Why aren't they all free? I know psa isn't meant to replace a digital exam but shouldn't every screening tool be covered if the doctor wants to use it? It goes in my bloodwork requisition regularly, though not every time and it isn't billed to my health plan.

I agree with this.

Me too, but you have to meet them half way and tell them what's going on. Early diagnosis and treatment depends on early reporting, etc.

The 8 to 9 month wait is just the time to see the specialist. No procedure has been ordered. The GP just believes on is in order, since the wait just to see the specialist is 8-9 months, that is a long time for a patient to wait, and 100% UNACCEPTABLE in a modern healthcare setting.

We have a broken system, just look at all the things MSP won't cover, and how many people fall through the mental health system because its so poorly funded and relies on medication, so for those of us who need long term therapy, we are screwed unless rich.

The system is broken, and as a patient I have no faith in it.


I am not smart like most on here, and I may not accurately comprehend what some say, I am an idiot, stupid, and mentally ill.


If one person here was going through the extreme mental turmoil I have to deal with every waking hour, and then deal with life, being away from family, living in isolation because people want nothing to do with me, can't hold employment, and cannot access the help I need because I don't have an spare 1,000 a month laying around for it, well I am not too sure, they could stay mentally healthy.

Nobody seems to understand in BC, DBT services are not covered by MSP:

Here are the costs:

$400 per month group portion
$480 per month for individual therapy

Parking downtown Vancouver per month, average $80

Tolls to/from Vancouver per month $15.75

Gas $40

$1,015 approx per month for 6 months = 6,090 in total.

I am not sure how many disabled, on PWD income could afford that just so they can seek appropriate treatment.

"Our services are not covered by MSP, but part of our services may be covered by extended health."

Our extended health benefits doesn't cover mental health services.


I am the first to admit, I am going downhill fast, but we have tried every single option to try and get me into this program, we started last year around this time. And yes I do call crises lines, and at times go to the ER to sit, but neither are going to lead to the treatment since its not MSP covered.


Borderline has one of the highest suicide rates of any mental health issues at 10%, but its one of the hardest if not hardest mental health condition to get treatment before. Treatment cannot consist of 10 minute visits with a psychiatrist and some pills which is how most are still treated for borderline, its treated like a condition where medication is available, medication may decrease some symptoms in some people, but it is not appropriate treatment.

I can guarantee the 6 weeks in hospital in 2012 and years of Effexor and psychiatrist visits that did nothing cost a lot more then MSP just paying 6,000 for a 26 week program. But somehow the other way makes sense.

The 2 psychiatrists I have seen, both of their advice was to go get long term therapy, as there was nothing they could do.

That is how broken the mental health system is.

Davita, I apologise if you felt that I was being impolite, this was certainly not my intention. Our discussions kind of degenerated into semantics which wasn't helpful on either side. What I was trying to determine was the actual accurate extent of your symptoms prior to the investigations.I felt that I had to do this as otherwise any other readers might feel that they would be compelled to attend their GP to request colonoscopies without symptoms. Clearly this would be unhelpful either for them nor the system.

As a physician, part of our skills is to accurately try and determine even subtle symptoms which might give us a pointer towards a diagnosis, this is why I was just making that specific point. From what I can gather you weren't asymptomatic, you had abdominal pain-I may be wrong, it was you that was experiencing the symptoms. As a previously said and was suggested by your specialists, your presentation was whilst not unique, very unusual.

I did somewhat take some offence to your generalisations about how it would take months to get any investigations in Canada. As a busy physician, I do get a good feel for how long waiting times are and it just slightly irked me that the suggestion would be that somebody would be waiting many months with a possible cancer diagnosis when this simply isn't true.

I do feel that if you had presented to your family physician here in Canada with your symptoms, and you requested a colonoscopy if this was not forthcoming from them spontaneously. I personally would have happily forwarded on my referral, typically done on the day and you would've been seen rapidly, assessed and almost certainly would've undergone a colonoscopy- I believe that this colonoscopy would not have been delayed given your abdominal pain and your dare I say it slightly advanced years!
I do feel that your description of your case was helpful and I'm grateful for your contribution as it serves to prove that not always is it obvious that someone has significant pathology. I'm glad that you made a good recovery.

With regard to the PSA issue-I myself am somewhat puzzled by the need to pay. It is as other people have said I think probably comparable to the mammogram screening which is not a paid for service by the public.Previously, patients whose close family members had a history of prostate cancer did not have to pay the $20 but the rules were tightened and even they do now which I think is shortsighted. The only men that are exempt, are those with significant urinary/prostatic symptoms or who have themselves been treated for prostatic cancer in the past.

If your GP felt that there was anything worrying, they would expedite her appointment. She hasn't even been in the results which I find quite bizarre. How can the GP come to any conclusions or referral, with only half the story?

Expedited appointments cannot typically be made simply because of the patient's anxiety.This does not mean that the system is broken and I disagree with you strongly on that point. It would indeed be broken if we referred everybody who is anxious but without worrying symptoms for an invasive tests like a colonoscopy., I'm not really not going down the same old chestnut with regard to underfunding of mental health services as I feel that this would be pointless.

It has nothing to do with smartness, as you know well, no one has ever called you an idiot or stupid. I do feel unfortunately though that people feed you a lot of extremely useful information and help but you don't seem to take this on board and use it to your advantage.There is always a barrier in the way.

In this thread, I spent considerable time explaining to you the processes but it seems that you have completely ignored all comments and just continued with your complaints about her not being seen for nine months and how broken the system is. I probably won't bother next time as there seems absolutely no point

I did not ignore you, I just don't agree with you that the system is working.

She went to GP (first time seeing him) told GP about history of the problem in that region and what the Cleator doctor in Vancouver was doing, but didn't seem to help.

GP said she should see a specialist to see about ruling out a few things and getting a colonoscopy, gave referral sheet to wife, who gave it to front desk who faxed it off, 3 weeks late got a call for the appointment 8 months later.

I don't know if this is how its done, but this is how it was done here.

Again, I am not saying she should be sped up for anxiety, but based on a another system I have used, this would never happen, and I find the waiting months for anything unacceptable, no reason we can't pay more taxes and user fees to have a universal system with fees based on income, so more doctors, nurses, hospitals etc can be built and paid for.

My dad's city is the same size as Chilliwack and his city has 3 hospitals, we have 1 which cannot meet the needs of the community, how is that not a failing system?

The anxiety part comes in because the wait time is so long, that causes people severe anxiety and reduces their quality of life.

Seriously???
I'm done

I have taken enough reading and writing comprehension tests at colleges to know mine is below normal for an adult and even below normal for a grade 12 student, hence why I do poorly in college level classes, I lack the ability to properly understand things and certainly not to the level a college instructor is expecting. I haven't any clue how to read a book and comprehend it sufficiently to write an essay on it for example.

I know nobody here has called me stupid, but based on my life and how difficult it is for me to understand simple things, I am pretty sure I am not your average 30 something smartness wise.

Take jobs, I need a lot of training to become sufficiently good enough to do it alone, and many times this is why I quit or leave a job, lack of training and the company not willing to provide the amount I needed to master the position and work alone.

I've never done well in school, so that also tells me I am not all that smart, are the grades not there to rate how well you learn and understand the material that was taught?


Yes there are barriers, and the biggest barrier is the cost to obtain the needed therapy so I can hopefully move on and lead a life, I haven't been able to break down that barrier, nor has my wife and we have been working on for over a year now, maybe just shy of a year, but we have been working on it.

There is no sliding scale for low income, and full price is currently out of reach, and nothing we can do so another 1,000 a month shows up, that barrier is at the moment a brick wall, and its going to take a tractor to knock it down.

Treatment is the first step to anything else, no stable employment will happen until treatment, no friendships can happen until treatment and so on.

I do not know how to break all the barriers down alone, and that is a large part of it all.

All the BPD books I have all say the same basic saying, without support there is little chance in success overcoming the issues, and these books are written by experts on the matter.

The opposite of what a person should do if they understood borderline disorder.

I absolutely agree.. Late presentation to the doctor and then inadequate investigation are recipes of disaster and bad outcomes. It is getting the balance right that is the tricky bit, investigate enough but don't over investigate. Keeping patients informed and engaged with the process is crucial as well.

Tell me how to get to treatment I need without the money keeping me from it?


I lasted 8 hours at the last job.

I had a total meltdown and had to leave.

I self harm nearly everyday by hitting my head with a closed fist.

I cannot handle life, merely being away is painful and stressful.

I have no family here, I have no friends, I cannot do it all alone, why is this so hard for anyone to understand?

Mammography as a screening tool in the UK was set up back in the 1980s after the Forrest Report advised that it was a useful too. (In GB it's said it was set up an election tool by Thatcher to win women's votes). However, there are arguments about its usefulness, that recalls and false positives give rise to too much stress in women. That the increase in survival rates is due to better treatments. Some cancers found by mammography screening were never previously known about, such as DCIS, and only found until there was a lump. some years later. The treatment and treatment outcomes were the same but Rotherham woman with the cancer found by screening mammos the woman has been a cancer patient for longer.
So the debate is still out on its usefulness. I personally dislike the hype associated with breast cancer screening.

PSA tests are the same, stress of a false positive vs the likelihood of any benefit from early detection.

I think too think that they both have their strengths and weaknesses. There have certainly been times when a lump was not palpable but picked up on mammogram. with PSA, it is a trend in the PSA which is more helpful than the absolute figure- serial PSAs showing a steady rise is a real concern

I'll also apologise as we got off on the wrong foot. I was not aware you are a physician and therefore you can lecture me...at first I thought just a smartie-pants trying to put me down. All is now well and respect restored.

Seperate issue....
In the absence of anything better, mammogram and PSA tests are routinely done, but the mammogram is free and the prostrate PSA is not....why?

Another open question....why, if I've been out of province for over 6 months do I need to be back for 3 months, before I'm eligible for BC MSP again?