What You’ll Learn

Why do people skip important health screenings like mammograms? A young mother shares her experience of not being listened to by medical professionals along with her lifelong struggle with health anxiety. In a fascinating insight, she reveals that her anxiety is not about enduring the tests themselves but the information those screenings may provide. Gain a deeper understanding of why people avoid screenings to find ways to address their fears and increase rates of screenings among patients. 

VIVO: Your perspective is different than a lot of people because you haven’t had a mammogram. Is that correct?

Interviewee: Right.

VIVO: That’s important because a lot of times people who have had a mammogram know what it’s like, what to expect. But if you haven’t had one, then maybe your fears are right and maybe they’re different than what’s really happening. So I want to chat about that. There’s no wrong answer. So if you’re scared about something or if you’re not scared or if you know something or don’t know something, it doesn’t matter.

Interviewee: Okay.

VIVO: Could you tell me know your general location, and about yourself.

Interviewee: I live in Ohio. I have a five-year-old daughter and I’m working part-time right now. And the rest of my days consist of either eating, shopping, or working or taking care of her, so they’re full.

VIVO: What are your hobbies and interests? I’m a mom too, so I know that I don’t always have time for them. But if you had time for hobbies besides sleeping and resting, what would you do?

Interviewee: Probably fashion and beauty and makeup. And technology. I’m on TikTok a lot, watching videos, so I’m into makeup and creating different makeup looks and anything I can learn from technology. I like that stuff. So I’m a nerd, I guess, in that sense.

VIVO: Have you ever had a notable experience with a doctor or any medical situation, positive or negative, or has everything been pretty routine so far?

Interviewee: Last year I went to the doctor for some stomach pain and I wanted them to do an ultrasound of my pancreas because it was hurting, and they said my lipase levels were up. And they told me that I’d have blood work done, so I got the blood work done. But they told me they would not be able to give me an ultrasound. They would have to give me a CT scan and it would be three weeks away because my insurance wouldn’t pay for it until three weeks.

And I ended up getting the blood work back and they told me that ‚Äî the blood work was for stuff that I never even asked for. It wasn’t telling me my lipase levels at all. So it was frustrating because it was telling me stuff that I wasn’t even wanting to know or have to put on my plate to think about. So it was aggravating me, because I felt like I wasn’t being listened to.

I felt like she was off on her own thing and wanted to test me for what she wanted to test me for because she was checking my ankles for diabetes when that wasn’t what I was going in for at all. I’m not a diabetic. So I think that put in perspective, the doctors are not listening. It set a standard. They don’t listen to me a lot of the time. They do what they want to do themselves.

VIVO: Did you end up, if you don’t mind me asking, did you end up with answers for what the stomach pain was?

Interviewee: I did not. So they said that they had to put the CT scan off for three weeks. And at that point, I had had pancreas problems in the past. So at that point, that’s not what I wanted because they said they were going to check my kidneys and other stuff.

And I was like, by that time the schedule would’ve happened, I was out of pain anyway and that wasn’t what I wanted. So I was like, I’m going to cancel it because I don’t know what else they’re going to try to come up with. So I never did get answers, but I feel okay now. So hopefully it was nothing.

VIVO:¬† Getting a more specific, you’ve never had a mammogram, and so you also said you’re hesitant to make your first appointment‚Äîbut you’re also young. So do you plan on getting a mammogram, a baseline mammogram before you need to, or what makes you think about doing it now in general?

Interviewee: I know in the news there’s been a lot of talk with certain cancers rising among younger populations. I hear a lot of talk about that. And then I also hear, even with the mammograms, there’s not a guarantee that it’ll find what it needs to find, especially if you have denser tissue, I know it’s missing out on a lot of stuff.

And even with a CT and ultrasound, they’re still missing out on stuff. So in my mind I’m thinking, I am scared to go and do that, because even if I do it, I put all my courage in there to do that, and then I come back and it says it’s okay, but there still might be something that it didn’t catch. So it’s like, is it worth it to me to do it?

VIVO: So if you needed to build up courage to go do it, why? What’s your perception of the situation, maybe of the process? What makes you need to have that courage? Has anybody told you about anything? Anybody else’s experiences that make you go, “What?”

Interviewee: I’ve seen a lot of stories on TikTok where they talk about how they got a mammogram and the doctor said it was fine, and then two, three weeks later they felt something and they had advanced breast cancer. But they should have been able to catch that with the mammogram and it didn’t.

So I feel like the mammogram also failed them in a way. So I feel like I go in, going through that process, getting all nervous and everything, and hoping to have guaranteed answer, is my tissue and all that okay, for the mammogram not to be able to go through with that and give me the accurate answers that I’m looking for.

VIVO: So for you, getting the courage together doesn’t have much to do with going through the actual mammogram, the act of the mammogram? For you, it’s more about the decisions that are made and things that are caught at the end?

Interviewee: Yes. And I’ve never had anybody talk to me about it anyway. So it’s learning everything on my own. I don’t know much. Most of my family had passed on already, so I’m going through it by myself and I don’t feel like there’s a lot of guarantee with it and places to turn and learn about all that stuff. Especially if you have denser tissue, there’s no guarantees that the mammogram will catch everything.

VIVO Strategist: Sure. You said that most of your family had passed away, I’m so sorry about that. Is there something that runs in your family, maybe a heart disease or a certain cancer or something like that, or is it‚Äî

Interviewee: They were old. They were all older. My dad was 85, so a lot of his family was around the same age as him, so I didn’t have a whole lot. So when it comes to women and grandmas and all that, I didn’t know a whole lot of the health history.

There was no transparency there when they were alive. So me starting out and trying to learn about everything. I had to build that image in my mind of what a mammogram would be like and if it was necessary.

VIVO: Have you heard any stories about the process of it other than the results and other than the fear of missing something, have you heard anything about going in for the mammogram, what the process is, people’s experiences on that side of it?

Interviewee: I know they said sometimes it can hurt a little bit when they have to push your stuff and that can hurt. So that doesn’t bother me. I don’t know, it was a nerve-wracking experience because sometimes I have health anxiety anyway, and then going for that and going in there and going through the process and getting it done, and then that feeling of, “I wonder if they missed something.” This whole process that makes me feel weird about it. Is it necessary to go through that if I don’t have a guaranteed accurate answer at the end?

VIVO: So what would give you that peace? If you went in there and you knew that they would find something or not, and you knew that there was a definitive answer, that would give you the peace?

Interviewee: Yes. Because I see so many times they talk about if you have denser tissue, that… and I might have that. I could have that, I’m not sure. But if I have that, then it could be harder to find or harder to see through the layers. So something that would give me a definite answer, so if they do say that I’m okay, I can know, “Okay, this was worth going through that process for.”

VIVO: That makes sense. It’s tough because when you’ve been through a situation where you couldn’t trust your doctor already.

Interviewee: Yes.

VIVO: You said you had a child. Is it a boy or a girl?

Interviewee: A girl.

VIVO: So you also mentioned that you didn’t have any women teaching you about that. What measures are you taking to do that with your daughter? Do you think it’s important to teach her things that you didn’t learn?

Interviewee: Yes. I try to teach her everything that I didn’t learn or I didn’t understand because have her have a better understanding than I did. I feel like she listens and she observes everything. So I feel like when the time comes, I’d want her to get her screenings because she is biracial too, she’s not my shade.

So she might have an increased risk of everything. So when it comes to that time, I would tell her to get hers early because I don’t want her to be scared like me. Even if they mess up or something, at least that she went, she can have some foundation that she went and she got checked out. So I don’t want her to follow my footsteps and be scared.

VIVO: It’s interesting that you have that fear of not finding something, but you would still want that for your daughter, that they would try.

Participant: Yes. I don’t want to hold her back or hinder her like I’ve hindered myself. And her dad would not like that, so it’s better if she goes and gets it done. I think she’s a lot healthier than me. She’s strong as an ox. So I think she’d be okay with it. But I would want to not do the mistakes with her that I feel like I made with myself.

VIVO: Now you said that she’s super healthy and you said that you’ve had health issues, so and also with your, what you were talking about with your pancreas, what, if you don’t mind me asking, what have been your health issues?

Interviewee: I had pancreatitis a bunch of times. I had blood work done, they couldn’t find a cause for it, so they said it was probably idiopathic, didn’t have a cause at that time. So that left me struggling and grappling with that for a while. No cause and that’s really painful. So I had went to the chiropractor for something else that I had going on, and my pancreas problem ended up going away completely.

So I don’t know, I guess, because they moved my organs around with a chiropractor. I’m not sure. But it went away. So I was glad for that. But it taught me that life can change to an instant and health is very important. So I would want her to put her health first a little bit more than me. I can see what it does if you don’t. So I would want her to do that first, put it first.

VIVO: What are your big dreams for your life?

Interviewee: Trying to find more stable income would probably be the biggest thing. I’ve been bouncing between part-time and they’re not giving me a whole lot of pay. So I’ve been trying to work from home and there’s not a whole lot of jobs paying with that either. So I want to become a, on TikTok, one of those influencers that do makeup and all that stuff.

That would be the goal. I don’t have a whole lot of followers, but I’m trying to build up to that. So that would be a goal. It would be nice to not have to go into work every day. So I would say a more stable income is probably the biggest goal I have right now. More income would be good.

VIVO: What about biggest fears? Are there any health-related or any big fears in your life? 

Interviewee: Probably if I were to catch COVID or something, that would be scary for me because I got health anxiety and I wouldn’t want to go through that. And I’ve already been through it twice, but I don’t want my daughter to go through that, or because a lot of people are getting disabled from it and all that stuff and losing their smell and all that stuff.

So no, that’s a fear. I have to say anything that slows me down would be a fear, health-wise or physically or anything. Because me being slowed down, I don’t have time to be slowed down. And my daughter’s in school, I homeschool her at home, so… And I’m the only one knows what to do with it. So I feel like if I would slow down, it would slow down everything else too. So, anything that would slow me down would be an issue.

VIVO t: You’ve mentioned your health anxiety. You’ve been through the pancreatitis and those issues, but is there anything specific that’s given you that anxiety? Have you always been the person who’s been nervous about doctors?

Interviewee: I’ve had anxiety since I was eight, I want to say. It’s been the dying-anxiety type of thing. I had it even so young, I don’t know why. I guess, it was hereditary. So I think when I got older and I began to understand more, it was like I was afraid to go to the doctors because I didn’t want them to say something that would fuel that or tell me there was anything wrong with me because I think it went hand in hand.

My anxiety is, it’s a little bit more settled now than it was. But I know how it is to feel in the trenches of anxiety. So I’m glad it’s doing a little bit better now, but I still have my days. But it’s a process. You got to find things that help you cope with anxiety. Even if it never fully goes away, you carry the weight of it with you. I think that’s a good way to put it.

VIVO: So what are your ways to cope with the anxiety? Other than the TikTok part of it, of course.

Interviewee: That’s probably a therapy for me, a big one is TikTok. Probably journaling. I like to make music and stuff like that. I’ve loved music since I was a little girl. So doing both of those things, journaling. I thought about going to therapy. I haven’t got around to it yet because I don’t have the time. But other than that, journaling and TikTok and writing music has been a big help.

VIVO: That’s interesting. I think that it’s interesting when you say with your health anxiety that you don’t want to hear things that are possibly going to, that when they tell you something’s wrong. Because with the mammogram, you’re saying that you’re scared that they would miss something. So it’s the opposite?

Interviewee: Yes. It’s scary anytime I go in a doctor because it’s in my mind I’m healthy, but when I go to a mammogram or anything, I’m like, “Maybe there is something there.” In the back of my mind, I’m like, “Maybe there’s a cyst or something.” So hoping that it’s not there, if that makes sense. I want to make sure that I’m healthy, but I don’t want to give myself anxiety over something that’s not there or could be there, if that makes sense.

VIVO: Do you think that it would, hopefully this never happens, but if there was a chance that they did find something, that that would help you or make you feel better to find an answer for things?

For instance, when you were talking about your pancreas, the doctor didn’t do what you wanted them to do or what you felt was important. So at that point when you were in pain, do you think it would’ve felt better to have an answer or were you happy to hear that it went away? Does that make sense?

Interviewee: Since I had had a pancreatitis for a couple of years before that, I figured that I had another flare of that. But at that point, I wanted an answer. I more so wanted an answer that my pancreas, that it was okay, that it wasn’t nothing more than being inflamed. But when the pain had went away, I was satisfied with that because that told me in itself that the inflammation had went down.

So I don’t feel like after it being gone, after the pain being gone for a week, I didn’t feel like I needed the doctor anymore at that point. Because they weren’t there when I needed him. I had to cope by myself. So it was that thought process.

VIVO: With your history with the pancreatitis, do you have regular follow-ups specifically for that? Is there something that they check specifically for that, or do you have your yearly checkups?

Interviewee: Since I had went to the chiropractor and I wasn’t expecting that to go away of all things, that’s not what I went for. But it ended up going away completely to a point where I didn’t think about my pancreas anymore at that point. So now, it’s the yearly checkups and with everything, they say it’s everything’s okay. So I’m trying to keep it going that way and trying to eat right.

VIVO: When do you think you’ll get a mammogram?

Interviewee: I don’t know. I’ve been thinking about it lately. I was like, I know I should because I’ve never got the other thing either, a pap smear or whatever it is. I haven’t got one of those either. So I think about it because I want to stay healthy and on top of my health for my daughter.

But it’s that fear of not knowing what’s on the other side, put it that way. So on one side, it makes me want to go in. On the other side, it holds me back because I’m like, “Okay, you’re going to get an answer. You might not like it after you get tested.” So that’s something that’s on my mind.

VIVO: So the pap smear part of it as well, is that a similar fear to the, you’re saying, what’s on the other side?

Interviewee: Yes.

VIVO: The health anxiety and things like that. Do you think it’s easier to push it back and not think about it than it is to think about it and go through what you’re going to need to go through?

Interviewee: Yes. Because I’ve heard a lot of people with the pap smear too, they’ve had bad experiences and it hurt them, and the doctor didn’t listen to them. So I’m thinking, in my mind, I’m like, I feel pretty healthy down there. So is that something that I feel like I need right now?

Because especially because I’ve never had any problems with it. Is that necessary right now? No. If I had an issue, I was thinking if I had pain or something, I was thinking maybe it would be more of a priority than it is right now. So I would say it’s the same type of thought process.

VIVO: When you were having your baby, if you’ve never been to a gynecologist in general, having a baby was probably a different experience?

Interviewee: Yes. It was different. And she wasn’t planned either, so it was, there was a lot going on. I didn’t expect for the process to go that way. They had to check me a lot. Especially when you feel the baby moving, it’s a different feeling. I wasn’t expected to feel it, connect so fast with her even before she was out.

But they did a lot of checks, and at the end when I was getting ready to have her, her oxygen had got low, I guess because I was anemic. So they had to put her in a little NICU, that thing that makes her warm, and I had to go on oxygen. So it was a process to bring a child into this world. We’re superheroes. That’s what we do. So it’s something, it’s a process.

It’ll give you, I want to say a different perspective on life. All the stuff that we have to go through to bring them into this world, it’s something, it’s something. I had never been to the gynecologist as much as I had with when I had her. They had to open me up and put me on the table and check everything, stick stuff in me and everything. So it was, we all had to be open with each other in that room.

VIVO: Did you have anxiety when you were going to the doctor for your daughter, or was it a different situation because you knew it was for that reason? 

Interviewee: It was a little bit different because I had felt pretty good. I think that was my pancreas stuff had, I think it was at a point where it was not happening then. It took a break while I was pregnant for some reason. So I felt pretty good about it.

I felt like since I was having her, I had a little bit of safety around me. I wasn’t focusing so much on the health issues because I was thinking about her. So I felt like, I was getting this constant care, and I didn’t feel nothing bad. I felt like I was there for a good reason.

Participant Profile

• Gender and Type: Female, potential mammogram patient (never had one)
• Geographic Location: Ohio
• Family Status: Single mother with a 5-year-old daughter
• Employment: Working part-time
• Age Group: Young adult (likely in her 20s or early 30s)
• Health History: History of recurrent pancreatitis (idiopathic); health anxiety since childhood
• Key Challenges:
  • Significant health anxiety
  • Distrust of medical professionals based on past experiences
  • Fears about test accuracy (particularly mammograms and dense tissue concerns)
  • Limited family health history knowledge
  • No previous preventive screening experience (no mammogram or Pap smear)