Breast Cancer Rate Drop Definitely Tied to Ceasing Hormone Treatments
There was a significant drop in 2003 in the rate of breast cancer occurrence in women, and apparently medical research and conclusions are pointing to the fact that the nearly 9% decrease in the breast cancer rate - a statistically significant drop for such a short period of time, was definitely linked to the same time that women in their menopausal years stopped taking hormone treatments.
The hormone treatments were abruptly stopped by so many women this year because of news that hormone treatments, the kind you get as HRT or Hormone Replacement Therapy in a doctor’s office, were widely speculated and linked to heart risks, bumps in breast cancer rates, and other potentially deadly side effects if continued use was administered.
This was especially true for breast cancer tumors that depended on hormones (estrogen) for growth apparently, that were being fed by the hormone replacement therapy, which is a potent treatment that gives women a mix of hormones that are supposed to help ease the symptoms of menopause including hot flashes, vaginal dryness, hair growth in weird places, flushing, mood swings and other unpleasantries of menopause.
JANE Magazine Has Breast Health Guide
I got this email and wanted to share it with the readers out there who are interested in breast health. JANE magazine, one of my favorite woman’s magazines for it’s fresh views and irreverant articles, is having a new breast health guide and I thought you might like to read it. It’s coming soon and here’s the email I got about it :
Hi! I thought this would be interesting for your site:
JANE magazine discovered in a recent survey of their readers that a shocking 75% of women say they are unhappy with their breasts. With that in mind, the May issue of JANE features “The JANE Guide to Breast Health” - a comprehensive feature promoting physical and emotional breast health.
The guide focuses on positive self-image beginning with a personal essay by Editor Annemarie Conte discussing how she grew to love her asymmetrical breasts. Following the essay is a full-page of photos of real (100% natural) breasts in a variety of shapes and sizes to show readers the large range that is “normal.” The photos combat the media bombardment of false images of “perfection” that just leave women feeling bad about themselves. Each of the photographs is accompanied by the real woman’s reason for loving her breasts. The page also calls out to Jane readers to submit photos of their own breasts and their reasons for loving them to be posted on Jane’s website, janemag.com.
Geralynn Lucas, author of “Why I Wore Lipstick to My Mastectomy” will be blogging for Jane’s website, janemag.com, for the month of May. Her first posting on “Inner Cleavage” is up today. “Inner cleavage,” according to Lucas, “is a state of mind. It is a belief that you are sexy regardless of your cup size. It means loving the boobs you own. It doesn’t require a plastic surgeon, implants, padding or push up bras. It means that I am not only my bra size.”
The link to the online version of “The JANE Guide to Breast Health” - http://www.janemag.com/magazine/articles/2007/04/BreastGuideMain
The May issue hits newsstands nationwide on April 24th.
Thanks!
British Import “Jordan” All Boobs…
OK, I’m already tired of seeing the British import whose showbiz name is “Jordan” and her way-too-big knockers, schleppin’ around LA and Hollywood with her husband who looks equally as cheesy and glitzy. The dubbed model and actress, and I think she may also have “singer” on her repertoire, is pregnant, so her already gigundo breasts are swelling to ridiculous proportions.
The last picture I saw of her was on the PerezHilton blog (yes, one of my guilty pleasures, I’ll admit, who can’t help but to read his silly, crazy comments and hilarious point of view?). Jordan had on a dress that looked as if her breasts were cannonballs inside of it. Her very pregnant belly was hugged by the dress, and her breasts were just absolutely inhuman looking.
I wonder why these women in showbiz and the “modeling” industry go way too big? Don’t they know that they would look so much more beautiful if they took it down a few notches? I’ll admit, she’s probably a beautiful woman, but when I look at her, because of her oversized breasts, I just think “cheap” and “gone in five years”.
I’m still hoping some day Pam Anderson, who really is a beautiful woman will wake up and remove those godawful monstrosities she had re-implanted after upsizing from her previous boob job.
Herbal Feminization and Male Breast Enlargement Question
I got this question from a male who wants to feminize his body and enlarge his breasts by using a product that is herbal in nature. This might help others too, although I directed him to the companies respectively for more definitive answers about his concerns.
Question :
Human Eyes More Discerning than Computer in Mammographies?
There are some things a computer just cannot do as well as a human can. Compassion, critical thinking, creativity, these are just a couple of the things that make the human brain unique and different from a computer.
Human eyes are not fail safe, but they are however uniquely attuned to picking certain things out, especially if they have been trained to look at certain things a certain way.
The breast mammography is no exception. Human eyes were determined to be just as good if not better in picking out mysterious or worrisome masses in breast mammography screenings, than a sophisticated computer. Talk about job security for humans!
There’s been a push to computerize and automate more and more machinery and testing in the field of medicine, simply because of staff shortage, and the idea that computers are more fail safe than humans, but this newest discovery that human eyes are as good if not better at reading mammography readouts is considered a setback for the computerization of the mammography test.
The results were found when researchers discovered that the computerized scans of the readouts often found harmless masses and detected them as potential breast cancer in a patient, while the human eye was more easily able to pick out and sort the harmless masses from the potentially cancerous masses that would need biopsied for further scrutinizing.
This means that the computerized mammographies that are used in thousands of cases of breast cancer screening may be unintentionally scaring women into thinking they have a worrisome breast mass, when in fact a human review may not have come to this conclusion.
It’s hard to say where they’re going to go with this information. Are they going to cut back on computerized mammographies and start increasing the use of human-reviewed mammograms, or not? Time will tell. Some things, people can just do better. Call it the human touch I guess!
Insurance Company Forced to Pay for Boy’s Breast Reduction
I say this is a huge victory for this boy and his family. Breast reductions that are considered medically necessary that cause back pain and other potential health problems are covered for most women under most good insurance policies for health.
I personally know two women who have had breast reduction surgeries and had the paid for or reimbursed by their insurance companies, so it really doesn’t seem fair that an insurance company would not do the same for a boy who suffered from abnormal breast enlargement, called gynecomastia, in men.
The seventeen year old boy suffered from extremely enlarged breasts througout much of his adolescence, when gynecomastia, or male breast enlargement, typically occurs.
Male breast enlargement causes much embarrassment for the men who do not want to have feminine breasts, and there is surgery available for it.
The insurance company refused initially to pay for the boy’s surgery because it was deemed “medically unnecessary” and “cosmetic”. The trauma to the boy’s life was proven to be so compelling that a court ruled the insurance company must reimburse the boy’s father for the breast reduction surgery.
This could be a case that is referred to in other similar cases that come up regarding male breast enlargement, and hopefully it can help to make insurers pay for this many times embarrassing, life-altering physical condition in men and younger boys.
Mammogram Debate
There has been news recently about the debate over whether all women in their forties, who are generally considered to be at the point of starting to get into the higher risk category for getting breast cancer, should be getting mammograms.
The big debate is, that while most doctors have been advising patients to get yearly mammograms as soon as they hit 40 years old, now a panel is saying their recommendation is only for women in their fifties to have this done across the board, but women in their 40’s, who are not naturally at as high of a risk for breast cancer, should only get the mammogram screenings yearly if they are in a high risk target group. What makes you at high risk for breast cancer?
If any female in your family has had breast cancer, especially a mother or a sister, has had breast cancer, then you should be getting them done even if you’re only in your forties, not yet in your fifties. The reason that some physicians are now being more “discriminatory” in who they give mammograms to reportedly is to avoid the dangers of mammograms if a woman is not at high risk, such as unnecessary radiation, chemotherapy, boipsies, removal and other invasive and potentially health endangering methods of diagnosing breast cancer tumors. What do you think? Feel free to comment.
Male Breast Enlargement Question
Actress with Enviable Cleavage, Berry Considered Suicide at One Point
OK, so sorry, this blog is about breasts, but I happened across this story about Oscar winning actress Halle Berry, who is not only known to be a fine actress, but is also known for her enviable breasts and cleavage. I guess even the most beautiful people in the world and entertainment industry have low points in life. Apparently Halle had such a low point after her first divorce from baseball star David Justice, that she considered taking her own life by what sounds like asphyxiation by carbon monoxide poisoning (sitting in a car).
It sounds like she may have almost gotten to the point of suicide when she reconsidered, and decided in honor of her mother to take control of her life, and that just because her ex husband didn’t love her didn’t mean she didn’t or couldn’t love herself. It’s a good thing Berry didn’t end her life, because she went on to become the first African American actress to win the coveted best actress title from the Oscars, and she’s also led quite an accomplished career since then, starring in her fair share of good films, as well as her fair share of fluff and even some bombs (what actress hasn’t?).
We’re glad you pushed on Halle! It gives us all hope, and makes us realize that even being beautiful on the outside doesn’t always make people happy and confident about their life on the inside. We’re glad you shared this with us, and made us realize that we’re not crazy if we’ve gone through periods in our life like this. It also made me realize that women become more fearless as they age, which I think is a beautiful thing. We no longer let society or some person dictate our happiness.