Any other women avoiding mammograms? (hormones, biopsy, doctor, insurance)
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Yeah I know they have this cute little advertising campaign about getting your "mammies grammed" or something like that, but at 54 I've never had one and not sure if and when I'm going to buckle. For one thing, I've heard that if you have dense breast tissue you shouldn't, and they're supposed to warn you against it b/c dense breast tissue and tumors both show up white and I'm guessing that I do have dense breast tissue--seems the doc mentioned it before. Also I've heard your breasts have a tendency to be dense before menopause and I haven't had that yet.
Then I was tooling around the internet b/c sometimes I wonder if I'm being rational or stupid and I came up with this:
Quote:
Screening about 720 women aged 50–69 years once every 2–3 years for about 11 years would prevent 1 death from breast cancer, but it would also result in about 204 women having a false-positive result on a mammogram and 26 women having an unnecessary biopsy of their breast (Table 2).12 In the judgment of the task force, the larger absolute benefits for women aged 50–69 years justify a weak recommendation for screening, in contrast to the recommendation for women aged 40–49 years.
This is anecdotal but my aunt has had breast cancer twice--both times it showed up shortly after the mammogram, which is radiation shot thru your delicate breast tissue. It's worse if you get a rough handler and I've heard plenty of horror stories about that. My aunt, who was a nurse, suspects that the mammograms may have actually caused the tumors and that even if they didn't, they certainly didn't pick up on them.
Yes, I know that with an aunt who's had breast cancer twice, that increases my chances but my aunt has always been in poor health--she was born exactly a year after mom and got the short end of the stick healthwise and then was a chain smoker for years. I will be keeping up with colonoscopies--colon cancer runs pretty direct thru the family--but I'm also willing to just take my chances--gotta die of something. Anyone else feel this way?
I cancelled my mammo last week. I am 62 with no family history of breasted cancer....I may get a mammo next year or I may wait 2 more years. On the other hand my 48 year old friend died 2 years ago from breast cancer....she stopped having mammograms many years before she died....she felt that self-examination was good enough and that mammos were dangerous.
Breast cancer might run in families, but it has to start somewhere along the line and you don't want it to be YOU. For the few moments of discomfort, I think it is great that women can have this test done. It isn't 100% accurate every time for finding a mass, but no test is 100% accurate IMO.
I don't find the test that uncomfortable and women my age that get breast cancer usually do not get fast growing cancers because of the reduced hormones levels. Every 2 years is absolutely acceptable for a woman my age....my doctor is fine with this decision.
Cancelling a mammogram is the same as me cancelling a PSA test. I ain't gonna do it since I wanna live as long as i can not be an idiot and avoid testing that can help me live longer.
I don't find the test that uncomfortable and women my age that get breast cancer usually do not get fast growing cancers because of the reduced hormones levels. Every 2 years is absolutely acceptable for a woman my age....my doctor is fine with this decision.
Yes, that article gave a "weak recommendation" to have them every 2-3 years if you're between 50-69.
Another interesting thing about the article is that it comes from the journal of the Canadian Med Assn, and as we all know, they have socialized medicine. I'm guessing their bias would be against doing them too often, since they have to pay for them. OTOH, the American bias is for getting them, since we or the insurance companies have to pay for them. So, whom do we believe?
I avoid them too but because I dont have health insurance and no one will do them for free which is why I avoid them but if I had health insurance I would get one . Thank God it does not run in my family .
I had one today but it's been 17 months since my last one and I'll probably go 24 months if this one is good. I'm 54 and past menopause already. I really only did it now because I'm loosing the group health insurance through a divorce pretty soon and wanted to get as much done as I can while I have good coverage.
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