What about regular Full Body Cancer Screening instead of more drugs, i.e. tamoxifen, etc

ritaann

Have any of you talked to you Doctors about this possibility? If we have regular screenings, why do we need more drugs now? It seems that 1 drug requires another drug to offset side effects and on and on.

24242

Many of us go into treatments for disease waging war on it. If I was going to go through any of this I wanted the best possible chance at living for many more years. We want to do everything we can so that we are able to live and carry on our lives. We trust what they doctor's experiences are and dive head first into it. What is good for one isn't always the best for another. How one reacts is not how we all react. We must stay on top of our bodies and problems always, never letting any ache that carries on for any period of time to go unaddressed. That truly is what survival is all about.
24242Tara

gdpawel

Very interesting concept ritaann. It is an option that could be done, if one wants to do it. Too many people blindly take advice from those identified as professionals because they feel they have no options. Everyone has options and we must learn to take the next step to learn what their options are and not be led without appropriate knowledge.

The problem with chemotherapy and radiation therapy is that in most cases it will not cure, it is just pallative(to ease the pain or force of without curing). Other problems with chemotherapy and radiation therapy are its side effects, from mild to insidious. It depends on the individual, each MAYBE different. It is the patient or patient's loved one's decision only, what to do. One should have ALL the information you possibly can receive to make that decision.

Do as much research as you can. If you're dealing with metastatic disease, enhanced-contrast MRI's are an excellent diagnostic tool looking for "not if or when" but "when and where". With the advent of the Functional MRI and Pet Scan one could possibly screen oneself looking for trouble instead of asking for trouble by taking unnecessary conventional treatment.

Of course, anyone's condition is different from anyone else, each patient is different(it is the same old buzz phrase ment to cover d doctor's behind). But you should know what it is your getting into, you may want conventional cancer treatment or to have regular screenings. Information is the most important thing to have at this time. Medical literature hasn't had the time(or will) to publish ALL the side effects of cancer treatment. So many conventional cancer treatments have been available for such a short period of time that we have not yet determined all of the truely long term effects of some of these treatments.