anyone said NO TO screenings?

[REG53]

I don't go to the gyn. anymore for the same reason ClearBlueSky stated but I get a mamagram every yr.

[trevvian]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but I do EVERY recommended screening and take every recommended Rx (at least try them).

Not because I particularly want to, but because I'm terrified that I'll be denied disability someday. I read through every line in my current policy and it actually says something about the insurance only being valid if the insured is taking all recommended therapy. I'm afraid someday a refusal of a standard test will come back to bite me.

I totally understand why people wouldn't do so. I think I'm just not sick enough yet...the financial part of this disease is still my biggest fear.

[marti]

Wow.. I almost didn't read this thread. In fact, I'm late reading it. But I love it. It really is amazing how many of us do NOT screen anymore. I stopped some of them a long time ago, but I keep coming up with new illnesses. More pain, more sick feeling, more dizziness. I'm always so afraid that we have missed something important. So when I really get to feeling awful with some new symptom I give in and see a new specialist. And Yes, I am sick of it all.

I keep telling myself that if it's my time to go... I'd be better off. But then I think of what I will miss with my family. I don't want to let them down.

Anyway, this is one very important post. Thanks.

[agate]

I haven't had a colonoscopy yet. I'll do all the fecal occult blood screenings a doctor wants but I draw the line at colonoscopies.

When the question comes up, I'm ready to pull out the standard list of risk factors for colorectal cancer. There are about 8 items on the list and I don't have any of them. Being a vegetarian helps.

Doctors have gone along with me on this.

I'm not feeling up to the procedure. I get worn down entirely too fast, and when I'm in a rundown state, MS symptoms get worse.

Pap smears are no longer necessary after a certain age, most doctors say, and that's nice.

I see more value in mammograms even though breast cancer isn't in my family. I don't object to having them but I was glad when the doctor agreed that I could get by with one every two years now.

[Beachcomber]

No more meds, tests, procedures, operations, MRIs, or DMTs for me.
Now at peace [**trigger warning**] since finding/obtaining easy, painless exit method if/when horrific MS Hug worsens or something terrible befalls me. Am too tired, old, fragile, and worn-out from losing battle after battle. Final fight will let me win this war on my terms.
Thank you, OP, for this thread ... lets me know I'm not so alone.

Anyone contemplating suicide, even if only for an instant, or anytime in the future, should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 Professionals that can help are available 24/7. PLEASE call! It's free and 100% confidential

[agate]

No more meds, tests, procedures, operations, MRIs, or DMTs for me.
Now at peace [**trigger warning**] since finding/obtaining easy, painless exit method if/when horrific MS Hug worsens or something terrible befalls me. Am too tired, old, fragile, and worn-out from losing battle after battle. Final fight will let me win this war on my terms.
Thank you, OP, for this thread ... lets me know I'm not so alone.

Anyone contemplating suicide, even if only for an instant, or anytime in the future, should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 Professionals that can help are available 24/7. PLEASE call! It's free and 100% confidential

Beachcomber, ending it all is almost always an out for any of us. It's really helpful to realize that we have free will in the matter.

But it's THE extreme measure. It's irreversible. You won't be able to be present at your own funeral and see how unhappy everyone is that you're gone. I hope you'll find plenty of good reasons to keep on living.

[hmmmingbird]

I'm on my high horse on this one

I am SO glad that most of you seem to understand that it's a personal decision whether or not to "go looking for trouble," as someone said.

My opinion: pneumonia shots are good for keeping you from getting pneumonia ONLY IF YOU'VE HAD PNEUMONIA BEFORE. So I'm not getting that. I'm not getting a flu shot. There is a lawsuit against the manufacturer (GSK) and I personally know of two people who got optic neuritis and went blind after having the flu shot. I'm also skipping the shingles vaccine. Two-thirds of the population WON'T get shingles.

Friends with MS told me that I should get an MRI every year or two. I had one for dx, and four years later asked my neuro about it, so he ordered one. Guess what? It looked the same, because I don't have flares and I wasn't much worse, so there really wasn't a need for one.

No pap test, no mammogram, no colonoscopy. If I get cancer, so be it. It feels good to be able to say that. I already have an incurable disease. My sister is a nurse practitioner and pushes all the vaccines etc.

[Jules A]

If I get cancer, so be it. It feels good to be able to say that. I already have an incurable disease.

Right there with ya.

[Beachcomber]

Thank you for your kind words ... I'm not suicidal. I found a way, five years ago, that has enabled me to live a more peaceful existence, one that could have been granted to me legally had our legislatures considered more humane alternatives to what is the legal landscape today.

[Tawanda]

Great thread

This is SUCH a personal decision! No right answer on this topic

We deserve screenings as much as the next person, M.S. or not. For instance, many of us might like to know about breast or colon cancer because unlike M.S., there is actually decent treatment and a good chance of getting rid of it for good!

Having said that, I have not seen a gynecologist since I gave birth. My daughter is 14 now. 😮 I am too tired and too emotionally/financially strained and drained to take on anything else. Tracing back to my first M.S. symptom, I have had a twenty year run with it and all the worthless treatment I can stand!

Secondly, doctors were a last resort growing up (only when your misery outweighed your fear of seeing a doctor!)...and what the heck were these so-called "pediatricians" my friends in elementary school were seeing? Certainly being raised in this manner has made its mark.

I wish everyone the best quality of life and health possible no matter what your position on preventative medicine!

[Holly Golightly]

Whether or not you decide to take the preventitive tests is certainly a personal decision. If you don't; however, I think it is really out of ignorance.

I disagree with your assessment that a decision to opt out of preventative tests is out of ignorance. I have made that decision myself, and I will tell you that it was a very well-informed decision. No ignorance involved.

[Jules A]

I disagree with your assessment that a decision to opt out of preventative tests is out of ignorance. I have made that decision myself, and I will tell you that it was a very well-informed decision. No ignorance involved.

I agree and what is the point of spending the money and wasting everyone's time if you know you aren't going to treat a condition should one present? To me that doesn't make sense.

At this point there isn't much I can think of that would be worse than lingering and finally dying from complications of MS which is probably most likely. Anything else no matter how painful if quicker would be a blessing for me.

[agate]

Many of the tests we're urged to get are done primarily because the medical profession is scared to death of lawsuits.

Suppose you refuse to get a colonoscopy for years and then you come in with colorectal cancer that is too advanced to treat. The doctors are afraid they will be blamed for not catching it sooner.

To be sure, almost all of the tests that doctors want done are useful. But for some they are far more useful than for others.

Recently the colonoscopy guidelines were changed to exempt people over 75 from having them. The experts decided that the problems created by the procedure itself outweighed the benefits for people over that age.

If your MS is acting up to the point where an invasive procedure like a colonoscopy will create MS problems for you, you have to weigh your pros and cons and decide whether to go through with it or skip it.

Root canals and tooth extractions, infections and falls--all create problems for me and my MS which I've had for 35 years. I am sure that a colonoscopy would have been very difficult for me.

If I'd thought that I was at risk for colorectal cancer, I'd have gone ahead with it but since I have absolutely none of the risk factors, I decided to be content with the fecal occult blood tests annually.

Maybe I'll regret this but you have to do what seems best for you and trust that you still have enough of your marbles to make an informed decision.

[Holly Golightly]

what is the point of spending the money and wasting everyone's time if you know you aren't going to treat a condition should one present? To me that doesn't make sense. .

This is exactly how I feel, JulesA. : )

[poppydarling]

I haven't had a colonoscopy yet. I'll do all the fecal occult blood screenings a doctor wants but I draw the line at colonoscopies.

When the question comes up, I'm ready to pull out the standard list of risk factors for colorectal cancer. There are about 8 items on the list and I don't have any of them. Being a vegetarian helps.

Doctors have gone along with me on this.

I'm not feeling up to the procedure. I get worn down entirely too fast, and when I'm in a rundown state, MS symptoms get worse.

Pap smears are no longer necessary after a certain age, most doctors say, and that's nice.

This thread comes at the perfect time as I'm experiencing two weeks of middle-age baseline tests ordered by my PCP. Even though they found one location that did three of the tests in one morning, it wore me out.

Unfortunately, my grandmother died of colon cancer but I'm betting I'll be too weak to stand up after the 14-hour fast and "cleanse" to get myself into the scooter and get to the hospital for the colonoscopy. Going to have to explore my options. Nurse: I don't know what other options there are. Me: I can't be the only person with health issues and challenges that needs to screen for colon cancer! Sheesh.

And my doctor's nurses called all around town to find somebody with a table that lowers so I can have a Pap smear! Before they found that OB/Gyn, they offered to "help get me up on the table" at my doc's office. They mean well, but can you imagine being naked from the waist down while four people hoist you up on a table and put your legs in stirrups?! Dignity, people, dignity. This will be the last one for a while due to my age, and good riddance.