3,561,596 members
12,429,752 petition signatures
$19,571,785,510 diverted from Big Pharma
New Government Breast Cancer Advice Raises Concerns
In a stunning reversal of protocol a government health task force now recommends that women wait until they are 50 until they get a mammogram. They used to recommend women start getting mammograms in their 40′s. But perhaps the most shocking recommendation of the panel is that women should not even be taught to do self breast exams which is how many women first find out about lumps in their breasts. Now the government says the risks don’t out weigh the rewards in their new recommendation but this writer is wondering if a government getting prepared to take over healthcare is more concerned about the “cost” versus the rewards! NEW YORK — For many women, getting a mammogram is already one of life’s more stressful experiences.
Now, women in their 40s have the added anxiety of trying to figure out if they should even be getting one at all.
A government task force said Monday that most women don’t need mammograms in their 40s and should get one every two years starting at 50 — a stunning reversal and a break with the American Cancer Society’s long-standing position. What’s more, the panel said breast self-exams do no good, and women shouldn’t be taught to do them.
The news seemed destined to leave many deeply confused about whose advice to follow.
“I’ve never had a scare, but isn’t it better to be safe than sorry?” asked Beth Rosenthal, 41, sitting in a San Francisco cafe on Monday afternoon with her friend and their small children. “I’ve heard of a lot of women in their 40s, and even 30s, who’ve gotten breast cancer. It just doesn’t seem right to wait until 50.”
Her friend agreed. “I don’t think I’ll wait,” said Leslie David-Jones, also 41, shaking her head.
For most of the past two decades, the American Cancer Society has been recommending annual mammograms beginning at 40, and it reiterated that position on Monday. “This is one screening test I recommend unequivocally, and would recommend to any woman 40 and over,” the society’s chief medical officer, Dr. Otis Brawley, said in a statement.
But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government panel of doctors and scientists, concluded that such early and frequent screenings often lead to false alarms and unneeded biopsies, without substantially improving women’s odds of survival.
“The benefits are less and the harms are greater when screening starts in the 40s,” said Dr. Diana Petitti, vice chair of the panel.
Breast cancer survivors who were diagnosed at a young age were among the more vocal critics of the new guidelines.
“This sure seems like a big step backwards to me,” said Debbie Hayes, who was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer at age 33 after finding a lump during a self-exam. A mammogram, ultrasound, biopsy and finally a mastectomy and chemotherapy followed.
“People are being diagnosed even in their early 20s,” said Hayes, now 53 and a volunteer coordinator for the Chicago-based Breast Cancer Network of Strength. “Mammograms are a key element of that.”
But another breast cancer survivor thought the new guidelines sounded about right — even though she was diagnosed at age 37, two years ago.
“They seem pretty sensible to me,” said Claire Mayne, of San Francisco. “The death rate is not going down because of the earlier mammograms. I’d feel comfortable telling a friend to wait until she was 50.”
Mayne was more doubtful, though, about the advice on self-exams; that’s how she found her own cancer.
Most women in their 40s interviewed for this article said they planned to stick with the old mammography recommendations, at least for now.
“I have two young children,” said Amber Smart, a 47-year-old mother in Agoura Hills, Calif. “There’s a lot of years left that they need me.” She’s been having mammograms every six months, since she was 44, to make sure that certain dense areas of her breasts aren’t cancer.
“I think it’s kind of sad that they’re basically saying, ‘We can’t afford to pay for the few people who may have it in their 40s, so a few people are going to die,’” Smart said.
Judy Finley, a flight attendant from Dallas, called the new recommendations “a terrible idea,” and said she was especially worried that insurance companies might “pick up on this and quit paying for mammograms from 40 to 50.”
“I think it would be really sad,” said Finley, who was walking through the Crown Center mall in Kansas City, Mo. “And I don’t know how the U.S. government or a panel of government officials can think they know better than the American Cancer Society.”
But there were those who saw the new guidelines as potentially a relief, a development that could save women from endless stress, false positives and perhaps needless procedures.
“I can’t tell you how many friends I have who’ve gone through severe worries from false scares,” said Maren Waxenberg, a Manhattan mother. “At least three of them have had biopsies. And it turned out to be nothing.”
Waxenberg herself, 46, has not yet had a mammogram. “I’m not concerned at this age,” she said. “I plan to do it, but there’s no sense of urgency.”
The new guidelines are for the general population, not those at high risk of breast cancer because of family history or gene mutations.
They say:
_Most women in their 40s should not routinely get mammograms.
_Women 50 to 74 should get a mammogram every other year until they turn 75, after which the risks and benefits are unknown. (The task force’s previous guidelines had no upper limit and called for exams every year or two.)
_The value of breast exams by doctors is unknown. And breast self-exams are of no value.
Medical groups such as the cancer society have been backing off promoting breast self-exams in recent years. Decades ago, the practice was so heavily promoted that organizations distributed cards to be hung in the shower demonstrating the circular motion women should use to feel for lumps.
As for mammography, the panel’s new recommendations are more in line with international guidelines, which call for screening to start at age 50; the World Health Organization recommends the test every two years, and Britain says every three years.
They were sharply challenged by the cancer society on Monday.
“The task force advice is based on its conclusion that screening 1,300 women in their 50s to save one life is worth it, but that screening 1,900 women in their 40s to save a life is not, Brawley wrote.
That stance “is essentially telling women that mammography at age 40 to 49 saves lives, just not enough of them,” he added.
But Dr. Amy Abernethy of the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center agreed with the task force’s changes.
“Overall, I think it really took courage for them to do this,” she said. “It does ask us as doctors to change what we do and how we communicate with patients. That’s no small undertaking.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j4W_qistYWRU8CC4dCvvMRJv3SVAD9C15L4G5
Related posts:
- Breast Cancer May Be Linked To Diet In The Early Years Of Life Research released by a team at UC Davis has...
- Cancer Fighting Foods – 4 Anti-Cancer Foods Could it be that cancer rates are so rampant...
- Aspartame-Cancer Link Exposed: Increasing Your Cancer Risk There have been several studies over the years that...
- Feds May Acknowledge Ground Zero Cancer Link The federal government may formally acknowledge that Ground Zero...
- Kids’ Cholesterol Tests: Doctors At Odds Over Test Guidance Should all U.S. children get tested for high cholesterol?...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Does the government think we are so stupid we can not see what they are doing?Next they will say we need physicals every ten years,no screening for high blood pressure or heart disease..etc.. This is what happens when the government takes over our health care,and the sad thing is this will give private health insurances a legal basis to deny procedures. Americans will die for Obamas “successful” health plan!!!
True. These government advisements are essentially a form of population control, to be quite frank. It will successfully drop the population numbers so “everyone” can receive lower than substandard care.
Furthermore, the majority of people here; I’ve noticed, complain about having to pay for medications/medical procedures they would rather not participate nor know anything about. So who wants a drive-by colonoscopy during their lunch break? Then they’ll turn around and say they’re not being taken care of.
National Health/Government controlled health care never worked in England, never worked in German, Switzerland and the whole of Europe by personal experience.
I hope to God the country does not go the same direction. I truly fear for the life of myself and my family. I would not know what country to go to next if I want to be properly taken care of and treated for the simplest of things.
A full thermography body scan every year should be recommended now with a mammogram follow-up IF something is found. That would reduce any unnecessary radiation and trauma to the breast tissues (which results from a mammogram and I believe is one of the objectives for this change) while adding a more accurate detection of changes in the breast much earlier than a mammogram alone could detect. Do your own research – I did. I wish our insurance companies/doctors would start using Thermography NOW, while we are healthy, because I truly believe THAT will save more lives, especially with breast cancer.
Good news is, this will open more people up to finding safer alternatives like TIP and self exam will cost no one anything but time; bad news …if the government won’t pay for mammograms, they definitely won’t pay for TIP.
Good News….Maybe now more people will now hear about the painless, effective and safe tests called THERMAGRAMS (can detect heat changes in the breast 10 years before mammograms can see any irregularity). They have never been talked about in the mainstream but you can find doctors that will give them. I think they have not been promoted because there is no money in it. Cost is minimal. Same reason we never hear about prolotherapy.
Many people don’t know about thermograms. My doctor advised me to get one every 6-8 months because they’re a more effective indicator of breast tumors. Tumors will show up sooner on a thermogram than on a mammogram. Also, they’re much safer since there is no radiation involved. It’s a simple and painless procedure.
I’m surprised the medical brainiacs working for the government don’t mention this. Of course, my medical insurance policy doesn’t cover the $130 cost of a thermogram, but I’ll gladly pay for a procedure that is effective, painless, and safe.
I’ve been paying for homeopathic treatment out of my own pocket for over 15 years now and I’m 100 times more healthy than when I was treated with allopathic medicine.
Another Attack On Woman’s Health To Save Insurance Companies Money
I was flabbergasted that someone said she had friends who had biopsies that turned out to be nothing and feels these new “guidelines” are better because of “false” worries/scares. I certainly would rather have a biopsy that turns out negative then find out later on not having one and I have cancer. I had one mammogram come back that they wanted a more pin-point one done on a certain area. I knew it was just due to my fibroids, so I did not panic or worry. I was right, it was just the fibroids.
My Grandmother (paternal)and all her sister’s developed breast cancer later in life (all treated and survived for many years. They did not die from cancer related things) I will continue to have my annual mammo until a better testing method comes along.
In response to the comment about Obamas “successful” health plan, I actually think that government run heathcare is a good thing. In England, even if you are poor, you still get medical care. If you are not happy with the Health Service provided by the government you can still pay to go privately. In america, as I understand it, if you can’t pay you don’t get treated. Well that is hardly fair is it? Are there not people dying already becasue they can’t afford to pay?! I think the only people with a problem with this is the people that CAN afford to pay. Why is it that America shuns the poorer people in America? There seems to be a great divide there that Obama is taking responsibility to try to correct. Give the man a break!!
If you decide to research this topic you will find that mammography is not what it has been promoted as. It does not reduce the overall death rate,it causes to many false alarms and the risk of radiation exposure causing cancer in and of itself, is a topic rarely discussed in full honesty. Quite frankly, after breast cancer is discovered, the barbaric treatments that are typically administered are simply one more way of women being mis-treated. Yes, in cases, life is extended. But at what cost to quality of life? I look forward to the day that prevention takes precedence over treatment and treatment is humane.
I am an Obama supporter and do think we need a national health care program. BUT–the idea that mamograms are not useful under the age of 50 and that self examination is of no use at all is pure bunk. I found my stage 1 cancer by self examination. If I had not been diligent about doing the self exam I would not be dead because it was a very agressive form of cancer. Regardless of what our health policy is, common sense should prevail and ALL women at every age should know how to perform self breast exams.
Please Ladies, wake up and see this move for what it is ! A Misogynistic assault on Women ! We are being considered the “enemy” in the Health Care debate. We “cost” to much to maintain, ie: physical injuries sustained from Domestic Violence are NOT covered, Pregnancy is a PRE-EXISTING condition and is NOT covered, and now it’s our breasts. All of us should be outraged at what’s going on here. The Insurance co’s don’t want to insure WOMEN !!!! We are the majority of the population and we are costing them too much money.
I am a twice breast cancer survivor. Both times I discovered the lumps and I was under 40 the first time. I had NO HISTORY and I breast-fed my babies. I wish I knew then what I know now…………
Get your Hormone levels tested by an Alternative Doctor and if necessary, use Bioidentical Hormones. Don’t be afraid. Read everything you can about natural women’s healthcare, Suzanne Somers books are a great place to start. And don’t let your medical doctor tell you she’s wrong, because she’s not. They will pressure you like crazy because they don’t know…………..
Take control of your own health. Be your own advocate, research like crazy. Mainstream medicine is way off base, much of what they do keeps them in business.
As a health care practitioner for over 30 years and with a mother who had breast cancer, I am thrilled with the new guidelines.
The unnecessary emotional and sometimes physical trauma of dealing with this archaic form of breast cancer detection is now going to change for the better if it is replaced with the smartest tool for surveillance we know of right now. That is the well-kept secret of medical thermal imaging of breasts and indeed the whole body.
We have known of this method for many decades but as it threatened the status quo on so many levels, this knowledge was repressed. Radiologists, the cancer organizations, the pink people, are all ignoring or ignorant of the incredible advantages of decades earlier detection of most breast abnormalities. The simple truth is that mammograms only show changes in structure, in actually moving breast tissue into new formations due to a recognizable mass.
With medical thermal imaging, the detection of heat, (cancer cells make more heat than normal cells) lets us detect abnormal changes far earlier, before a detectable mass has time to form.
With the combination of being exposed regularly to high amounts of unnecessary radiation, often unnecessary biopsies and more extensive surgeries, the huge fears and subsequent ill body reactions that engenders, plus the possible effects of the compression of breasts during the mammogram causing cancer in situ (which the body might very well handle alone if kept compartmentalized as it was before being desseminated by the compression of the bressts) to spread and become more difficult to deal with possibly. Want to take that chance?
We have cancer cells in our bodies all the time. By following good health practices we lower our overall risk of all kinds of cancers by having strong immune systems. Just not interfering with our body’s own defensive processes with things like mammograms and other radiological surveys, other environmental pollutants that are avoidable, and trying to decrease our stress long term, we do far more to prevent cancer, for a lot less money and worry.
This whole health care crisis is being handled imexpertly and by the wrong authorities
If only…in a perfect world…we could do so much more…
Before we assume the governement is lying or preparing us for their new health care plan.. maybe we should consider if they know something we don’t..
For instance.. it has been discovered that the mammograms radiation can cause cancer in some women and increase your risk for cancer the more mammograms you have especially if you start at a young age. The cancer society wouldn’t want to admit that.. so they use another excuse..
Thermography (that is not covered by insurance probably because the cancer society doesn’t promote it) is a much safer route to take and a way to find issues sometimes 5-10 years before a mammogram.
Let’s not forget that the cancer society still isn’t promoting that sufficient amount of vitamin D could prevent over 76% of breast cancer. (and the government has known for many years the benefits of D) Shouldn’t this be on their homepage in bold red letters if they really cared about helping us.
At least at this point.. the government can’t control what we do in our own homes..so we can still do self exams and take Vitamin D. Enjoy those freedoms while you can..
Come on ladies,
Maybe the radiation is part of the problem, causing the very thing you think you are ‘protecting’ yourself from all along.
Since when has a majority of the doctors in this country really understood women’s problems. I’m all about alternative medicine and lifestyle changes. I have increased raw fruits and vegetables, especially greens with green smoothies, in an effort to give my body what it needs to heal itself. Hippocrates was right, “let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.
Lost my health insurance last year and that alone has doubled my efforts to stay healthy–tests of questionable nature many times only benefit the doctors and companies that promote the tests.
Germany released research that shows the dangers of too mammograms way before there was talk of government health care. Don’t try to blame this on my President.
Women should do what they feel safe doing. I had NO insurance for years, so I could not get mammograms. After I finally go insurance, I have had TWO false alarms, as have several of my friends and family members.
Stop eating a fat-based diet, start eating fresh organic greens, and alkaline foods and you will lessen your chances of breast cancer more than you will by getting x-rays every year.
If you discover a breast lump you are going to have it investigated. Common sense. I am the survivor of a false positive mammogram. I underwent 2 biopsies, one of which caused a nasty hematoma. When I finally took the biopsy results to another doctor for a second opinion, he said it was nothing and he never would have ordered a biopsy based on the mammogram result, he would have just repeated it 6 months later. Interpretation of mammogram abnormalities is subjective. If I ever feel the need for another breast screening I would do thermography (we should be pushing to have insurance will pay for thermography to give us a choice).
And by the way, mammograms cause breast cancer! Medical radiation is a leading cause of cancer. Why is no one mentioning this? Radiation is cumulative in breast tissue, so the more mammograms you have over the course of a lifetime the more your risk increases. Starting mammos at age 50 and having one every two years will decrease the incidence of breast cancer due to less cumulative radiation in our breasts. How many of you women wear underwire bras? If you are concerned about breast cancer then lose the underwire bras, which compress the lymph glands and prevent the lymph system from removing toxins from the breasts. Bounce yourself on a mini-trampoline to help the lymph circulate. Quit eating meat that is shot up with hormones. There are so many ways to insure you never get cancer, and mammograms are NOT one of them. Do your homework and you can protect yourself just fine without them.
It reminds me of the inner-city young women I used to care for. They would have sex with people they didn’t trust and then run to the clinic for an HIV test. Excuse me, but having the test does NOT prevent the disease! You have to take responsibility for prevention. And you won’t find the information you need in the mainstream media or sick care system. You have to go outside the box, and the information is readily available.
thanks for listening…good health to all.
Why isn’t there any discussion about the research that has been done showing that radiation from mammograms increases the chances of breast cancer? Women need to use common sense. Self exams are obviously something we don’t just stop doing, but having less exposure to radiation by having fewer mammograms makes sense.
This is Dr. Susan Duve, DC, ND, FIAMA located in Texas in practice 14 years successfully using alternative treatments to balance hormones naturally for men women and children. Although some responses to this change are fearful and negative, at least women, usually the medical decision makers in the household, are speaking up and educating themselves. Breast cancer is a condition that can be avoided and not only through mammography, mastectomy, and chemotherapy. There is a better way and it does not have to include equally toxic synthetic and bio-identical hormones. Through proper laboratory testing, detoxification, and homeopathy, I will help any woman, man or child balance their hormones naturally and effectively keep them out of the danger zone that leads to breast, uterine, ovarian cancer regardless of where you live. Education is key. There are better ways to care for yourself. http://Www.duvewellnesscenter.com. Or find an alternative practitioner on your town. We are here working hard to heal you with natural methods that work, but you must educate yourself.
LETS LOOK AT ANOTHER SIDE. I (AND A WHOLE LOT OF OTHER WOMEN) FEEL THERMOGRAPHY IS AN EXCELLENT SCREENING TOOL FOR WOMEN 30-50 YEARS OLD. IT IS A SAFE, NON-INVASIVE AND INEXPENSIVE WAY TO SCREEN FOR ACTIVITY. HERE ARE A FEW REASONS WHY.
1. RADIATION IS THE SINGLE MOST FACTOR (NEXT TO A STRONG FAMILY HISTORY) THAT CAUSES CANCER. OVER-RADIATING CAN AND WILL INEVITABLY CAUSE CANCER.
2. BREAST TISSUE IS MUCH MORE DENSE DURING MENSES – IT IS SOMETIMES VERY DIFFICULT TO SEE MASS IN THE BREAST BECAUSE OF THIS.
3. FIBROIDS AND CYSTS THAT ARE FOUND IN BREAST TISSUE OF YOUNGER WOMEN ARE COMMON AND OFTEN UNNECESSARILY BIOPSIED.
ISN’T IT TIME FOR A CHANGE??????
This is yet another wake-up call. I agree, we have to take more responsibility for our health. This government doesn’t care. They are determined to reduce our numbers any way they can and many ways. WE have to get ourselves healthy away from their systems. A healthy, independant, informed population is hard to control. It starts with food. Women, get back into the kitchen and prepare and cook food from scratch. Search for pure foods from organcic, local farmers and ranchers and support them. Get off drugs! Don’t feed big pharma and insurance companies, they are going down or being swallowed by government. Bioidentical hormones are the way to go. Get off soy products with their phytoestrogens ( breast health needs lower estrogen), get back to raw milk products and range fed chickens, eggs, beef, lamb, pork, bison and wild caught fish. Consider growing some of your own food and what you can’t grow get from local farmers. Use fermented grains and legumes. Store food….lots of it and water. It is possible to wean ourselves from all/most systems that can and will be controled by the government. Learn from Sally Fallon “Nourishing Traditions”.
As a nurse practitioner in women’s health for over 20 years, I agree with the new guidelines for mammogram. Yoounger women tend to have denser breasts, in which case mammogram is much less reliable. I DON”T agree with not doing self exams. Most of the women I have seen with breast cancer have found it themselves.
There is a wonderful screening tool available called thermography which was approved by the FDA in 1982 as adjunctive screening for breast cancer. Why aren’t we using this modality? Why are we so far behind our European counterparts who have used this screening for years?
Deborah you got it! Alternative remedies is the way to go. Looking at your body as a whole and keeping it in balance through alternative prevention is true way to be healthy.
Mammography not only is very painful and makes you feel like a lab rat, but it is killing women with their high dosage of radiation we are exposed to every time you get one, therefore increasing your risk of breast cancer!!!! Crazy, no one puts 2 and 2 together.
I think it is a blessings that the government has lowered the requirement for mammography. Result is less radiation, less danger for cancer growth and maybe the rise of new awareness amongst women to look elsewhere for safe alternatives.
Thank you Cathy!! I agree with you completely. In time mammograms will be seen as a torturous and barbaric procedure. Thermography is the next wave of technology that does not traumatize breast tissue, gives a more accurate view of changes in breast tissue and is totally non invasive. But women must educate themselves and not be guided by fear. By the time we detect a lump by hand it isoften times already in an advanced stage, we need some other detection device and thermography although not perfect (nor is mammography) is what I plan to do.I’ve also spoken to doctors about ultra sound for the breast tissue and it is a viable consort of thermography. I am so glad I am of an age that will see an advancement of breast care without EVER having to have a mammogram.
I think mammograms are not harmless tests. I look at it like this:
Oh here you go take my breasts,smash them mass them and radiate them,and tell me if they have cancer. Women who get them radiated every yr. or every 6 months and then get cancer,geez no wonder!
Radiation is poison! All the toxins in our environments are making women get cancers also,like plastics and household “cleaners” etc. Microwaves,don’t use them. They kill all the enyzmes in your food,don’t eat dead food or your body doesn’t stay healthy.
I recently had my yearly mammogram in August.
A 3.5 cm tumor was found, and not until they did an ultrasound did they find a second tumor. I have had a mastectomy with no metastasis and low rate of recurrence. If I had waited for an every two year mammogram this would not have been the outcome, as likely it would have metastsized.
These new guidelines are troublesome. Now my daughter , who is more at risk and 43 would not be getting the yearly mammograms, if these were followed, and a breast cancer could go undetected.
I do not agree with these guidelines at all.
The breast self exam should be continued by women, the only harm is false positives and negatives.
We have been sold the benefits of mammograms, but they may do more harm than good in younger women who are more sensitive to the radiation exposure. There is a risk in the number of mammograms recommended by when starting at 40 and repeating them yearly. The radiation may be small but it adds up over the years and can cause cancer. Despite some advancement in lessening the amount of radiation, its still a concern. Some genes(Oncogene AC) are very sensitive to radiation exposure.
Also, physical pressure during the mammogram
may spread existing cancer cells.
Cutting the number of mammograms a woman receives in her life might be a preventative measure against cancer. New technology such as Thermography might be the better answer.
Sorry, but I don’t agree with you. To my knowledge, those that don’t have health insurance go to the ER and they can’t turn them away, so they do get treated.
Do you actually believe our federal government is going to pay thousands of dollars to keep someone alive or give them the cancer treatment they need? Well I don’t believe it!!! As Obama said himself, “I think you should get the type of health care you can afford to pay for.” He also stated that some of these people just need to take a pill instead of having a procedure.
If his plan was so great, all the government officials would be wanting to jump on the band wagon, however you don’t see any of them wanting this wonderful government run health care plan that they are trying to ram down our throats with a threat of imprisonment and / or huge fines if we don’t pay.
Besides, our government broke the social security system, what makes anyone think the money will be there to treat individuals who are sick. HAHA you people are dreaming!!
I agree, all that radiation from mammograms can’t be good. I’m a strong proponent of natural health approach. TIP – is that thermal imaging something? I do not want mandatory health insurance that i will not be using because it won’t cover my choice of alternative doctors. Wish people would educate themselves and realized that “mainstream” medicine is killing us…
A better way does exist – Thermography! Radiation from mammograms actually can cause breast cancer so the thermography is much better and detects changes ten years earlier than a mammography can.
Thank you Lisa. Any one on Medicare here in America is on a good policy and that’s government medical!
Amen! I totally agree!!
Thank you, Cathy. Years ago I worked as a chiropractic assistant and have since become a chiropractor. All of my training regarding x-ray(MAMMOGRAPHY IS XRAY)admonished to NEVER, EVER expose brain, eyes, breasts, thyroid or gonads to x-ray. X-ray, also known as ionizing radiation, can initiate mutation of DNA and can actually CAUSE CANCER.
Thermography is certainly the best screening option for breast cancer.
Very interesting information. My question is why do thy want women to get radition on the breast after a tumor is removed, tissue is clear & chemo is finished since radiation can cause cancer. Are we their meal ticket?
By the way, I had breast cancer, am going through chemo & my cat found mine. He saved my life.
Actually, screening mammography provides about 1,000 times greater radiation exposure than that from a chest x ray. Mammograms are dangerous and often cause cancer. This recommendation will save lives long term. Read between the lines a bit, this government panal can’t come out and tell people that we have been doing this all wrong and killing people. They have to break this news slowly. I am just glad that it is FINALLY coming out.
Why is thermography not an excellent screening tool for women over age 50?
I am in agreement with you I have many patients who are concerned about this excessive radiation exposure. Why are we not talking about breast MRI that is much more accurate in younger women because it can see through the dense breast tissue that is normal for a young woman. Why are we not talking about the reality that mamogram is not accurate until the hormone levels fall and can see through fatty tissue. I think it is about time they get with the picture and the data.
People will only recieve substandard care if the decide to only to what the insurance companies will pay for, which is nothing.
They do have a choice to pay for services that are not covered by insurance. This is what will drive good healthcare.
I agree, John. Mammograms ARE dangerous, and often cause the very thing they are working to prevent. There are safer ways to have them examined that are far more effective, from what I’ve read.
The studies show that mamogram is no more effective at finding early mass development than self breast exams. That means that women are finding lumps with self exams. I’m confused as to why they would stop teaching this.
Thermography has been very effective at finding malignacies in breast tissue without known damage, unlike mamography. I like that mamography is being delayed.
I agree that the news needs to be broken slowly. It allows for some belief in our leaders still. The same is occuring with the recommended servings of fruits and veges. Increasing slowly doesn’t shock the public.
I’m glad to see responses about the truth of the matter esp from a doctor! And I also agree with john about breaking the news gently about how we’ve been killing people with excessive radiation. It’s a known that radiation is cumulative in our bodies. Why are so many women so anxious and willing to subject themselves to it? And mammography is not “preventative” medicine – it doesn’t prevent cancer. However, building a strong immune system, and taking care of our bodies the way God intended will. And when we do the right things and make right decisions, including eating a healthy diet, exercising, having a good attitude and frame of mind, etc…we will have little to worry about.
Hi Bettsy Brown,
When I had breast cancer at 38 (I found my lump myself – my gynocologist didn’t recommend mammograms for me until age 40) and my doctor told me that my daughter would be “high risk” because of my cancer and should be screened starting a very early age (I think he said between 25-30), even though I know through genetic testing that my cancer was not due to a known hereditary gene. I do not recommend that my daughter get mammograms that early since the radiation over the years to come can cause her GET cancer! She has learned as I have that taking proper care of our bodies is key to staying healthy.
Anyway, I don’t believe your daughter will have any trouble getting a mammogram as she, too, will be considered “high risk” because of your diagnosis with breast cancer. She will not be in the category for mammograms 50 and over.
Dr. Susan Love advocated these changes years ago.She said we are not taking ” women’s god given right to radiation” away but actually saving women from it. Thankfully we are seeing a new paradigm.