My Crohnstipated Life

Remember when your Gyno doctor told you to “feel your boobies” at least once a month for an abnormal lumps or bumps? If you haven’t heard this medical advice lately, it may be because the jury has long been out on whether self exams actually work to catch cancer and reduce breast cancer deaths. But finally a new paper published in the journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology has a definitive answer.

“The research has shown that the actual teaching of the self breast-exam and doing it monthly doesn’t improve outcomes or long-term survival,” says lead author Katrina Mark, M.D., a clinical instructor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. The biggest proof of this is a large-scale Chinese study of 260,000 women who were divided into two groups: one was taught breast self-exams and the other wasn’t. Women who followed the rigorous exam guidelines experienced significantly more biopsies—but were no more likely to detect breast cancer than the group that didn’t perform exams. 

Soon after this study and a few smaller, randomized trials, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Screening for Breast Cancer Guidelines declared the screening method ineffective in 2009, stating it might be doing more harm—both psychological and physical with unnecessary biopsies—than good. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Cancer Society has since followed suit, recognizing that breast self-exams might be ineffective, costly, and anxiety-provoking, Mark confirms. But neither organization has flat-out recommended against the exams. In fact, they’ve just changed the wording from “breast self-exams” to “breast self-awareness,” which has caused a lot of confusion among patients and healthcare providers.

The idea of self-awareness is to communicate with your doctor if you notice something abnormal. I’m not good at self-awareness, each and every little bump freaks me out.  I don’t know a lipoma from a nodule and can’t be trusted to be a judge of anything.  I would rather have a professional be in charge. Therefore, I have taken this warning to heart and decided to have my 2nd mammogram today and it was completely painless.  I have truly forgotten the importance of having an annual check every year after the age of 40. Time seems to go so quickly and with the lack of insurance coverage the timing never seemed to be just right. But it is time to start taking care of myself and to really start focusing on the things that really matter and that’s me!  When was your last mammogram?  Are you due?