(I’m female) Is there anything I should do to prepare for it tomorrow? I saw somewhere online that you are supposed to not eat from midnight the day before but I haven’t been told this? Anything else I should know? 😅
Had mine last month. I was told not to drink alcohol the night before or eat breakfast. They did eyesight, hearing, weighing and measuring round the middle, blood test, chest X-ray scan, blood pressure and possibility to consult with a doctor right there and then if anything concerning came up immediately. Waiting to receive the score card now.
It depends on your age.
Those over 35 get barium inspections and you are supposed to free stomach of food, which means no eating from the evening before.
If you’re younger than that, then it’s just a blood test what you’re supposed to prepare for and it means no food and nothing apart from water for breakfast.
Otherwise it’s a pretty quick experience, although depending on a facility it can feel like a meat processing conveyor. If you have an option, I’d recommend to choose a small and relatively expensive clinic, since those tend to have less overworked staff, more attention to you and just overall a better atmosphere.
Also, people tend to tell absolute horrors about barium, but honestly I can’t figure what is it about. It’s a fun experience: they give you a packet of what feels like acid crystals and a cup of yogurt-like substance which is barium suspension. You eat acid, then drink barium. Then lie on the table and they tell you to roll around. It’s fun actually.
Usually, no eating after 9pm the day before and no breakfast/coffee/tea but water is ok. We used to get told not to eat any meat/milk the day before but we haven’t been told that the last couple years.
Height/weight/waist: Take off your shoes and stand on the scale. They’ll remove a kilo from the weight to account for clothing. The nurse will use a measuring tape to get your waistline.
Blood pressure: Sometimes with a machine, sometimes with a strap and stethoscope.
Urine sample: They’ll give you a cup with a testing strips. Pee in the cup, dip the strip, pour out your pee and bring back the empty cup and strip.
Eye sight test: Take off your glasses/contacts. Look into the viewer and say which direction the little C shapes are facing.
Hearing: put on the head phones and raise your hand when you hear the bing.
Chest xray: Wear a plain soft bra (no wire, clasps, buttons, fasteners, printing etc) and a tshirt again with no printing/buttons etc. They may still ask you to remove your bra behind the curtain but I’ve never been asked to remove my shirt.
Blood test: They’ll ask if it’s okay to wipe your arm with the alcohol tissue. Arm strap, needle, vials etc. After you’ll be told to apply pressure to the bandage and sit for for at least 5 minutes.
Forgot the name of this, a heart scan? (maybe): You’ll be asked to lay down on a table and pull up your shirt and bra. The nurse will attach suction cups to your chest and attachments to your wrists and ankles. The machine goes BING! and you’re done.
Lastly: You’ll go into a room/behind a curtain to talk to a doctor. They’ll check your throat, listen to your heart and look over your paperwork for anything that sticks out. Doctors usually use this time to practice their English.
About a week later you’ll get a big envelope with the results and over all grade.
Surprised the health check provider didn’t explain that via a workplace notice or some other letter?
Usually they’ll tell you if you need to fast, exactly what checks will be conducted, what clothes to wear / can’t wear etc well ahead of time.
Recommend you contact them to reconfirm.
Don’t use your smartphone while waiting. It’s not that it’s not safe, but it worsens your eyesight because you’re looking at a small screen, giving you a worse result for the eye test.
Couple things that might surprise you:
– your employer will get the results (!) – if you’re over 35, they will want to do a stomach examination (barium and x-ray or camera down the throat), but you can refuse these – they will still insist on a chest x-ray, which, despite radiation, can’t be refused – if you do refuse mandatory checks or all of it, apparently the company could be fined with up to 500000 yen
So… yeah, privacy and bodily autonomy? Not in Japan, sorry, haven’t heard of those concepts.
At my current and my last job, we were given vials to bring our morning urine in with us and I have never been asked to do the barium test (over 45)
The first ever one I got done, they mixed up my results with someone else who was steps away from chronic liver failure.
It was an awkward conversation with a doctor looking at me, 23, super healthy at the time and not an alcohol drinker, and confidently saying that I am an alcohol abuser about to die.
Uhh…
I forced them to recheck, they were stubborn, I stood my ground and finally it turned out they mixed up the results.
I did one in the UK. It was great. Private room, 15 minutes, in and out. Japan was like a human processing plant. I did not expect to have to change into a robe and go station to station with hundreds of other people. But, provided you picked the basic option, just basic stuff. Weight, height, eye and ear test, BP, blood taken, piss taken, and a chest X-ray. It’s not remotely fun, but it’s not terrible.
Oh, and I had to take a stress test on the worst survey form I’ve ever seen. Clearly research methods is not taught at nursing schools.
How old? After 35 is when it get serious
Are you sure it’s the annual health check (ningen dock)? Did the hospital send you a package in the mail? Usually they will send it a week or two in advance and it includes the health questionnaire and your appointment details including instructions about not eating after 9pm (it’s better to have your exam in the AM due to this). Also they send the stool sample and urine sample kits. You are supposed to take 2 stool samples on different days and the urine sample on the morning of the exam.
Where I work they won’t pay for it until they’ve seen a copy of the results of it.
I think people have given pretty solid answers so I won’t add too much. However, I would like to add that although you can opt out of the Pap smear, I’d recommend it if you can. It’s slightly uncomfortable but it wasn’t too bad. When I did mine, I got some alarming results and am now in the process of working through diagnosis at a hospital. I wouldn’t have known had I not had the Pap smear. I’m 24 fwiw.
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Had mine last month. I was told not to drink alcohol the night before or eat breakfast. They did eyesight, hearing, weighing and measuring round the middle, blood test, chest X-ray scan, blood pressure and possibility to consult with a doctor right there and then if anything concerning came up immediately. Waiting to receive the score card now.
It depends on your age.
Those over 35 get barium inspections and you are supposed to free stomach of food, which means no eating from the evening before.
If you’re younger than that, then it’s just a blood test what you’re supposed to prepare for and it means no food and nothing apart from water for breakfast.
Otherwise it’s a pretty quick experience, although depending on a facility it can feel like a meat processing conveyor. If you have an option, I’d recommend to choose a small and relatively expensive clinic, since those tend to have less overworked staff, more attention to you and just overall a better atmosphere.
Also, people tend to tell absolute horrors about barium, but honestly I can’t figure what is it about. It’s a fun experience: they give you a packet of what feels like acid crystals and a cup of yogurt-like substance which is barium suspension. You eat acid, then drink barium. Then lie on the table and they tell you to roll around. It’s fun actually.
Usually, no eating after 9pm the day before and no breakfast/coffee/tea but water is ok. We used to get told not to eat any meat/milk the day before but we haven’t been told that the last couple years.
Height/weight/waist: Take off your shoes and stand on the scale. They’ll remove a kilo from the weight to account for clothing. The nurse will use a measuring tape to get your waistline.
Blood pressure: Sometimes with a machine, sometimes with a strap and stethoscope.
Urine sample: They’ll give you a cup with a testing strips. Pee in the cup, dip the strip, pour out your pee and bring back the empty cup and strip.
Eye sight test: Take off your glasses/contacts. Look into the viewer and say which direction the little C shapes are facing.
Hearing: put on the head phones and raise your hand when you hear the bing.
Chest xray: Wear a plain soft bra (no wire, clasps, buttons, fasteners, printing etc) and a tshirt again with no printing/buttons etc. They may still ask you to remove your bra behind the curtain but I’ve never been asked to remove my shirt.
Blood test: They’ll ask if it’s okay to wipe your arm with the alcohol tissue. Arm strap, needle, vials etc. After you’ll be told to apply pressure to the bandage and sit for for at least 5 minutes.
Forgot the name of this, a heart scan? (maybe): You’ll be asked to lay down on a table and pull up your shirt and bra. The nurse will attach suction cups to your chest and attachments to your wrists and ankles. The machine goes BING! and you’re done.
Lastly: You’ll go into a room/behind a curtain to talk to a doctor. They’ll check your throat, listen to your heart and look over your paperwork for anything that sticks out. Doctors usually use this time to practice their English.
About a week later you’ll get a big envelope with the results and over all grade.
Surprised the health check provider didn’t explain that via a workplace notice or some other letter?
Usually they’ll tell you if you need to fast, exactly what checks will be conducted, what clothes to wear / can’t wear etc well ahead of time.
Recommend you contact them to reconfirm.
Don’t use your smartphone while waiting. It’s not that it’s not safe, but it worsens your eyesight because you’re looking at a small screen, giving you a worse result for the eye test.
Couple things that might surprise you:
– your employer will get the results (!)
– if you’re over 35, they will want to do a stomach examination (barium and x-ray or camera down the throat), but you can refuse these
– they will still insist on a chest x-ray, which, despite radiation, can’t be refused
– if you do refuse mandatory checks or all of it, apparently the company could be fined with up to 500000 yen
So… yeah, privacy and bodily autonomy? Not in Japan, sorry, haven’t heard of those concepts.
At my current and my last job, we were given vials to bring our morning urine in with us and I have never been asked to do the barium test (over 45)
The first ever one I got done, they mixed up my results with someone else who was steps away from chronic liver failure.
It was an awkward conversation with a doctor looking at me, 23, super healthy at the time and not an alcohol drinker, and confidently saying that I am an alcohol abuser about to die.
Uhh…
I forced them to recheck, they were stubborn, I stood my ground and finally it turned out they mixed up the results.
I did one in the UK. It was great. Private room, 15 minutes, in and out. Japan was like a human processing plant. I did not expect to have to change into a robe and go station to station with hundreds of other people. But, provided you picked the basic option, just basic stuff. Weight, height, eye and ear test, BP, blood taken, piss taken, and a chest X-ray. It’s not remotely fun, but it’s not terrible.
Oh, and I had to take a stress test on the worst survey form I’ve ever seen. Clearly research methods is not taught at nursing schools.
How old? After 35 is when it get serious
Are you sure it’s the annual health check (ningen dock)?
Did the hospital send you a package in the mail? Usually they will send it a week or two in advance and it includes the health questionnaire and your appointment details including instructions about not eating after 9pm (it’s better to have your exam in the AM due to this). Also they send the stool sample and urine sample kits. You are supposed to take 2 stool samples on different days and the urine sample on the morning of the exam.
Where I work they won’t pay for it until they’ve seen a copy of the results of it.
I think people have given pretty solid answers so I won’t add too much. However, I would like to add that although you can opt out of the Pap smear, I’d recommend it if you can. It’s slightly uncomfortable but it wasn’t too bad. When I did mine, I got some alarming results and am now in the process of working through diagnosis at a hospital. I wouldn’t have known had I not had the Pap smear. I’m 24 fwiw.