I had to go to the Dr. today to get my slightly high blood pressure checked. It's all fine, BUT (big but) he of course suggested a colonoscopy, mammogram, pap smear and a bone density check. Any of you who "know" me know what I will allow... That's right; the bone density test which does not feature sedation. But Jackie, you exclaim, a mammogram and a pap smear don't involve sedation either! Maybe. Here is my reasoning...
Suppose that I irradiate my perfectly normal breasts for a screening procedure, even though I have no problems and nobody on either side of my family has ever had breast cancer. Does this sound like a plan? The very performance of this test could cause problems/changes in delicate breast tissue can't it? There is no use telling me that the amount of radiation is negligible. I have read all the studies. There is a lack of due diligence being used to ensure that the machine doing the irradiating is within boundaries isn't there? My feeling is that I should not be taking risks with my health for no apparent reason.
The next problem, and this goes for both the mammogram and the pap smear, is what then shall I do if there is some minor problem detected? It would be minor as I am asymptomatic. Nobody in my family on either side has experienced any kind of cancer... Won't the medical workers want to continue with more intrusive tests? Biopsies and exploratory surgery etc. (keep in mind that nearly EVERYTHING is "pre-cancerous") Won't that involve a (heated) debate about that brain poison Versed? You bet it will. You can't have a biopsy or surgery without an IV. Once the IV line is established, who can GUARANTEE that I won't be injected with "Vitamin V" again? Nobody can. Given the vitriol from health care workers that I have experienced by suggesting that Versed can be a very bad drug for lots of people, why would anybody in the medical field listen to me? Hell they might want to deliberately shoot me up with it to show me who is boss. It happened before, it can happen again. It happened to my sister too.
On to colonoscopy. It may surprise some people that Versed itself is causing major problems in re colonoscopy. I personally speak to many, MANY people who have been sedated for colonoscopy who are experiencing severe and long lasting mental problems subsequent to the Versed injection. The problem starts with devious medical people, intent on doing as little patient care as is humanly possible, who either LIE about the effects of Versed as in "something to RELAX you" or they simply don't mention this nasty little drug at all. (Screw patient rights law!) Too late once they get it into your veins. There's horror story after horror story pertaining to this all over the web. I have collected a lot of them here on this very blog. People are being tortured all over this country by having Versed slammed into their brain and the ASSUMPTION by medical people that a) it's fine to subject patients to torture, and b) it doesn't matter because they fried your synapses with Versed. What's left out is the 10% that don't get amnesia. What about them? The prevailing attitude from our sympathetic (cough) health care workers is "Too damn bad for you!" Not to mention the perforation issue which is ameliorated by omitting the "sedation" for colonoscopies.
There's also another issue with colonoscopy that nobody seems to talk about and that's the prep itself. You are subjecting your body to extreme stress and distress by using the bowel cleansing regimen. My body isn't giving me any trouble at all. Why would I deliberately set out to throw it all off balance with the "bowel cleansing?" So I have to risk sending my system off kilter, frying my brain again, perforations etc. for a test that isn't medically indicated? This can't be real.
So now I'm in a quandary. I truly do not want to defy my doctor! I really like him. I selected him with deliberation and am pleased with my choice. I don't want him to dismiss me as a patient, but I'm totally unwilling to risk my mental and physical health when there is no underlying reason to do these tests. (no lumps, bumps, blood, pain or family history, everything working as it should) Medical checkups shouldn't involve this kind of anxiety...
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