Should mammograms be a part of the regular diabetes management practises

Ladies please help me out with this question. Should mammograms be part of the routine diabetes management practices. http://twttr.me/c0eP

Well, ideally, all women of reproductive age or older (even if they are healthy) should do self breast examinations at home, regularly – and this should be a part of every diabetic woman’s health routine. This is BY FAR, the best way to catch any issues early, because it makes you aware of your own body, and how it’s changing. (Which is by the way, he same for men and testicular examinations, to avoid or catch issues early.) The factors that would dictate whether a woman has a mammogram, and how frequently, are her age, and family medical history as related to previous breast cancer events. I don’t think that the risks brought by Diabetes itself are high enough to warrant getting mammograms (over a regular self examination), if you are under 40 or 50… but if you do have a strong family history (and are over 30 yrs old), or if you have caught something in a self examination, by all means, ask to be tested, and have a yearly mammogram. Better to be safe, and prevent.

Simply getting mammograms all the time, without doing self examinations, is in many cases a waste of resources… especially if you do not have a strong family history. It becomes like a guessing game, and potential grief from many false positives – which I have experienced from pap smears, which also should be a part of every woman’s routine examinations. At least once every other year, or more, depending on history.

Doctors are not religiously adhering to the recommendations given recently, but are more doing as they should, and going on a case by case basis, with every patient. Preventive care in high risk situations, or were the patient has great concern from her self examinations, will always trump general advisories.

To make this a short answer …it should be every woman’s routine , diabetes or not and as Lizmari said : breast self examinations are top priority . Men maybe diagnosed with breast cancer as well . My mammogram ( in 1984 ) did NOT show , that I had breast cancer and had a mastectomy end 1984 .

No. Mammography is for detection of breast cancer. Diabetes doesn’t affect your risk of getting or not getting breast cancer. Mammograms should be used only in women whose risk is elevated because of age >50, family history of breast or ovarian cancer, unusual breast changes detected by self- or physician examination, personal history of breast or related cancer, or any combination of these. To use mammography when these circumstances don’t apply is to irradiate your breast tissue for no good reason.

I would agree with the idea that it should be on every woman’s list beginning earlier rather than later. I know too many women in their 20’s who have discovered lumps that were cancerous or at the very least precancerous. If you are on the pill, then definitely when you start the pill, at a very young age, start self exams. If you want a mammo, it should be available to you. This is ONE of the tests that I don’t mind having, and NO I don’t have any history either…but life happens, and that part of life, I don’t need.

I have a question related to this… Is it appropriate for an endocrinologist to perform a bare breast exam during the appointment? I had this happen with my new doc today, and was very surprised/disconcerted as it did not seem necessary or appropriate as there were no females in the room.

i have a problem when i go see my doctor . he will check my heart but he will pull my shirt
up and push my bra up to listen , does that sound right to any one? should he be doing this
or should i report him

Ladies, I am passing this along to you can you help With Kerri’s question because I am not sure what to say here, a quorum of the ladies in my life definitively say their tests are not done this way…your input is much appreciated…