Don’t ignore pain, get treated early

 

In Asian cultures, the ability to tolerate pain without whining and seeking much attention is a virtue, but one that is working against people’s health these days.

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The Asian Value vs Common medical knowledge

It is an Asian virtue to NOT complain or run to the doctor over any tiny little pains and ailments.  Save money over the little ailments that you can bear with, so that you have more money for your family, or for bigger unbearable ailments. Don’t be wimpy, don’t be such a princess. Pain builds character.

These are the values I’m sure most of us have grown up with within the Asian culture — Indian, Chinese, Malay etc.

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At the same time, most people would intuitively and instinctively agree with these statements too:

-          Small illnesses are easier to treat and cure than serious illnesses

-          Serious illnesses tend not to happen overnight, most start off as small illnesses that grows more serious over time

-          If left untreated, small illnesses can either get cured by the body naturally, or it can develop into bigger illnesses

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I wonder how many people have realised the contradiction between their values of “bearing with small ailments” , and knowing that “small ailments are easier to treat and cure than serious ones”.

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Early-stage small ailments is easier to treat and cure than late-stage serious ones

Because it is easier to treat and cure illnesses while they are small, before they become serious, it is actually very very important to run to the doctor over very small pains. In fact, screening works very well, because you’re detecting illnesses even before the pain begins, when the illness is at a very early stage.

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This is backed up by very strong medical data. Most common cancers in Singapore and other developed countries, like colon cancer, breast, cervical cancer has a 90% survival rate at the stage where there are NO symptoms or when the pain is so minor you don’t feel it if you don’t think about it.  But the survival rate quickly drops to 50% at the next stage, 20% at the next and so on.

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In the early stage of high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood cholesterol etc, it is easy to control with medication, a good diet and exercise.  There is almost no pain for these conditions. Yet, ignoring these problems will lead to diabetes, kidney failure, blindness, limb amputations, stroke, heart attack etc. You don’t have to be a doctor to know that a few pills a day to control high blood sugar is a lot better than having to amputate your leg, or recover from a stroke.

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So what should you be doing?

Firstly, stop putting up with pain silently. Seek medical help when the pain is very small and minor, because that’s the easiest to cure, cheapest to cure stage. Costs in terms of money and pain will only increase.

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Second, go for regular health screening. But how regular is regular? I know some people who do unnecessary expensive tests because of they were sold unethically, or because they forgot what they already screened for and did repeated tests whenever there was a promotion.

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How do you know what health screening you need?

The solution is to start a “health booklet”.

Remember in primary school we had these blue health booklets that recorded all your vaccinations and health screening information?

Start one.  Go buy a blank exercise book from the bookshop.

 Ask your GP or polyclinic doctor to write down what screening you need on a yearly, 2-yearly, 5-yearly interval.

Everytime you go for a screening, get the clinic nurse to write down the test you did and the date you did it. If possible, write down if the results were normal, or if they recommended follow up treatment.

The next time a health screening promotion is on, get the nurse or doctor or health-promoter to check against your book to see if you really need it. I think in Singapore, most of these people are still ethical enough to tell you if you don’t need the test, especially since more health-promoters are charities!

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Why the Asian Value was once good, but no longer applicable today?

Just 100 years ago, health screening tests were not invented. Antibiotics were not even common. People died young, of filthy water and common infections. People didn’t grow old enough to get cancer or chronic or heart diseases. When you’re young and antibiotics are not available, and what you have is an infection, the Asian virtue of not whining over small things is useful. There simply wasn’t anything that could be done if you whined!  Stop making a mountain out of a molehill was sensible good advice.

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Today, the medical technology landscape has changed fundamentally. We can detect diseases and cure them before we start to feel the pain. Screening is important. Small pain is a critical warning sign. These days, we can get rid of molehills before they grow into mountains. We can cure diseases when detected early, but not when it is too late.