There is an often-repeated yet true saying in psychiatry that a psychiatrist cannot offer a valid psychiatric diagnosis until general medical diseases have been excluded.  This is because many general medical conditions, if undiscovered and untreated, can cause psychiatric symptoms, mimicking standard psychiatric diagnoses.

Therefore it is of critical importance that any prospective or active psychiatric patient have an annual physical exam to discover general medical diseases, which can either masquerade as primary psychiatric disorders or complicate existing psychiatric disorders.

Contact your primary care provider (PCP) for your annual physical exam, and make sure that all routine lab tests are done.  These routine annual lab tests should include:

1.  Complete Blood Count (CBC)

2.  Chemistry 21 Panel (Chem-21)

3.  Urinalysis (UA)

4.  Thyroid Stimulatiing Hormone (TSH)

5.  Electrocardiogram (EKG)

6.  Vitamin B-12 level (B12)

7.  Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR, or Sed Rate)

8.  Folate level

9.  Other:

For males:

a.  PSA level,

b.  testosterone level

For females:

a.  estrogen level

b.  progesterone level

c.  testosterone level

Optional testing which may need to be done for patients at different times in a patient’s lifetime, through the mediation of your PCP, include:

1.  Cardiac Treadmill/Echocardiogram through cardiologist — to rule out

coronary artery disease and other problems.

2.  Colonoscopy, through gastroenterologist — to prevent, and screen for,

colon cancer and other conditions.

3.  Eye Exam, through an ophthalmologist — to check for glaucoma (increased

pressure in the eyeball, which can cause blindness) or other conditions.

4.  Dermatology Exam, through a dermatologist — to check for skin cancers.

5.  Vaccines — There has been a quiet revolution going on in recent years in the area of vaccines.  Hence there are now vaccines available for many pathogens which in previous times were deadly killers.  Check with your PCP to see which vaccines may be appropriate for you.  The following is a list of some vaccines which have recently become available:

a.   Varicella (Chickenpox, Shingles) Vaccine

b.  Pneumococcal Vaccine — The pneumococcal bacteria has been responsible for 50% of cases of adult pneumonia.  Now this vaccine reduce your risk of pneumonia.

c.  Influenza Vaccine:  needed yearly.  This reduces mobidity and mortality from pneumonia, especially in the young or elderly.

d.  Meningococcus Vaccine — The meningococcal bacteria has historically been a major cause of meningitis and a great killer.  Now this vaccine can prevent many cases of meningococcal meningitis

e.  Hepatitis A & B Vaccines – Hepatitis is a great cause of illness and death.  Now vaccines are available for two of the forms of hepatitis.

f.  HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) Vaccine – protects women against the papilloma virus, which can cause cervical cancer.