12 Tips to Help You Protect Your Body after Breast Cancer Surgery

If you are facing breast cancer surgery or have had a mastectomy or partial mastectomy, there are certain activities you can avoid to bypass extra suffering after your surgery. Here are some tips to help yourself be more comfortable:
1. As you are probably aware, emotional and psychological pain can sometimes hurt even worse than physical pain. With that in mind, you will want to have a support group standing behind you before surgery and after as well. For example, there may be a friend that you have in mind right now who has already gone through breast surgery. She will probably be a great comfort to you at this time in your life.
2. After breast cancer surgery you may experience a sense of imbalance in your body. In time your body will adjust. A physical therapist can help you regain as much movement as possible. He or she can suggest special exercises to help work out the stiffness and help you to feel better physically after surgery.
3. If you have lymph nodes removed, the affected arm may swell from time to time. So avoid wearing tight clothing or bracelets.
4. Use the arm that has not been involved in your mastectomy or partial mastectomy to carry heavy items.
5. After surgery you will want any medical procedures to be done on your stronger arm. For example, receive injections and have your blood pressure taken on the arm that has not been involved in your surgery.
6. For heavy-duty cleaning or gardening use protective gloves. If your arm is swelling, you'll feel worse having it scratched by thorns from your rose bushes.
7. Protect your skin against sunburn. A swollen sunburned arm can cause a great deal of misery!
8. Be especially careful not to cut yourself when you trim your nails or cuticles.
9. Purchase an elastic sleeve to wear on your arm if it swells.
10. Protect yourself from being bit by mosquitoes and other insects.
11. Your arm may bother you if you have lymph nodes removed, so be sure to consult with your doctor if your arm should bother you.
12. Be very careful to avoid junk foods and eat healthy foods to give your body the nourishment it needs.
By putting these 12 tips into practice after you have had breast cancer surgery, you will help yourself feel better and avoid needless extra suffering.
Learn how to take care of yourself or ease the suffering of a loved one after breast cancer surgery. Patricia Wagner writes about a variety of health tips to help you be healthier.

Genetic Risks of Breast Cancer

Genetic alterations are key factors in breast carcinogenesis. However, it is not fully understood what causes the genetic damage. Is it the woman's environment or her life that does the damage? Or is it hormones? If so, is it her own, or the ones she takes? Or is it toxic chemicals or a virus or radiation that causes these alterations? If it were possible to identify the causes and block or eliminate them, it wouldn't matter quite as much which genes were being altered.
A good example is lung cancer. It is well known that cigarette smoking triggers the disease, so it must cause the genetic alterations. Thus, it is less crucial to find out what the alterations are, because it is not necessary to neutralize the causative genetic alterations. People can just be told to stay away from cigarette smoke and, if they do so, that will tremendously reduce the risk of lung cancer. So in the case of breast cancer, thinks like diet, alcohol consumption, hormone replacement, pesticides in the environment and electromagnetic waves are currently being studied to find carcinogens, but so far, none has been found equivalent to smoke in lung cancer. Both the environmentalists and the basic researchers are right, at least to an extent. You can't simply say, "Toxic chemicals are the cause of cancer". Alone, they are not. Many people are exposed to environmental toxicants such as pesticides and never develop cancer. But on the other hand, you can't also simply say, "All cancers are genetic, environmental contaminants are irrelevant". It is the interaction between genes and the environment that will, in the end, explain cancer.
Another important aspect of breast cancer genetics are very important genes called tumor suppressor genes. These genes tamper with oncogenes (genes that have mutated) and proto-oncogenes (normal, non-mutated genes). These genes serve as breaks for the cell cycle system. While there are some genes that push the cells to grow and divide, tumor suppressor genes function in reverse to this. Sometimes, this happens because the cell is defective; in which case the tumor suppressor gene signals the cell to stop replicating or, in some instances, causes the cell to undergo a programmed type of death, known as apoptosis.
The tumor suppressor gene, p53, keeps cells with DNA mutation from dividing. It is believed that BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, which are breast cancer genes, are actually tumor suppressor genes normally functioning as DNA repair molecules. Since these genes maintain the balance in the cell cycle system, mutations or loss of function could be disastrous for the cell.
In most cancers, there is not just one but several mutations. One of the more important questions is whether the mutations come in sequentially. Will one develop breast cancer is she has the oncogene Her-2/neu mutation initially, followed by alteration of the tumor suppressor gene p53, but not if the p53 mutates first? There is still so much to be discovered with regard to the genetic causes of breast cancer. We don't have the answers yet, but we are definitely on the verge of solving the mystery.

Genetic Risks of Breast Cancer

Genetic alterations are key factors in breast carcinogenesis. However, it is not fully understood what causes the genetic damage. Is it the woman's environment or her life that does the damage? Or is it hormones? If so, is it her own, or the ones she takes? Or is it toxic chemicals or a virus or radiation that causes these alterations? If it were possible to identify the causes and block or eliminate them, it wouldn't matter quite as much which genes were being altered.
A good example is lung cancer. It is well known that cigarette smoking triggers the disease, so it must cause the genetic alterations. Thus, it is less crucial to find out what the alterations are, because it is not necessary to neutralize the causative genetic alterations. People can just be told to stay away from cigarette smoke and, if they do so, that will tremendously reduce the risk of lung cancer. So in the case of breast cancer, thinks like diet, alcohol consumption, hormone replacement, pesticides in the environment and electromagnetic waves are currently being studied to find carcinogens, but so far, none has been found equivalent to smoke in lung cancer. Both the environmentalists and the basic researchers are right, at least to an extent. You can't simply say, "Toxic chemicals are the cause of cancer". Alone, they are not. Many people are exposed to environmental toxicants such as pesticides and never develop cancer. But on the other hand, you can't also simply say, "All cancers are genetic, environmental contaminants are irrelevant". It is the interaction between genes and the environment that will, in the end, explain cancer.
Another important aspect of breast cancer genetics are very important genes called tumor suppressor genes. These genes tamper with oncogenes (genes that have mutated) and proto-oncogenes (normal, non-mutated genes). These genes serve as breaks for the cell cycle system. While there are some genes that push the cells to grow and divide, tumor suppressor genes function in reverse to this. Sometimes, this happens because the cell is defective; in which case the tumor suppressor gene signals the cell to stop replicating or, in some instances, causes the cell to undergo a programmed type of death, known as apoptosis.
The tumor suppressor gene, p53, keeps cells with DNA mutation from dividing. It is believed that BRCA 1 and BRCA 2, which are breast cancer genes, are actually tumor suppressor genes normally functioning as DNA repair molecules. Since these genes maintain the balance in the cell cycle system, mutations or loss of function could be disastrous for the cell.
In most cancers, there is not just one but several mutations. One of the more important questions is whether the mutations come in sequentially. Will one develop breast cancer is she has the oncogene Her-2/neu mutation initially, followed by alteration of the tumor suppressor gene p53, but not if the p53 mutates first? There is still so much to be discovered with regard to the genetic causes of breast cancer. We don't have the answers yet, but we are definitely on the verge of solving the mystery.

Clinical Trials in Breast Cancer

The process of demonstrating whether a novel treatment method is better than the previous ones requires breast cancer patients to volunteer to take part in the testing of new drugs and procedures. These tests are called clinical trials.
Clinical trials need to be done in an unbiased way, if their results are to be deemed reliable. This would call for women to be randomly assigned into one or more treatment groups. In the end, the outcomes of the treatment of the various groups of the trial are compared against each other. Randomization of research subjects in clinical trials is responsible for the many recent advances in cancer treatment. Data drawn from several trials have shown that less surgery and radiation therapy are as effective as more invasive mastectomies (breast resection). Some also show that providing chemotherapy to women with non-metastasized breast cancer prevents the appearance of systemic spread and that the use of tamoxifen (a selective estrogen receptor modulator) increases the cure rate in women with hormone positive breast cancer. Through the randomized method, the physician and investigator bias has been eliminated, which is a major problem in clinical research trials comparing a novel therapy to standard treatment.
Women who have been willing to participate in clinical research trials have made a significant contribution to medical advancement. Each of these trials tests a new hypothesis and the results then become a knowledge base for succeeding clinical trials. In order to show significant differences in therapeutic modalities, several thousand women are needed as research subjects for each trial. These volunteers are well aware that they may be getting established or experimental treatment and will not be told which. These women bravely participated with this magnitude of uncertainty, not knowing if one treatment is more or less effective than the other, but agreed to help answer the question of which the more optimal therapy was. The difference in each treatment regimen in trials today involves the sequencing of various treatments or the addition of a new drug.
There are also studies called pilot trials. These are usually done in a center that is implementing clinical research that is not sponsored by the National Cancer Institute and is not randomized. Usually, these studies are sponsored by drug companies, or conducted at a university. There are safeguards in place in pilot studies to protect the research subjects as much as possible. Oftentimes, these protocols are only for women with advanced cancer who may be willing to place themselves at risk because of limited treatment options available to them at that that late stage of breast cancer.
Most human clinical research trials are divided into three phases depending upon the question, which it is attempting to answer. Phase I testing is designed to determine if a new treatment has acceptable tolerability to cancer patients and at what dosage significant side effects start to occur. Once a drug or a treatment method has been proven safe, Phase II clinical trials quantifies the objective response rate, that is, if treatment results in a measurable reduction in cancer. In women with breast cancer, both Phase I and II testing is performed on those with metastatic spread. Phase III testing involves a comparison of standard treatment to a promising one that has already gone through Phase I and II testing. Most women enrolled in this phase of clinical trials are those with a newly diagnosed breast cancer.
If you have breast cancer and you would wish to participate in such a trial, ask your oncologist if you are eligible to enroll in one. Your ability to participate may depend on the health care delivery system you are in, so you should talk to your Health Insurance Company or HMO representative. Generally, the coming years should prove very promising in the field of breast cancer research, primarily because there are phenomenal scientific resources being dedicated to the cause.

Oncogenes and Breast Cancer

Proto-oncogenes are normal genes involved in making cells differentiate and divide. When these genes are mutated, they are then called oncogenes. Proto-oncogenes involved in breast cancer are mostly those that cause more cell division by making the cell cycle go faster and accelerate. They are involved in pushing cell division harder, stronger and faster.
One of the proto-oncogenes is related to the epidermal growth factor receptor. This receptor plays a vital role at certain times of the life cycle, such as puberty, when big changes are going on with body growth, wherein a protein known as epidermal growth factor functions to promote cell growth. This protein binds to an epidermal growth factor receptor and signals the cell to grow. When the proto-oncogene for the receptor is over expressed, it doesn't wait for the epidermal growth factor receptor to tell it to grow. Instead, cells begin to grow independently, just like getting stuck in the "ON" position.
Another type of epidermal growth factor receptor is a subtype, the epidermal growth factor receptor 2. This receptor is more commonly known as Her-2/neu oncogene. The type of genetic alteration that Her-2/neu has in breast cancer is known as amplification. Instead of having only one copy during cell division, the cell makes numerous copies of this gene, about ten to sixty times more. Either the gene over expression or the extra protein can be measured in a woman's cancer by examining the cancer tissue that has been resected. Since Her-2/neu oncogene encodes a growth factor receptor, it functions in signaling the cells to grow faster and faster, although it is not involved in cancer invasiveness. About 70 to 80 percent breast precancers have over expression of Her-2/neu oncogene. The cancer cells are still contained within the breast duct, but they have been programmed to grow much faster because of the over expression of such oncogene. Although Her-2/neu oncogene was first identified in breast cancer, research is also being done to see if it is also involved in other cancer types such as lung, pancreas and ovary cancer.
For breast cancer to have an invasive nature, it needs more than one genetic alteration. So long as there's only over expression of Her-2/neu oncogene, the cancer will remain confined within the breast duct. If it requires other forms of genetic alterations, one that causes cancer cells to move out of the ductal region or make new blood vessels (angiogenesis), then it can spread. If the cancer patient has these invasive cancer alterations and one of the accelerated cancer growths, then it is worse. People with both of these genetic alterations have a worse prognosis than with only one type of alteration alone. Cancer not only requires excessive cancer cell proliferation, it also has to invade, grow new blood vessels and spread from the breast area.
One of the fascinating things that have happened in recent years is that there is now an antibody to counteract the Her-2/neu receptor, which can be given intravenously to breast cancer patients. It has quite a unique mechanism of action. It attaches only to cells with too much Her-2/neu receptor, not the normal ones, so that while it antagonizes Her-2/neu cells, it leaves the other cells unaffected. Unlike chemotherapy, with which case most dividing cells are destroyed, it is a targeted therapy. So far, this treatment has been used only in metastatic breast cancer, but it has implications for disease that hasn't spread yet.

Tamoxifen and Breast Cancer

A number of cells in the female body contain receptors for estrogen and estrogen-like substances. Examples of these organs are the breast, uterus, vagina, skin, ovaries and brain. Estrogen binds to receptors on breast cells and stimulates them to divide and replicate. This mechanism, on the other hand is turned off by Tamoxifen as it attaches to the estrogen receptors in the cell surface. With breast cancer cells that contain estrogen receptors, Tamoxifen sends these cells into a programmed cell death cycle known as apoptosis.
Tamoxifen is orally administered just like other hormones. Aside from rendering breast cancer cells into apoptosis, it also acts like estrogen on other tissues and has a positive effect on bone metabolism. Tamoxifen, in comparison to estrogen, stimulates the uterine lining more and both substances are equally effective in retaining bone calcium.
Several studies have shown that Tamoxifen increases the cure rate of women with non-invasive breast cancer, but is still controversial in its clinical use. The controversy lies on a recent clinical trial, which aimed to determine if Tamoxifen was effective in primary breast cancer prophylaxis in high risk asymptomatic women. At the end of the trial, Tamoxifen was dealt with severe scrutiny and a large amount of negative press overstating its potential adverse effects for asymptomatic women. There is, indeed, no question that Tamoxifen is an extremely potent drug in the treatment of breast cancer patients. Based on the results of another clinical trial involving the use of Tamoxifen, treatment duration plays a significant role in drug treatment outcome. This clinical trial compared five years versus ten years of using Tamoxifen after the diagnosis of breast cancer. The trial showed that five years of taking Tamoxifen significantly diminished the systemic recurrence of breast cancer. On the other hand, an additional five years added only expense and potential risk of uterus cancer with no additional benefits in cure rate. Not all breast cancers, however, respond to Tamoxifen treatment. Response rate to Tamoxifen varies upon the abundance of estrogen and progesterone receptors in the primary cancer.
Since breast cancers are very heterogeneous, they do not develop in the same cellular way. About 60 percent of breast cancers contain estrogen and progesterone receptors, while others contain less. Tamoxifen appears to be more effective in women who have more of these hormone receptors in their tumors than those who do not. On the other hand, within a given breast cancer, there may be cells that have more hormone receptors than others do. Hence, the effect of Tamoxifen on these conditions varies. It is also possible that over time, breast cancer cells that are hormone receptor positive may evolve and may not contain hormone receptors anymore. This may explain why women who receive a combination treatment of Tamoxifen and chemotherapy may have a better response to treatment than with either therapy given alone. In most cases, when chemotherapy and Tamoxifen are given in a cancer patient, they are given sequentially; initially, chemotherapy is given to destroy hormone receptor negative breast cancer cells and then followed by Tamoxifen, which can then act on hormone receptor positive cells that may be less susceptible to chemotherapeutic drugs.
In a few cases, perimenopausal women seem to have a difficulty with Tamoxifen use. Most premenopausal women in their 30s and 40s almost have no adverse effects with Tamoxifen and older women who are not in hormone replacement have little problem with Tamoxifen treatment.
The major side effect of Tamoxifen is uterine toxicity. Some women taking the drug have endometrial thickening, a stimulation of the glandular lining of the uterus, which can become cancerous if left unnoticed. The chance of developing uterine cancer as a result of Tamoxifen use is quite small, only about one percent. Nevertheless, the uterus must be monitored carefully with either an ultrasound or endometrial biopsy during the patient's annual pelvic examination if she is taking this drug.
Tamoxifen was the first selective estrogen receptor modulator developed and has been used for over 20 years. Recently, several other drugs of this class have been released and more are presently undergoing development. The goal is to develop the "perfect" drug in this class that prevents breast cancer without stimulating the uterus, is beneficial to the skeletal system and is good for lipid metabolism with as minimal side effects as possible. The perfect selective estrogen receptor modulator should also be an excellent hormone replacement agent for women entering menopause.

Breast Cancer Vascularization

Cancer cells die off quickly if they do not have a blood supply. Cancers can grow only about 2 millimeters and then will stop growing unless they have more blood vessels. There are certain proteins that function to promote the development of new blood vessels. These proteins are specific growth factors that have important roles during development. An embryo, for example, needs new blood vessels that can grow all the way to the arms and legs, in order to develop fingers and toes distally. In the case of an injury, one needs blood vessels to grow and heal it. This explains why an injured area appears red. One such protein, which stimulates blood vessel growth, is known as vascular endothelial growth factor or vascuolotropin. This is secreted by the cancer cells and then binds to their specific receptor on the blood vessels and tells them to make more cells. This will initiate the process of angiogenesis - "angio" means vessels and "genesis" which means growth. On a microscopic view, some tumors have more blood vessels than others do. The more blood vessels a tumor has, the more blood supply it has, which in turn facilitates its growth. Thus, the more chances the cancer has of spreading, because there are more "roads" to spread out on. Some researchers think that perhaps we can measure vascular endothelial growth factor in the blood or in the breast duct fluid to see if there are new blood vessels growing.
A researcher from Boston made the astonishing discovery that cancers actually secrete not only growth promoting proteins, but also growth inhibiting ones (angiogenic inhibitors). These are substances that keep metastasis under control by inhibiting the growth of new blood vessels. Thus, when the primary cancer is removed, the metastasis grows more because the angiogenic inhibitors are also removed. It seems quite odd that a cancer would produce something from itself to stop it from growing. One would always think it is in the nature of cancer to want to spread and metastasize. Cancer will grow in its own area, but will keep any cells from growing in other organs. The idea is fanciful, but cancers do not seem to like having rivals. This is definitely not to suggest that if you have a cancer, you should ignore it because in won't spread unless you undergo surgery. For one thing, it probably isn't true for all cancers. For another, the process of metastasis after cancer surgery is far from absolute. It doesn't stop the cancer from spreading; it only controls the metastasis already out there.
Anti-angiogenic drugs are now being tested in humans for breast cancer therapy. One of these is thalidomide. This drug blocks the growth of new blood vessels. This is why when pregnant women in the 60s took it to treat insomnia; their children were often born without arms and legs. But if you are not pregnant and you're an adult who does not need more blood vessels, then you may want to ask your oncologist about treatment options involving thalidomide. Several anti-angiogenesis drugs being tested nowadays may not even have the adverse effects caused by thalidomide. Some new drugs that were developed for the treatment of arthritis, such as cyclooxygenase 2 inhibitors are also anti-angiogenic. These drugs are being tested now for breast cancer prevention.

Breast Cancer Awareness: An Alternate Perspective From A Cancer Survivor

I would like to honor Breast Cancer Awareness Month a little differently than most others. I have a different perspective. You see, I had breast cancer nine years ago. I rejected conventional medicine and went with an alternative approach.
I'm quite cynical about Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Throughout October I see stories about brave cancer survivors who survived their toxic treatments and went on to run marathons. I see stories about new, expensive cancer breakthroughs on broadcasts lucratively sponsored by pharmaceutical companies. These are the same multinational corporations that manufacture plastics, pesticides and fragrance chemicals that actually cause cancer!
Whether you count by dollars or numbers of people employed by it, Cancer is one of the largest industries in the country. How is it that the companies that cause cancer also manufacture the cancer drugs? When it comes to Big Pharma, news stories aren't so much news as propaganda. Watch carefully this month: How many breast cancer stories will show women being healed by natural, non-patented medicine? None.
Why is it that the research we're asked to fund looks for new treatments (as long as they can be patented), but never at the carcinogenic effects of plastics, pesticides and fragrance chemicals? Because it would rock the industrial boat that funds the research. Their definition of "prevention" is earlier detection. My definition of "prevention" is not getting it in the first place!
So why did I choose to risk my life with alternative medicine?
Two women whom I loved very much died of breast cancer not long before I got it. More accurately, they died of their cancer treatments. One was like a mother to me, the other, like a sister. They were both seemingly healthy when the cancer was discovered. Indeed one had no tumor site at all. At her annual physical, the doctor found some cancer cells trapped in a lymph node. That's what lymph nodes are supposed to do. Her immune system was working well.
They gave her every test they could to find the location of the cancer, to no avail. Then they proceeded to bombard the poor woman with "as much chemo as we can give you without actually killing you." After that, they gave her radiation therapy.
Once she had no immune system left, the cancer that her body had been keeping at bay took over with a vengeance. It spread to her hip bone. More radiation. Oops! Too strong. The radiation killed her hip bone so she needed a hip replacement. More chemo. No more visits from her beloved grandchildren because she had no immunity to germs.
The bone cancer spread to her arm. She had a painful surgery for that. Then to her skull- exactly where her mobile phone antenna had touched her head. The last three years of life for this once-vital, beautiful woman were spent in pain, wretched illness and isolation. She never complained once. She just accepted it as her fate. I held her hand as she died.
My other friend was only in her late 30's when they found the lump. She was a healthy vegetarian who practiced yoga, meditation, and alternative medicine. One day when she was getting a chiropractic adjustment, the doctor said her thyroid felt a little strange and suggested she get it checked.
She did, and it was fine. But the new doctor felt a breast lump and prescribed a mammogram and biopsy. Yep, take a little sealed-up tumor, crush it, radiate it and poke it repeatedly with a needle. Then act surprised when it suddenly metastasizes like crazy. The doctor actually told my friend that she had likely had the tumor for at least ten years.
My friend wanted to do alternative cancer therapies. Her oncologist said she should only do them as an adjunct to conventional treatment. Within a year she had lost her breast and was almost killed by chemo and radiation. The natural medicines, which are much more gentle, had no hope of working on a body that was so ravaged and sickened. Within another year she had lost the other breast, had more rounds of chemo, and died shortly after that.
The next year I found my lump, and within six weeks I had six lumps. I consulted with an M.D. and several alternative doctors. I read a bunch of books they recommended. I prayed and fretted, then decided that, live or die, I was going with non-toxic alternative medicine.
I called my late friend's husband and told him the news. He said, "Whatever you do, don't let the doctors get their hands on you. My wife told me before she died that she was sorry she ever listened to them. I believe that if she had gone a natural route she would be alive today."
So here is my advice for Breast Cancer Awareness:
Question Authority- Don't automatically believe the doctors, or anyone else. That includes this article.
Take Responsibility for Your Life- People who will spend weeks researching the pros and cons of a new car, carefully studying the fine print on a contract, will never study their medical options! Your doctor doesn't have to live or die with the consequences of your treatment, you do!
Learn About Your Options- They're out there, but your medical doctor has not studied them. Even if she has, she is forbidden to suggest them! Educate yourself before you're ever in a health crisis.
Be a Difficult Patient- Demand thermography instead of, or at least before, a mammogram. Thermography uses no radiation, does not crush the breast tissue, and can detect cancers months or even years before a mammogram can.
Learn About the Fungal Connection to Cancer- It can save your life.
Wishing you and yours the best of health!
About the Author:

Controversies in Radiation Therapy for Breast Cancer

Non-invasive breast cancer, also known as ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS, is highly curable. It is most commonly detected on a screening mammogram. The standard of care is surgical removal, followed by breast radiation therapy, in women who wish to conserve their breast. The alternative is a mastectomy. Both modalities have equal survival outcomes. However, there has been a great deal of controversy about the necessity for radiation therapy for DCIS in women who opt for breast conservation.
Proponents for radiation therapy underscore the fact that the risk of a recurrence in the breast can be a more aggressive or even an invasive recurrence. Half of these recurrences are due to invasive breast cancer. The latter has the potential to spread to lymph nodes of the underarm and to other parts of the body. Without radiation therapy, the risk of a local recurrence is approximately 20%. By adding radiation therapy, the risk of such a failure is reduced by half. Needless to say, this is a substantial benefit.
The experts who do not support the routine use of radiation therapy for DCIS espouse that there is no difference in long-term survival between women who undergo radiation therapy versus those who do not. A woman who is willing to accept the higher risk of a recurrence in the breast may be treated with surgical removal alone. The question then arises: which women with DCIS should undergo radiation therapy and which should be observed?
Since the potential common side effects from radiation therapy, such as a skin reaction and fatigue, are temporary and the woman’s risk for developing an invasive and potentially life threatening breast recurrence is significant, it is prudent for women to take the more aggressive approach.
Certain factors, such as the woman’s age, her overall health, the surgical margin (or rim of normal breast tissue removed around the DCIS, with the wider the margin being more favorable), and the grade of the DCIS (low grade is much less aggressive than high grade and intermediate grade falls between these two extremes), should factor into the decision making.
Radiation therapy should be strongly considered for young women, women who have close margins, women with DCIS measuring more than ½ centimeter (cm) and/or those do not have low grade DCIS. On the other hand, studies show that even older women with DCIS measuring less than ½ cm, who have wide margins and/or low grade DCIS, benefit from the addition of radiation therapy.
The good news is that radiation therapy is a very easy, painless treatment that can enable women with DCIS to be at low risk of having the disease return in the treated breast, and peace of mind that they left no stone unturned.

Alcohol Increases The Risk For The Most Frequent Kinds Of Breast Cancer

A new report from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden states that women who have been through menopause, who drink daily more than 250 ml beer, 100 ml wine or 25 ml of high-per cent alcohol, clearly increase the risk of getting sick with the most frequent kinds of breast cancer. This risk is particularly increased if the women in addition to drinking alcohol are on hormone replacement therapy.
It is well-known that excessive consumption of alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer within women, especially those who have left menopause behind them. However at this point it has not been examined whether there is a connection between alcohol and the development of certain kinds of cancer of the breast.
The researchers had from 1987 to 1997 data to the consumption of alcohol of approximately 51,800 women collected. All participants in the Breast Mammography Study had gone through the menopause stage while still a part of the study where they could be assessed on an ongoing basis.
Already known is more than a half glass of wine daily clearly increases the risk of breast cancer. The Swedish researchers found that increasing the alcohol by 10 grams daily also increases the risk to get sick with an OS-positive cancer of the breast in such a way specified. This most frequent kind of cancer of the breast is propelled by the female sex hormone OS which channels growth.
10 grams of alcohol is contained in a small beer glass (250 ml)
A half glass of wine (100 ml) already contains 12 grams of alcohol.
In the Swedish investigation the consumption of alcohol of more than 10 grams of alcohol per day increased the risk for an OS-positive cancer of the breast. Absolutely 232 in 100,000 got sick in the group with consumption of alcohol of more than 10 grams per day. Women who got cancer of the breast who did not drink during the study compared to women who did drink alcohol were only 158 in 100,000.
There is a particularly strong aggravation to the risk by alcohol when combined with hormone replacement therapy. This causes concern that the risk of breast cancer increases particularly strongly within the women who drink more than 10 grams of alcohol daily and take hormone replacement therapy. With them the risk for OS-positive tumors increased by 3.5%.
The researchers draw the result that their results show that with women who have gone through menopause with just a moderate consumption of alcohol have significantly increased the risk for OS-positive cancer of the breast. This realization is of importance, since OS-positive breast cancers are the most proliferated types of breast cancer in our modern society and thus gives some plausibility to the studies findings.

Does Olive Oil Really Help Lower The Risk Of Breast Cancer?

From past scientific reports the Mediterranean dietary intake has been proven to offer protection against many diseases.
In US studies researchers have found out in what way the Mediterranean food diet that contained a high portion of olive oil can protect against breast cancer. A component of the olive oil could even find itself in the close future used in cancer therapy.
Investigations conducted on the population of south Europe pointed out that a Mediterranean diet with a lot of fish, fruit, vegetables and olive oil protects against a row of diseases, among them are some kinds of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.
In particular an illness-preventing effect is associated with olive oil and the unique oleic acid contained within it. The researchers around Javier Menendez before that Northwestern University Fine Mountain School OF Medicine in Chicago examined it at a cellular level to see the effects of the cell in contact with the acid.
Gene activity braked
The tests showed that oleic acid decreases the activity of a gene, that with the emergence by breast cancer in connection with the gene– Her-2/neu-Gen. Within approximately 20 per cent of all breast cancer patients this gene is overactive.
It comes on with an aggressive tumor growth and female patients connected with it have a smaller chance of survival. In the cell tests oleic acid lowered the genes activity by 46 per cent, reports the scientists in the “Annals OF Oncology”.
Beyond that oleic acid increased the effectiveness of the cancer means “Herceptin”. This affected likewise the Her-2/neu-Gen and can extend the life expectancy of the female patients.
Possibly oleic acid can emerge as one of the solutions to become another resistance for use by medicine to help prevent or at last stop, this aggressive cancer reports Menendez.
Because it affects a protein, which plays a role in the emergence of Herceptin.
It still remains to be seen whether the results of the cell attempts can be transferred to humans, their investigation however supports the epidemiological studies, which showed a Mediterranean Diet offered a protecting effect.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Businesses Supporting the Cause

Currently, the month of October is designated as the official National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM). For over two decades, NBCAM has successfully educated women of all ages about early detection, treatment, and diagnosis of breast cancer. Non-profit organizations such as Karmanos Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation and the National Breast Cancer Foundation are devoted to raising money for breast cancer research and educating women (and men) about the disease, supporting those with breast cancer, and celebrating the individuals who have survived it.
Companies such as Macy’s and Target are inviting their consumers to join them in the fight against breast cancer. The “Pink Ribbon Items” are sold to help support breast cancer research. These companies have agreed to donate a portion of the proceeds to breast cancer charities. Most items related to breast cancer awareness can be identified with a pink label or a pink ribbon. Ford Motor Company has supported breast cancer research for over 10 years by donating money and selling pink silk scarves specifically for breast cancer charities. All businesses are invited to invest in unique corporate gifts that help support breast cancer research. There are corporate gifts available that are embellished with the breast cancer awareness “pink ribbon”. Some of the other gifts are manufactured in pink and can be personalized with a monogram. These breast cancer awareness business gifts range any where from heart-shaped luggage tags to pink leather totes.
Breast cancer awareness is not limited to woman only. Men are encouraged to support the cause as well. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1600 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Even the most masculine man should rethink wearing pink when it comes to supporting a great cause.
Although, October is designated as National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, supporting the cause can be a year-round commitment. Those who are unaffected by breast cancer should help join the fight against breast cancer for their loved ones. Whether you decide to participate in an American Cancer Society sponsored walk, donate money to breast cancer charities, or invest in business gifts that help support breast cancer research, you will certainly contribute to saving someone’s life.

Breast Cancer and Diet

If there is one major area that needs to be improved in medical school training, it is in the field of nutrition. Traditionally, diseases were viewed as attacking the body from the outside, like an infectious agent. Nutrition and diet were usually not emphasized as a critical factor of the battle in the study of Western medicine. Now, it is known that nutrition and the general state of health are both crucial in fighting, preventing and recovering from disease, including breast cancer.
The medical information regarding the usefulness and efficacy of dietary supplements and herbs has been studied and developed differently from the information regarding chemotherapy regimens. Medical researchers study groups of people closely to study the efficacy of a particular dose or sequence of chemotherapy regimens compared to the best treatment plan already being used. This information is published for a specialized audience of cancer specialists, who use the data in the treatment of their patients. On the other hand, herbal and dietary supplements are rarely studied in this manner. Instead, people trained in other modes of treatment use remedies that have been passed on from their teachers and seem to be useful in treating their patients. Physicians have slowly come to realize the need for more traditional scientific testing of these herbal and supplementary therapeutic modalities.
Most women with breast cancer diagnoses are partially convinced that they have caused their breast cancer by poor dietary practice, lack of exercise or excessive stress. There is no evidence, however, that any particular agent or factor is responsible for breast cancer. Quite popular now are publications and books suggesting that breast cancer can be prevented and even be cured, by dietary modification and lifestyle change. As famous as this approach is nowadays, there is no evidence to support this claim. This approach has a certain appeal to many individuals basically because it is simple and empowering.
Nor is there evidence to support supposition that breast cancer results from depressed immune system function. Sadly, it appears that the immune system cannot determine a breast cancer cell from a normal breast glandular cell even with their significant differences due to DNA damage. An example of this, the development of the drug trastuzumab (Herceptin) is based on the overproduction of a gene fragment that leads to increased amounts of a cell surface protein not found on normal cells. The host cannot differentiate this abnormal cell and its increase in protein, but an antibody can be developed by using another species' immune system and then, by using genetic engineering, that information can be transferred into a human antibody-producing cell. These genetically altered human cells then produce an antibody to attack the cell surface protein. This antibody can destroy the cell and make it more susceptible to other anticancer agents. The important issue is that breast cancer is not recognized by a normal immune system. As more knowledge is obtained, it may be possible to manipulate the immune system through vaccines and genetically modified proteins, but the immune system in a breast cancer patient is almost certainly functioning well. If a cancer patient requires chemotherapy, this may impair the immune system temporarily, but this is completely reversible and will not allow the cancer any advantage.
Your immune system is important in infection prophylaxis and you need to take care of it and your body and its ability to heal through nutrition, vitamins and exercise.

Breast Cancer Invasion

For cancer to develop, all cells need more than the ability to divide and grow uncontrollably. Non-cancerous, benign tumors also undergo that process. What is ultimately crucial is their ability to invade outside their localized area. The cells in any given area are tightly attached to each other, forming a natural guard against invasion. So for a cell to break outside of its own area and into another area requires special qualities.
One of the things being studied now in terms of cancer is that tight cell connection. There is a kind of special "glue" called the extracellular matrix which holds cells together. If a cell has a substance that can dissolve or consume the "glue", it will have a much better chance of getting out of its area and into another.
The ability of a cancer cell to invade may be caused by several factors. One of these is the ability to release a protein, known as metalloproteinase that functions to dictate the cell connections not to adhere to each other so tightly. Then the other cells behave in a way that allows the cancer cell to escape its territory and invade. Another possibility is that the cancer cell may be able to push its way out of the tight cell connection on its own. There are a lot of ways this might happen. In the long run, that is good because there are a lot of potential ways to interfere with this process. The down side of it is, it's difficult in the short run because this makes these complicated to figure out.
With the discovery of various cancer genes came a new way of thinking about breast cancer. The astonishing part of it is that all these years, cancer cells have been studied by looking at them in isolation. Medical researchers take cancer cells and grow them in petri dishes and then study their behavior. This is like placing criminals in isolation chambers and then studying their personalities. They're not interacting with anyone, so there actually is no way to examine how they behave. We have finally realized that if we were to study cancer cells seriously in their own environment we can learn much more, because they interact with their surrounding cells and the surrounding cells have an effect on them.
A medical researcher in Berkeley, California, has begun studying cancer cells in a breast tissue environment. She took breast cancer cells that have genetic mutations and grew them in a cell culture or normal breast extracellular matrix. In that environment the cancer cells behaved like normal cells - they proliferated and grew breast ducts and did other things that healthy breast cells do. The influence of healthy normal cells surrounding the cancer cells caused them to function in a normal way, even though they were already genetically altered.
This means that, if the right tools were found, cancer may be reversible, or at least be controlled to some extent and we won't have to try to kill every last cancer cell.

Fat Has Long Been Known As One Of The Evil Elements In Breast Cancer

Research has shown that too much fat in the fodder cup increases the tumor risk. In addition, international comparative studies stated, where greater amounts of fat were consumed, breast cancer cases rose.
The quality of the results of these comparative studies does not leave much to the imagination. They are based on agricultural production numbers and state nothing about the fat consumption of individual persons.
Besides societies differ, where there is little fat eaten as in traditional Japanese rural regions or in Africa as compared to our prosperous western societies that it is impossible to link back the different diseases such as breast cancer to only a meal or to an individual material like fat.
Take young African women who get their periods later than western females, but they bear their first child in earlier years and have far more children. Each of these factors reduces the statistical risk for breast cancer.
The latest and more methodical studies in which women who consumed a great deal of food but with little fat were compared directly with each another. The results did not provide any proven evidence that vouches for the fact that any one different source of fat was worse or better than the other.
It did not play a role whether the fat was of animal or vegetable origin and whether it predominantly consisted of unsaturated fatty acids.
As breast cancer promotions advertize a bad nutrition is also regarded as too many calories, too much fat, alcohol and meat. On the other hand a low fat food diet is better for the chest and rich in base materials, vegetables, fruit, anti-oxidants and vitamins.
But how well are these statements proven by scientific investigations?
In laboratories it has been proven that mice set on half rations of food live longer and rarely get cancer. So do women who want to protect themselves against breast cancer have to do likewise?
It is advised that it would not be beneficial for women to go on these stringent diets because first of all observation studies of humans did not result in a connection between the calorie admission and the risk of breast cancer. Secondly from experience it shows that humans who are constantly dieting on and off tend to put on weight rather than become thinner.
Nevertheless there is an indirect effect of our western way of life on the risk of breast cancer. Our children mature exceedingly faster especially the females who are becoming sexually ripe earlier. Statistically this earlier stage of development is accompanied with an increase in breast cancer.
Also the connection between the predominance of breast cancer is far less clear, than what has been studied and read in technical literature. The data shows that years ago chubby women seemed to be protected against chest tumors. Past statistics have shown this.
Past published studies showed an increase in weight did not result in a higher risk of getting this form of breast cancer. These extra pounds of body weight actually help protect against Osteoporosis, the fearful decalcifying of the bones.
With the rising consumption of meat about half of the studies published so far have not resulted in an increased risk of breast cancer, the other half were undecided which is possibly explained by the fact that there are some women who have sensitive reactions to meat
The women with sensitive reactions showed certain characteristics in their hereditary factors, which are presently being intensively investigated. Which leads to a possible concern as to the benefit of meat. It is important to know that the questionable substances develop particularly with well done meat. In addition these reactions can be further intensified to a minimum by meat spices such as Thyme, Mint and Mustard.
As far as alcohol goes most studies found an increase of the risk of breast cancer, some starting from a drink per day. However the aggravation of risk was only slight. While alcohol is not favorably healthy in larger quantities, the benefits of alcohol in moderation must be taken in to account. Such as its favorable effect on the cardiovascular system, a moderate consumption of alcohol in the second part of life accompanies clearly with decreased cardiac problems and impacts disease accumulation risk with a higher life expectancy!
Fruit and vegetables are healthy, but consuming a large amount of vegetables and fruits, do not however automatically offer a higher protection from breast cancer. Several large studies could not provide any proof of a special protective effect by a high fruit and vegetable consumption. However that in no way diminishes the importance of fruit and vegetables as part of a healthy nutrition!
The same with vitamins like anti-oxidants, vitamin E, C and A, whilst good for you there is no undisputable evidence that vitamins can reduce the risk of breast cancer. References have been made that Vitamin E and C can actually help enrich the tumor helping it to protect itself against the medicines meant to destroy it.
A possible exception concerns a Vitamin of the B-group. Whether it is really useful however will only be shown through future studies as more data is collected and recommendations made.
Beside Vitamin and mineral supplements vegetables contain secondary plant compounds that could be helpful. Among these substances for example ranked highly is Flavonoid (group of antioxidant chemical compounds) and Phytoestrogens (compounds that occur naturally in plants).
Therefore they are at present investigated intensively with laboratory and animal experiments as well as a set of human observation studies pointed towards the chest-protecting effect of Phytoestrogens.
Before purposeful nourishing recommendations can be given, the researchers must however still clarify how the processing of the food affects the effect of these substances.
Still with all the existing knowledge gaps it can safely be said that there is no Diet or food form which can heal cancer.

Treating Breast Cancer

It wasn't that long ago that a diagnosis of breast cancer was almost akin to a death sentence. Nowadays, however, there are many options for treating breast cancer, and the chances of success are high. Factors such as the type of breast cancer and how developed it is have the biggest influence on the outcome of treatment.
So what treatments are available today? There are three main types; let's take a look at them now.
Local Regional Treatment
This type of treatment focuses on the area where the breast cancer is found and the surrounding lymph nodes. One of the most common treatments is radiation therapy or radiotherapy. Generally women find there are few side effects to this sort of treatment, and if the cancer is still in the early stages, radiotherapy has a good chance of providing a complete cure.
Surgery is another option, but is usually only used when other methods have failed. Sometimes surgery involves removal of the lump, but in other situations it may be necessary to remove the whole breast and reconstruct the area afterwards. This is known as a mastectomy. Although this can be a difficult surgery for women to undergo emotionally, most women quickly adapt to their new body shape. Modern surgery is improving all the time, with the focus being on retaining as much of the healthy breast as possible.
Systemic Treatments
A systemic treatment involves treating the whole body. Chemotherapy is the main systemic treatment available, and is used to kill any cancer cells that may have spread into the rest of the body from the breast. Unfortunately chemotherapy is a difficult treatment to undergo, often making the patient feel ill and weak. It works by killing off all the rapidly dividing cells in the body. Many of these are cancer cells, but others are not, which is why people are often ill during chemotherapy. Still, as technology and medicine progress, chemotherapy is becoming more refined and a little easier to cope with. It's also an excellent way to prevent the spread of cancer, particularly to the lymph nodes, and so prevent fatal varieties developing.
Tamoxifen is a drug that is used as a systemic treatment. Unfortunately it often results in serious and uncomfortable side effects, so it's not often used. However it certainly has been shown to reduce the risk of breast cancer returning, and in some cases can reduce the risk of developing breast cancer in the first place. Side effects can include uterine cancer, blood clots, early menopause, nausea, vomiting, depression and loss of energy, amongst others.
Alternative Treatments
Not everybody believes that modern medicine is the only possible cure for breast cancer, hence the call for treatments that treat the mind, body and spirit in a holistic way. Little medical evidence exists to show that these treatments are effective, but certainly there have been instances of alternative treatments leading to a complete cure. Some possible treatments include meditation, acupuncture, relaxation techniques and herbal preparations including flaxseed and black cohosh.
If you develop breast cancer, then you should spend some time learning about the disease, make sure you understand how advanced your condition is and discuss all available treatment options with your medical professional. Remember, many more women survive breast cancer today, and go on to a live a normal, healthy life after treatment. So you can do it too!

7 Hard Facts You Need to Consider before Having Breast Reconstruction Surgery

Have you recently been diagnosed as having breast cancer? If your doctor recommends that you undergo a radical mastectomy, then you may want to consider having breast reconstruction surgery afterwards. However, this surgery is not for every woman because of a number of factors that will be presented in this article.
There is really no reason to rush into breast reconstruction after having a mastectomy because you can have the reconstruction done at a later time. You will be using a plastic surgeon if you opt for this operation.
Reconstruction surgery doesn't just involve one method -- but there are several methods of choice for you that are available. If you choose breast reconstruction, you may want to have an implant inserted in your breast that consists of saline or silicone material. You need to be aware of the fact that silicone implants have been known to leak.
Fat and muscles from other parts of your body can also be used for your breast reconstruction surgery. This will be harvested from your back or lower abdomen or your buttocks. Your plastic surgeon will collect this fat and muscle tissue to make a breast-shaped implant to insert where your breast was removed. Your doctor may create a flap in order to create a new breast. He will need to stretch your skin so that the implant will be permanently placed under your gradually stretched skin. After surgery has been performed and your body has healed, the finishing touches are done by tattooing the skin over the implant to simulate a natural breast.
However, as in every other kind of surgery there are dangers involved. Here are some factors to consider before you decide to have breast reconstruction performed.
1. The rebuilt breast will never feel normal again.
2. Like every other surgery, infection is a very real possibility.
3. You may or may not be satisfied with the final results of your breast reconstruction surgery.
4. There are going to be scars no matter what.
5. The donor site on your body may be adversely affected and the changes will probably be permanent.
6. You may require more than one surgery.
7. Because your body may suffer lasting negative effects from choosing to have breast reconstruction surgery, you may wind up regretting having had it done.
However, you may be very pleased with the results and breast reconstruction could be a great benefit in helping you to feel more normal for the rest of your life.
You and your doctor have to decide if breast reconstruction surgery is worthwhile in your case and if you are likely to be pleased with the final permanent results.
Learn how to take care of yourself or ease the suffering of a loved one after breast cancer surgery. Patricia Wagner writes about a variety of health tips to help you be healthier.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month: A Whole Lot of Hoopla

As breast cancer awareness month comes to a close, I find myself reflecting on a month of grandstanding by an industry controlled by pharmaceutical drug companies designed to profit from women with disease. It is tragically a missed opportunity to provide real education on prevention, instead of merely promoting expensive diagnostic tools that some experts believe to be inadequate and even carcinogenic. The American Cancer Society remains fixated on damage control. If decreasing the number of fatalities is truly its first priority, why not prevent the disease before it starts? The use of the word "awareness" rather than the more appropriate word "prevention" is quite revealing. The big business of cancer is not about finding a cure.
FACT: Since 1940, the incidence of breast cancer has risen by one to two percent every year. In the past five decades, the incidence of breast cancer in females over 65 rose nearly 40% in the United States.
The American Cancer Society (ACS), held in such high esteem by so many, do more to squash legitimate natural approaches of cancer prevention and treatment than a room full of chain smokers – and they do this by using the FDA as their mighty hammer. The ACS is no friend to holistic medicine. In fact, this organization works directly against doctors offering viable natural options, placing their names on a blacklist without even verifying the efficacy of their treatment protocal. I realize this sort of talk is treading upon sacred ground and I have no doubt those responsible for passing out pink ribbons will be appalled at my beliefs but as a 41 year old woman at risk of developing this disease and active in the holistic community, I have a right to be disgusted with this obvious lack of progress and hypocrisy.
FACT: Fewer than one in 10 cases of breast cancer occurs in women born with a genetic predisposition for the disease and as many as 50% of breast cancer cases remain unexplained by traditionally-accepted risk factors.
So what is causing the substantial increase in breast cancer? Epidemiologists and other scientists increasingly believe many cases of breast cancer are linked to environmental factors. If the ACS would call on both government and industry to rethink the process by which new chemicals are authorized for use and call for accountability, we could make some real headway with regards to prevention.
For decades the ACS has spun tales of victories, so small in reality they have done virtually nothing to alter the course of this deadly disease. Meanwhile, chemical companies continue to develop insidious mixtures of cancer causing agents, spraying these chemicals on our food, adding these chemicals to the water supply, and the air we breathe. The ACS's financial ties with industry clearly influence its policies pertaining to environmental causes of cancer and in some cases have willfully suppressed information about environmental causes of cancer and is often silent on this issue, as is its accomplice, the FDA.
FACT: 9 out of 10 women will receive a false positive when screened for cancer, leading to anxiety, unnecessary surgical procedures, and toxic drugs.
A study performed on 500,000 women by researchers at the Nordic Chochrane Center in Denmark to determine whether or not cancer screening offers any benefit, determined that for every one woman helped by breast cancer screening, ten were harmed through false diagnosis leading to unnecessary treatments, which could be devastating to their health. This is partly due to the irradiation of breasts caused by mammography, increasing a woman’s chance for cancer but also because the numerous false positives lead to unnecessary biopsies and toxic treatment.
Since the introduction of mammographic screening, the incidence of a form of breast cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) has increased by 328%. It is believed that as much as 200% of this increase is due to mammography. In addition to harmful radiation, mammography may also spread existing cancer cells due to the considerable pressure placed on the breast during the procedure. According to health practitioners, this compression could actually cause existing cancer cells to metastasize from the breast tissue.
Before writing this article, I spent some time on the web site for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, www.nbcam.com, and found absolutely no information on prevention. It would seem mammography is the cancer industry's greatest achievement and yet if you look outside the information published by the ACS, you will find this particular diagnostic tool to be woefully inadequate. If you are pre-menopausal, it will provide you very little accuracy due to the density of the breasts. And yet it is women between the ages of 44 and 55 most at risk. Why is mammography such a great achievement?
FACT: Mammography is prone to missing the most aggressive and life threatening types of breast cancer while picking up tumors often found to be benign.
I am acquainted with a woman who was sick for a number of months but no doctor was able to diagnose what was wrong. She had a mammogram performed in an effort to rule out breast cancer and no tumor was found. Five weeks later when she was having difficulty raising her right arm because of severe pain she met with another doctor and was then diagnosed with breast cancer, advanced stage four.
Since that time, about four months ago now, this woman has had countless chemotherapy sessions and I have watched her grow weaker with each passing day – not from the cancer but from the treatment. She is almost unrecognizable. Then she had a double mastectomy followed by countless radiation sessions. The next plan is to put her on a drug called tamoxifen, known to have serious side effects. In fact, a handful of studies demonstrate that the majority of women who take tamoxifen live no longer than women who refuse it. It is with great alarm that researchers are finding some breast cancers actually learn how to use tamoxifen to stimulate their growth.
I would like to focus on tamoxifen, since it is touted by the cancer industry as a great accomplishment in preventing breast cancer. Here are just a few of the more serious adverse side effects associated with this drug: (1) some studies have found that pre-menopausal users are at risk of developing accelerated bone mineral loss and osteoporosis; (2) women using tamoxifen have experienced damaged retinas, increased corneal opacities, and decreased visual acuity as well as irreversible corneal and retinal changes; (3) several studies showed that the risk of developing life-threatening blood clots increased as much as seven times in women taking tamoxifen; (4) depression; (5) asthma; (6) vocal cord changes; (7) liver cancer and liver disease as tamoxifen is toxic to the liver and can cause acute hepatitis; (8) inducing a fast moving, lethal form of uterine cancer – uterine growths such as polyps, tumors, endometrial thickenings and cancers occur in a significant number of women. One study detected abnormal endometrial cells in subjects the day after the first tablet was taken! It is interesting to note that nearly every method of diagnosing and treating breast cancer is a known carcinogen.
FACT: In a survey of 79 oncologists from McGill University Cancer Center in Canada, 64 said they would not consent to treatment with Cisplatin, a common chemotherapy drug, while 58 oncologists said they would reject all the current trials being carried out by their establishment. Why? “The ineffectiveness of chemotherapy and its unacceptable degree of toxicity.” Philip Day, Cancer: Why We’re Still Dying to Know the Truth
Millions of women right now are developing undetectable, early-stage breast cancer, yet the cancer industry does nothing until the tumor is detectable. Once detectable, an authoritative cancer specialist will push chemotherapy, radiation, surgery and toxic drugs on a vulnerable patient. Never mind that these methods cause permanent, irreversible harm to the brain, heart, liver, kidneys and other organs. Does no one question the lunacy of poisoning cells in a person who needs their immune system to be strong?
Why are we so caught up in diagnosis when the real key is prevention? Is it because prevention would pay so little to the gluttonous industry of pharmaceutical drugs? Is it because it would shut down the big business of cancer? Detection is not prevention and prevention requires personal responsibility. It requires very little money and that does not work for the drug companies.
In an effort to reduce the risk of cancer, one should focus on strengthening the immune system because there needs to be a break down in the immune system in the first place for cancer cells to thrive. And as long as the FDA is unwilling to hold industry responsible, detoxification of harmful chemicals and heavy metals is of paramount importance and there are products available to help with this great challenge. It is also important to make valuable food and lifestyle choices, and avoid exposure to cancer causing chemicals. Do not wait until your doctor diagnoses you with cancer to make a radical change in your life. I encourage you to start protecting your health today.
Paula Rothstein has been involved in the natural health industry for over 10 years with a specific emphasis on promoting products and introducing lifestyle changes which address chronic diseases relating to high levels of toxicity. For more information, please visit: www.medicinefreeliving.com Copyright 2006 Paula Rothstein

Breast Cancer Basics

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death in women today. Among the types of cancer that are being experienced by women, breast cancer comes second after lung cancer, claiming the lives of more than 40,000 women in the country.
By the end of this year, more than 200,000 women are predicted to develop invasive breast cancer in the United States alone. Right now, statistics put a 1 is to 8 possibility ratio of developing breast cancer on women. There is about a 1 out of 28 chance that the breast cancer diagnosis will lead to death. Fortunately, because of the efforts of women’s groups to increase the awareness about the problem and the efforts of the government to address the issue, death rates are actually going down.
Risk factors for breast cancer
It is actually not known exactly why women develop breast cancer. Unlike other health problems that are rooted from a bacterial or viral infection, breast cancer is not caused by any organism. The problem only occurs when cells in the breasts begin to grow out of control and start to spread even to the other tissues in the body.
But while there are no exact known cause of breast cancer, there are some risk factors that increases the chance of some women to develop the condition. This is according to numerous studies that have correlated the presence of these factors to the occurrence of the condition. Although there are some factors that are already inherent in you, there are some who you still can do something about. Those factors have been the focus of women’s groups informational campaign, designed to teach women how best to prevent the problem from developing.
Factors that you cannot change
One of these risk factors is gender. Surprised? Unknown to many, breast cancer also occur in men. There however have been considerable emphases on women breast cancer in recent years because of the alarming growth of cases every year. One’s age is another factor. As one grows old, the higher is the chance that one will develop breast cancer. The same goes with people, who already have a family history of the problem. In fact, studies have shown that people with relatives with breast cancer actually doubles their risk for developing it.
Women who have gotten their periods early, before they were 12 years old and those who menopaused after they were 50 are also at risk for developing the condition.
Compared to Asian women, Caucasians seem to develop the problem more often. The same was also found with women who never had children or those who had children after they 30 years old. Women who had radiation therapy in the chest area are also at risk.
Factors that you can change
It is not of course all bad news. While there are factors that are beyond our control, there are things that we can do to lessen the chance of developing the condition. Breast cancer can actually be prevented by cliché as it is eating right and living healthy.
According to studies, women who drink about two to five alcoholic drinks every day seem to have an increased rate of developing breast cancer. The same was also found with women who are overweight and those who do not exercise regularly. People who take birth control pills and those that underwent some sort of hormone-replacement therapy will also develop the problem.

Alternative Breast Cancer Therapies

Jenny is a 42 year old mother of three. Being a housewife is quite easy especially when the kids are at school and the husband is at work. The rest of the day is spent cleaning the house and doing the laundry with an hour to spare at the local gym.
After taking a shower, Jenny felt some pain the breast. This could be just menopause symptom so there was no need to worry. The pain got worse the next few days and sensing this was something else, finally decided to visit the doctor.
The doctor was a family friend. The initial diagnosis was done by touching the breast followed by a scan using a mammogram.
There were a lot of cancer cells present so another test had to be done. The doctor had to be sure so a sample was extracted and sent to a pathologist for analysis. After testing, it was only then that a woman’s greatest fear has become a reality. Jenny was diagnosed with breast cancer and this was already on the 3rd stage.
The third stage means the cancer has grown to more than 5 cm. in size and has spread to other parts of the body. This leaves removing the breast useless since the disease can no longer be contained.
Can there still be hope for Jenny who is already in the advanced stage of breast cancer? The truth is, the chances of recovery are very difficult.
Being informed of breast cancer is a shocking experience. There were some initial signs of disbelief then acceptance. The doctor explained everything to Jenny including the treatments available and the survival rates.
This was going to be Jenny’s greatest battle and this was just the beginning of a long struggle.
Chemotherapy was the best option now. The drugs produced some side effects like nausea and skin rashes but Jenny just thought this was short term since there is something bigger growing inside the needed to be killed.
Both Jenny and the doctor went ahead with removing the breast with a procedure called a mastectomy. Since modern medicine can have this reconstructed, this was a small price to pay. To make sure that all the cells had been wiped out, radiation therapy followed.
Jenny was happy to hear that the cancer was gone nearly a year after the diagnosis was done. Some people say this was a miracle since the battle which had taken so much was finally won. There was a huge party and everyone who prayed and supported were there to celebrate a second chance at life.
The doctor pointed out that the cancer can recur. This is the reason that Jenny still had to visit the clinic often for therapy and tests to make sure everything was wiped out.
Advanced breast cancer is sometimes hard to tell. A self examination at home is not enough which is why the patient should go to the doctor for a checkup once or twice a year.
There are a lot of people who die of breast cancer and a significant number are also diagnosed every year. The person can fight hard like Jenny did or simply give up to the disease.
Until a cure is found, the only thing people can do is work on the options and hope that a miracle will happen.

Types of Breast Cancers

Unlike other illnesses, breast cancer is not actually caused by any specific factor. In fact, it is actually caused by the a host of different factors that often interact with each other. Breast cancer occurs when some cells in the breasts start to abnormally grow and spread to other tissues of the body. These cells are the ones that we call tumor cells. Contrary to popular opinion, not all tumors cause cancer. There are tumors that are actually benign and therefore cannot spread to the other parts of the body. These are not fatal. Malignant tumors however are the ones that grow and invade other tissue cells in the body. Ducts and glands are their primary targets.
Unknown to many, there are actually different kinds of breast cancer. Understanding each one can help you make sense of this condition that has claimed more than 40,000 lives in the United States alone and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the country after lung cancer. Here are some of the types and their descriptions:
Carcinoma in situThis is the term that is often used for early stage cancer, especially when it is confined to a specific place where it first began. For instance, as mentioned before, breast cancer often starts at ducts and lobules. Carcinoma is used if the abnormal cells have not yet spread to other parts of the breast and has only remained at the root location. This is actually considered the stage 0 in breast cancer staging. Although this increases the risk of developing breast cancer in the future, this is actually not considered as already a breast cancer.
Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)The most common form of non-invasive breast cancer, DCIS is a term that is used to define cancer cells that have remained in the ducts and have not yet spread through its wall. This means that the fatty tissues that surround the breast have not been affected. Among the types of breast cancer, this is the most curable. In fact, most women with this condition get cured, perhaps because the cells are concentrated in just one area of the body.
Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS)Although not really breast cancer in the strictest sense, the lobular carcinoma in situ or LCIS for short should still be a cause of alarm as this problem can increase the risk of women getting cancer later in life. The condition is actually caused by the fact that the milk-making glands of the body do not get through the lobule walls.
Infiltrating (invasive) ductal carcinoma (IDC)This is the most common form of breast cancer, accounting for about 80 percent of all invasive breast cancer cases. Often, cancerous cells starts in the milk passages and go through the ducts, breaks in the walls of walls of the ducts and spreads to the other parts of the breasts. If not detected and treated early, this kind of breast cancer can easily spread to the other parts of the body.
Infiltrating (invasive) lobular carcinoma (ILC)Unlike the IDC, the infiltrating lobular carcinoma starts at the lobules instead of the ducts. The movement of the cancer cells are also the same. It goes through the passages and when left undetected and treated, can actually invade other cells in other parts of the body. This however is not as common, accounting for only 10 percent of the invasive breast cancer cases.

Drugs Used to Fight Breast Cancer

Breast cancer affects thousands of Americans every year. Though no cure has been made yet, the best thing that doctors can do is contain this before it spreads to other parts of the body using drugs.
One drug is called Femara which is prescribed by the doctor for the patient. The generic name is Letrozole and works together when the woman is undergoing chemotherapy.
It works by not allowing the enzyme Aromatase which is found in the body to turn to adrogens which will later become estrogens. This will stop the tumor from growing and eventually make it shrink.
There are some reported side effects from patients such as back pain, nausea, hot flashes and fatigue which are perfectly normal when taking the medicine.
Another drug that the patient who is undergoing chemotherapy can take is called Zoladex. This is also used to treat people who have prostate cancer. This works by killing the cancer cells of estrogen through starvation.
This is because estrogen plays a big role in the growth of cancer cells. Unlike other drugs that can be taken orally, this has to be injected to the patient. This can be done monthly or every 3 months depending on the stage of the disease.
Some of the more common side effects are swelling or tenderness of the breast, loss of menses, hot flashes and vaginal dryness. The person should call the doctor at once if the drug makes the arms and legs numb or when this makes it difficult to urinate.
Tamoxifen is often used to treat patients who are undergoing chemotherapy. This is because it interferes with the growth of estrogen. This drug has been used for more than 20 years and is taken orally by the person. This is also used to treat breast cancer in men which rarely happens.
The drug works by either slowing down or stopping the growth of cancer cells produced by estrogen. This is also effective in preventing the disease from spreading which makes recurrence close to impossible.
Tamoxifen unfortunately also has side effects. These are headaches, impotence, loss of sexual desire and headaches. This can also lead to blood clots and problems of the liver but these are rare. The person can do some regular checkups to make sure all the other systems in the body do not react with the drug.
Most patients who have been prescribed this as a medicine will be taking this for the next 5 years. This may be very long but most patients have never experienced the recurence of breast cancer.
A new drug which is gaining popularity is called Taxol. The generic name for this is called Paclitaxel. This medicine is also used for those who have problems in the ovary, lungs and the bladder. This can also help treat esophageal cancer and melanoma.
This works like Zoladex since this has to be injected into the body through an IV. The person can go to the clinic to have this done or just do it at home. The side effects produced are similar to the other drugs.
This is administered for three hours every three weeks. Most patients have this done in the evening so the person can sleep peacefully without feeling the allergic reaction to the drug.
The dosage given per patient varies due to the weight; the status of the liver, how often is it given and the side effects that may be experienced.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer

Inflammatory breast cancer, or IBC, is a rare form of breast cancer. It is estimated to occur in only 1 - 3% of all breast cancer patients. It usually occurs in post-menopausal women, but cases have been found in girls as young as 12 and in men. IBC is usually diagnosed at an earlier age than other forms of breast cancer and is more common in African American women than in Caucasian women. This cancer has a higher mortality rate because it is often misdiagnosed in the early, more treatable stages. However, advances in cancer research have improved the survival rate.
This cancer grows rapidly; your symptoms will appear in a matter of days or weeks. Women with inflammatory breast cancer often have no idea that they have breast cancer because IBC does not usually form a lump in the breast. Instead, this cancer forms 'sheets' of cancer cells making your breast feel thicker or heavier than usual. Other symptoms of IBC include swelling and tenderness of the breast, discoloration (usually red to purple) of the breast, itching or pain in the breast, dimpled or rough looking skin on the breast, swelling or crusting of the skin on the nipple and flattening or retraction of the nipple. Many of these symptoms mimic those of a breast infection, or mastitis. Mastitis usually causes a fever and usually occurs in younger breast-feeding mothers. Mastitis will respond to antibiotics. IBC, which has been documented in breast-feeding women, does not cause a fever nor respond to antibiotics.
Because the symptoms of IBC are so similar to mastitis and because inflammatory breast cancer is so rare, many doctors misdiagnose this cancer as mastitis. Patients are often prescribed multiple rounds of antibiotics because it doesn't clear up after the first round. If you have these symptoms and your doctor wants you to take more than one round of antibiotics, ask for a biopsy or referral to a breast specialist. You may have to be very aggressive to get the proper diagnosis. This is vital because the earlier this is diagnosed, the sooner you can begin treatment and the better your survival chances.
A proper cancer diagnosis usually results from elimination of mastitis as a culprit, with the symptoms still present and possibly getting worse. Your doctor may schedule you for a mammogram or a breast sonogram to confirm the diagnosis, but these are not very reliable with this cancer because the affected area may not show up. A biopsy is the most effective way to confirm diagnosis of this cancer, however it may still be wrong if your doctor biopsies the wrong area of your breast. Because this cancer does grow very rapidly, your doctor may also schedule other tests to determine if your cancer has spread to other organs in your body. This will affect your course of treatment.
Your treatment depends largely upon whether your cancer has spread to other organs of your body. You will most likely have a team of doctors talking with you, trying to determine the best course of treatment for you. You will receive aggressive treatment because inflammatory breast cancer is a late stage cancer. This means you will most likely receive chemotherapy, surgery and radiation therapy. You will most likely receive chemotherapy first because this cancer makes performing surgery first risky due to the skin changes it causes. Chemotherapy also works to shrink the size of the cancer, making it more likely that surgery will remove all of it. The surgery that most women choose with this cancer is a mastectomy, or complete removal of the affected breast. This is because the cancer is often widespread throughout the breast, making a surgery that preserves breast tissue highly unlikely.
During surgery, your surgeon will probably remove the lymph nodes under your arm to examine them for cancer. After surgery, you will most likely receive radiation therapy. Radiation therapy is used to kill any cancer cells that the surgeon may have missed and to help prevent the cancer from returning. Inflammatory breast cancer has a high incidence of recurrence, so your doctor may prescribe additional rounds of chemotherapy if you responded well to the previous rounds or hormone therapy if your cancer was the type that grew in the presence of estrogen.

Determining Breast Cancer Risk Factors

Medical researches attempt to define risk factors in order to discover who is most likely to get a particular disease and also to find clues as to the disease's cause and thus to the prevention and cure.
A risk factor is usually determined by taking a large population of people - say 1,000-2,000 or more - and identifying a variety of features about them, determining who gets the disease under study and then seeing what the relationship is between the disease and the features that commonly occur within the group. It is important how the findings from population researches are being used. If you determine that out of your 2,000 people under study, 500 got the disease and all 500 drank milk as infants, you can't decide from this that milk-drinking causes breast cancer. If none of the 1,500 drank milk as infants, you might be on the right track; if; as is more likely, all 1,500 did drink milk, you've learned nothing except that most people drink milk as children.
Sometimes, as in the case of lung cancer and smoking, risk factors are dramatic and can make a clear difference to the individual's likelihood of getting the disease. Unfortunately, it usually doesn't work this way. In breast cancer, several risk factors, such as family history, have been identified. But so far, there is nothing comparable to the correlations found between cholesterol and heart disease, or between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. 70% of breast cancer patients have none of the classical risk factors in their background. It is important to understand this for two reasons. Overestimating the importance of risk factors can cause needless mental distress if you have one of them in your background. On the other hand, you may create a false sense of security if you don't have them. Most breast cancer patients do not have a family history of breast cancer. By virtue of being a woman, you are at risk of breast cancer.
Another thing to note is that the risk factors do not necessarily increase in a simple arithmetical fashion; if one risk factor gives you a 20% risk of acquiring breast cancer and another gives you another 10% chance, it doesn't always mean that you're up to 30%. The interaction of risk factors is a tricky and complicated process. One interesting example is in the studies on alcohol and breast cancer, which shows that women with other risk factors who also drank liquor didn't increase their risk very much, while women with no other risk factors who drank raised their risk dramatically.
Most breast cancer still occurs in white women over 50 - about 50% of cases. Your risk at age 30 is 1 in 5,900 / year. By age 40, it is 1 in 1,200 / year, so the risk of getting breast cancer before you're 50 is very small. The median age of diagnosis of breast cancer is 64, which means that half of women who get breast cancer will get it before age 64 and half will get it after. So whenever risk factors or breast cancer is discussed, it is important to correct for age. Other risk factors - family history, hormonal factors, etc. - will most likely cause breast cancer only in combination with rising age.
Another factor that needs to be considered is the effect of variability of ethnic groups. The risk of African-American women and other women of color is less than that compared to Caucasian women. This is a disease that is predominantly found in non-Hispanic white women. African-American women have rates similar to those of white women premenopausally. That won't necessarily be comforting news to African-American women, however, though it's less common in that group, it's often more deadly.
The difference in vulnerability to breast cancer works on international level as well. Third world countries have less breast cancer than highly industrialized countries.

Breast Cancer: Hormonal Risk Factors

It is not yet fully understood what the hormonal risk factors are, but there have been some interesting clues. It is known that it has something to do with age and the menstrual cycle: the younger the woman is at her first period and the older she is when she goes to menopause, the more likely she is to get breast cancer. It seems that the longer a woman has reproductive levels of hormones, the more susceptible she is to breast cancer. If she menstruates at more than 40 years of age, she seems to have a particularly high risk. If the ovaries are removed early and no hormone replacement is given, the risk of getting breast cancer is greatly reduced. It is not exactly an all-cure, sadly, since it would also heighten the danger of osteoporosis. If a woman has had a hysterectomy (removal of the ovaries), it may or may not influence her vulnerability to breast cancer, depending upon whether the ovaries, as well as the uterus, are removed. If a woman still has her ovaries, her body is still going through hormonal cycles, even though there aren't any more periods.
Pregnancy also seems to affects breast cancer risk. Women who have never been pregnant appear to be more at risk than women who have had children before the age of 30 and women who have their first pregnancies after 30 have a greater risk than women who have never been pregnant at all. The hormones of pregnancy carried to term will mature the breast tissue in a young woman. The same hormones after 30 may actually stimulate breast tissue that has already been mutated. Several studies indicate that a pregnancy that ends in miscarriage or abortion slightly increases breast cancer risk.
The key seems to be the amount of time between the first period and the first pregnancy. There is a lot of speculation as to why this is so. One possible explanation is that between menarche and the first pregnancy the breast tissue is especially sensitive to carcinogens (cancer promoting agents). This seems to be true. Several factors such as diet, alcohol consumption and radiation exposure all seem to have a greater effect on a woman's breasts between her first period and her first pregnancy than they do later. Thus, the developing breast is more susceptible to carcinogens than the breast that has gone through its complete hormonal development. The increased vulnerability may relate to the cells' capability of mutating up until the first pregnancy. There seems to be something about the first pregnancy of a woman that halts the cells from being able to sustain a mutation, the greater the chance that they'll mutate in response to a carcinogen and in a way that develops into breast cancer.
A factor relating to the number of menstrual cycles is breast-feeding. Recent findings have shown that women who breast-feed for a long period of time, more than 6 consecutive years, have a decreased risk of breast cancer. In addition, women who have had early pregnancies and have breast-fed have a diminished risk of subsequent breast cancer. This is most likely related to fewer ovulatory cycles at a crucial moment in the reproductive life.
It is now obvious that most studies on hormonal risk factors of breast cancer are still very much at the theorizing stage: as yet, it is not known why there is this vulnerable time in a woman's life and why or how internal hormones affect breast cancer.

Breast Cancer - Did Toxic Anti Perspirant Deodorants Kill My Friends

When was the last time you tried to buy a plain old deodorant? I'm only asking because I can't find one anywhere, or rather I couldn't.
Instead, everywhere sold anti-perspirant deodorants and I just wanted the deodorant without the anti perspirant bit.
Why?
Well, in the last two years I have lost three friends to breast cancer and have had my own personal mammogram scare. Fortunately the biopsy was benign but even so it was a pretty traumatic experience and I began to wonder what on earth is going on.
I read in the paper last week that the rate for Breast Cancer is currently 1:9 and that all women aged between 50 and 69 should receive a free breast examination every two years. Unfortunately those ladies most at risk like my mother who is over 70 years of age don't qualify.
Another thing I discovered is that in a recent study carried out by Reading University in UK on breast cancer patients, every single tumour contained parabens.
Now parabens are common preservatives in several personal care products. They are derived from petrochemicals and personal and skin care manufacturers have a tendancy to call them 'organic preservatives' which gives the impression they are safe.
The reason they are able to do this is because the chemical term for 'organic' means anything that contains a carbon atom. Since crude oil comes from decaying leaves and living matter which existed thousands of years ago, its DNA contains carbon. Sneaky, eh?
The problem with parabens is that they mimic estrogen, apart from also causing allergic skin reactions and being eye, skin and respiratory tract irritants.
Found in body creams, lotions, body washes, anti perspirants and deodorants, parabens are used in more personal care products than practically any other synthetic ingredient.
Now deodorants reduce, cover up or eliminate the odours most of us would prefer to remain hidden and anti perspirants slow down the action of the sweat glands. They do this by obstructing the amount of perspiration that can be excreted.
That's the problem and why I was looking for a deodorant.
You see the sweat retarding agents are normally based on aluminium complexes and I know from bitter experience that aluminium is a neuro toxin. That means it attacks the neurons in the brain. It doesn't have to kill them, just disrupt them in some way and you get mental problems.
My son is autistic and you can read all about my run in with heavy metals including aluminium in my book Autism, Amalgam and Me - Jodi's Journey Continues. Aluminium has also been linked to Alzheimer's disease which has been predicted to triple by the year 2050. It's a horrible long destructive illness which tears families apart.
But back to the anti perspirant deodorants.
I don't know if you are aware of it but your skin is often referred to as your third kidney. It is the biggest eliminatory organ in your body and is a two way membrane. It will absorb 60% of whatever you put on it.
Toxins get in through hair follicles and sebaceous glands and are eliminated through perspiration. Now picture the scenario for most women.
We like to keep our underarms devoid of excess bodily hair so we shave. We also like to smell fresh, so we smooth on deodorants or anti perspirants to the area from which we've just removed this hair. As toxins enter the body via hair follicles and sebaceous glands they inevitably get inside our bodies but if we then block up our under arm sweat glands by using anti perspirant deodorants, how do they get out?
Seemingly, they don't and I wonder if that's why my three friends died of breast cancer and all those women had parabens in their tumours. What do you think?
Apparently a study of 400 American women found that those who shaved three times a week and applied deodorant at least twice a week were almost 15 years younger when diagnosed with cancer than women who did neither.
The answer, therefore, could be to stop shaving and let your natural body odours loose, or find a safer alternative. Thankfully I've managed to find just that in a 100% toxic synthetic chemical free deodorant which comes in three different aromas.
It's organic in the true sense of the word which means it uses only natural substances and methods. I can read and pronounce every single ingredient and as it is Certified Organic to food standards I could theoretically eat it and suffer no ill effects. I don't intend to try it though. Just putting it under my arm pits, feeling safe and secure in the knowledge I'm not being poisoned is enough.
No more toxic anti perspirant deodorants for me. How about you?

Breast Cancer Symptoms - Do You Have Them?

If you want to get nervous about developing breast cancer, then just read some figures. The reality is that one woman out of nine will develop breast cancer some time in her life. So even if you manage to be one of the eight who doesn't get it, chances are you will know someone, perhaps someone quite close to you, who will develop breast cancer. Breast cancer doesn't care if you're in your teens or a mature woman. All women need to know the symptoms so they can get treatment as early as possible if breast cancer develops.
The good news is that even though breast cancer occurs so frequently, if it's treated in the early stages it's highly curable for about six out of seven cases. So one of the most important things you can do is keep watching for symptoms, so that even if breast cancer occurs, you have a good chance of beating it. If you don't discover breast cancer until an advanced stage, your chances of recovery are much lower - only about one in seven.
So what are the symptoms? They vary from woman to woman, and unfortunately many of them can occur for a multitude of reasons, but if you observe any of the following symptoms on an ongoing basis, do yourself a favor and get it checked out by your doctor. Many symptoms don't involve any noticeable discomfort or pain; so don't wait for that to happen before seeking advice. Symptoms include:
- Breast is warm to touch- Itching in the breast region or armpit- Ridges or thickened areas of the skin on the breast or nipple- Pink, red or dark colored area that has a texture similar to orange skin- Something that looks like a bruise that doesn't fade- Nipple starts becoming inverted- Pain in the breast, anything from stabbing pains through to a constant ach- The aureole changes in color and/or texture- The breast shape or size changes- Lump or swelling in the armpit- Discharge from the nipple- Dimpled skin on the breast
Research has shown that certain groups of women are more at risk of developing breast cancer. So if you belong to a high-risk category, it's even more important that you regularly monitor your breasts, and either have your breasts checked for lumps by your doctor, or learn to do it yourself. Major risk factors include:
- Hormone replacement therapy- Obesity- High fat diet- Taking the oral contraceptive pill- Family history of breast cancer- Alcohol use
Again, always remember that breast cancer is highly treatable if it's caught early. It's better to get something suspicious checked out by your doctor and be proven wrong, than let it go and find out later you could have reduced the chance of mastectomy or even death because of breast cancer. Most of the time any symptoms will prove to be unrelated to breast cancer, but don't take that risk. Always get suspicious symptoms checked by your doctor, so you can get an accurate diagnosis.