Don't Get Too Caught Up In the Conflicting Information - Get Your Yearly Mammogram!

A few years ago a US Task Force decided to start announcing that they felt women ages 40 - 49 did NOT need mammograms and that women over age 50 did not need them yearly! Beside making my head spin and my blood boil when I first heard this, many others were also up in arms. It appears that this Task Force was making a lot of their decisions based on cost saving efforts for insurance companies regarding testing and not on the science and reported studies.

A recent study has just been released which further knocks their information. THIS study says that women age 40 - 49 who have breast cancer found on a mammogram, absolutely have an earlier diagnosis, a earlier stage cancer and a better outcome than those women who find a cancer themselves on a self breast exam or whose doctors find same. This is information I have believed all along. The American Cancer Society ALWAYS continued to recommend yearly mammograms starting at age 40, earlier if you have a family history. They have not waivered on this decision, and neither should you.

There has been nothing submitted to change this guidleine and if you have been to a doctor who suggests anything other than yearly mammograms beginning at age 40, get yourself another doctor immediately.

I have witnessed numerous times in both my personal and professional life, countless women who benefited from going to their yearly mammogram and catching a cancer very early. I have also witnessed those who did not go, for one reason or another, and did not have a favorable outcome.

Please take this message with you. Yearly mammogram guidelines were devised for a reason. This was decided by medical professionals who determined that the benefit of yearly screening tests far outweighed any risk in detecting breast cancer at its earliest stages. NOTHING has changed with the actual testing that would suggest every other year would bring the same results. The only thing that DID change was the amount of money the insurance companies wanted to pay for these yearly tests!

Don't let your medical decisions and treatment be driven by financial reasons. If you do not have insurance, or you are having a hard time with a doctor who will not give you a prescription for a yearly mammogram, please reach out to me. There are PLENTY of county and state programs that provide these tests to women without insurance. I wil be glad to do what I can to get you somewhere where you can get the test you need, when you need it.

I am attaching the recent study so you can read it and further confirm what I am telling you here.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_122202.html

PLEASE take care of yourself and get your yearly mammogram and PAP smear - sometimes - a year can make ALL the difference!