@okie,
okie wrote:. . . my doctor is not pro-testing. He will send me for a test if I demand it, but he is noted for natural healing . . . I do not wish to borrow trouble by testing, not when I feel good, I exercise, and I don't have any symptoms.
By the time you have symptoms, it is often too late for effective treatment.
My father's HMO doctor wasn't pro-testing either. The HMO clinic was paid the same by the HMO insurance plan for my dad's yearly physical regardless of whether they gave him a thorough exam or a cursory exam. So why do a thorough one?
My father's HMO doctor gave my father a cursory physical in March 1999 and gave him a "clean bill of health." In July 1999, my father was overly-tired, sleeping a lot, and lost his appetite. But he couldn't get an appointment right away to see his HMO doctor. He couldn't get any help for his symptoms until my step-mother wheeled him into the emergency room in August 1999. He was dead the first of September 1999. If his HMO had given him a thorough physical with a complete panel of standard tests back in March of that year, they could have caught his cancer while it was still treatable. When I complained to the HMO provider about the ineffectiveness of the yearly physical that they gave my dad, the HMO director told me that they didn't give him a full panel of standard tests because it wasn't "medically indicated" that he needed a full panel of standard tests. How absurd is that?
I hope you're happy with your doctor, okie. By withholding standard diagnostic testing to save you and/or your health insurance company money, by the time you experience symptoms of a serious illness, it might be too late for you too. After all, you don't want to "borrow trouble" by testing.