The Best of Breast Cancer Prevention

March 30, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The threat of breast cancer is real and it’s something that affects at least one in 12 women over the course of their life. While many would like to believe that breast cancer is something that won’t happen to them the truth is that it in all likelihood will affect you or someone you love in your life time. The good news is that there are plenty of ways to keep it from taking your life or the life of someone you love. You can play a very important role and so what you need to do first and foremost is educate yourself and the women around you about this dreaded disease.

The first thing you need to practice is prevention. This can be done in one of two ways. The first is through your own monthly breast examines. This is as simple as taking five minutes out of your day once a month to feel for lumps in the breast. If you have never known what a lump felt like, then a good rule of thumb is that if it doesn’t feel or look right then you need to have a doctor will tell you what you need or don’t need. If you are not sure how to give the monthly exam then you can check online or you can check with your doctor so they can teach you the proper way to give yourself a breast exam.

Of course it isn’t ok just to educate yourself. You must educate others when it comes to practicing awareness. So ask your relatives and friends if they have had exams and the right tests. If they haven’t then encourage them to go.

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Breast Cancer in Men

March 28, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

In order to talk about breast cancer it’s important to get into the numbers that lie behind breast cancer. Here is a run down on the numbers in this growing and deadly, but also easily preventable disease.

All the significant data seems to suggest that breast cancer is on the downslide all over the country. This is in part due to the significant increase in awareness, but starting in 1999 there has been a decrease of 2.3% per year.

Now men however, haven’t shown much change in their disease. While breast cancer is a rare disease and still affects 1% of all breast cancer cases. This trend has continued steadily between 1975 and 2006. However, since that time there has been a 0.9% increase each year. This is why it’s becoming more and more important for men to be screened and do to self exams. The reason for this decrease is truly not known and it’s something that is going up for no explainable reason.

Like women the incident of men who have breast cancer increases with age. However, one thing is not similar. That’s that a number of incidents are high in African-American men as opposed to white men. While the mortality rate is higher for african-American women, the incident of it is higher in the white women.

Here is something that might scare the men into testing: there are studies that have proven that because of the poor screening that men often show for the cancer that they are likely to die from it moreso than a woman. This is because once they are diagnosed they are far more likely to be in an advanced stage.

These facts should scare everyone into getting tested as soon as humanly possible. Simple screenings could easily just save your life.

 

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Inside The Breast Cancer Numbers

March 24, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

There are plenty of people talking about breast cancer. You see the pink ribbons and you hear the news that famous actresses are being diagnosed with these horrible diseases, but what you aren’t hearing is anything concrete. A few isolated incidents doesn’t add up to the totality of the issue that is breast cancer. So the real question is: what are the numbers for breast cancer? While it would be interested to see the all time numbers for breast cancer, what is more interesting is the hear and now. People see numbers as a cumulative thing and therefore they see the numbers as something that doesn’t affect them today, but the truth of the matter is that there are numbers that matter now that really tell the story of just how harmful breast cancer can be.

The scariest thing is the statistically speaking the death rate for breast cancer among women is much higher than any other cancer that they can be stricken with. This includes lung, liver, and throat cancer. This is why so many medical professionals continue to urge their patients to get checked out yearly so that it is so deadly. Breast cancer is very treatable when detected early enough.

For those ladies out there that believe that early detection isnt’ the key they should take a look at these statistics. It turns out that the rate of mortality for breast cancer has been on the decline since 1990. That was right around the time they started pushing for women to get monthly self exams so they could check for lumps and prevent early again.

Still, this doesn’t mean it’s going away altogether. More than one quarter of the women who get cancer are diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s part of the reason why the focus of breast cancer is still on women.

 

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Dealing With Breast Cancer

March 23, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

If someone you know is suffering from breast cancer you might know how crippling and awful it can be for them. But you have to remember that it can be just as bad as for you to go through. Never forget the fact that there are plenty of people out there who have to cope with someone going through the fight of their lives and it’s important that they get the help and support they need. So if you are someone who is dealing with a loved one that is going through the stages of cancer, then here are some tips for you.

You must try and meet with a support group or seek counseling if you are feeling overwhelmed. This can be very difficult on you. Having people around you have felt your story and have seen how hard it has been on you makes it really good for you to understand that the hurt and the stuff you are going through is not a unique experience could help you more so.

Don’t forget to lean on family and friends. You deserve to be happy and you deserve to have the support of your family. Most often they want to help but they don’t know or know what you need. Let them know what you need and everything will take care of itself. Take time for you and do the things you need to do to make it through it. It will be ok. You have to believe that. If you can be well with yourself than you can provide the patient the best care they have ever known.

 

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Coping With Survival

March 21, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The effects of breast cancer is very real and the process of treating it can be even more illuminating and scary. You and your family will go through a lot. You must be prepared for the worst, but if you are lucky enough to beat the disease you will find that you are maybe not feeling all the joy that you once felt. The truth is that surviving cancer can be harder to go through than cancer itself. Sure, in the long run it’s always the outcome you wish for, but that doesn’t mean that it’s always easy to understand especially when you consider that so many others are dying of the disease and you are not.

Remember that whether your beliefs are religious or otherwise that you defeated the disease and it has nothing to do with anyone else. You beating cancer doesn’t make you better or worse than anyone else and it doesn’t mean that you owe anything to anyone because of it. You are simply beating a disease and that gives you a new lease on life, but you are still free to do whatever you want to with that.

You might want to get yourself some therapy if you are having trouble coping with everything that is going on with your clean bill of health. It never hurts to talk to someone so you can get some perspective on what you are feeling and what you are going through. There is plenty of people out there who have experience what you have and so joining a support group might also be something to consider.

 

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Getting Behind the Breast Cancer Numbers

March 20, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

People say they know about breast cancer, but very few people know the ins and outs and the numbers behind cancer. Cancer, specifically breast cancer, affects millions of people each and every day and if you aren’t watching or paying attention it could be the end of your life. Don’t make the same mistake of not getting early screenings and doing your part. You deserve to be healthy and here are the numbers to help you put breast cancer into perspective.

 

There was a time between 1987 and 1993 where the presence of cancer increased in women both under and over the age of 50. This had to do with a rise in the hormones that were being put out in food and in supplements as well as less of an insistence on getting checked out regularly and doing home breast exams. Once that came into vogue in the early 1990′s, from 1993 to 1999 the rate of breast cancer cases actually dropped each year. This shows just how much detection matters.

Now, while it is strictly a stereotype, it might give you something to think about. Consider this: there are plenty of African Americans who live in low income situations. Regardless of whether it is environmentally to blame or they have themselves to blame the reason may vary from person to person, but the truth might be that there are lower income. Consider that African-American’s have the highest mortality rate of any ethnic group that is diagnosed with breast cancer. So if you can believe that economic conditions affect health care than this statistic might be able to back up the idea that you need good health care to keep from getting such a dreaded disease.

These statistics aren’t meant to scare as much as they are to inform and drive home the point that you have your health in your hands and that you should be able to prevent breast cancer and treat it early.

 

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What To Do After Recovery

March 17, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

What do you do if you are a breast cancer survivor and you have just been given a clean bill of health? It’s not an easy thing to think about because there will be so much emotion going through you and it’s tough to say how you would react. However, if you are willing to think about it and determine what is best for you going forward then here are a few things you can do.

You might want to plan a vacation. After all, you just got a new lease on life and that is only going to feel amazing. You are best off just getting to a vacation so you can have some time for yourself and to sit and enjoy the fact that you are going to be okay. This will help you decompress and feel good about things and for you to plan your next step.

The next thing you should do is get back to your routine. There is so much worry and anxiety that goes into fighting breast cancer that it really does take you out of your rhythm. So get back into your life and do the things that really make you happy. There is no doubt that you cannot help but want to establish some normalcy. If you can’t get there than you might want to talk to a professional. It’s the best thing you can do for your confidence and your self esteem. You need to cope with it and it should get better for you. It’s a good day. Appreciate it.

 

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Breaking Down Breast Cancer

March 16, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Breast cancer is a real threat to one’s life and it’s something that doesn’t get talked about enough. While there are drives and campaigns for more research, what you don’t often hear is just how serious of a disease it is. Every year the American Medical Association calculates the numbers on breast cancer and what they find is no less than scary. Here is a look at the numbers and what they mean to you and the people you love.

 

They say all women should be worried about breast cancer, and they should, but it appears that the older you get the more worried you should be. A recent finding determined that 97% of all breast cance related deaths occurred in women over the age of 40. This is a big finding and one that determines just how important it is to be checked out.

 

Many people think that breast cancer is a disease that occurs more in elderly women, but the reality is that it is anything but. The statistics show that half of the people who are diagnosed with breast cancer are under the age of 61. So while it might not be disease that affects younger women(there is a very small percentage that are affected between 20 and 24) it is something that does affect women in the middle of their lives.

 

For those that think race doesn’t matter in breast cancer should think again. While there is no race that is immune from the effects of breast cancer there are statistics that show african american women are more likely to get breast cancer before the age of 45 than white women. There are stats that show the reverse for women over the age of 45. However, in all instances and ages African American women are more likely to die from it. These statistics are meant to show just how serious it is to have breast cancer and what it can do to you.

 

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Misconceptions About Cancer

March 13, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

The reality of breast cancer is just as bad as the imagination can make it. The first thing that must be cleared up if people are going to believe what they hear about breast cancer and start to get screened and do breast exams is they must erase any notions they had in their head that are not the truth. It’s easy to buy into a falsehood, but it doesn’t make it any more wrong. Here are a few things that should be cleared up.

Men Don’t Get Breast Cancer

While the stats are there to back up the idea that it’s far less likely for a man to get it than it is for a woman, the reality is that there are men who get it. Truthfully there are a lot more men that day by it(percentage wise) because they don’t’ believe it can happen to them. There is a line between the lie and the truth and believing men don’t get breast cancer is believing the lie.

It Only Affects Certain Age Or Races

That’s not true as well. Sure there are statistics that show there are a large number of races that get it and may be diagnosed with it more than another race, but the fact is that there are plenty of people out there that get breast cancer that span all races and all cultures. You cannot assume that there are plenty of people out there that won’t get cancer because they are a part of a certain race.

Here is the bottom line: anyone can get breast cancer and so the best thing that you can do is to get tested each and every year starting in your early twenties. You can only do everything you can do to keep yourself safe from breast cancer.

 

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Breast Cancer Numbers

March 10, 2011 by admin Leave a Comment

Sometimes the best way to understand breast cancer is to get inside the statistics. Sometimes it’s hard to know just how much the disease affects others unless you spend the time to take a look at the totality of it. So here are some statistics provided by the wonderful people at cancer’s organizational website.

In order to get inside the breast cancer numbers it’s important to start out on a good note. While breast cancer is a rather deadly disease there is room to be hopeful. As of 2006 there were 2.5 million people who were breast cancer survivors. Don’t let these numbers make you feel as if breast cancer is easy to defeat. The reason there are so many that are living cancer free is that they got early screenings and caught it before it became a bigger problem.

Early detection has been the key in a lot of these cases. From 1999 to 2006 the rate of cancer incidents have dropped steadily each and every year. This is why screenings are so important. People who get tested can beat it. Those who don’t may not be able to save themselves in time.

Cancer seems to be deadly in differing rates going from state to state. In the state of New Jersey, it is the most deadly to get breast cancer. There have had a 27% percent mortality rate and of course part of that is there is not as much of an emphasis on screenings in that area. While it’s getting better, it’s still not nearly good enough. However, the lowest mortality rate in the country is in Hawaii. They have learned to do everything they can get screenings and that has made all the difference. Breast cancer is serious and these numbers are the proof you need to go get screened.

 

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