I'm either negligent or ahead of my time with prevention?!
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Anonymous
| I focus on the things that run in my family and get the tests I need for those and I eat healthy and exercise, but I confess I still have not gotten a mammogram and it's been 10-15 years since my last check-up. I've gotten bloodwork and that sort of thing done, but not a full check-up.Now the new guidelines say we don't need mamo's yearly and some doctors don't recommend check-ups. I do plan to get a mamo and check-up, but I already have enough doctor appointments between getting early colonoscopy, taking care of thyroid, getting eyes checked out and dealing with other minor health issues that are common for women my age. Am I crazy? |
Anonymous
| Yes. If you end up dying of cancer you will be sorry you didn't make time for a screening. |
Anonymous
| Well I'm 100% certain that my numerous friends who have been diagnosed with various cancers are very happy they were screened. All of them would be dead now if they hadn't. |
Anonymous
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There was just a long thread about mammograms and an excellent article last summer in the New York Times Magazine. Bottom line: they have been oversold. They help a bit but the benefit is minimal. i still think women should have them for that small benefit.
I'm not sure what OP's point is. She's going to have a mammogram, she has colonoscopies, and bloodwork. |
Anonymous
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If you do not mind me asking OP, what is your age?
I am 45 yrs young and have not had a mammo either. My insurance covers it and I have a very dear friend in treatment for breast cancer. One would think my eyes would be open wide enough to see that I am putting my own health in jeopardy considering that I am adopted and have zero health records for both sides of my biological parents. It just seems like having a mammo is something I can always do "later." It seems I always have things I have to do that have higher priority to me. Honestly....I need to get on the ball w/this. I have a few GFs who are even pestering me about getting my first mammo which they may succeed in me doing. If your health insurance covers it, then I would go ahead and make the appt. when you make appts. for your other procedures. |
Anonymous
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OP, is the problem that you haven't been to a PCP for a check up? I think that usually that's useful as a first line of defense against minor to moderate health issues, and it sounds like you already are managing a few and probably don't want more on your plate if they're discovered.
If you've never had reproductive health problems, I'd drop the gyno exams (assuming you've had them) and transition to a PCP for that. Other than that and bloodwork, they don't do much other than check your reflexes and look in your ears and stuff. |
Anonymous
Who are you? God? Or just another doctor who wants to believe they are God. |
Anonymous
This is one of the most ridiculous posts I've read on DCUM. Screen, don't screen, whatever, but the playing God reference doesn't make sense at all. I get various screenings. Am I God as well? |
Anonymous
Only your "higher power" has any ultimate control over your dying from cancer, or not. |
Anonymous
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The benefit of regular visits to a primary care physician:
* a baseline of what's normal for you * someone to coordinate the care of specialists * someone who has all your records and you can visit for those occasional illnesses like food poisoning, bronchitis, strep, etc. * someone who makes sure you get your tetanus shot every 10 years Of course, I say all that and I am a year over-due on my mammogram, and 18 mos over-due on my follow-up blood work from an anemia issue, and almost a year over-due on my annual physical. |
Anonymous
OK this is pure bunk. I say this as a cancer survivor. Cancer is a battler between the errant cells and the medical treatment. Sometimes the cells win but usually the treatment does. If you decide, for example, not to have any treatment, for most cancers you will die and God has nothing to do with it. |
Anonymous
| Monthly breast self checks are the best way to detect cancer. I say this and know this, yet am negligent in actually doing so my self. |
Anonymous
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You should get screened. I'm lucky to be alive because I had an ovarian cyst burst and at the ER they gave me a CT scan to check for appendicitis and found a small tumor. It was cancer. I had surgery to remove it and that was that. If they hadn't accidentally found it so early, it probably would have killed me. It was a nasty, aggressive sort of cancer. And I was only 29 when they found it.
Give yourself every chance to catch things early. |
Anonymous
Where was the tumor? Was it ovarian? My dad found a second a symptomatic (but aggressive cancer) when getting imaged for colon cancer. If he hadn't had colon cancer and gotten the CT/MRI the other cancer would not have been detected until it was showing symptoms which generally doesn't happen until it is terminal stage. This makes me want to get a preventive scan every 10 years or so. |
Anonymous
Your response to the post doesn't make any sense!? What the hell does being God or being a doctor have to do with what's written? So the people who caught their cancers because of routine screenings shouldn't be thankful that those screenings caught their disease? Wtf. My sister's aggressive breast cancer was caught during a breast exam at the age of 34. And because of her battle I've met multiple other women who caught their BC early. You can throw caution to the wind if you want but I want as many odds on my side as possible. You hardly have to be God or a doctor to come to that conclusion. What a bizarre response. |