Breast Cancer Awareness Perks to Be Aware Of

prevention/risk reduction

Risk reduction is a very good idea, especially if there is any family history of cancer. However, I learned the hard way that there is no guarantee of prevention.

I have never been overweight, always been active (I am a fitness professional) and have had a very healthy diet for years. I use very few personal products and most of them are "all natural".

We try to reduce our risk by controlling whatever variables we can, and yet we are stuck with certain genetic dispositions and environmental conditions we cannot control.

I would add to the list of risk-reducing behaviors minimizing STRESS, as the stress hormone epinephrin has been proven to boost the death-defying capacity of breast (and prostate) tumor cells.

Oct 17, 2008

This is also Lymphedema Awareness Day in New York State. All the women who are suffering lymphedema as a side effect from surgery, radiation, etc, there is hope.

What this board should not be is a argument of "prevention", there are components of cancer that can be prevented such as Don't smoke, don't expose yourself to chemicals, etc but if it's genetic there's not much you can do, it will activate itself or not. I'm genetic and I'm a survivor who has lymphedema which was thought to be secondary. I wondered why some women were into dragon boat racing and could do it without problems... that bothered me until I realized that all lymphedema patients could be primary and the cancer surgeries are the secondary trigger. That was how it happened in my case. Dr. Rockson is doing a study about this at the moment.

Anyhow, if you have swelling don't let doctors blow you off, stick you on diuretics thinking it's a "cure". There is not a cure known yet for lymphedema. There is management and treatment and your doctor needs to know that.

In honor of Oct 17, which is both days in NY, my support group is doing all we can to educate patients, doctors, the public, etc

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/lymphland/ is my support group, and http://www.lymphland.com is my website.

Anyone interested can come look over the site and join if you'd like.

Deborah Kotz responds

Thanks for all these comments. The point I was trying to making is that research dollars you donate today could help to find some prevention strategies that actually work tomorrow. There are no known ways to prevent breast cancer--though prophylactic mastectomy for those who carry a breast cancer gene seems to greatly reduce a woman's risk. I do know, however, that researchers are trying to find ways to detect cells before they become cancerous through experimental techniques like ductal lavage--sort of like a Pap smear for breast cancer. And while throwing money at something certainly doesn't guarantee a cure, it certainly helps. Just look at the progress made against HIV.

Hate to tell you --

Sorry, Enlightened, but your message is very confusing. I am glad if you have not had a cancer diagnosis, but do not be misled. Reducing risk does NOT guarantee or equal prevention! PREVENTION is when you 100% STOP something from happening!

I did all the "right things" to prevent breast cancer, but was still diagnosed with stage II breast cancer. And I have to tell you, I felt (and still feel) a lot of anger at the mistaken notion that you can "PREVENT" breast cancer if you only do the "right stuff." Well, I DID all the right stuff, and it did NOT prevent it at all. And I am far from alone.

I think this slogan is dishonest and offensive, does a great disservice to all women. Yes, these efforts are to be encouraged and may REDUCE the risk of breast cancer. But REDUCE does not EQUAL (nor is it even CLOSE) to PREVENT!! You can no more have "a little" cancer than you can be "a little" pregnant. All this idea does is blame the victim, and make the cancer diagnosis that much more painful.

Also, You mentioned that your Dr. says "environment is suspected." Understand that we often have little control over many aspects of our environment. We may not even know that we are in an environment conducive to cancer.

Yes, we all need to take personal responsibility and do all we can to be healthy. but we also need to know that there is no way to 100% "PREVENT" cancer.

ps

To the original poster about Tamoxifen -- unfortunately all these "miracle" drugs have there serious downsides. I too used acupuncture for side effects, and it was great in helping not to only offset chemo side effects, but also improve my immune system. But it didn't necessarily help with side effects from tamoxifen, unfortunately. I ended up quitting it a year early...All the best to you!

Rest In Peace

R.I.P Aunt Margarita, God be with you

COunterproductive? You betcha. We are assailed left and right by warnings, with statistics tossed in like confetti on New Year's Eve. Stress causes illness as well, and for a great many women, their stress levels only spikes higher and higher with all the dire predictions. Americans are obsessed with their health, and play right into the hands of the pharmaceutical corporations and mega-health insurance companies. Fact: more women die of heart disease in America than breast cancer, and yet, we obsess over cancer, convinced we can 'cure' it. There is no single cure for cancer, since it consists of many varieties. No one lives forever, and I think that's what Americans are hoping for. If we do everything just right, we'll live forever and never grow old! Good luck with that notion. And in the meantime, could we manage to obsess just a bit less about disease? It might save a few lives. Of course, it also might cut the profit margin of insurance companies and the drug industry.

mesothelioma

Faye State of IL:

Wow, great information. Thank you. I'll be printing your comment for my file.

Awarenes? Think Before You Pink

"Breast Cancer Awareness" Month has been around for over 20 years. We're all plenty aware. And we're misguided if we think that we can cure or prevent a disease by shopping. It's not that simple (even if it makes us feel a tiny bit better). Breast Cancer Action's Think Before You Pink campaign (www.thinkbeforeyoupink.org) highlights these issue and has a series of questions to help determine who is really profiting from pushes for us to "accesorize to the hilt" with pink ribbon items.

And check this out - Think Before You Pink's web site points out that Yoplait, which has a big "Save Lids / Save Lives campaign, could do a lot more for the breast cancer cause than get people to send lids in. Like, for example, they could go rBGH-free, so that their Yogurt isn't made with milk from cows treated with sythetic growth hormones. Use of rBGH has been linked with breast cancer. Wal-Mart and Starbucks have figured out a way to go rBGH-free. It's time for companies like Yoplait, that say they're trying to help save women's lives, to everything they can to make good on that promise.

Enlightened (with knowledge)

Tamoxifen Lorrie of VT

Breast Caner.org and Dr Susan Love's website might be helpful to you. Dr. Love is a Breast Surgeon and a top Researcher. She's working on a breast pap smear, and is funded for an "Army Of Women". She's up on the drugs, new drugs in the pipeline, and new findings on BC.

Hope you are coping OK. My thought and prayers are with you.

Your Article

I found you article interesting, especially given I'm a 9 1/2 year breast cancer survivor. However, there are other less-well known diseases that I was not aware of until I had reason to become aware. An example is mesothelioma "the asbestos cancer", a cancer of the lining of the lungs, abdomen and heart related to asbestos exposure. I had heard the term before, but really didn't know what it was until a '70s building next door to my daughter's apartment was demolished in such a way that there was construction debri all over the hallway to her apartment. I started researching the internet and saw 70's buildings likely contained asbestos and then went on to read about mesothelioma. Many mesothelioma patients and their families are not aware of the disease until they are unfortunate enough to be diagnosed with it, unlike me when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. There was a mesothelioma awareness day last Friday, September 26, which included a radio campaign featuring the music of Warren Zevon, the rock singer/songwriter known for songs such as “Poor Poor Pitiful Me,” “Hasten Down the Wind,” “Carmelita.” and "Werewolves of London.” Zevon died of mesothelioma in September, 2003. I wonder how many people heard about mesothelioma for the first time on September 26. You can read about the awareness campaign at http://www.curemeso.org