Sign the Petition Against the new Mammography Guidelines
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More and more young women without family history are being diagnosed with breast cancer everyday. Do the new mammography guidelines make sense?
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We are putting new chemicals into our environment at a faster and faster pace without long-term testing. What is the insurance companies and the government's view of the balance between finding early cancer and the costs of late detection?
As a DES daughter whose BC (and especially cervical cancer) risk was dramatically increased in utero, I say beware those who think "what's the problem" because we are creating situations we can't even imagine. Remember Thalidomide, remember Di-ethylstilbestrol and who knows how many other drugs for which women were the guinea pigs for someone's bright idea.
I try to remember what a friend once pointed out - what do you call the person who graduates at the bottom of their medical class?
Doctor.
So, ladies and women, depending on what you like to be called, watch out.
This site is an amazing resource, a way to not be a pawn but and active player in your own life and health choices. Who is watching out for you?
I am truly grateful for those who stay here and continue to provide support and information.
Thanks to all of you for being here and sharing.
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I was diagnosed with DCIS, Stage 0 on March 30, 2010 at my yearly mammogram. I am one of the lucky ones, Stage 0, non-invasive. I don't want to think what it would have been if I had to go every two years for a mammogram. Would it have been Stage 0? I proudly add my name to this petition against the new mammography guidelines.
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Diagnosed with "triple negative" breast cancer following a routine mammogram @ age 49 . . no family history of breast cancer and nothing on the mammogram one year prior.
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DCIS, in 2008, found on routine mammogram
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DCIS, 4/15/10, found on routine digital mammogram. Hopefully I have dodged a big bullet. Women should have a screening mammogram at a much early age than 40. What's wrong with 30?
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Diagnosed 3/31/10 at 35 years old with multifocal ER/PR negative DCIS found on routine mammogram. BRCA negative. I had a family history on my father's side of his sister who was 28 at age of diagnosis but wasn't considered "high risk" by any of my docs - I had to ask for mammo screening and even the biopsy. I got labeled BIRADS-3, come back in 6 months (this would have been 9/10), so got lucky in a sense it was caught now.
These guidelines don't make any sense! More and more women, especially young women, are diagnosed every day, we are mothers, wives, sisters, and daughters and our lives are worth something! Give us a chance for early diagnosis!
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Meaghan B. - diagnosed w/PASH last month at first mammogram, age 37. Claim was denied by my insurance company because I'm under 40 and the mammo was ordered as routine. Cost - $235.00.
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bump
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I was diagnosed with LCIS after a biopsy following abnormal digital mammo at age 35. Younger sister passed away at age 18, diagnosed with Invasive BC with lobular and ductal features.... at 17.
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Dianne Jones
DCIS and LCIS both sides at age 43.Found during routine mammogram.Never showed up the year before on mammo, or through self exams. Bilateral mastectomy-clean nodes....I know how lucky I am...My mom died of Stage 4 BC a few years ago...I might have followed her if not for yearly mammos.
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Overdiagnosis
THURSDAY, April 22 (HealthDay News) -- A new review suggests that doctors need to address the problem of overdiagnosis in cancer care -- the detection and possible treatment of tumors that may never cause symptoms or lead to death. The review authors found that about 25 percent of breast cancers found through mammograms and about 60 percent of prostate cancers detected through prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests may be examples of overdiagnosis. And about half of lung cancers detected through some screening tests may also represent overdiagnosis, they added. For several types of cancer -- thyroid, prostate, breast, kidney and melanoma -- the number of new cases has gone up over the past 30 years, but the death rate has not, the authors noted. Research suggests that more screening tests are responsible for the increased diagnosis rate, they explained. "Whereas early detection may well help some, it undoubtedly hurts others," Dr. H. Gilbert Welch and Dr. William Black, of the VA Medical Center in White River Junction, Vt., and the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, wrote in a news release from the U.S. National Cancer Institute. "Often the decision about whether or not to pursue early cancer detection involves a delicate balance between benefits and harms . . . different individuals, even in the same situation, might reasonably make different choices." In a commentary, Dr. Laura Esserman, of the University of California at San Francisco, and Dr. Ian Thompson, of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, wrote: "What we need now in the field of cancer is the coming together of physicians and scientists of all disciplines to reduce the burden of cancer death and cancer diagnosis. We must advocate for and demand innovation in diagnosis and management, fueled by science, harnessing modeling, molecular and immunology tools to address this problem." The review is published in the April 22 online edition of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
SOURCE: U.S. National Cancer Institute, news release, April 22, 20100 -
Elaine,
Diagnosed at age 50 in 2007 with grade 3, stage 3C, triple negative, 15/25 positive nodes. Nothing seen on the mamogram the year before but certainly was something there in 2007. Ask my kids who were 11 and 13 at the time if they would have NOT wanted me to have that mamogram in 2007. I don't think the government needs a say in my health care or whether I live or die. I bet all the politicians and people setting up these guidelines have better care and screening than what they are recommending for us. Don't you think they want early detection for them?
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Beth Hanley 38 @ diagnosis-pre baseline. I felt lump on my own by accident, then had it mammogrammed and biopsyed. My early finding it by accident (had to scratch myself in the right place right time kind of situation), I believe was key. If I didn't do that, I'd still have it in me as it didn't hurt. Approaching 1 year in remission August 2010
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Renee Seltzer, Age 28, Not considered "high risk"- IDC, Grade 3, +nodes
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ILC diagnosed because density showed up in my mammo. My doctor and I both missed it due to the size, shape and location.
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Sandy Grogg...Diagnosed at 64 with DCIS.....It was a routine mamogram that was almost an afterthought.....I just happened to mention it to my Dr in passing....He ordered it, and the reast is history.....
I have a daughter who is under 40, and I definitely want her to have her mammograms..... Mammograms save lives, and I am sure that any of us would rather have a "scare" than a "miss"....
Sandy Grogg
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Diagnosed at age 45 - 5/11/2007 - IDC, 5cm, 2cm, stage 3, ER+/PR+, HER2 -
The government does not need to dictate when a woman should get or start getting a base line mammogram - if it was a woman in their family I am sure they would want them to have the benefit of an early diagnosis.
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These guidelines would be a giant step backwards for women.
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diagnosed at age 49 no family history
rcl4145
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Stage 3 infiltrating lobular carcinoma - diagnosed on routine Mamo. age 42..(Just)
Even a year or 2 would probably been too late for me..
YOU ARE KILLING PEOPLE BY CHANGING THE SCREENING.
I am a mother who's kids need her....please dont deny that to a child.
Keep screening as is, this isnt the area to save money in.
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Lauren Osuch
I agree with robinri...this isnt the area to save money
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Jacqueline Downing Herrmann
I was diagnosed with stage 3A breast cancer at 37 with no family history.
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Barbara Archer - diagnosed age 58 - no family history.
Without the mammogram it could have been a lot worse. Do not change the screening.
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Traci age 42 at diagnosis
I felt a large lump..confirmed with mammo, U/S and MRI for final pictures. I had my first mammo at age 38 due to pain in left breast, was called back and recommended for yearly f/u. I forgot and was focused on another health condition. I now shout to the rooftops regarding self breast exams and yearly mammos. Period. We need out MD's and Nurses to be our advocates as well...
Women and men are perfectly capable of doing BSE's, and should not be put off by "fibrocystic breasts.." when it is there, you know it. (I had often wondered if I would be able to tell as I had lumpy sbresast tissue.) very offputting for professionals to question a person's ability to know their own body, ppffftt!
I educate at the check out line, in taxis and in my job
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Brenda Peters - DX 9/09 - IDC Stage 2. No Family History
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I was diagnosed at 40 and am sure that the cancer was in the previously diagnosed "fibercystic cyst" for at least a couple years.
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It also was highly suspicious that the a mysterious new "government panel" decided to declare that women don't need mammograms in their 40s right (without consulting breast cancer specialists) announced right before the new socialist govt slammed socialism healthcare-rationing down our throats. Rationing healthcare is NOT the answer. They are doing it with MRIs for recurring now too.
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Kathie Werremeyer, diagnosed at age 51.
My surgeon told me I have more than likely had breast cancer for 8-10 years prior to my diagnosis. I would like to add that other, more reliable testing needs to be done to detect breast cancer in addition to mammograms, as mammograms do not always detect breast cancer, as in my case.
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Jennifer Killian, diagnosed at age 27
My first breast lump was found at age 23. I was refused service when I went for my first mammogram, as the technician thought it was impossible for me to need a mammogram. My mother was diagnosed at age 35 as was her sister. I had several benign lumps until my first cancer diagnosis at age 27. I was diagnosed with cancer in the opposite breast at age 31 and with stage IV metastases to my spine, ribs, and pelvis at age 32. Please don't ignore the fact that this disease affects many women at very young ages and every woman deserves the right to find this disease in any way possible.
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