4 ms·
As a sibling response says, false positives are a big issue. Understanding risks is another issue (consider if you're told you have an aneurysm with annual risk
by petercooper 6y ago
As a sibling response says, false positives are a big issue. Understanding risks is another issue (consider if you're told you have an aneurysm with annual risk of spontaneous rupture at 0.1% versus an operation with 10% mortality rate.. do you choose the op?)
In some people, indulging anxieties around health can be problematic in itself or have mental health repercussions. Anxieties could also be aroused by benign findings. For example, I have a 7mm cyst on my left kidney. It is entirely benign and not growing but some people may find such a finding unduly alarming and seek treatment they don't need.
- bigmattystyles 6y agoOh man, this is me right now! I had some minor but constant back pain and got an MRI. They found a bulging disc which had shrunk (a good thing) since the last MRI 5 years ago (when I presumably injured the disc, though there's no way to even know that for sure). I CANNOT stop worrying about it. Ever since the doctor labeled it, even though she says it's not cause for concern, I cannot stop worrying about it and imagining the worst; it bursting and leaving me in agony for the rest of my life. Fun times.... The best part, bulges are not even necessarily abnormal, I know all this and yet, cannot let it go.
- petercooper 6y agoYes, that's exactly the downside to screening, although it sounds like it was necessary in your case nonetheless :-) I hope it continues to get better! Maybe a third improvement will set your mind at rest. I went through with screening because I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have similar concerns over such findings, but it's quite hard to know that for sure until something comes up, I suspect. If I had a benign, but growing, tumor somewhere in my body, it's hard to know how I'd take it, though I do tend to be pretty prosaic.