An essential part of maintaining your health is visiting your doctor once a year for an annual physical exam. This is our chance to get a comprehensive look at the internal workings of your body, detect issues before they become a problem, and talk about ways to keep you healthy. Plus, your insurance covers it; you don’t want to miss it!
Executive-Style Exams
This is not your average physical! Dr. Elliott’s physicals are more in line with executive-style exams—thorough and complete. In fact, Dr. Elliott reviews your entire medical history-making sure you are up to date on vaccines, appropriate cancer and health screenings, and comes prepared with tailored recommendations for your health.
The physical exam can feel vulnerable to many and a paper gown is dehumanizing. That’s why at Elysium, we’ve replaced them with plush cotton robes. Your comfort is important to us.
During the exam, Dr. Elliott will examine your ears, nose, eyes, throat, and skin, looking for signs that could indicate underlying issues. In addition, he’ll check your lungs, heart, head, neck, abdomen, and extremities for health concerns. A comprehensive neurological exam will assess for reflexes, coordination, eye moments, and cranial nerve function to assess for possible brain lesions and systemic illnesses. Dr. Elliott will collect a rectal pap smear to screen for high risk strains of HPV that cause rectal cancer and if you’re male and 45 or older, examine the prostate.
Other Screenings at Elysium
There are health concerns specific to the LGBTQ community and at Elysium, our physical exams cover those. Here, we screen for the most common STI on the planet, HPV. It’s what causes rectal cancer and genital warts, but most doctors don’t test for it.
- Gonorrhea and Chlamydia – It can live in the throat, penis, and rectum. Most doctors have you pee in a cup, but that misses the two most common places! And with 70% of men having no symptoms of infection, it’s important to get tested.
- HIV and syphilis
- Cholesterol and diabetes screen
- Liver, kidney, pancreatic, thyroid, electrolytes, and immune function.
- Hepatitis A, B, and C
- Prostate and colon cancer
- Urine studies to evaluate bladder and kidney health
- Depression and mental health
Vaccinations
This is your time to get vaccinated! We’ll review which vaccines are most appropriate and make sure you’re up to date on Hepatitis A and B, HPV, Pneumonia, Flu, Meningitis, Tetanus, and Shingles if needed.
Gay men have specific vaccination requirements
There is a hepatitis A outbreak in Atlanta and both hepatitis A and B are sexually transmitted. We’ll make sure you’re covered by checking antibodies! The vaccines we get in childhood and the boosters we get before college last, on average, about 10-15 years. Checking titers ensures you’re immune!
The Gardasil vaccine can give you 95% protection against HPV strains that cause genital warts and 92% protection against strains that cause throat, rectal, vaginal, and penile cancer. This is one of the most important vaccines of our time and the only one that can reduce cancer rates!
The Meningitis Vaccine can not only protect you against a deadly brain bacteria, but also give you 30-40% protection against gonorrhea!
If it’s time for you to schedule your annual physical exam, give Elysium a call at 470-663-6622 to schedule an appointment.
