How to Make the Most of your Annual Wellness Exam

Have you ever left your primary care provider’s office after your annual wellness exam feeling like you are no better off and didn’t learn much about your health? Let’s change that! Your annual exam should be a yearly check in on your health where the right questions are asked and a gauge of how your health has changed over the past year. Unfortunately, for many this is not the case. It is often a quick visit where you get 10-15 minutes with your provider who listens to your heart and lungs (maybe) and sends you off with a short list of labs that inevitably comes back “normal.” (more on this later this week!)

As I’ve said before, this isn’t necessarily your PCPs fault. The system is set up for short visits and sick care, not necessarily optimizing health or true preventive care. However, with a little preparation on your end, you can go in prepared to make the most of your annual wellness exam!

Reflect on your own health over the past year

Before you arrive to your appointment, reflect on your health over the past year. What has changed? What have you worked to optimize? What do you hope to achieve this next year? Are you taking any new medications or supplements? Have there been any new family health history updates in the past year? Think about your diet, sleep, stress levels, exercise habits and any troubles or questions you might have related to your lifestyle health. These are all good insights to share during this visit. Be concise because there isn’t a lot of time for beating around the bush. Share with your provider what you want to achieve in terms of health and what kind of support you might be looking for. They may have answers and support for you or they may be able to refer you to the right place.

Request more than the basic labs

Typically, an annual visit may check a complete blood count, metabolic panel, cholesterol or lipid panel and a blood sugar marker called hemoglobin A1c and while these markers can give us some insight, they don’t tell the full picture of health. Ask to check some nutrient levels: vitamin D, vitamin B12 and folate, iron panel with ferritin. (Did you know that every patient’s vitamin D levels that I check here in sunny Colorado are in the deficiency or insufficiency range unless they are supplementing?!). Ask for a full thyroid panel especially if you are having any symptoms such as fatigue, constipation, dry skin, hair loss, feeling cold or have a family history of thyroid disease. If you have had high cholesterol in the past, ask for deeper lipid testing like ApoB or Lp(a) or an advanced NMR lipid panel. They may or may not agree to ordering these and if they don’t then it might be time to find a new provider who will take a deeper look with you. 

Health screenings

Keep track of your health screenings so that you can figure out if you are due for any this coming year. When was the last time you had:

• A colonoscopy
• A pap smear and pelvic exam
• Mammogram
• Skin exam

The same goes for more general health screenings. How does your blood pressure look compared to last year? When you get your labs back take a look at your cholesterol and blood sugar markers compared to last year. Are there any changes? Are things “normal” but maybe on the high end of normal? These can give good insight into disease progression. The USPTF has a great table on recommended screenings – take a look HERE so you can be your own advocate!

Discuss your goals

Share with your provider your goals for this next year. Do you just want to feel better day to day? Are you training for an ultramarathon? Are you planning for pregnancy? If your provider knows your health and personal goals, they can be there to support you and make sure your health can keep up with any goal you have in mind! Your annual wellness exam is a good time to reflect on the year behind and the goals for the year ahead!

Follow-up on results after your annual wellness exam

Your provider will likely draw blood or send you to a lab to have your bloodwork done and won’t have the results at the time of your visit. Follow-up on your labs. Your provider may send you a note through the patient portal that “everything looks good!” but if you see anything abnormal or different from last year, ask for more info. You can even leverage AI like ChatGPT or Grok for deeper insight. AI can’t tell us everything but it can help identify if we need to do a deeper dive! 

If you are looking for a provider who goes a bit deeper or views things from a Functional Medicine lens and you are in Colorado or Utah, schedule with Well North Functional Medicine today! Schedule a Free Discovery Call Below!