[freudling]

My mother went through breast cancer. She was diagnosed 4 years ago. Did 1.3 years of hard Chemo every 2 weeks. She took Arimidex (estrogen inhibitor) for 4 years and has since gone off the drug.

For the past 4 years, every sort of 4-6 weeks, she'd go through a bout of nausea. These bouts just come on. She would vomit for a day or two, laying on the bathroom floor. Then, after that, she'd lay in bed for a few days and slowly get her energy back. 4-6 weeks later, another bout would come on.

Rinse and repeat.

I thought Arimidex was the cause of this. However, visiting my parents this week, my mother just got hit with another nausea spell. The first one since going off Arimidex 3 months ago. It's been the longest stretch she's had without going through this.

She was puking all last night, and is now passed out in bed. It'll take, from my understanding, another 4 days before she starts feeling ok again.

So now I'm thinking maybe it wasn't the Arimidex? Or maybe, since it's only been 3 months since she went off the drug, that it's a residual side effect?

But what I really think is that, the Chemo has changed her response to food and drink, and she will continue to go through these bouts of nausea whether she's on Arimidex or not. So perhaps Chemo is the cause.

I'd love to hear from some of you with any input and advice you may have. Thank you.

[osiris]

Have your Mother smoke Marijuana. Lots of it.

If you're afraid of the law, get your doctor to prescribe Marinol (aka Dronabinol) to ease nausea.

My Father went through chemo, the pot gave him an appetite and it certainly eased nausea.

I sincerely hope the treatment goes well for your Mother.

[bstone]

When you called her doctor to discuss these issues, what did he say?

[cjrivera]

Zofran does well in treating nausea.
But let her doctor know, in case there are other reasons she may be getting nauseated.

[bstone]

Originally Posted by cjrivera 

Zofran does well in treating nausea.
But let her doctor know, in case there are other reasons she may be getting nauseated.

I love Zofran. I use it IV and orally.

[olePigeon]

She should see her doctor.

[freudling]

She used to go to emergency but it was the same old. Gravol and IV. I'd like to know what's causing this. Her Doctor's just prescribe drugs. I'll look into the drugs mentioned here.

[Shaddim]

I tossed the drugs after the second week I was in chemo and switched to chronic. It made a huge difference for me in terms of nausea and appetite, but YMMV.

[freudling]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

I tossed the drugs after the second week I was in chemo and switched to chronic. It made a huge difference for me in terms of nausea and appetite, but YMMV.

Ok. Interesting.

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by freudling 

She used to go to emergency but it was the same old. Gravol and IV. I'd like to know what's causing this. Her Doctor's just prescribe drugs. I'll look into the drugs mentioned here.

I've been going throught kinda the same thing lately. Very frustrating, doctors just want to get you in and out with some drug, so they can bill up the insurance. And almost no sense of urgency...
My experience is the docs won't do much to help in figuring out whats wrong with her so it's good you're researching it on your own.

My first thought is that this will slowly go away with time. Chemo/cancer definitely does permanent damage to your body. She will be more sickly for the rest of her life regardless. But I think you need to seriously consider the factor stress plays in this. Cancer survivors are suppose to live a more laid back easy going life than everyone else. Try to talk to her about not getting worked up or stressed (even the slightest) about anything... Don't let her do anything physically taxing. This could be residual side effects from just getting off chemo, or the compounded effect of another illness (i.e. ovarian cyst, lyme disease etc.. just shooting in the dark here).

Something else; when the body is physically stressed such as through chemo or traumatic surgery, it tends to develop food allergies rather easily. There are certain foods considered common allergens that should be considered first such as dairy, peanuts, wheat, corn, pork... there's more I just can't think of right now. These will be hard to diagnose; just because you have an allergy to something doesn't mean you will react to it every time you eat it. But having 3-4 days of sickness after eating something you're allergic to is common... So I think you're on the right track here. Hell it could be a combination of stress + allergy. Hope this helps.

[freudling]

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

I've been going throught kinda the same thing lately. Very frustrating, doctors just want to get you in and out with some drug, so they can bill up the insurance. And almost no sense of urgency...
My experience is the docs won't do much to help in figuring out whats wrong with her so it's good you're researching it on your own.

My first thought is that this will slowly go away with time. Chemo/cancer definitely does permanent damage to your body. She will be more sickly for the rest of her life regardless. But I think you need to seriously consider the factor stress plays in this. Cancer survivors are suppose to live a more laid back easy going life than everyone else. Try to talk to her about not getting worked up or stressed (even the slightest) about anything... Don't let her do anything physically taxing. This could be residual side effects from just getting off chemo, or the compounded effect of another illness (i.e. ovarian cyst, lyme disease etc.. just shooting in the dark here).

Something else; when the body is physically stressed such as through chemo or traumatic surgery, it tends to develop food allergies rather easily. There are certain foods considered common allergens that should be considered first such as dairy, peanuts, wheat, corn, pork... there's more I just can't think of right now. These will be hard to diagnose; just because you have an allergy to something doesn't mean you will react to it every time you eat it. But having 3-4 days of sickness after eating something you're allergic to is common... So I think you're on the right track here. Hell it could be a combination of stress + allergy. Hope this helps.

Ya, interesting. She's been stressed lately with company staying there for 3 weeks. She did over-exert herself, and she knew it. She was eating things like pork and having alcohol (like a glass here and there). Maybe it is indeed a combination of allergies to food and stress?

In fact, my Dad and her have talked about how anything stressful brings on headaches and fatigue...

[bstone]

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

Very frustrating, doctors just want to get you in and out with some drug, so they can bill up the insurance.

You couldn't be more wrong, but I'm not sure how to explain it to you in a way that you could understand and fully appreciate.

[freudling]

Originally Posted by bstone 

You couldn't be more wrong, but I'm not sure how to explain it to you in a way that you could understand and fully appreciate.

Are you serious?

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by freudling 

Ya, interesting. She's been stressed lately with company staying there for 3 weeks. She did over-exert herself, and she knew it. She was eating things like pork and having alcohol (like a glass here and there). Maybe it is indeed a combination of allergies to food and stress?

In fact, my Dad and her have talked about how anything stressful brings on headaches and fatigue...

My advise would be to give up alcohol for at a year or so. At least until you she see some really noticeable improvement. You hear people say alcohol is good for you just because they read some study about the heart; but it's poisonous to every other organ. Google some of the foods to avoid. Have her avoid greasy, sugary foods and focus on health foods. Eat at roughly the same time every day and go to bed at the same time every night. This has worked for cancer patients I know and I've started the same regime myself which seems to be helping a lot. I know a lot of people don't believe in the organic food craze but switching to organics (when possible) has allowed me to eat foods I once wasn't able to even on a good day, such as strawberries.

[olePigeon]

I agree with bstone.

First of all, stop going to the ER. It's not your doctor's office. It's for immediate emergencies. They have to triage their patients.

Next, make an appointment with her general care physician. Explain her history, treatments, which drugs she's already on, what drugs she's taken in the past, and what continues to happen. Keep a log of her activities if necessary. The more information you have, the better the diagnosis will be, and the better the treatment. It could be anything from a nocebo to an immune deficiency.

The doctor may refer her to a radiologist or some other specialist. Yes, this can get expensive if she doesn't have health care. My mom went through two bouts of breast cancer as well, and was dropped from her insurance when she was diagnosed the first time. We lost everything except what mattered, my mom. So I hope you take her to the doctor's office.

Doctors know a lot, but they don't know everything. You're betting your mom's health and wellbeing on advice from an internet forum.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

I know a lot of people don't believe in the organic food craze but switching to organics (when possible) has allowed me to eat foods I once wasn't able to even on a good day, such as strawberries.

Penn and Teller BS: Organic Food Myths Debunked (Excerpt) - YouTube

[Shaddim]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Penn and Teller BS: Organic Food Myths Debunked (Excerpt) - YouTube

Took a while for me to convince my family of that, but now they finally get it. We still buy local small-farm meats, though.

[sek929]

Originally Posted by Shaddim 

I tossed the drugs after the second week I was in chemo and switched to chronic. It made a huge difference for me in terms of nausea and appetite, but YMMV.

I'd imagine smoking anything with such a depressed immune system could be dangerous. Baking with it, vaporizer, or marinol pills would be a better choice I would think.

[bstone]

Originally Posted by freudling 

Are you serious?

Yes, very. Are you?

[bstone]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I agree with bstone.

First of all, stop going to the ER. It's not your doctor's office. It's for immediate emergencies. They have to triage their patients.

Absolutely true. Also, ER visits cost *way* more than regular office visits.

Next, make an appointment with her general care physician. Explain her history, treatments, which drugs she's already on, what drugs she's taken in the past, and what continues to happen. Keep a log of her activities if necessary. The more information you have, the better the diagnosis will be, and the better the treatment. It could be anything from a nocebo to an immune deficiency.

Excellent advice.

The doctor may refer her to a radiologist or some other specialist. Yes, this can get expensive if she doesn't have health care.

If she's over 65 then she will be on Medicare, in which case her dr visit will cost just a normal co-pay.

My mom went through two bouts of breast cancer as well, and was dropped from her insurance when she was diagnosed the first time. We lost everything except what mattered, my mom. So I hope you take her to the doctor's office.

I know what getting dropped from insurance feels like. At least you can't get dropped from Medicare.

Doctors know a lot, but they don't know everything. You're betting your mom's health and wellbeing on advice from an internet forum.

Ding ding.

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I agree with bstone.
First of all, stop going to the ER. It's not your doctor's office. It's for immediate emergencies. They have to triage their patients.

I can think of people I know who had their life saved by going to the ER, for things the ER at first said they shouldn't be coming in for. Sometimes it's the only was to get the right tests shot gunned to diagnose an illness. I can think of people who died because they went through the slow process of waiting to see doctors, waiting weeks for test results, getting referred, waiting for more test results.. Then it's "oops we only found it in it's advanced stages if only we found it 6 months ago when we started this". Always try the slow system first; but if you need to go to the ER do. Don't just hold out because you're not shot and bleeding to death. Problem is There's no middle ground for US wait lists. You go to the ER you get all the tests done in 1 day. You call up your doctors you wait months.

Next, make an appointment with her general care physician. Explain her history, treatments, which drugs she's already on, what drugs she's taken in the past, and what continues to happen. Keep a log of her activities if necessary. The more information you have, the better the diagnosis will be,

Im sure he's tried that.

The doctor may refer her to a radiologist or some other specialist.

A radiologist? You mean an oncologist? That would be the best person to ask (assuming he actually cares). Which is probably who she's been seeing already...

You're betting your mom's health and wellbeing on advice from an internet forum.

No he's not.
I see what you're trying to do here; I just don't know why. You say you've been through all this with your mom yet your giving advice so obviously contradictory to reality for all us who actually have gone through this forwards and backwards and find it very frustrating. Now days you absolutely have to be your own doctor and research this stuff on the net. I learned that the hard way, which is pretty pathetic considering I worked in the medical industry and should have known better.

Penn and Teller BS: Organic Food Myths Debunked (Excerpt) - YouTube

You know most the time you're one of my favorite people around here (when your not hating people just for being christians); but this link is a new low for the normal scientific stuff you post. Instead of derailing this thread I'll debate this in pm or another thread if you like. Organic food may not be "more nutritious" but pesticides whether gmo or not definitely affect people. FDA scientists even rejected many of them in the past; so FDA management laterally 'transferred' them, and replaced them with new scientists (usually from Monsanto).... who 'approved' the same product. I've personally seen it happen myself. Planet in Peril did an investigation on it; And I've even done the carcinogen tests, which I can tell you aren't very reliable.

One thing that is not in my head: I can't eat strawberries unless they're pesticide free. it's like night and day.

[freudling]

The times my mother has gone into the ER have been warranted. Extreme nausea for days on end. Totally dehydrated. She needed the IV, etc.

UPDATE TODAY

She went to the doctor and has been diagnosed with Shingles. This is simply coinciding with her cyclic nausea.

[ghporter]

I'm glad your mother (and you!) have some sort of answer. Shingles is aggravating, extremely uncomfortable, and recurrent, but it's treatable. It can be brought on by stress, by minor infections (even a poorly healing scratch can cause an outbreak), and by a number of other problems. And while most shingles outbreaks target the skin, shingles can cause lesions and irritations just about anywhere. But current treatments are both effective and easily tolerated, so as long as you know what's going on, you can take the proper steps and stop the major symptoms from being major problems.

I don't think anyone was suggesting "do not ever go to an ER." But what I got from those suggestions was that she should follow up with her regular doctor and press for some sort of explanation and effective treatment. Those MDs that just churn their patients through the exam room and send them out with yet another prescription need to be fired-and every patient has that right and that control. On the other hand, the regular doctor generally never hears about an ER visit unless the patient tells him/her, so there's no way for the regular doctor to do anything about the reason for the ER visit until the patient makes an appointment.

Finally, the biggest thing about organic foods that really makes sense to me is you know what's in it. Conventional processed foods can have any manner of stuff in them, as long as the FDA hasn't said the stuff isn't allowed, but to retain the "organic" label, a processed food has to have almost entirely food as its content. There are a huge number of things that have drifted into the food chain between field and table that have nothing at all to do with food and everything to do with manufacturing and distribution convenience-and many of these things are irritants to the body at some level or other. I do not believe that the "pure food" movement has a huge benefit in any way except for the move to eliminate stuff that is not food (what plant does BHA come from? Where on a cow do you get stabilizers from?) from our food.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

You go to the ER you get all the tests done in 1 day. You call up your doctors you wait months.

I have to ask, where do you live that it takes you months to see a doctor? Also, Point of Care has a limited scope in what it can test for.

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

You say you've been through all this with your mom yet your giving advice so obviously contradictory to reality for all us who actually have gone through this forwards and backwards and find it very frustrating.

For the past four years his mom was getting sick every four to six weeks. Instead of seeking a physician, they went to the ER every time she was sick. I'm not a doctor and I can't make any sort of diagnosis, but I'm certain that had they followed up the ER with a visit to her GCP in the first place, she probably would have been diagnosed and treated long before. Even if the blood tests took "months" as you say.

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

Now days you absolutely have to be your own doctor and research this stuff on the net.

I guess we'll have to disagree. I think self diagnosing is a terrible thing to do.

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

You know most the time you're one of my favorite people around here (when your not hating people just for being christians)

I hate religion, not people.

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I don't think anyone was suggesting "do not ever go to an ER." But what I got from those suggestions was that she should follow up with her regular doctor and press for some sort of explanation and effective treatment. Those MDs that just churn their patients through the exam room and send them out with yet another prescription need to be fired-and every patient has that right and that control. On the other hand, the regular doctor generally never hears about an ER visit unless the patient tells him/her, so there's no way for the regular doctor to do anything about the reason for the ER visit until the patient makes an appointment.

You said it better than I did.

Originally Posted by ghporter 

Finally, the biggest thing about organic foods that really makes sense to me is you know what's in it.

Conversely, I can tell you what's not in my food if treated.

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I do not believe that the "pure food" movement has a huge benefit in any way except for the move to eliminate stuff that is not food (what plant does BHA come from? Where on a cow do you get stabilizers from?) from our food.

I have nothing against organic foods, but I do having a major beef (hehe) with misinformation. I guess I'm sensitive of the subject since my uncle is a farmer.

Originally Posted by freudling 

She went to the doctor and has been diagnosed with Shingles. This is simply coinciding with her cyclic nausea.

Glad to hear your mom will be OK.

[bstone]

You do not get all your tests done in one day in the ER. That's patently ridiculous.

[freudling]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I don't think anyone was suggesting "do not ever go to an ER." But what I got from those suggestions was that she should follow up with her regular doctor and press for some sort of explanation and effective treatment. Those MDs that just churn their patients through the exam room and send them out with yet another prescription need to be fired-and every patient has that right and that control. On the other hand, the regular doctor generally never hears about an ER visit unless the patient tells him/her, so there's no way for the regular doctor to do anything about the reason for the ER visit until the patient makes an appointment.

ghporter and others:

Indeed, my mother has also been in and out of her Doctor's office many times. Having the kind of cancer she had (stage 3.5 breast cancer), she's had to be checked many times, lots of bloodwork...

1.3 months of Chemotherapy every 2 weeks was her regime. She then had to take Arimidex for 4 years as mentioned. She's been off that drug for about 3 months now.

One thing to mention: we're in Canada. Things are hit or miss where she's at. For example, her cancer doctor quit because of all the stress, they lost track of how many Chemo sessions she had, etc. My mom was keeping track though. My parents live in an area that has the oldest demographic in the country, and the hospital and other medical facilities are stressed. Lots of wait times, congestion, complaints against doctors, etc.

Her doctors just prescribe drugs and churn her through: they haven't really determined the root cause of her cyclic nausea. I forced her to go to a naturopath last year and she started doing things like taking apple cider vinegar before meals. That reduced her nausea by about 60%. She would still get the nausea, just much less frequently.

She hasn't really been sticking to this, and she has been eating all kinds of processed foods, dairy, etc., particularly since she's been off Arimidex. Now, her Doctor did say that going through that much Chemotherapy changes the body's response to food. Food allergens, digestion problems, etc. can and do result. I think this is the cause of her nausea, but I don't know for sure. This and stress. I'm more confident about this hypothesis because she's not taking Arimidex anymore and she just got a bout of nausea exactly like she always has in the past.

As for organic foods, etc., I know quite a bit about this. I'm actually a med school drop out. I did several years of training and just decided I didn't want to be a doctor. I wasn't good with cadavers, and just got interested in other things. Anybody who thinks organic food isn't significantly better for you than processed food is uninformed and/or foolish. Penn and Teller? Really? It's amazing what people believe in the media.

It's really simple, pesticides and chemicals can be significantly carcinogenic to your body. Processed foods contain either pesticides and/or chemicals. Synthetic, unnatural ingredients. MSG is a great example of a chemical in processed foods that has been shown to increase the chances of getting cancer.

Aside from this, highly processed foods can make people gain weight, and even cause obesity. That's because when your body can't completely break down and properly digest the food you ingest, it gets funnelled and stored in your fat cells. All that salt, and all those chemicals just build up in your fat stores. Biological magnification refers. You get fatter, and then you want to eat more food. Yet the food you eat contains very little in the way of actual nutrients. And then you have the Supersize Me phenomena.

[freudling]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

Penn and Teller BS: Organic Food Myths Debunked (Excerpt) - YouTube

Anybody circulating these idiots' shows is almost as big an idiot.

Here's something funny: the guy from the Hudson Institute says the reason girls are entering puberty faster and getting bigger breasts is not because of all the hormones in the milk that they're drinking, but "because we are fatter". And why do you think we're fatter? A lot of evidence points to the fact that it's because of processed foods, the Supersize Me phenomena I described above.

It's 2 things: disease/health complications and specifically weight gain... from processed foods.

Some research on MSG (it's far from conclusive that MSG is "ok" and "safe" to ingest):

Studies on MSG

Glad to hear she got an answer. Until then, I was thinking her gall bladder needed to be removed. Gall bladder attacks often happen without warning. The only link is eating fatty foods beforehand, which for many people is too often to make the connection.

[ghporter]

Precocious puberty is caused, among other things, by obesity. Androgens (male hormones) are converted in fat tissue to estrogens; there's a significant relationship between obesity and breast cancer rates because of the increased levels of estrogens in obese women, and this happens in girls as well. Having estrogen-like compounds in foods isn't helping, but it's not "the cause." Dependence on processed foods of any kind, and particularly dependence on high-fat convenience diets (which are both correlated with low family incomes) drives obesity, with the food industry reinforcing the desire for larger portions of fattier and higher empty-calorie level foods through "giving the customers what they want."

Eating "real" food that is prepared from fresh ingredients that are properly washed and prepared is enormously better than opening cans and boxes of "food," and orders of magnitude better than subsisting on fast food, which is the way an unfortunately large number of low income families manage to feed their families (especially in South Texas, but not unique here). Extreme diets aren't as useful as "good" diets that consist of fresher food prepared just before serving at home. Some people need more particular food choices and preparation methods, but the majority of the population can improve their health and wellbeing by simply staying home and cooking for themselves most of the time.

We demand excessive availability of foods (which we often leave to spoil in the fridge) so producers take steps to produce more and keep it "safe" and "fresh" for longer, which drives the use of pesticides, early picking and "accelerated ripening," and other negative practices. Go to the store more frequently, buy what you'll use before it goes bad, and cook it right, and you'll send a message to food producers that their techniques aren't acceptable.

[el chupacabra]

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

I have to ask, where do you live that it takes you months to see a doctor? Also, Point of Care has a limited scope in what it can test for.

Sometimes it takes months to see a doctor if he's a specialist; But this isn't what I was referring to. I was referring to the fact that it can take months just to get to go through the basic tests; which means you'll wait months for a diagnosis.

I was getting sick in january. The first CT they did they told me everything was fine. several months later I got sicker. I said "i want to be tested for cancer, I have the symptoms of cancer or some other serious illness and they're getting worse over the course of several months". The doc told me I probably had a throat infection and gave me drugs (which he probably got paid off by the pharmaceutical company to push.) I had no signs of a throat infection except for the fact that it was a little red (another sign of cancer when you put everything together; but you'd have to read on the internet to know that). 2 more months go by until another doc pulls my CT records from January (from anther clinic). The report says abnormal pancreas... funny they didn't tell me... So I go through the process of waiting a week for blood work results here and waiting a week for my next CT appointment, then wait another week for the results, then wait another week for the MRI, then another week for the results, then another round of blood work they should have done with the first round. And right now I've been waiting a month for my pancreas specific blood tests. It's from a high ranking world known prestigious medical institution too. I can't even get an appointment to see the specialist until Aug 25... which I had to schedule a long time ago just to get that. It's now 8 months into the year and at this point there's some weeks where Im bed ridden... Thats why Im here more... And yet there's no more sense of urgency with doctors. There's about 400 diseases this could be and the docs are focused on one when they should be testing for all different diseases at this point, in case the one they're chasing is wrong. If you read more on this subject you'd see that blood tests aren't something to have a lot of faith in. They accurately diagnose stuff 20-50% of the time. CT and MRI aren't reliable either. Treating illnesses is the easy part, finding them in the early stages is the hard part. You really need a doc who's going to shot gun many tests and then take the time to put it all together. In big cities like mine they just fast food people through the system.

One of my friends had been getting CT scans for abdominal pain for the past few months. They showed nothing so they dismissed her with food poisoning each time. Finally after a while they did and MRI and found a tumor the size of a golf ball... How do you miss that? So don't put too much faith in these machines or the lazy radiologists that are reading them. Luckily it wasn't malignant; otherwise they would have said "Oops it must've been a 'silent killer' if only we found it in its early stages."

bstone
You do not get all your tests done in one day in the ER. That's patently ridiculous.

One of my coworkers went into the ER recently feeling a little sick and in one day had twice as many tests as I've had in the past 8 months. I've debated going myself but I don't want a repeat of tests that I've already done, nor do I want to be red flagged by the insurance.

Mr Fruedling,
The same goes for you. Always be skeptical about the tests they do on your mom. Go in to the doc with prepared questions, and research how they track cancer in remission. I don't know if you're familiar with PET scans and all that.. That last thing you want is for them one day to say "looks like it came back twice as aggressive and spread everywhere overnight" Thats an excuse they use for "we missed it" with our blood tests.

sorry for misspelling and all im in a hurry.

[freudling]

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

Sometimes it takes months to see a doctor if he's a specialist; But this isn't what I was referring to. I was referring to the fact that it can take months just to get to go through the basic tests; which means you'll wait months for a diagnosis.

I was getting sick in january. The first CT they did they told me everything was fine. several months later I got sicker. I said "i want to be tested for cancer, I have the symptoms of cancer or some other serious illness and they're getting worse over the course of several months". The doc told me I probably had a throat infection and gave me drugs (which he probably got paid off by the pharmaceutical company to push.) I had no signs of a throat infection except for the fact that it was a little red (another sign of cancer when you put everything together; but you'd have to read on the internet to know that). 2 more months go by until another doc pulls my CT records from January (from anther clinic). The report says abnormal pancreas... funny they didn't tell me... So I go through the process of waiting a week for blood work results here and waiting a week for my next CT appointment, then wait another week for the results, then wait another week for the MRI, then another week for the results, then another round of blood work they should have done with the first round. And right now I've been waiting a month for my pancreas specific blood tests. It's from a high ranking world known prestigious medical institution too. I can't even get an appointment to see the specialist until Aug 25... which I had to schedule a long time ago just to get that. It's now 8 months into the year and at this point there's some weeks where Im bed ridden... Thats why Im here more... And yet there's no more sense of urgency with doctors. There's about 400 diseases this could be and the docs are focused on one when they should be testing for all different diseases at this point, in case the one they're chasing is wrong. If you read more on this subject you'd see that blood tests aren't something to have a lot of faith in. They accurately diagnose stuff 20-50% of the time. CT and MRI aren't reliable either. Treating illnesses is the easy part, finding them in the early stages is the hard part. You really need a doc who's going to shot gun many tests and then take the time to put it all together. In big cities like mine they just fast food people through the system.

One of my friends had been getting CT scans for abdominal pain for the past few months. They showed nothing so they dismissed her with food poisoning each time. Finally after a while they did and MRI and found a tumor the size of a golf ball... How do you miss that? So don't put too much faith in these machines or the lazy radiologists that are reading them. Luckily it wasn't malignant; otherwise they would have said "Oops it must've been a 'silent killer' if only we found it in its early stages."



One of my coworkers went into the ER recently feeling a little sick and in one day had twice as many tests as I've had in the past 8 months. I've debated going myself but I don't want a repeat of tests that I've already done, nor do I want to be red flagged by the insurance.

Mr Fruedling,
The same goes for you. Always be skeptical about the tests they do on your mom. Go in to the doc with prepared questions, and research how they track cancer in remission. I don't know if you're familiar with PET scans and all that.. That last thing you want is for them one day to say "looks like it came back twice as aggressive and spread everywhere overnight" Thats an excuse they use for "we missed it" with our blood tests.

sorry for misspelling and all im in a hurry.

Ya I agree. I hope you're ok? Thanks.

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by el chupacabra 

Sometimes it takes months to see a doctor if he's a specialist; But this isn't what I was referring to. I was referring to the fact that it can take months just to get to go through the basic tests; which means you'll wait months for a diagnosis.

You are either exaggerating greatly, you live in a the middle of a jungle or desert cut off from civilization, or there is something ridiculously wrong with your service.