Where is your line on medical testing?

I’ve had over 30 x-rays in my life. It can’t be good to have so many. However I would like to have an MRI to see what is causing my Astral traveling.

When I die, I die.
I only visit the doctor, when the pain gets too strong.

My PCP bullied me into having a colonoscopy at the 50ish age range. It was fine and I had no intentions of getting another one. Well 8 years later, I was so anemic I got another one due to doctor’s orders. Still no issue, still don’t know why I was so anemic. But I still have no intention of getting another one. I don’t do the mammograms or the pap smears. I do go once a year to get my blood pressure and thyroid checked and meds for that. But I agree with @ragingloli, when I die, I die.
This is by no means meant to dissuade anyone from getting their tests each year. I just don’t want to.

I have been called cavalier for having exactly that attitude, @chyna. I am of an age and a place in my life where the thought of test after test is abhorrent to me. I went through so much medical in earlier days that I really don’t want to. On occasion I bow to pressure and do something, but ugh.

I get all tests done and usually way ahead of time, I have on occasion asked for more since I believe that certain things are often being overlooked. I usually shun prescription meds unless it’s really necessary.

I am not a doctor. I do not google medical shit. If I think I have a problem I make a appointment.

Do doctors want unneeded tests so insurance pays more? I don’t know. Most likely. Has that test ever resulted in catching a bad thing. 100% sure it has.

As long as I don’t have to pay take all the blood you want and stick a finger and a camera in my ass.

I think it is a good idea but it could be taken too far.

I mostly agree with @johnpowell – the real answer is – “it depends”.

I told a doctor “NO” to an ultrasound last year. I knew what the underlying issue was and she was just trying to cover her ass when I knew the problem was an infection.

On the other hand, if I have a real problem – and I am experienced enough to know when to worry – then I am all for testing.

I don’t like doctors, I don’t trust doctors, & I don’t go to doctors unless in extreme pain & I have a really high tolerance to pain!!!

I used to go to the doctor regularly & he put me on meds that had a side effect of “stroke”. Every time I saw him I asked him to take me off the med. He told me that as long as I was seeing him regularly that I would be just fine & he knew when to take me off them. Sure enough, I had a stroke & when I went back to him to point out how wrong he had been, his response was “Oops”. Since then I have NO use for any doctor nor any use for most meds. I tend to use “all natural” remedies which has worked well for me so far!!!

I also do a lot of pre-emptive treatments so I don’t get sick to begin with. I fell last year & couldn’t get off the floor for 8 days. When I was finally found I was automatically taken to the hospital. My tests going in were labeled as “excellent”. I was treated for 24 hours & then told that my potassium was very low & I needed to see a doctor. My question was…“since I came in with good potassium levels, what had they done in 1 days time to make it low?” They threw some BS at me about how I wasn’t eating right & should see a doctor until I could get it straightened out. So, again my question was “IF my tests were normal when I entered the hospital, that tells me I’m eating healthy foods. Since my tests were low AFTER their treating me, what had they done to create the problem?” Again, more BS. They finally got so mad that they claimed that there was NO way that I laid in the floor for a week & still had tests that good. Then they realized what they had said & they said I wasn’t really sick & they discharged me!!!

When I got home, In googled “low potassium” & discovered that IF I went to the doctor that I’d be given a diet high in potassium until my levels became high & then I’d be put on a low potassium diet until they got it leveled out. So, I went to a local lab to see how low my level was & discovered that I was just on the low end of the normal range. So, I increased my potassium intake in my food for a month & then go back for another test. My levels were on the high end of the normal range. So, I stopped eating the extra potassium foods & went back to eating as I normally did for the next month. Next test my levels were back to mid-range NORMAL!!! All 3 lab tests cost me $150 which was cheaper than just 1 visit to the doctor. So, now I have another reason to NOT trust doctors!!!

We are all born to die & the process begins the second we take our first breath!!! I’m at the age where death in inevitable..I recently had 6 friends die within 4 weeks. I’m in NO hurry to go; however, I don’t trust doctors to take care of me until it is my time!!! My plan is to go with dignity. I have been called crazy for feeling the way I do. I say IF you want to go to the doctors, it is your privilege; but, it’s NOT the right decision for me!!! I no longer fear death…I am beginning to fear life!!!

In my 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s, I only did dental X-rays every 2 years. I’m very glad about that. I didn’t want the radiation, and wasn’t prone to problems. I will do it more often now that I am in my 50’s.

In my 40’s I only did a mammogram every 3 years. I will do it more often now that I’m in my 50’s.

I have had a Pap smears every year since I was 16. Possibly there have been times it dragged out to 18 months, but my intention is to do it around the year mark.

I get colonoscopies every 5–7 years since I was in my early 30’s. I have a family history of colon cancer, and personal history of colon polyps. I’m supposed to get it done a little more often than I do.

I get my eyes tested about every two years once I hit 44. I probably should do it more often. Glaucoma runs in my family. My first time I ever had my eyes dialated and looked at by an eye doctor was in my early 30’s. Then the next time was my early 40’s.

Going forward I will have an echo and stress test done more regularly on my heart. Previously, I did an echo about every 5–10 years. I have a murmur since I was born, and now I have a new weakness in a different valve, probably caused by high blood pressure. Oh, and I now test my BP daily.

I test my cholesterol about twice a year. Also, I do a CBC and CMP and vitamin D and B12 at least twice a year. CBC and CMP mostly to check sugar, calcium, and red blood cell situation/iron.

I test my thyroid twice a year or more. Depends how I’m doing. It can be 6 times in one year if I change meds, or am way out of whack. For years in a row it can be just 2–3 times a year though.

My sister just told me her doctor did a sex hormone panel since she is going through menopause. I didn’t talk to my doctor at all when I was going through menopause. I never had any tests related to it.

My Mom went to the doctor every time she had a hangnail. She died at 82 of a disease that she had for over 20 years & had discussed many time over with her doctor but the doctor couldn’t find it no matter how many tests they took. My Dad died at 89 & hadn’t been to a doctor in over 80 years. He died of colon cancer but said he was glad that he hadn’t known that he had it. He didn’t think that the treatments were any better than the cancer. IF going by family history really does work, I’m going to live for another 15–20 years & by then I’ll be so broke that I wson’t die from cancer as I’ll end up starving to death!!!

The bottom line up front: I’ll do whatever it takes.

For the last 5 years, I’ve been feeling terrific (I’m 67 and very active and healthy and currently taking no medications whatsoever). I see the doctor once every couple years to have routine blood tests and for urgent maters like a cat bite.

I also see a dermatologist once a year to do some slicing and dicing on my skin.

I get a colonoscopy every 5 years.

And also my retinas are tearing away from the back of both of my eyes and as needed an eye doctor blast the retinas back into place using a lazer.

Oh and then there was a period from 2001 until 2013 when I waged battle against atrial fibrillation. I went through a big pile of powerful drugs that caused more harm than good. They shocked my heart into normal sinus rhym on 9 different occasions. And two surgical heart procedures. It all added up huge cost in money >$500K and suffering. Plus the sugary complications that kept me in the hospital for an additional 3 weeks.

As I said above, if doctors are your thing then it is right for you…they still aren’t right for me!!! I’m older than you & I take NO medications. I’m very active & healthy for a senior who only has ½ a body that works. I live alone & take care of myself, my house, & yard all by myself.Although it doesn’t say much for my neighbor, I’m more active than my 20 y/o neighbor!!!

My eyes are still good except for reading & the reading script is not that much different than it was when I got my first glasses at 12.

My blood pressure is good for someone even 20 years younger than myself. I don’t need to carry an oxygen tank.

My local Walgreens has a FREE wellness check at least once a year & I go get that done.

EVERY health problem that I have was doctor induced; so I have NO desire to give them the chance to finish the damage!!! My parents died in their 80s & my grandparents died in their 90s; so I have healthy genes.

IF a doctor told me it would cost >$500k to repair me, I’d tell him to let me go because I don’t have that kind of money!!!

I’ve got enough sense to know that my health will grow worse with age & I may be forced to start letting doctors torture me; but I’m NOT ready yet!!!

Mom went to the doctor,dad didn’t & dad outlived Mom by 7 years. Gramps outlived Grams by 5 years & he never went to the doctor & she had a private chair at her doctor’s office. That gives me hope that I’ll live longer by taking care of myself!!!

My primary doctor is a naturopath, and in the past I’ve had holistic MD’s. I pay out of pocket for their services.

It’s really difficult to find an MD on my health care plan is willing to work with a naturopath. I looked for serval years and finally found somebody who was born in Africa. She said she was familiar with alternative remedies and was willing to work with me. I hired her to take tests when I ask, and give me a physical exam and a Pap smear.

Next thing I know she told me that I needed all kinds of medication. So I went and bought the books and educated myself on those issues. The medications she wants me on have more side effects than you can shake a stick at and they are not all that effective. Furthermore it’s possible to address everything with diet and lifestyle which I am doing. Problem solved.

She’s probably better and cheaper than an Insta care clinic, so I will stay with her, but I’m not going to use her the way she wants me to.

After my stroke the doctors told me I’d NEVER walk again & I’d NEVER work again. I walked out of the hospital a month later & I worked 2 jobs for the next 17 years. One of those jobs required me to walk 8 hours a day.

Quitters NEVER win & winners NEVER quit!!!
Weebles wabble but they don’t fall down!!!

As soon as a doctor uses the words “can’t” or “won’t” I stop listening!!!

Interesting and different perspectives here, thanks.

@LadyMarissa I think you’re crazy not to get a colonoscopy at age 40. I don’t know how old you are. If not 40 then at least the typical recommendation of 50. Remove the polyps before any cancer forms. You don’t have to worry about cancer treatment if you never get the cancer. There are very few cancers we can PREVENT through screening. Most cancers we are trying to catch in an early stage.

Hey, @JLeslie, she makes different choices, calling her “crazy” is a bit of a pot/kettle thing. Maybe people think you are over the top with your (what could be construed as) obsessive attention to these things.

@canidmajor Thank you for understanding!!!

@JLeslie My husband wasn’t allowed to put anything in my butt & I’m sure NOT going to pay another person to violate my body!!! You think I’m crazy for not drinking the kool-aide the medical profession puts out there. I think you are batshit crazy for blindly believing them. They look, they want a new Mercedes (or maybe a larger home with a swimmig pool), they see a polyp (whether it’s there or not), they scare the shit out of you , you pay them to mutilate your body never knowing IF you ever really had a polyp as you’re asleep while they supposedly remove it. I’m NOT trying to get you to stop going to your doctor & I’m NOT listening to you when you insist I go to one!!!

I’m 68 years old & going by the genetics that doctors use to scare us with, my Dad was 89 before his polyp took him down. Don’t know how many years he had the cancer & never will. I do know that all those years, he was a happy, seemingly healthy man!!!! Had he gone for the “test” they would have dangled his health in front of him in order to get him to give them a paycheck. I know there are good doctors out there who do good things; but I see finding that “good” doctor much like buying a winning lottery ticket…the odds are phenominal!!!

At 68 & according to my family genetics, I’ve got 20 more years to either die crazy (like Mom & Grams) or die from cancer (like Dad) or die from a heart attack in 30 years.(like Gramps). The reality is that in 20–30 years that I’ll be penniless with NO family left, sitting in a crappy nursing home being beaten by a stranger. The Social Security system that I was promised would get me through my old age has turned into a farce & with NO family to care what happens to me, I don’t anticipate a wonderful life in my golden years!!!

The one thing I do have is my faith in God. HE will decide when, where, & HOW I die. I don’t believe in the genetics BS. I believe in living my life full of faith & I just heard the really crazy bell go off. The reality is that it is MY choice & I’m happy & comfortable with MY choice. IF I live long enough, I’m sure I’ll be FORCED to depend on doctors; but I do NOT plan to go submissively. I will go kicking & screaming so NO doctor will want to deal with that crazy old lady!!!

@JLeslie Since you are comfortable going to your doctor & that gives you peace of mind, by all means continue to go. Now I DON’T feel comfortable going; so NEVER call me crazy again. You are more than welcome to think it; but I MAKE MY OWN DECISIONS & MY crazy is just that…MINE!!!

Oh yes I forgot, doctors are paid a kickback for EVERY test they schedule. It took 5 MRI’s to find my Dad’s cancer & 8 to find my Mother’s PSP. That leads me to believe that they might have NEVER found Dad’s cancer & Mother’s disease was incurable & she would have drove herself crazier by worrying about WHEN or HOW she was going to die; so she would have died many years sooner out of stress of knowing. My hope is that I’ll be walking through Walmart happily shopping & fall in the floor dead with NO warning. When I wake up on the oter side, I’ll see my Mom, Dad, & Grandparents smiling as I land!!!

@canidmajor Talk about pot calling the kettle black LOL. She can do what ever she wants. I use “crazy” in the loose way, I didn’t not mean to insult her. I didn’t call her stupid, or ridiculous, or what I would consider words trying to demean someone. I make bad medical choices all the time.

Also, people do get on me on this site CONSTANTLY. Yes, it does bother me when it’s excessive and I have said so, but one person pointing out an alternative view doesn’t bother me.

@LadyMarissa If I offended you I apologize, not my intent. I don’t think you’re stupid or anything like that, you obviously can make your own medical choices, I listed a bunch of choices above that I make that plenty of people disagree with.

See what I said about mammograms. There was a huge uproar a few years ago when a recommendation came out not to do mammograms every year between ages 40–50. I felt justified in what I had been doing all along, but tons of women in the media spoke out against it. Do what you want it’s your body, I support you in that, but your comment was about your dad being glad he didn’t bother with cancer treatment, I completely understand why he felt that way, but he died at a fairly old age. People who get colon cancer at 50 don’t feel that way when they are dying. My BIL was 46 and had to go through aggressive treatment. My grandfather caught it early and had surgery, no chemo or radiation, and never had it again. My mom always has polyps. I almost always have polyps.

There are now virtual colonoscopies where nothing goes up your butt. There are also tests that just test your stool that I think you can do at home. If you would not treat the cancer no matter what, then yes, why bother doing the test. But, if you would treat an early cancer with minimal treatment needed, then maybe consider one of the other tests. Colon cancer is often seen in families, it seems to have a genetic component.

Truly I use crazy, neurotic, all those terms very loosely. I am not calling you neurotic, it’s just an example. I call myself neurotic. I just meant that I think you might want to consider some more facts about the colon cancer situation.

I have high anxiety regarding medical professionals. I lack trust in the medical system, I’m not any sort of example of dealing with my health or doctor’s well, I’m a nut job. Lol.

And yet, @JLeslie, I have seen you take great offense at someone who even implies that your concern about an issue might be “crazy” (your word, BTW, not mine.)

@JLeslie I’m not offended…I’m used to people’s reaction to my thinking!!! Not buying into the whole medical crap doesn’t make me legally insane. I just wanted you to understand that I SUPPORT YOUR RIGHT to go to the doctor anytime you feel the need & deeply DEFEND MY RIGHT to choose to NOT go to the doctor!!! I totally expect to end up in court with a judge FORCING me to be treated against my will.Until that happens, I’m going to live MY life in MY way!!!

As an FYI…since I have a family history of colon cancer, I cannot trust the results of the “at home” tests. Those tests are for people with NO family history of colon cancer…at least that’s what the commercial says & my research supports!!!

I have high anxiety regarding medical professionals. I lack trust in the medical system, I’m not any sort of example of dealing with my health or doctor’s well, I’m a nut job. Lol.
@JLeslie Which surprises me that you even go to a doctor with all your mistrust and anxiety regarding the medical field.

My line is generally if it doesn’t scare me, hurt me or gross me out, I will do it occasionally. That manages to exclude most tests! Luckily, I’m healthy as a (healthy) horse so far.

@chyna Health issues. I have to treat my thyroid, and the only way is to go to the doctor. I have zero choice with that.

I have chronic issues I do ignore for months and years at a time. I ignore them, because the doctors usually don’t make me better. Once in a while I get lucky and a doctor can do something for me regarding some of these long standing issues.

I recently have been wishing I had treated my high BP sooner. I didn’t understand it could create weakness in my heart valves. I learned that the hard way. This is one reason I wanted the OP to know alternative methods for detecting colon cancer, and emphasize colonoscopies can actually prevent the cancer, it’s not simply an early detection of cancer. I wish someone had informed me about the heart valve risk, I really did not know that. I might have made a different decision sooner. I thought the main scary risk was stroke.

@LadyMarissa Courts force treatment on children, not adults, as long as the adult can say what they want they can refuse tests and treatment. It is to protect children whose parents won’t consent. Make sure your health wishes are in writing on the proper legal documents in case you can’t speak for yourself. By the way the courts actually help parents who don’t want to watch their child die, but are paralyzed by religious belief. The court does it, it orders the treatment, and the parents can feel they did right by God, and it was “other” people who broke God’s word. And, their child lives.

Then there are times the courts interfere and it’s more fuzzy, like surgeries to save Down’s syndrome babies, I don’t know what the courts do now regarding the digestive track problems those babies can have, and some other instances that fall into a more grey area. A certain percentage of Downs babies are born with a digestive problem, and without the surgery they starve to death. Some might see it as nature taking its course, but most people today don’t, and think to deny the surgery is unethical. I’m not sure where the courts are on that now. That’s just one example.

I’m guessing those colon tests aren’t for us, because they detect cancer not polyps. The same as virtual is supposed to be done only on people without any sort of history. People with high risk like me need the polyps removed, so colonoscopy is the only effective way to remove the polyps. If I do a virtual and they see a polyp, then I still need to do the old fashioned way to get rid of the polyp, so not much point in my doing the virtual. But, if you, and this is up to you obviously, would want to know if you had colon cancer, or want to know you don’t have colon cancer, maybe you can use that test? I don’t know exactly what it tests.

For me, when I get a colonoscopy, and by the way I do not get it done as often as recommended by my doctor, I wait a couple of years more, then afterwards I feel worry free for a few years, and I like that feeling knowing that I am high risk.

Anyway, I’m all for you having control over your body and who touches it, including doctors, but I also want you to be well. That’s all. :)

@JLeslie I’d like to thank you for all the medical information. I admire your knowledge!!! IF I had all the medical challenges that you do, I might feel different from the way I feel now. Giving the doctors the benefit of the doubt by assuming that cancer is hereditary. Of my 4 closest relatives who would influence my health, ONLY one had cancer; so I have a 75% chance of not having cancer!!! Also, my entire family were healthy until their mid 60’s to mid 70’s with ½ of them healthy until their mid 80’s to mid 90’s. I do a lot of immune system health tricks which seem to help keep me healthy. I might reach the place where I’m thinking “I wish I had known”; but for now, I’m comfortable with my decisions!!!

BTW, I do appreciate your worrying about my health; but it seems mine is much better than yours & you really need to put your energies into getting yourself healthier!!!

^^Well, the 75% doesn’t really work that way. Lol. But, ok. It does sound like you have some good genes in your family, so that’s good.

I’m good with as many tests as they think are necessary. Who knows what lurks beneath.

Im hoping that the dr.s would find a reason for my insanity.. other than having life happen to me.

Yeah I struggle with this. If my GI had it his way I’d just live with a camera up my butt all the time. Okay I’m exaggerating a little. It’s exhausting though. I get medical fatigue.

Like 10 years ago I took a medication that apparently was some heavy shit. I didn’t know, I was 16 and was willing to do whatever the doc said would help my ass stop bleeding. I started to get an inkling that it was nasty stuff when the nurses at the hospital asked me to flush twice after using the bathroom because my pee could be radioactive or some shit like that.

Anyway, because I took this med 10 years ago I’m now at risk for issues that someone my age shouldn’t really have to worry about. My GI made me get a bone density scan recently and I had a hell of a time getting the nurse to actually schedule it for me because she kept saying I was too young to need one. Stuff like that, all the time.

It’s exhausting and for awhile I wasn’t doing everything he asked me to. But I’m able to read his notes online through their patient portal and I read that he described me as noncompliant because I wasn’t doing all my follow ups. So then I started to worry he’d kick me to the curb and so I started being better.

I’ve lost track of how many X-rays and CAT scans I’ve gotten. So I probably need to be really diligent with preventative care. But at the same time, I am so desensitized to pain and other oddities going on in my body – it happens, I’m used to it, I’d be in the ER every week if my standards for what is alarming were still normal – that I often think I will probably not catch my cancer early when it inevitably happens.

Lordy I’m a ray of sunshine today. Forgive me.

@Mariah I’m with you. I completely identify with everything you said. I so get it. That answers @chyna’s question too. Why people who are non compliant and mistrusting of medical professionals still wind up seeing doctors and doing some medical procedures.

@Mariah, that is a point that a lot of people don’t get: ”medical fatigue”. (Great term, BTW!)
I am also someone who has had a history of lots of medical, invasive tests and surgeries, painful procedures, debilitating treatments. This problem, that syndrome, the other disease…ugh. My healthy friends are happy to go in on schedule for all the tests, big and small, I am much more reticent. Ugh.

Most doctors (if I were to stay with one long enough), would probably label me as uncooperative too. As I mentioned before, I was taught in school to question the source of my information. I took that to heart.

Add to that some ridiculous behavior on the part of my mother’s doctors, and my own horrific experiences (they all but killed me), I have learned by hard experience to NEVER trust a doctor’s word on the face of it. If it’s a big enough deal, I listen to what they have to say, and then get second opinions, and do A LOT of research before I make my choice.

@canidmajor “My healthy friends are happy to go in on schedule for all the tests, big and small, I am much more reticent.” Yep, your standards for what is worth addressing change after you’ve had major medical problems. I remember in college a friend coming to me freaking out because his dentist had told him his gums were receding. I was supportive to his face but in my head I was just like, lordy I wish my standards for my body were still that high. I just accept so much shit because like I said I’d be in the ER unsustainably often if I decided that every issue deserved follow-up.

Anyways, I don’t think I have the mistrust of doctors that some of you are describing, at least not to that extent. I fully recognize that the only reason I’m here right now at all is because of western medicine and because doctors have expertise that I could never hope to have, and so I listened to them. I do my own research, sure, but reading a book or an internet article isn’t going to trump years of med school.

But there’s a side to the patient experience that they just don’t understand. And that’s where you have to be your own advocate.

@Mariah And knowing your own body and its reactions or changes it makes is something only you know. My hair started falling out in February. I told a few people and they would say, oh you are just shedding, we all do. No, it’s more than shedding. Anyway I told a doctor that I work with. She immediately said to have my thyroid checked. I did, it was off and I got my meds corrected. My hair is now growing back, yay!
But that is so minor to the things you and your body have gone through. I just threw that in to say, yes, you need to be your own advocate and to listen to what your body is telling you.

Lol. You know I would have said have your thyroid checked.

^Absolutely! :-)