Looking back I can now see those warning signs.Getting out of breath walking up stairs and hills, feeling tired and putting on a lot of weight which I now see was fluid retention rather than middle aged spread.When you reach middle age you think of these signs as those most get when they reach middle age not signs of serious illness. I suppose like everyone who had gone through life without any major illness you always think it can never happen to me!
I think my case is not unique and happens to many.Through lack of knowledge or a failure to see signs people often only seek help for illness when its very late and harder for doctors to treat then.Early diagnoses and treatment is the key to a successful outcome with all serious illness.
The question has to be asked how can we stop this sort of thing happening so often.The answer I believe lies in more screening and medical checks.There are many different types of screening that can be done now for many serious illnesses but many are not readily available on the NHS when they should be. I also think that everyone should be offered regular medical check ups to test blood pressure etc so any early warning signs can be picked up by doctors.
The NHS needs to put far more resources into preventing ill health than it does. This may mean that a lot of money may be needed to invest in new programmes and initiatives to prevent ill health but I think that investment would be money well spent and could actually save more than it would cost by preventing a lot of serios illness.
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