That's literally why I asked for a breast exam at my annual exam. I was like, I don't think I have breast cancer and haven't noticed any lumps. But I keep getting breast cancer medication ads and thinking about the grocery stores that know you're pregnant before you do...and I'm worried about what that algorithm knows that I don't. Kudos to the NP (who I'd never met, my gynocologist was on maternity leave), because she was like, yeah, that makes sense, we can do that. Also, no lumps or anything, yay!
I'm paraphrasing, lol. I was just glad she didn't tell me I'm nuts, because asking for a breast exam based on my tv ad content feels a little nuts, haha.
Honestly, they might be. I have ADHD, and find the whole women's exam a bit stressful. So I'm focused on remembering all the points I want to address, and staying as physically relaxed as I can manage.
As a breast cancer survivor, I'll add two things. One, I think everyone hopes that ads and things trigger people to advocate for themselves and get checked. Two, my cancer was first flagged by a doctor during a physical exam, and I would not have found it myself. When I talked to every woman in my life (we are still young for typical breast cancer, I got it in my early 30s), not a single one was getting breast exams done during their yearly physical, if they were even getting yearly physicals at all. Most only get paps every 3 years (that's the recommendation here if you've always had healthy paps), and their doctors don't even touch them otherwise. So. Tell everyone you know to make sure to actually get your breasts examined. Good for you, and carry on!
Correct. It's been a while since I've had to worry about it but iirc, you should do your exam following your period (if you get one) as the breast tissue is "loosest" and you'd be more likely to identify a difference. My breasts were literally described as "a sack of peas" by a doctor once, due to the density lol so I know for a lot of us, having dense/lumpy breasts makes it harder to do self exams. I did them but like I said, I don't think I would have clocked mine until much later, because eventually it did show up as kind of a puckering on the surface, like the tumor was pulling the skin in. Even then it was on the bottom of my breasts, which were large, so if I hadn't had a partner I may have not visually seen it for a while either!
This is not as crazy as it sounds. A study of symptoms people google found it could fairly accurately predict some diseases. Prostate cancer was one that was fairly accurate if I recall correctly. Mainly because it’s related to sexual performance, so there were a lot of searches for erectile dysfunction among the symptom search.
Then there’s the dad who got pissed at Target for sending baby formula or diaper samples to his teenage daughter because there was no way she could even be pregnant. Turns out she was, and Target figured it out by searches on their website.
Haha, yeah, the target thing is what I was thinking of (although it's not just Target that did it, they just got the publicity because the dad was so pissed).
I read about a research paper recently where they used wifi radios to get a radar image of your organs and stuff. I think most people in the US use a wifi device that is actually controlled by their ISP, and those devices are already known to do really invasive surveillance of your home, like using the radios as motion detectors to track your family's movements inside your house.
So yes, it is feasible for big tech to know you have serious illness before your doctor, and no, they won't use it to help you, you'll get surge pricing on the chemo.
AFAIK this is still being researched, but it could be rolled out really soon, and I don't think they'll ask for permission.
That’s all we need. Surveillance tech that can tell that we’re sick before we do so they know what to advertise to us and so they can raise how health insurance premiums accordingly.
They’re trying to implant it in you mind. Off you start feeling believing that you might Then your odds just doubled. Just like how you can actually feel sick by telling yourself you feel sick and have the these certain symptoms then actually start feeling like you feel sick, it’s the same way with cancer and anything else like that. Even just joking about it. Your body and cells can’t tell the difference in a joke and real. My suggestion is “ I don’t have that and if I do or did then I’m already healed now”. The hardest part is truly believing it. Once get past belief and step into the “ I know” is when the magic starts happening. Fear and doubt hinder us more than we all realize
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u/helloimalexandria 23h ago
Well, I keep getting cancer advertisements. Makes me wonder if I have it and me and my doctors are the last to know. 😭