AIBU to consider not attending mammogram appointment

[SuperMoonIsKeepingMeUpToo]

Obviously if I decide not to attend I'll let them know but I'm interested in hearing opinions on this. I take my health seriously and normally attend everything going but this one I'm just not sure about as the accompanying leaflet informs me that:

'Screening saves about one life from breast cancer for every 200 women who are screened. This adds up to about 1300 lives saved from breast cancer'.

Great. But...

'About 3 in every 200 women screened every 3 years from the age of 50 to 70 are diagnosed with a cancer that would never have been found without screening and would never have become life-threatening. This adds up to about 4000 women each year in the UK who are offered treatment they did not need.

'Overall, for every 1 woman who has her life saved from breast cancer, about 3 women are diagnosed with a cancer that would never have become life-threatening. '

It is this risk of them finding and treating a cancer that would never become a problem I struggle with.

I'm 48 - our local authority is trialling extending the age range of women called for breast screening. No breast cancer in my family.

YANBU to consider all the advice before making an informed decision about screening at all.

I am the same age and on balance having BF 3 DC, no family history, never smoked etc I am thinking I will decline my invitation.

I think the points on length of life vs quality of life are also well made but it is a highly emotive assessment for any individual to have to make about their own prognosis and its impact on their loved ones.

It is not just a choice of having a mammogram or doing nothing. I've weighed up all the evidence - from the source reports - and decided that although I will be very vigilant I will not have a mammogram. It seems to make very little difference to saving your lives. Many of the posters on here have spoken of people diagnosed at age less than 50 - when aggressive cancers are most prevelant. If you have been offered a mammogram you will be 50+. There are pros and cons but making an individual informed choice is never wrong. YANBU.

I printed out the Cochrane report and took it with me when I last visited my GP as I knew I would come under pressure. I had previously asked the practice nurse to back up her assertions that it I should have a mammogram and she could only repeat time and again that it was what she had been told to say so it must be right!

This is an interesting thread. I went for a mammogram this week as I found a lump in the left breast. It turned out to be nothing, but a small, hard lump was found deep in my right one as it showed up on the mammogram.
I never felt it when I did my self exams, breast looks healthy and the GP/consultant didnt feel it when they checked my boobs. Im 48, no family history.
Its been ultra sounded and biopsied, the consultant thinks its benign. I am worried but if it turns out to be malignant, at least its been found.
I personally would go, but I appreciate the over diagnosis aspect and the stress it would cause.

I got diagnosed with breast cancer at 29 I had an ultrasound mammograms and biopsy I didn't have a lump as such but more of what felt like a bruise neither my doctor nor the breast doctor could find said lump so if anything I really think it's better to be safe than sorry I've had the cancer removed and waiting on results of it

I've read the 100 and so post and none mentions the breast RMI. I have a condition that not only makes me more prone to breast cancer but also gives me a more negative outcome in case I have it, so I go for the whole lot every year. Ultrasound+mammogram+tomography. My GP told me from next year we will be moving to the breast RMI which I had never heard before.
I just thought I would share this information.

I have read a lot about the genoma of cancer and for those interested there are plenty of courses on Coursera www.coursera.org/courses?languages=en&query=cancer . For those interested in the debate of screening or not, there is this Geneva University course dedicated to the topic www.coursera.org/learn/screening#. I know we ALL have cancer in us and that these cancer cells are most of the time kept under control by our immune system, and also know we are all different and what applies to me doesn't apply to anyone else.

The OP is free to make her choice as she sees fit. I have a very good reason to be tested, she has her good reasons to prefer not to. And I fully respect that.

The choice is entirely up to the individual but I am pleased that some areas are extending the age range for screening. My area doesn't screen until you are 50+. I am only just past 50, went to the GP after finding a lump, and have been diagnosed with a rare, aggressive breast cancer. If I was screened from age 48 it may have been spotted earlier but I can't be certain of that. Just started chemo and hoping it has been caught before it's spread. to everyone dealing with this horrible disease.

Stay positive I know you've probably heard that a lot but it helps I have a friend who had aggressive breast cancer had chemo and double masterectamy she only need one masterectamy but opted for double has now been giving the all clear we can beat it #f**kyoucancer

It's your choice.
I declined it and asked them to remove me from any chasers or future appointments.

My gp's surgery seems to have finally stopped chasing me about smear tests
The bowel screening people were asked to remove me from their list but they continue to send chasers which I bin.

Go!!!

It really is had to know. My mum recently was recalled following a routine mammogram. There was a small area of 'change' that they weren't happy with, they did x rays and scans and a fine needle aspiration and still weren't happy so they did a biopsy which was extremely painful for her. Thankfully it showed the area is not cancerous. It was a very stressful time and you do wonder if it was a good thing, putting her through the stress and pain.

I am several years off the age for screening and honestly don't know whether I will attend or not. I am totally flat chested, in my head I imagine that reduces the risk (if nothing else, surely I would immediately spot a lump)? But maybe that is nonsense. I also think I am low risk for cervical cancer as my husband and I have only ever had sex with each other (we met very young)so presumably I cannot have had HPV but I still attend the screening 'just in case' so I may well end up doing the same with mammograms.

Op, yanbu

(hoping this doe not qualify as a 'zombie thread' )

men can get breast cancer so being flat chested is no get out.

but it is your choice whether to go for screening. if you decide not to go, let them know so the appointment is not wasted.

It's such a personal decision. My mum had it, always had her mammograms. They were all clear. She found her cancer(her breast puckered) about a year after last mammogram, it had also spread to some lymph nodes. She never checked herself and just happened to see it in a mirror. she trusted the mammogram.
Personally, I worry about the radiation from the actual mammogram. I am vigilant and check several times a week in the shower. i will have then when I reach the age though but it doesn't take the place of self checks.

missduke A friend has no bust at all and had breast cancer, she never even wore a bra in her life.

howabout Please don't think those factors make you immune. my friend had 3 BF DC, never smoked, ran marathons, no family history and she got it at 49.

Go. They discovered pre-cAncerous cells at mine, which were removed. I now have annual screening. No history of breast cancer at all in family. The cells were the size of grains of salt, so could not have been detected any other way.

The thing is treatment for breast cancer is much milder the earlier it is detected so lumpectomy and radiotherapy if caught early versus mastectomy, six months chemotherapy and three weeks radiotherapy. The latter basically took a year out of my life and considerable emotional upset to my family (not sure even four years later we have ever fully recovered). I would vastly preferred my cancer to have been detected in a screening programme than to have waited until it became obvious and needing the more severe treatment programme.

My mum's GP recently spotted she'd not had a routine mammogram & sent her for one. Scan found Grade 1 invasive ductal cell carcinoma. She's receiving treatment. Her consultant said if she hadn't have come for the mammogram and they'd spotted it, in all likelihood it would have developed much further, requiring much more radical, intense treatment.

Captain - a mammogram is just "a snapshot in time" clear at the point of checking - so women still have to be vigilant in looking at their breast for any changes.

TheWernethWife -a mammogram is just "a snapshot in time" clear at the point of checking - so women still have to be vigilant in looking at their breast for any changes.

I know that but some PPs and people in general rely on them solely and don't bother checking their own breasts. Every person I know that has had breast cancer found it themselves so imo its as important as a mammogram, maybe even more important to be breast aware.

If any of you ever find a lump and go to your GP, make sure they refer you to get the full check i.e scan and biopsy. I know someone who went with a lump and was told by her GP that it was a harmless lump(GP knew this just by feeling ) and friend was duly reassured. A few years later lump appeared under arm, friend went back. Different GP referred her. The breast lump was breast cancer and had spread under arm. Mastectomy and chemo followed swiftly after. A good GP will say if they don't think it's a sinister lump but always refer you to make sure.

My sister died nearly two years ago from breast cancer. She didn't know she was ill until her body starting shutting down. The cancer in her breast was the size of a finger nail, it would have never created a lump that could be detected. It then spread to her spine and liver. Because it was in her liver she went into hospital with unexplained sickness. Then her back broke. Then it started reaching her brain and she had pain, confusion and seizures. She had five months of pure hell before she died, leaving husband and 5 year old child. They won't screen me because I'm not old enough. I can do as many breast checks as I want, it wouldn't have saved my sister. I'll refrain from calling you out and just urge you to get screened and consider yourself lucky.

Ah funnyface how awful. So sorry .

Please go
My friend nearly didn't , busy was going to postpone it
They found a lump
It was fast growing
After a year of treatment fingers crossed she's OK

Thank you chopstick, it was brutal an describing it doesn't do it justice. Just to add she never smoked or drank, never used any contraceptive pills and wasn't overweight. It doesn't run in the family. It just happens.