False health alarms change you?

[shootingstar]

Well, now after the 2nd set of blood tests...that I am not diabetes 2. Normal.
Whew!

But it's been strange, before this I was reading about low-glycemic foods and diet. My whole brain has been oriented to change and I started change my diet. the probability of it happening is probably real because I eat so unevenly throughout the day. I don't need to lose weight --just continue to make my whole body function normally inside me.

Now I don't want to quite stop.

Ever had a health-related false alarm (ie. breast exam, etc.) where it ..caused you to change your lifestyle, diet anyway later on?

[OakLeaf]

I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for this. And to all you breast cancer survivors, this is in no way disrespectful of the choices you made.

I had a false positive mammogram this summer, and I've decided I'm not going to have any more mammos. All the reading that I did as a result, regarding breast cancer detection and treatment, made me decide that if I get a palpable lump, then I get a lumpectomy, and that's it. To me, the odds vs. the known ill effects don't support doing anything else.

Again, this is a very personal choice, and anyone here who still has mammos or who's had BC and chosen chemo and/or radiation, I completely respect that. And if the medical establishment ever bothers to develop and/or offer a more reliable detection method or treatments whose toxicity is more comparable to the risk of metastasis, I won't necessarily reject those, either.

ETA: I try to lead a reasonably healthy life, just because I'm fairly aware of my body and I hate feeling like cr*p when I eat the wrong foods, don't exercise, let my blood sugar get out of whack, drink too much alcohol, or inhale scary chemicals. I already knew I have to use moderation in the amount of soy I eat, I'm trying to reduce endocrine disruptors in my environment (and thus in everyone else's too), I don't use a lot of animal products, and what I do use are almost invariably organic and pasture raised. I'm far from perfect, but maybe a health scare like this might have more effect on others' lifestyles than it did on mine.

[bmccasland]

I remember walking into the local Starbucks to get coffee and a treat and announcing the the barista that "I don't have cancer!"

3 years and a move later - bought some really tasty cheeses at Whole Foods, again telling the counterperson "I just found out I don't have cancer!"

The emotional rollercoaster on whether or not I had breast cancer made me a wreck, so I treated myself to yummy food. I'm in a high risk group, so every time something strange shows up on my annual mammograms, folks get excited. After two, no three, false calls, I don't get excited anymore. So far, I've been called back for extra films, or an ultrasound. If they want to to a biopsy I'll probably be back on that rollercoaster.... and y'all will probably know about it too.

[mimitabby]

Oakleaf, I can't blame you. Due to fancier equipment, my sister was led around by doctors for an entire year, looking for all sorts of garbage like cancer on her kidneys and spine, subjecting her to all sorts of nasty tests, usually far from where she lives... when in fact, when it was all over, they discovered that she had a large but utterly normal pancreas.


bmccasland, just reading about diabetes and prediabetes has made me very very conscious of my usually bad eating choices, and I've tried to steer towards a diabetic diet, because being a normal american, most the time i eat more than i need and am sedentary more than i should be.

Autoimmune type diseases like frozen shoulder COULD be pre diabetes symptoms (i had that one). There's a lot of that "Could" stuff.
better to be safe than sorry. Changing your diet now might help you NOT gain weight at menopause and keep you healthier overall!

[KnottedYet]

At my 5 year check-up when my cancer-man declared me "cured," I went out for coffee and did the same thing! I announced to the barista I was cured, and she said "congratulations!"

Kinda silly when I look back on it, but damm I was so happy and excited I just had to tell a REAL HUMAN BEING right that moment!

I wonder if baristas get the same life-story type stuff that bartenders do?

[Triskeliongirl]

That's certainly good news you don't have diabetes, but if I were you I would my doctors exactly what tests were run and what were the results (not just 'normal' but the numbers, the ranges, even better ask for copies of the lab reports). For example, even a slightly elevated fasting blood sugar can be a predicter of future diabetes that can be prevented by dietary changes. Changes in your blood work over time can be another good indicator, another good reason to have it all in your files. I ignored borderline results for years (at my doctors insistence), and in my case it would have been better if I changed my diet sooner.

Regarding mammograms and false positives. Yeh, we have to all make our own decisions, but I will continue to be screened for whatever I can be screened for. In my case I was sick of years and years of borderline abnormal paps. Finally, when I had a hysterectomy for a variety of reasons, only in part due to the abnormal paps, they checked the tissue and indeed found cells in the very early stages of cervical cancer, but the good news is they were surrounded by a ring of normal cells so it means they removed it all.

[shootingstar]

That's certainly good news you don't have diabetes, but if I were you I would my doctors exactly what tests were run and what were the results (not just 'normal' but the numbers, the ranges, even better ask for copies of the lab reports). For example, even a slightly elevated fasting blood sugar can be a predicter of future diabetes that can be prevented by dietary changes. Changes in your blood work over time can be another good indicator, another good reason to have it all in your files. I ignored borderline results for years (at my doctors insistence), and in my case it would have been better if I changed my diet sooner.

Regarding mammograms and false positives. Yeh, we have to all make our own decisions, but I will continue to be screened for whatever I can be screened for. l.

After I see my family doctor, I often just want to hear what my sister-phsyician's opinion is. She lives in another province so I would consider her opinion not definitive because she's not here to have examined me. But she does explain to any family member, in far greater detail, medications, diagnoses and doctor's directives to patients. And she has advocated on behalf for family members for better care, patient's right to info....

She felt the nature of the 2nd blood tests was not a good testing method. In her opinion, for real verification and 2nd time closer testing for diabetes 2, there should be 2 hr. glucose test. One ingests pure glucose and after 2 hrs., they test your blood if your insulin production will respond quick enough or properly.

so good point, Triskin, ... I do now want to cut down my sugar intake to near 0 except for special occasion treats (like my birthday soon...). Rework my good carb intake..

By the way, the sister-physician herself.....about 4 years ago...had a health scare and elevated blood sugar bordering on diabetes 2.

She knew what her doctor would tell her, so instead of seeing her doctor, she just went ahead and went on low GI diet, lost 50 lbs. over 6 months. Yes, she was overweight. And yes, doctors should follow their own advice. Her blood sugar level is normal as a result of completely changed eating habits and exercise. But she is self-monitoring herself because she is pregnant and diabetes triggered by pregnancy can happen if she regains too much weight post-birth.

[shootingstar]

I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for this. And to all you breast cancer survivors, this is in no way disrespectful of the choices you made.

I had a false positive mammogram this summer, and I've decided I'm not going to have any more mammos. All the reading that I did as a result, regarding breast cancer detection and treatment, made me decide that if I get a palpable lump, then I get a lumpectomy, and that's it. To me, the odds vs. the known ill effects don't support doing anything else.

Again, this is a very personal choice, and anyone here who still has mammos or who's had BC and chosen chemo and/or radiation, I completely respect that. And if the medical establishment ever bothers to develop and/or offer a more reliable detection method or treatments whose toxicity is more comparable to the risk of metastasis, I won't necessarily reject those, either.

ETA: I try to lead a reasonably healthy life, just because I'm fairly aware of my body and I hate feeling like cr*p when I eat the wrong foods, don't exercise, let my blood sugar get out of whack, drink too much alcohol, or inhale scary chemicals. I already knew I have to use moderation in the amount of soy I eat, I'm trying to reduce endocrine disruptors in my environment (and thus in everyone else's too), I don't use a lot of animal products, and what I do use are almost invariably organic and pasture raised. I'm far from perfect, but maybe a health scare like this might have more effect on others' lifestyles than it did on mine.

If your mammogram was false and your doctor didn't ask you to be screened next year...then you won't be.

I guess this must also depend on the health care system. I had my mammogram over 10 yrs. ago. Nothing was detected except for fibrous tissue. And that was the end of it for awhile.

Now just last month, the doctor did recommend that get a mammo. No hurry, whenever I get to it. Doctor did say there was a tendency for a doctor to request a mammo around 50 yrs. or so. I still think it's my 1 fibrous breast.

Then I found out there's a lineup of mammo booked appointments..for next 3 months. And I still haven't moved my butt...but I suppose will book the time even if it won't be maybe till...spring.

I don't get the connection of eating too much soy and what it does. I do eat tofu several times per month and its forms..ie. there's dried sheets that you can rehydrate and stir-fry up.

I don't really count soy sauce as having same benefits/properties as tofu, it's in a totally different form and it's the high salt/sodium that people should watch out. This weekend I nearly freaked out when watching a family nearby enjoying their sushi --with tons of soy sauce. Just a touch is necessary to add zip to sushi.. or any dish. Not 1/2 cup or even 1/4 c. for Pete's sake.

[OakLeaf]

If your mammogram was false and your doctor didn't ask you to be screened next year...then you won't be.

That's one of the ways your health care system differs from ours Mammography is very, very heavily profit-driven in the USA. Every woman is supposed to have one annually beginning at age 40, so whenever I see my doctor, she will ask me to be re-screened. I think the powers that be finally decided that we can stop getting mammos at age 80, but there's not complete agreement on that. Imaging companies have gotten laws enacted requiring that insurance companies and Medicare reimburse for mammography even when they don't cover most other screening, or any preventive health care. Imaging companies sponsor several charities that encourage women to get mammograms, and collect money (which winds up back in the imaging companies' hands) to provide mammos to uninsured women. Once we've had a false positive, we're supposed to have a re-screen every six months. Considering that statistically every woman who has regular mammos will have a false positive at least once in her life, that's a lot of mammos, a lot of expensive machines and a lot of radiation to vulnerable tissues.

I don't get the connection of eating too much soy and what it does.

Every woman's hormone balance is a little different, and as far as medical research goes, it goes both ways, but the better designed studies have come down in favor of unprocessed soy as a breast cancer preventive. In my body though, estrogen already tends to be out of balance with progesterone, and if I eat too much soy, that gets really exaggerated. Hugely swollen and painful breasts at ovulation, etc. Other women I know get muscle weakness from too much soy. In general, the more processed the product, the worse it is for me (protein powder>tofu or soymilk>edamame or dried soybeans). I don't mean I don't eat soy, I do. I wish I could get some yuba from your store because I can't get it here. I just don't buy soy protein powder and I don't eat soy every single day (which is actually a good rule for anyone for any food).

[Triskeliongirl]

Shootingstar, I am only guessing here, but it sounds like you may have had a borderline high normal fasting glucose, high the first time and perhaps normal the second. I too have a marginally elevated fasting blood sugar, that may or may not be elevated in any one test. My diabetes shows up with the test your sister suggests, the glucose tolerance test. My blood sugar rises too high and takes too long to clear when I ingest sugar (or any carb for that matter). But there is one more key test, also having your insulin measured (at both the 0 and 2 hour points of the oral glucose tolerance test). If you are not overweight it may not be type 2, but can be type 1.5 which is caused not by insulin resistance but by an undersecretion of insulin. THat is what I have. Even though I lost 35 lbs and am at a healthy weight (22% body fat) this didn't go away, it never will, my body simply doesn't make enough insulin, so I can never eat very many carbs. I also had gestational diabetes for the same reason, not from being overweight and insulin resistant, but from undersecreting insulin and not being able to keep up with increased demand of the fetus. If you don't understand this stuff, at least show my post to your sister.

I don't want to scare you either, you may be normal, but if I were you I would find out more about what was tested, and consider geting an oral glucose tolerance test.

[roadie gal]

When I was 2 years old I had a painful, swollen knee that wouldn't get better. The doctors thought I had bone cancer and wanted to amputate my leg. (This was around the same time that one of the Kennedy kids had bone cancer, so doctors were very aware of it.) My parents asked them to biopsy first. It was found that I had juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, not cancer. So I got to keep my leg. To this day, whenever I run, ski, whatever, I'm thankful for my parents insistence and that the original diagnosis was false.

On the other hand, my sister has a genetically based breast cancer. So I will continue to get mammograms (and Paps, etc.). My chance of getting breast cancer from my genes is much higher than the chance that the radiation from the mammograms will cause me to get cancer. For me, the risk is far outweighed by the benefit.

[RoadRaven]

I had a false positive mammogram this summer, and I've decided I'm not going to have any more mammos. All the reading that I did as a result, regarding breast cancer detection and treatment, made me decide that if I get a palpable lump, then I get a lumpectomy, and that's it. To me, the odds vs. the known ill effects don't support doing anything else.

This is what a work colleague of mine believes -she said as much virtually word for word when another colleague came back from a mammo last year and I said I guess I would have to start thinking about having one soon as I am over 40 now...

She reckons by the time self-examinatin finds a lump, it is too late for anything but operation, and that mammos are too uncomfortable and inaccurate and put women through too much anguish to waste her energy on.

I still don't know what I will do, but in the meantime do the self-examination when I remember...

[MillieNZ]

This is what a work colleague of mine believes -she said as much virtually word for word when another colleague came back from a mammo last year and I said I guess I would have to start thinking about having one soon as I am over 40 now...

She reckons by the time self-examinatin finds a lump, it is too late for anything but operation, and that mammos are too uncomfortable and inaccurate and put women through too much anguish to waste her energy on.

I still don't know what I will do, but in the meantime do the self-examination when I remember...

I have to go for a ultrasound and stuff on Thursday for a lump that I found last week......hmmmmmm.......Of course I expect the report to come back as a hormonal cyst

BUT it did get me thinking about what would happen if it was a tumour....... I work in a reasonable high stress job with a boss who is the 'devil in drag'.& involves lot of overseas travel.....i wouldn't want to be expected to conitnue to perform to the level that I have to and be subject to cancer treatment......... so that is making me reassess everything....... which isn't a bad thing ! Makes you appreciate that life is for living