Your Pre-Wedding
Checkup
It's not just your invitations and dress fittings that need attention
before your wedding. Your health needs some TLC too.
You've covered all the details—your dress is bought, the
flowers are ordered, the menu has been chosen. You're ready to walk
down the aisle, right?
Wrong. You forgot the most important thing—to take care
of yourself. The months before your wedding are a key time to pay
attention to your health and start setting yourself up for the rest
of your life. So remember to add the following steps to your wedding
planning:
See your gynecologist
"This is a pivotal time for women to visit their gynecologists,"
says Dr. Adelaide G. Nardone, Before the wedding, talk to your gyno
about the following issues:
- Birth control: This is a good time to re-evaluate and
change it if necessary.
- A Pap smear: You should have one every year. Don't put
it off because you're too busy.
- Fertility/preconception counseling: If you plan to get
pregnant right away, your doctor can advise you of any testing,
nutrition, or other steps that you need to take to make sure that
you have the best chances of conceiving and having a healthy pregnancy.
"If you are infertile, this is also the time to discuss that and
decide what your next steps will be," Dr. Nardone says.
Get vaccinated
Did you last booster shot occur when you still had training wheels
on your bike? Then schedule an appointment with your physician,
pronto. "You might also need some new immunizations. "And some of
them take a while to become active, so see your doctor three to
six months before the wedding." The critical vaccinations for twenty-
and thirtysomething women are:
- Tetanus/diphtheria: You need a booster every 10 years.
If you've lost track of the last time you had one, get it now.
- Measles, mumps, and rubella: A simple blood test can
tell if you need a booster shot.
- Chicken pox: "If you haven't had chicken pox, get
a vaccine," Dr. Gall says. "This disease can be more devastating
to adults than to children."
- Hepatitis A: This inflammation of the liver is contracted
thorough contaminated food and water. Vaccination is advised
for people who travel overseas, but it's a good idea for anyone,
Dr. Gall says. The vaccine involves two shots, six to 12 months
apart, so plan ahead.
- Travel-related vaccines: If you have a honeymoon planned
in an exotic locale, check to see if you'll need any vaccines
or preventative medications. Your local travel clinic can help
you, or check out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
at cdc.gov/travel.
Think about the future
With many brides-to-be fixated on dropping prenuptial poundage,
diet and exercise loom large before the big day. Why not think
about making some other changes that will have real payoffs in
the future?
- Stop smoking: You know it's a good idea, and
it'll help your teeth look whiter for wedding photos.
- Take your vitamins: Start taking a daily multivitamin,
and make sure you get enough folic acid and calcium. "You need
at least 400 micrograms of folic acid a day to prevent birth
defects," Dr. Nardone says. "Even if you have no plans to get
pregnant right away, folic acid is a good idea. And I can't
stress how important calcium is." Make sure you get at least
1,000 milligrams a day.
- Find an exercise
routine you can live with: Even if it's just walking, find
something you like enough to stick with after the wedding. And
after your nuptial planning is done, joint workouts can be a
perfect way to get some bonding time with your hubby.
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