Pill May Increase Breast Cancer Risk, But Decrease Ovarian

Ovarian cancer, which is one of the most deadly forms of cancer in a woman, due to it’s tendency to be detected late, is said to be reduced in likelihood by taking the birth control pill.  In studies done on thousands of woman over time spans of years, it was discovered that the Pill actually does increase the risk of certain types of cancer, while decreasing the risk of some other types of female cancers.

The two that taking the pill may increase are cervical and breast cancer, although researchers do note that the statistical increase in likelihood is fairly negligeble.  However, they found a statistically significant tie between a decrease in the risk of ovarian and endometrial cancer, both of which are fairly hard to detect and hard to treat, which makes them also a little more deadly than breast and cervical cancer, both of which have definite methods of being detected early on. 

Breast cancer may be detected early by getting mammograms and also by doing self breast exams, and cervical cancer is not only detected early on by yearly pap smears and testing, but now also there is a “vaccine” against HPV, human papilloma virus, which is the virus that is thought to be behind a vast number of cervical cancer cases.  So I guess that, in theory, it’s pretty good that the birth control pill helps protect against the two more deadly and hard to detect cancers. 

Researchers are hoping that this study can further promote the use of certain birth control pills not only as a pregnancy preventer, but also as a preventive measure in helping to prevent certain types of cancer that women may get, especially as they get older. 

Mammograms Made Easy

Mammograms are not the most comfortable thing in the world.  I’ve never had one, but I will be scheduling my first appointment for one in about seven years, when I am forty, since my female side of the family does have a history of breast cancer, and agressive, fatal breast cancer at that.  This dramatically increases my odds, my sister’s odds, and my mom’s odds of getting breast cancer, so I’m hoping we will all be dilligent in detection when the time is right.

As I said, mammograms can be a very uncomfortable procedure that’s awkward and something that is definitely not to be looked forward to, but there are things you can do to help ensure you get the best results and have the best experience during your mammogram as possible. 

And the accuracy of a breast cancer screening test definitely partly depends on the person being screened so that the best results may be yielded and conclusive, so the patient doesn’t have to come back for a second round, the last thing most women want.  Mammograms squish the tissue as flat as possible so they can get the best reading of the tissue to look for any warning signs, so the more a woman can cooperate and position herself correctly without wriggling around is a help to technicians performing the test.

Recommendations for the best results and best scenario for catching things early is to make sure you find a quality place to go get them done at, and preferably stay with that place as long as possible so they have your older xrays to compare the new ones too.  This heightens the likelihood that they will spot any potential issues that have come up, because they know your breasts.

Also, try to schedule your appointments for mammograms during the earlier part of your menstrual cycle, because supposedly this helps reduce those fibrous cyst like masses that tend to show up when women are ovulating or are close to having their period, and these can throw test results off.  And last but not least, don’t let fear keep you from getting mammograms regulargly.  Once you do them a couple times, you’re a pro, and you should be able to whip right through them after a while. 

Breast Cancer Test With Saliva on Horizon?

Hmm, this sounds very interesting, and promising, and best of all SIMPLE for women who may not have access to mammograms or simply think they don’t have the time for them or money to pay for them if they have no insurance.  Plus, it may be cheaper than the much talked about genetic testing that is starting to happen around now.  Well, I won’t get ahead of myself, but those are the pluses that I think this news may entail if it comes to a reality.

Researchers are working as we speak on a test that helps to detect whether there may be breast tumors developing in a woman, which use the woman’s saliva to help detect this early on.  As I said it’s in development, but the mere fact that they are testing it means they’ve probably had some promising preliminary results if they are jumping into testing it for viability.

The saliva screening test would be able to distinguish between those women with benign (non cancerous) and malignant (cancerous) tumors, which is excellent, especially since lumps cause so much fear and concern and often end up being benign for women.  The reason they think they can develop this screening test for malignant breast cancer tumors is that there are certain proteins the body emits that would be present in the woman’s saliva if she had breast cancer tumors that were malignant, and the test could detect these proteins in the saliva, preliminary breast cancer research is suggesting. 

This is definitely going to be advantageous for women in developing countries, because mammograms are still too expensive to institute in these countries, and many woman do not have the money to pay for them in poor or underdeveloped countries.  Not only that, I’m thinking that we could definitely use something like that here in the US, you know.  Actually there are tons of women who put off or hate mammograms, and think of how easy it would be for them to submit a saliva test? The implications for this are far reaching in the field of breast cancer research and development and it is very exciting news. 

Heidi Montag’s Boobs Bigger Than Life

I’d have to say, I’ve never seen the “reality” show The Hills, but I sure have seen enough of the show’s stars to kind of get the gist of the show and what it’s about.  And it seems to be a whole lot about nothin’.  Supposedly, it follows a bunch of young girls in their twenties who work for a fashion magazine.  I heard even their jobs are staged, and much of the show itself is staged, so it’s status as a reality show is seriously in question. 

I also noticed that one of the show’s stars, Heidi Montag, whom I’m not sure is a good or bad girl on the show (does it even matter), has quite enormous breast implants.  And she’s lucky that there is a silicone option now, because from the before and after pictures I’ve seen, Heidi started out as quite a flat chested girl (not that there’s anything wrong with that), at perhaps an A cup would be my guess. 

Usually when girls with very small breasts get breast implants of this size, they look extremely fake and hard, and it looks like Heidi may have opted for silicone because, although they look very obvious, and are definitely fake looking, they don’t look as bad as they could if they were, say saline.  Or a great breast implant alternative, as many women are finding out

I still recommend saline though to most women getting breast implants, because there are still tons of women with silicone implants who claim that they have affected their health and well being, and quite frankly I think the FDA jumped the gun on allowing silicone breast implants back in to the fake boob fray again so quickly without totally conclusive evidence they don’t harm women, and quite a few women crying foul. 

I think Heidi looks ok with the implants, however, I wish she would have gone smaller.  To me, big and obvious breast implants equate themselves with less intelligence and too much attention seeking, and to me that’s just not worth it.  Maybe to some young women, all they care about is guys staring at their chests constantly, but I really think that in the future when they are more mature they will see that smaller is better when it comes to implants. 

Who wants to be solely known for having giant fake boobs?  And we all know that no matter what, society does tend to look down on women like this, even if it’s not fair, they are judged as being ditzy or shallow.  Look at Pam Anderson for example, I don’t know how much real “respect” she’s actually gotten, from men or from society.  Harsh, but that’s my opinion. 

Woman Kicked Out of Army for Having Breast Implants

Well, I didn’t know this, but apparently you cannot have breast implants and be in the army.  Hmm, wonder if there are some ladies in the army that just didn’t disclose the fact they have implants and got through anyways?  I’m not sure of the events surround this, but a twenty three year old woman has actually been kicked out of the army because she has silicone breast implants. 

The woman, who is currently appealing her station in Germany to have the order reversed, says that it has been her lifelong dream to be a soldier in the US army, and is disappointed that her choice to get breast implants has actually cost her her livelihood and lifelong dream.  She says that she really wanted to have a “great figure” but also wanted to be a soldier, and she’s perplexed why she can’t have both.

The army’s reason for kicking her out is that breast implants are supposedly going to increase her risk of getting hurt, and that is not acceptable in the army.  I guess I just don’t really get it.  I mean, how do breast implants increase your risk of injury?  Besides if something bumped them incredibly hard and they ruptured, but I would think that is not considered a “medical emergency”.  Any thoughts on this one?  I’m not really sure what to think…

Cervical Cancer Shots Reportedly Painful

The new cervical cancer vaccine Gardasil, which protects against the HPV virus that evolves into cervical cancer in women, is given to young women in their teens as a vaccination against cervical cancer, and it is quickly gaining a bad reputation as being a painful shot that stings and even has some women passing out from receiving it!

Now don’t get me wrong, I think that this is a good thing, the fact that we have a vaccine against the thing that causes a deadly cancer in women and can be stopped in its tracks.  It’s a very good thing, it’s just a shame that it can’t be made a little more comfortable, especially for those young women who are afraid to get shots in the first place.  Lots of people don’t like needles and this knowledge might just add to their reluctance to get the important vaccination. 

While most shots discomfort disappear with the first few seconds or minutes after they are introduced to the blood stream via injection, some girls are complaining that they experience discomfort in the arm that got the shot up to twenty four hours after they received it.  I wonder if part of that may be the way they were given the shot, but it does seem as though enough reports are coming to make it newsworthy.

 

Olympic Legend Dorothy Hamill Has Breast Cancer

The now 51 year old Dorothy Hamill, whose beautiful, perky personality from the late seventies Olympics when she won over Americans with her great sense of humor and all American good looks, has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  She is currently undergoing treatment for the disease at a well trusted and established cancer treatment center, and has had to bow out of a figure skating tour she was on for a while as she undergoes her treatment.

First of all, when I read this, it made my heart sink.  I grew up watching her skate and comment on the Olympics, so she is a figure that is very indellible in my memories of being a youth and more innocent times.  I also was shocked that she is in such good shape that she can still do her fancy skating routines on her tour at the age of 51, when many people can’t even work out the same way they used to.

It just goes to show that no matter how good of shape you are in, or how great you look for your age, you may still get breast cancer, although if you do watch your risk factors you can reduce your likelihood.  Dorothy, we will all have you in our thoughts, and we’ll be pulling for a safe and fast recovery! 

Breast Cancer : Prevention the Best Medicine

Few words produce such imminent fear in women as the words “breast cancer”.  However, one comforting fact remains in the fight against breast cancer and that is that the best protection against breast cancer is knowledge of the ways you can reduce the risk of acquiring the disease.
Some of these promising treatments and detection tools for breast cancer include genetic testing for certain risk factors that can help women determine preventive courses of action if they are at a higher risk, advanced ways of detecting breast cancer earlier including more sophisticated biopsy methods with minimal invasion, and new and improved breast cancer drugs and tailored courses of treatment. 
Heck, I was even reading just the other day about one company that is coming out with new, natural “biochemical” remedies against cancer and other serious maladies that we have yet to discover excellent, non life threatening treatments. Eating a healthy diet can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer. 
Reducing alcohol or eliminating it completely helps to protect against breast cancer.  If you drink alcohol, limit your consumption to less than one drink per day.  While there has been discussion and debate about whether red wine may help fight cancer, it is still wise to watch your consumption of even this, since it is, in essence, processed and broken down as a sugar, which causes inflammation. 
Inflammation is thought to be a major contributor to all types of cancer, and I tend to agree with this philosophy from the information I’ve been privy to.  Many of the popular diets now that promote overall health, weight maintenance and blood sugar stability are often “anti inflammatory” in nature, they just aren’t always advertised that way.    
Keep your weight at a healthy level for your age and height.  Be especially vigilant not to gain any postmenopausal weight as this increases your odds of getting breast cancer.  The excess fatty tissue in your body increases your estrogen and the degree of estrogen exposure in your lifetime is linked to breast cancer.
Exercising can help with weight loss or maintenance of a healthy weight, therefore lowering your risk of breast cancer.  If you do the weight bearing aerobics, you will have the extra bonus of keeping your bones strong.
Limit the amount of fats in your dietary intake.  A lower fat diet has a moderate effect, but still decreases the risk of breast cancer.  Hormone replacement therapy taken long term has been associated with an increase in breast cancer.  If you are taking hormone replacements, you may wish to talk to your doctor about other therapies to minimize menopausal symptoms. 
There is not clear cut evidence linking birth control pills and a higher incidence of breast cancer.  The newer oral contraceptives have a lower dose than the older contraceptives.  Studies continue on this subject.

Should Men Be Tested for Breast Cancer Gene Too?

This is not so shocking, but actually is somewhat of a surprise that they have already found out this information so early in the research stages of a new field : Genetic testing.  We had posted a couple posts ago about how genetic testing has huge implications for breast cancer research, and for women who have family member who had breast cancer and may carry the gene that increase the risk exponentially.

Well, it turns out that not only can women harbor this gene that causes the increase in risk for breast cancer, but men can also carry the gene, and may want to be tested for it as well.  Researchers say that the particular gene defect they look for may determine a man’s likelihood of developing breast cancer (men can get it too), and it also may increase their odds of developing other types of cancers like prostate cancer.

In fact, the detection of the specific genes responsible for increasing breast cancer risk actually predicts almost double the chance for men to develop prostate and pancreatic cancer and possibly skin cancer as well, so they are encouraged to get tested, especially if women in the family have had breast cancer (this makes them more likely to have the gene). 

While the genes responsible for the increased risk are mostly common in women of European descent, they can also be detected in women of any national origin.  Don’t forget it is possible for men to get male breast cancer as well, but it is just not as common as it is in females.