Is it possible that not all breast cancer is bad news?
Yes, it’s true.
Many women are overdiagnosed and treated for breast cancer that would never cause a problem for them throughout their entire lives if left alone according to a recent article published in the Medical Journal of Australia.
Associate Professor Robin Bell of Monash University in Australia, says:
“Overdiagnosis amounts to women having a small, slow-growing cancer being diagnosed and treated, where in her lifetime that cancer may not have required treatment.”
Professor Bell is calling for a more balanced approach to breast cancer screening which fully informs women of the harm of breast cancer screening/treatment versus the very small or negligible benefits of treatment for such slow growing, nonlifethreatening breast cancers.
A 2010 study found that for every 2000 women screened over a 10 year period, only one woman would have her life prolonged as a result of the screenings yet 10 women would be treated unnecessarily.
The results of this study certainly put in the spotlight whether mammography has any benefit whatsoever particularly given that the radiation exposing screening method causes breast cancer itself!
They certainly don’t seem like very appealing odds to me!
As a middle aged woman who has never had a mammogram nor plans to ever have one (following in the footsteps of my 86 year old mother who has refused them all her life), this study adds further evidence of the wisdom of such an out of the box decision.
It would behoove women given the dire diagnosis of breast cancer to delve into whether their breast cancer really and truly requires treatment or would in fact be better left alone. At the very least, a second or even a third opinion would seem warranted.
Sometimes bad news might not really be bad news after all.
UPDATE: A far better way to screen safely for breast cancer and avoid the misdiagnosis potential of mammograms is to get annual breast ultrasound screening. How to do this without a prescription and the 7 benefits to health in doing so are provided in the linked article. Breast thermography is another safe, effective, no radiation tool for cancer screening that does not result in overtreatment or misdiagnosis.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Sources and More Information
Benefits of Cancer Screening Exaggerated
Women Overdiagnosed with Breast Cancer
170 Scientific Studies Confirm the Dangers of Soy
The Dangers of Estrogenic Foods, Herbs and Supplements to Breast Health
Komen (Not) for the Cure: The Complete and Utter Pinkwashing of America
Thermography: A Perfect Alternative to Cancer Causing Mammograms?
Why Even Organic Soy Formula is so Dangerous for Babies
How the Birth Control Pill Can Harm Your Future Child’s Health
I agree with you Sarah….and with your mother. I am 70 and have constantly refused a mammogram. I don’t intend to change that view.
Compared to many of you, I still have much to learn but I have a lot of experience with seeing the problems that occur from “preventative” tests. My Primary is not real happy with me because I won’t have all the free tests that my insurance wants you to have. I get regular lab work but will not do the glucose test where you have to drink all that junk that you spend your life avoiding. I refuse the bone density tests and others as well.
I did have to have a hip replacement as it was totally shot and fusing together. I made the decision because I didn’t want to spend my remaining years in severe pain waiting for my body to “heal” naturally. 🙂 For this I was forced to have the nuclear stress test and had such a severe reaction to the Thallium that I wanted to die. I hope never to be put in that position again!…… or should I say, I won’t be put in that position again. 🙂
Thank you for “stirring” the pot. I love your posts and have learned much.
The only way we can ever move forward is to challenge the status quo.
I am closing in on 40, but I have not intention of getting mammograms. Each time I see a doctor, he or she asks me about it, and I say no. I have heard TOO MUCH negative information about mammograms and don’t want to put myself through the risks they have. My mom has gotten a few of them, but she stopped and start doing thermal imaging instead.
I have seen a lot of positive information about thermography. I’ve had way too many xrays for other things and thermography (or maybe ultra sound) will be my choices for when I want to look inside my body.
Thank you for the post!
If anyone is interested to know what’s going on inside, consider thermography.
Yes, that is a great solution. I have an upcoming post on this … but it delves much deeper than the one I wrote about it a couple of years ago.
I’m glad to see that you are going to talk about thermography in another blog. I was a little dismayed that you didn’t talk about it here. There are other measures and more people need to know about them.
This is also what Dr. Nortin Hadler, a respected physician at UNC-Chapel Hill, says in his books (see The Last Well Person: How to Stay Well Despite the Health-Care System. and Rethinking Aging: Growing Old and Living Well in an Overtreated Society, and Worried Sick: A Prescription for Health in an Overtreated America). He pretty much advises staying away from most forms of screening (not just breast cancer but prostate cancer, cholesterol, etc.). I deeply regret the one “baseline” mammogram that I had at age 35 because I was the daughter of a mom with breast cancer.
I just had an HSG where they have to do an x-ray. I hated the idea, but my feeling is that one x-ray will probably be okay and one screening probably won’t hurt you. Now you know! : )
Are you a breast cancer survivor? What do you think #breastcancer http://t.co/a0ZdhpJP
Great post, Sarah. I completely agree with everything you’ve just stated. I personally believe that in general, more deaths are caused from the treatment of cancers rather than the actual cancers themselves. I’m 23 years old, and through all of the information I’ve learned about mammograms, I know that I will never get one! Thank you so much for sharing.
My mom also had breast cancer – after being treated for menopause and a life-long high-carb/low-fat diet. She had a lumpectomy, radiation treatment. 2 years later they found uterine cancer and she had a hysterectomy and the 5 year regiment of the cancer fighting pills. She was “cancer-free” for a year before they found terminal pancreatic cancer. At that point she threw her hands up in the air and said “I’m outta here!” She passed away peacefully from cancer-related complications and I will always wonder how much damage was caused by her 10-year “fight” with cancer…
Good for you Lisa, for probing the difficult question to what must be a very painful memory for you.
I can almost hear all the tooth gnashing while people are reading this post! There you go stirring the pot again Sarah. Love it.
Well, ya know – if you want a nice, comfortable, white washed read, don’t come to The Healthy Home Economist blog!!!! LOL
How boring would that be?
LOL, Sarah!
It’s so true, though; no one can be bored reading your blog!
Oh, boy, I can imagine all the people hyperventilating over this post! I’m with you on this, Sarah. I’m late 40’s and never had a mammogram and no intention to ever having one. My mother died in her mid-60’s from breast cancer and I can’t help but wonder if it was the aggressive screening that helped create the problem. That, and an adherence to a high carb, lowfat diet. Maybe I am playing Russian roulette, or maybe it’s the woman getting prodded, smushed, x-rayed and biopsied who are taking the big gamble. Would Grok’s mom have been mammogrammed?
Yes, this post is guaranteed to generate quite a bit of hate email into my inbox! LOL Oh well, this message needs to get out there and someone’s gotta do it. Why not me?
Have you ever thought of having a thermography done? It’s no invasive, no radiation, etc. I have them done and it’s great at seeing your breast health. It’s a screening tool whereas a mammogram is a diagnostic tool. Plus, thermography, can detect breast cancer or the signs of it earlier. Just a thought!
I’ve had thermography done and there is a problem with it which I will talk about in an upcoming post.
Not a health danger … a logistical danger. Will elaborate in the post. I must gather more info first.
I’d like to hear more about this, too. I just had one done a few months ago. I’ve never had a mammogram, and I’m almost 47.
When Breast Cancer Isn’t Bad News – The Healthy Home Economist http://t.co/xx2K3HnA