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Originally Posted by jmm2760jmm
I work in the medical field and I can tell you that early diagnosis & treatment save lives. I, for one, will continue my annual mammo and pap and my husband will get his annual PSA test. Good luck to you.
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I will continue to get my PSA test too. 1) I get it at no cost through my HMO and 2) My PSA number has been around 0.9 to 1.2 for the past 10 years. But what will I do if the number suddenly goes higher? There are lots of false positives. Should I get a biopsy? A biopsy that is positive for cancer may be a false positive too. The "cancer" may never progress to anything life-threatening. But if I were to get treatment, they would claim that testing saved a life.
The Thyroid gland is similar to the prostate in that almost everyone has some cancer in their Thyroid. If they happen to find it while checking for something else, they would most likely recommend treating it, even though most thyroid cancers will never progress to be life threatening. Then, after treatment, they would claim that testing saved a life.
This happens with early stage breast cancer too. A woman in The Villages was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. She decided to wait and first try dietary changes. She went on a 80% raw food diet. At her next check up they couldn't find any trace of cancer. Regardless of the diet change, the cancer may not have progressed or it may have receeded on its own. But if the doctors had treated it, they would have said, "testing saved a life!" And who would ever be able to prove otherwise?
People may ask, "what's the down side to getting treatment? If you get something treated, you make sure it's taken care of, rather than taking a chance." Well, there's plenty of harm from unneeded treatments. Radiation and chemotherapy damage good cells as well as cancer cells. Those who get chemotherapy have a greater risk of getting cancer again.
Another example: Some lung cancers (or cells that look like cancer) will never progress to be life threatening. But if they decide to remove a small piece of lung where the "cancer" is located, that person will be at higher risk for pneumonia. Not to mention the fact that all operations (big and small) carry some risk for infection and can even trigger dementia. But, again, they will claim to have saved a life.