to check his lipid profile and liver enzymes. His fasting blood was still a little bit high. His lipids were also somewhat abnormal. However, none of the tests warranted medicines. Lifestyle and food habit modification may bring the results within normal range. He wanted to do that too. As he knows about his current status by doing regular health check-ups, he can take steps to prevent further deterioration.
Regular health check-ups are crucial!
