What Happened to the Last 30 Years of Breast Cancer Advocacy?!?!

Today the US Preventive Services Task Force released new guidelines recommending women start getting mammograms at age 50, rather than at 40 as previously recommended. They also recommend against the teaching of breast self exam (BSE). You can view their recommendations here, but the reasoning behind the BSE rec is that "For the teaching of BSE, there is moderate certainty that the harms outweigh the benefits."

I have a serious problem with this.

I first found my lump by a much delayed BSE, and was told I was too young. Now, women under 50 are also going to be told they're too young. I have an aunt who had breast cancer, but that wasn't enough "family history" to look at the lump that was making me nervous... all because I was under 4o...now the task force is adding ten more years onto breast screening.

Several of my friends have found their lumps through BSEs, and many have found theirs from their base line mammos...were they supposed to wait until symptoms were showing...orange peel breasts?...enlarged liver?...coughing that won't go away?...loss of vision and/or stroke symptoms?...easily broken bones?... This isn't right! I heard the term saving money thrown in more than once...so hope I die before the insurance company has to pay too much money...bull crap!!!

I feel the "task force" cares nothing about true lives and is looking at the bottom dollar. I feel sick to my stomach every time I think about it and wish effing cancer would just go away. I feel like Dr. Love stabbed me in the heart agreeing with the task force on TV...by the way, I never bought her breast cancer book because I it said I have only a five percent chance of living longer than five years. I feel like screaming again...

I hate cancer.