Flip side - Many doctors will see a high cholesterol number and immediately try to put you on statins. Which is not really that clear cut, statins have a lot of side effects that are downplayed by the sellers - and a lot less potential upside in otherwise healthy people with high cholesterol (because the fundamental cholesterol test given is flawed, the better tests are more expensive and harder to read (variables like cholesterol size and such matter a lot, but not even in the standard test))
So sure - get health checks done. Then be prepared to spend weeks or months double checking what your doctor is telling you, and possibly getting 2nd opinions and more tests.
Personal story: Head health test. High A1C. Diagnosed Diabetic, despite being a very fit triathlete who hasn't drank soda in 6 years and eats < 20g of sugar a day. Literally had near 2 weeks of full blown panic attack. Tried to change my diet to crazy low glycemic index food and eat 8 times a day to try and get my A1C down without medicine.
2 weeks later got into a 2nd doctor for another opinion. Turned out my test was just bunk. A1C is fantastic. Apparently it happens all the time (a bad test). My first doctor did not tell me this at ALL.. just told me I was a diabetic and to stop drinking so much Soda.
My takeaway? If not showing signs, don't bother with routine tests. Too many medical quacks.
Another story.
mid 50's, reasonably active and healthy, start to develop BHP (slow stream). Urologist does a PSA test even though I had one a few months before. Long story short, prostate cancer. Had robotic surgery, all good.
67, been following a congenital heart murmur for years. Cholesterol at 130. Noticed my running and biking dropping performance dropping off, so think time for a heart valve replacement. Routine pre-op catheterization shows coronary artery blockage. Have bypass and valve replacement, doing great. But 130 was too much cholesterol for me apparently. On statins and down to 95! I am now 68, no prostate, artificial heart valve, bypassed coronary artery, but feel great and am still active.
Glad the heart surgery took place after I started medicare though. Say want you want about government ineptitude administering anything, but medicare works.
On the other hand, you may have had the exact same blockage happen if you WERE taking statins. The research around people with "low" cholesterol is (to the best of my knowledge) very lacking.
Basically.. lots of things can be found by a test (say a slow or non-growing tumor) that the risk of removing them is > than the risk of leaving them alone.
Of course doctors are paid for doing work not for leaving it alone, so which do you think they will choose?
If you don't trust your doctor, step one would be to find one that you do trust. If you don't trust any doctor, then you're going to have a difficult life should you encounter serious health problems.
And yes, you should stop drinking soda, diabetic or not. Nothing bad will come from not drinking it, but plenty of bad things can come from drinking it. Telling you this doesn't make either your doctor or me a "quack".
Except I didn't drink soda. I hadn't drank soda for like 6 years. The doctor didn't take ANY effort to determine what my actual habits were. He had an 8 minute appointment.. decided I must drink soda, and told me to stop.
So sure - get health checks done. Then be prepared to spend weeks or months double checking what your doctor is telling you, and possibly getting 2nd opinions and more tests.
Personal story: Head health test. High A1C. Diagnosed Diabetic, despite being a very fit triathlete who hasn't drank soda in 6 years and eats < 20g of sugar a day. Literally had near 2 weeks of full blown panic attack. Tried to change my diet to crazy low glycemic index food and eat 8 times a day to try and get my A1C down without medicine.
2 weeks later got into a 2nd doctor for another opinion. Turned out my test was just bunk. A1C is fantastic. Apparently it happens all the time (a bad test). My first doctor did not tell me this at ALL.. just told me I was a diabetic and to stop drinking so much Soda.
My takeaway? If not showing signs, don't bother with routine tests. Too many medical quacks.