Cancer Resources

Today the dominant view about the experience of having breast cancer is that being diagnosed and treated constitute crises in the lives of women who experience them, but the experience spans a year by most women with the early stage of the disease (i.e., women with a favorable prognosis).

However, some women may feel the diagnosis and treatment are more traumatic and display some symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

These issues make unique contributions to predicting emotional distress, sexual disruption, and impairments in feelings of femininity in these women as well. In two separate groups of women, patients with early-stage breast cancer who expected to remain cancer free in the future reported less emotional distress.

It also appears that there are significant ethnic differences in the concerns reported and the adverse reactions expressed by patients with breast cancer. Hispanic women report more intense concerns than do other women, as well as higher levels of emotional distress and social and sexual disruptions, whereas African American women report lower levels of distress and disruption in sense of femininity than the other groups. Continue reading ‘How Women Cope With the Stress of Breast Cancer’ »

Now, however, there seems to be conclusive proof that adopting a healthy lifestyle is the key to avoiding fatal conditions such as breast cancer.

A study carried out by World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) and Imperial College London found that thousands of women could help to reduce their risk of developing the disease, which kills 12,000 Brits a year by making simple changes.

According to the specialists who conducted the study, which was the largest of its kind ever conducted, breast cancer insurance customers should follow a diet of lean foods and low amounts of alcohol to minimise their risk.

In addition, they can help to protect themselves further by doing 30 minutes of exercise a day, said professor Martin Wiseman, a WRCF medical and scientific adviser who helped with the investigation. Continue reading ‘Staying Fit and Healthy Reduces Breast Cancer Risk’ »

This article deals with the causes of breast cancer. It is the cancer of the cells present in the breast. Both men and women can get this cancer and the symptoms vary from a lump in the breast to puckering of the skin, inverted nipple, Paget’s disease of the breast, discharge from a single nipple, pain, swelling, redness, itching, tingling, etc. All these symptoms do not happen at one time and each symptom can be a manifestation of another breast disease.

Let’s discuss the causes of Breast Cancer

The primary risk factors for both men and women are identified to be:

• Sex of the person
• Childbearing
• Hormones
• Age
• Alcohol intake
• High fat diet
• Obesity
• Tobacco Continue reading ‘Causes of Breast Cancer’ »

Breast cancer today is affecting a number of women throughout the world. With this, it is very important for everyone to know the risks of acquiring breast cancer. The following are the risk factors that would make a woman get cancer.

First of all, the risk of getting cancer is increased with age. This means that as a woman ages, the chances of developing cancer is also increased. This is the reason that most women would get cancer around the age 60s and above.

The next risk factor is inheritance. The risk of getting breast cancer is increased if the patient has family members that also have breast cancer. The chance also increases if that family member had the cancer around 40s. At the same time, the genes that can make a woman be more susceptible to ovarian and breast cancer can also be passed to the patient from their family. Continue reading ‘Know the Risks of Getting Breast Cancer’ »

All women wish to avoid cancer, and breast cancer in particular because of extreme consequences that in modern treatment, usually involves radical surgery and chemotherapy.

Regrettably, breast cancer is all too common and one of the most serious causes of women’s fatalities through disease in Australia and the US. Contemporary methods of orthodox medicine are no guarantee of a permanent cure. In fact it is generally considered that a patient has a limited future following the most severe treatment. There has been no real success in curing by chemicals and radiation in spite of efforts in research to find an answer.

In contrast, the naturopathic approach is to encourage the natural powers of healing to do their best by reducing the negative factors that result in storage of toxins in the body. If left to accumulate, these in time can irritate the cells into abnormal behaviour and lead to cancer. In conjunction with improving elimination of toxins, we must provide the finest nutritional substances needed to restore balance and perfect health. This constituted the simple principle that can be applied to all diseases, including treatment of cancer. Continue reading ‘We Can Prevent Breast Cancer’ »

Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia have discovered that the HPV vaccine may be effective in preventing breast cancer, which affects over a million women a year worldwide.

In a new article published in the British Journal of Cancer, the experts reveal that they conducted studies of breast cells and found that there were several strains of HPV present which are known to have a high risk of initiating cancer of the cervix.

A team from UNSW School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, led by visiting professor James Lawson, declared that there was a presence of high-risk HPV in the nuclei of breast cancer epithelial cells in 21 per cent of 14 invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) breast cancer specimens. Continue reading ‘Cervical Cancer Vaccine May Stop Breast Cancer’ »

For the past 25 years, National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM) has continued to grow in recognition, respect and reputation. From the beginning, its purpose has been to educate and encourage women to be aware of the importance of early detection and yearly mammograms, offer information and support for those affected by breast cancer and raise funds for research towards prevention, cause and a cure.

Over the next few weeks, people around the world will join together in honor of those who have survived and those who have not. Survivors, partners, friends and families will walk, run, ride, swim, bowl, fast and feed for fundraising events and procure revenues in the millions. We will decorate our universe, as well as ourselves, in various shades of pink and give thanks to daily breaths. Due to the success of these campaigns we have the ability to diagnose and treat breast cancer with less pain and more hope.

The cause of breast cancer can be genetic or environmental. Genetics contribute to approximately ten percent of breast cancer patients. This means a person who is born with a particular gene line, BRCA1 mutation, is high risk for breast, ovarian, skin, prostate and pancreas cancer. Although the exact risk of breast and ovarian cancer granted by a specific gene mutation has not been determined, studies in high-risk families indicate that deleterious mutations in this gene may confer as much as an eighty seven percent risk of breast cancer and a forty four percent risk of ovarian cancer by the age of seventy, in women. This mutation has also been reported to have a twenty percent chance of a second breast cancer within five years, as well as a ten-fold increase in the risk of subsequent ovarian cancer. The mutation may also present an increased risk of male breast cancer, along with several other cancers; skin, prostate and pancreas. Each first degree relative of this individual has a fifty percent chance of carrying the mutation. Family members can be tested with a simple blood test. Those who test positive can take measures into their own hands and beat the cancer before it beats them by undergoing surgery. Most insurance companies will cover preventive measures, as it can significantly reduce the risk of future treatment. In a sense, the individual, who is diagnosed with genetic breast cancer, has the power to save their family from ever being diagnosed with cancer, at all. Continue reading ‘The Pink Platform’ »

If you’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, it may have been suggested you have a single mastectomy in the other breast or a double mastectomy, but is this the best approach? I was diagnosed more than a decade ago with infiltrating intraductal breast cancer and I turned down all conventional treatment including chemotherapy, radiation and surgery and chose an alternative route. No single or double mastectomy either. And I’m still in excellent health today.

The trend is alarming as more and more women are removing healthy breasts because they are panicked, are in fear of breast cancer returning or migrating to the other breast.

I’ll discuss a recent study showing why mastectomy is not saving lives in a moment. However, what is alarming to me is that there is still breast tissue left in the chest wall and by removing healthy breasts there is still tissue that could already contain cancer cells or be available to them.

There is very little evidence that proves that women live longer or survival rates increase by removing their breasts after a diagnosis of breast cancer. A recent study of statistics published in a national medical journal read by doctors found that 5000 women in one state, between 1995 and 2005, who had cancer in one of their breasts, chose to have the other breast removed. These women already had breast cancer. They were not women who tested positive for the BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene mutation type of breast cancer, where prophylactic removal is more common. Continue reading ‘Breast Cancer – Do You Really Need a Mastectomy? – From a Nurse Survivor’ »

Breast Cancer – Aside from October being one of the cooler months of the year, and a special month for kids to go trick or treating dressed up as an eerie ghoul to scare people witless, it is however on a more serious note Breast Cancer Awareness Month. For some women being greeted at the door by a vampire, devil or witch, the fright at that moment is nothing in comparison to the fear they feel inside after being diagnosed with breast cancer.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is a time when women and young girls are alerted to the importance of early detection. This does not mean that women are not made aware of what is involved with breast cancer treatments, self breast examination and recovery issues all year round; it is just strongly more focused upon in October through Breast Awareness Campaigns. These types of campaigns have great pulling power where we see more and more women coming forward to get themselves checked out, and their questions answered.

As it is with most organizations and support groups they need financial help to keep up the good work. Breast cancer groups will include people who care, and are compassionate towards your feelings. It is also most likely that them who run the groups are, or, have been patients themselves. Cancer care workers will help you the best they can to come to terms with having breast cancer, be there for you when undergoing treatment for breast cancer…right through the recovery period and after care.

If you would like to help these people who work tirelessly tending to the sick, then you can. Some people will run a marathon to raise funds for breast cancer while others may put on a show and sell tickets to make money for their breast cancer charity. Why not take advantage of Halloween night and get a few friends together and dress up, and instead of holding a lighted pumpkin, hold up a placard with a message saying all monetary donations will be donated to the breast cancer campaign. Continue reading ‘Breast Cancer Awareness Month – Best Way to Beat Breast Cancer is to Prevent It’ »

Recent studies have now shown that maintaining a quality diet can help in preventing breast cancer among many women. It seems that diet is becoming more and more at the centre of prevention these days and with good reason, you are what you eat.

Perhaps the problem is that most of us maintain only short periods of good diet and it does not become effective until it’s a full time life habit. The speed and pressure of modern lifestyle can make it difficult to avoid the convenience of processed food but if we are worried about long term health the issue is clear – diet is crucial.

We all need to get a little more serious about it.

This diet is being referred to as the prudent diet. It’s made up of whole grains, vegetables of course and fish. The usual suspects are kept to a minimum such as red meats and white bread or any other form of starchy carbohydrates. Continue reading ‘Your Diet Can Help Prevent Breast Cancer’ »