Chances are, you know you really should go. At agebuzz, we’ve given you a gentle nudge to get back into a preventive health care mode, and likely, you’ve already returned to your physician if something urgent is going on. Experts have put together lists of recommended screenings and tests that are essential for healthy aging that you should resume, and there are core areas of concern that will inevitably cause problems and regret if you neglect them for too long.

And neglect is the operative word here- as so many of us (estimates are that ⅓ of adults between 18-64) postponed or gave up on medical care throughout the pandemic. This is completely understandable given the concerns of catching COVID, but now may be the time to put aside whatever previous anxiety you had and instead recognize the importance of regular wellness visits and check-ins with your physicians, dentist, therapist, and even pharmacist.

For some, the anxiety lingers- not so much about catching COVID but instead about coming clean with some less-than-healthy pandemic behaviors. Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, columnist Elizabeth Wellington confessed that she worried about physician judgments regarding weight gain, unhealthy eating, and insufficient physical activity. Her recommendations? Perhaps start with a telemedicine visit to get the ball rolling so you don’t need an extra-long in-person visit when you finally make it in (data show that the majority of us do want to return to the brick-and-mortar office of our doctors), though you can always ask for an “extended visit” when you schedule your in-person appointment. Other advice for your return to in-person consultation and examination? Along the lines of being a “powerhouse patient,” experts suggest such tactics as writing down your questions and concerns so that you can effectively and efficiently make the most of your first visit back, take notes, ask questions and make sure you leave the office with a plan. As one expert makes clear, “Every visit (to the doctor) should end with some piece of anticipatory guidance, such as when you should touch base again or what red flags to watch for.”

For some, the pandemic has led us to be better navigators of the health care system and better advocates for ourselves (i.e, those skills you developed scheduling COVID tests or vaccinations or the equipment you purchased so that you could monitor your health at home when visits to the doctor were impossible). And for others, that sense of patient empowerment has also come from newly-obtained access to medical records. As we previously reported in agebuzz, patients are now free to access their entire medical record without physician interference (with limited exceptions), and for some, that’s become an eye-opening experience, not the least of which is due to the medical jargon and even biased language that medical charts can contain. So whether in person or on the computer, if you find yourself battling “medical jargon” from your physician’s communication (i.e, F/U means follow-up and SOB means shortness of breath) be bold and ask for candid explanations, so that you and your physician can work as a team to advance your health and well-being.