He who finds a partner have found a good thing. Now that you've found the right person you think could complement you and spend the rest of your life with, it would be very better not only to know the love both of you have for each other but also knowing your medical histories is of a great importance. This is a very big factors that would further seal your relationship with your partner if the both of you don't want to start having marriage issues anytime soon due to medical complications.
Below are very necessary medical histories or tests you both need to have before sealing your union with a ring.
You should check for the possibility of lifelong infections such as HIV, Hepatitis B and C and Herpes, as well as curable ones like gonorrhoea, syphilis, bacterial vaginosis, yeast infections, Chlamydia, etc. Statistics show that 50% of young people will get an STI and not know it. So checking for possibility life long infection is a good way to start.
Fertility Test
We do love kids over here and having ‘Junior’ is always on the cards when considering marriage. So it’s safe to consider doing fertility tests to avoid surprises and some of the emotional stress associated with it. You should test for both you and your partner because men are liable for up to half of all infertility cases. Fertility tests include seminal analysis, hormonal assay; pelvic ultrasound scans to ascertain the state of the internal reproductive organs and so on.
Genotype
We’re still on the baby parade here and believe it’s important to ascertain both your genotypes beforehand to avoid having a child with the sickle cell disease. Sickle Cell disease is associated with a defect in the red blood cells and is a lifelong one – often resulting in serious illness. If you’re of the AA genotype, there’s nothing to worry about but if you are AS, you are a carrier of the sickle cell gene and care must be taken to know if your partner isn’t AS too. If they are, there is a 50% chance of having a child that is of the SS genotype.
Blood Group
It’s important to ascertain the blood group of a potential spouse to avoid issues relating to blood group or rhesus incompatibility. Your blood group can either be A, B, O or AB but there’s another component referred to as the Rhesus factor. The Rhesus factor is either positive or negative. If a Rhesus negative woman marries a Rhesus Positive husband, there is a 50% chance the baby will be rhesus positive. In this case, if precautions are not taken during pregnancy, this could lead haemolytic disease of the newborn.
An understanding of both your blood groups will help your doctor prevent Rhesus incompatibility issues during pregnancy.
Chronic Medical Conditions
Having a chronic medical condition isn’t the end of the world. Knowledge will only help both of you be better prepared to look out for each other. Early testing for conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, kidney disease, etc., will enable couples to seek medical assistance early enough and also make the necessary lifestyle changes. When it comes to your health, it is always good to know as this sets you on a path to making healthy life choices.
It’s better to be on the safe side when it comes to knowing your sexual health status before getting married. Being aware of any issues or the lack of them leaves you with one less thing to worry about before your big day.
Thalassemia Test
Thalassemia can be detected by doing a complete blood count (CBC) test but it is an important test that both partners need to do in order to prevent the chances of a birth defect in children. This test helps find out if you have thalassemia minor or not. While having thalassemia minor is not a problem, when two people who have thalassemia minor get married, there is a high chance that the child born may have thalassemia major which is cause of concern. So it is best to know before you tie the knot so that you can plan your future accordingly.
