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Five Questions Cancer Patients May Not Know To Ask Their Oncologist

January 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

An estimated 20 billion people alive today have faced a cancer diagnosis. Fortunately, advances in cancer care and treatment have dramatically improved survival rates and overall quality of life. That improvement is largely due to patients who are taking an active role in their cancer treatment. The next step is to find out how to maintain a healthy lifestyle and properly care for your entire body.

“Many patients focus on questions about their cancer treatment, so they often don’t think about other facets of their disease,” said Dr. G. David Roodman, Director of Myeloma Program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and Director of Bone Biology Center, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “One important consideration that is often overlooked is the impact of cancer on the bone, which may lead to fractures and can be debilitating.”

When faced with cancer, it is important to remember that no question is inappropriate. Here are five questions cancer patients may not know to ask their oncologist:

Will cancer and its treatment affect other parts of my body?

Several of the most common types of cancer (e.g., breast, lung, prostate, kidney) can spread from the original tumor site to invade the bone, a process known as bone metastasis. Multiple myeloma, a cancer of the plasma cell, can also progress to the bone. It is important that you visit your oncologist to conduct a full medical examination to determine if your cancer has metastasized and learn how you can take action to protect your bones.

Should I be concerned about other medical conditions, such as diabetes or heart disease, and their impact on cancer?

Preexisting medical conditions put you at higher risk for developing complications throughout your cancer treatment. It is important you speak with the doctor who has been overseeing your condition as well as your oncologist to determine the most appropriate treatment option.

Do I still need to see my other health care professionals (primary care physician, gynecologist, dentist) since I am under the care of my oncologist?

It is extremely important that you visit your other health care providers to ensure you are not neglecting other potential health problems. It is crucial to talk about your cancer diagnosis and treatment with your other doctors, as they make up your overall health care team.

How can I maintain intimacy with my partner after my cancer diagnosis?

While some people experience little or no change in their sexual desire and energy level, others find that their sexual interest declines due to the physical and emotional stress of having cancer and undergoing treatment. Just as it is important to speak with your doctor about the side effects of treatment, you must speak with your partner about your feelings and concerns so the two of you can work through it together and find ways to attend to this important part of your life.

Are there certain foods or drinks I should be sure to include in my diet as a result of my cancer or the treatments I am receiving?

In order to maintain the best possible health, cancer patients need to exercise and eat a healthy diet. Talk to your doctor about creating a customized exercise and diet plan-and stick to it.

Filed Under: Awareness, Brakes on Cancer, Information, Problems, Survival Tagged With: , ,

Reason to lose weight now

January 13, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Obesity is the second leading cause of death after smoking. It is associated with an increased mortality rate of all ages including children. Losing weight though commercialized is still to your benefit if you carry more weight than you should.

Obesity and overweight are term often used interchangeably. However, technically they refer to two different states.

Being overweight technically means excess body mass. This includes all the body tissues. Obesity on the other hand refers explicitly to excess body fat e.g. a professional heavy weight body builder is overweight because of excess muscles but is not obese.

Obesity is what should concern you. Losing weight is no longer an issue you can afford to procrastinate, and probably a good health scare is in order.

Reason #1 to lose weight

Diabetes:- It is well known that 80 -90% of type-two-diabetes patients are overweight. Diabetes is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., as well as the leading cause of adult blindness in the world. One of the direct causes of obesity is eating wrong foods. Some of these wrong foods include high glycemic foods. High glycemic foods are energy dense foods that quickly increase the level of blood glucose in your body after been eaten. This results to the body reserving the unnecessarily high glucose/energy into fat. This makes losing weight very difficult.

Releasing a hormone called insulin does this. Type-Two-diabetes occurs because the body cannot produce enough insulin to remove the excess blood glucose and store it as body fat. This will occur after straining insulin production for some time. And that’s how you end up being fat and diabetic.

Reason #2 to lose weight

Stroke:- Obesity is associated with arteriosclerosis, the build up of fatty deposits in the arteries through out your body. This makes them narrow slowing blood flow and among other things increases risk of the blood clotting. Arteries at risk include those supplying blood to the brain. If clotting occurs due to narrowed artery, it blocks blood supply to an area of the brain resulting to stroke. Losing weight reduces this risk.

Reason #3 to lose weight

Cancer:- The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates between 25% – 33% of cancer world wide are overweight and physical inactivity related. Body fat evidently promotes higher levels of insulin production and excess estoregens, a hormone. Both insulin and estorogens accelerate cell division.

[Probably to create adipose tissue; new fat cells to store fat, in addition to the regular cell division]

As research has indicated, the faster cells duplicate the more they increase chances of a cancerous cell developing. The situation is further complicated as the rapid cell division caused by the excess hormones lead also to rapid cell reproduction of the one cancerous cell, hence cancer starts to develop actively. In addition fat cells tend to keep carcinogenic i.e. cancer-causing agents, trapped in the body which increases chances of developing cancer.

Types of cancers you will be at high risk to get include:-

  • Breast cancer- affecting the breast possibly in both men and women.
  • Colorectal cancer- affecting colon and rectum.
  • Prostrate cancer- affecting the prostrate gland in men.
  • Endometrial cancer- affecting the uterus.
  • Esophageal cancer- affecting the esophagus.
  • Renal cell cancer, the cancer of the kidney, etc.

    Reason #4 to lose weight

    Respiratory problems:- Obesity causes lungs to “become smaller” in size and chest wall become heavier to lift in the process of breathing in. The most common respiratory problem is sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where by an individual stops breathing for some time while asleep. A soft tissue in the throat collapses around the air way probably due to weight, blocking it. For the severely obese sleep apnea may get more complicated with hypoventilation. Hypoventilation is accumulation of toxic levels of carbon dioxide (the gas we breathe out) in the blood, due to inadequate breathing. Losing weight would be the only permanent safe and healthy solution to sleep apnea.

    Reason #5 to lose weight

    Urinary Incontinence:- This is involuntary release of urine. Being overweight can contribute to urinary incontinence. A heavy abdomen due to body fat deposit may cause valve of urinary bladder to be weakened. The weight also exerts pressure on the urinary bladder, trying to push urine out. This results to leakage of urine when coughing, sneezing or laughing. This is because of a slight relaxation of the bladder valve that normally will not result to leakage. It can even result to bed wetting at night. This particular problem can be a very effective motivator to lose weight.

    Reason #6 to lose weight

    Varicose veins:- Also known as Venous Stratis Disease. The leg and thigh muscles assist the heart in blood circulation just like most large muscles in the body. They are involved in pumping blood against gravity back to the heart with the help of valves that close to avoid a backward flow. Pressure as a result of a large abdomen may increase the work load on the valves eventually causing damage. Damaged valves then allow for blood to back up, due to gravity, causing high pressure in these veins leading to swelling, thickening of skin and skin ulcers.

    Reason #7 to lose weight

    High Blood Pressure:- The BMI (Body Mass Index) and age together are the strongest indicator of risk of hypertension or high blood pressure. At least a third of hypertension is related to obesity.

    Reason #8 to lose weight

    Other Diseases:- Other diseases which MAY occur as a result of being overweight include;

    • Gout
    • Coronary heart disease
    • Lower back pains
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • Gall stones
    • Pregnancy disorders such as
    • Neural tube defect,
    • Prenatal mortality,
    • Maternal hypertension,
    • Gestational diabetes etc.
    • Impaired immune response
    • Liver disease
    • Pancreatitis
    • Bad body smell
    • Depression

    Research shows that even modest weight loss of even 10 pound for the overweight significantly reduces the risk of developing these diseases. Weight loss is in fact a challenge taken by many every year.

    Unfortunately many fail in this healthy endeavor. And all because of one thing; they lack proper information on effective weight loss. Effective weight loss is permanent, and a permanent weight loss depends fundamentally on four factors. These four are what we at Health-eMark call the ‘Top 4 Reasons for Weight Loss Failure’.

Filed Under: Awareness, Disease, Information, Problems Tagged With: ,

Women’s Health And The Mammogram Controversy

January 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Despite the urgings of national health organizations for women to have annual or biannual mammograms after the age of 40, uncertainty and controversy about the procedure persists. Based on cumulative evidence, screening mammography has become standard health care in many countries. However, the value of the procedure has been challenged by two Danish researchers who reviewed the major clinical trials of screening mammography declared that five of the seven trials were flawed and that none demonstrated that it saved lives.

The report, originally published in the Lancet in January 2000, was written by Peter Gotzsche and Ole Olsen from the Nordic Cochrane Center in Copenhagen. It found that most of the seven studies reviewed were invalid, in part because they failed to assign women to screened and non-screened groups. The two studies that did randomize women correctly, the researchers said, showed no value to mammography. Cancer experts from around the world overwhelmingly denounced this report. Even the researchers’ own institution distanced itself from the report, stating that the findings had not been submitted to the Nordic Cochrane Center’s usual rigorous review.

After the storm of criticism, the Danish authors have reevaluated their original data and declared that it “confirmed and strengthened” their original conclusions, stating that “screening mammography is unjustified because there is no reliable evidence that it reduces mortality.”

Many women are now wondering if they should continue to have annual mammograms. After all, for many years women were told to do self examinations of their breasts, but recently that advice was discontinued after a large study found it completely ineffective at reducing the death rate from breast cancer.

However, other experts have challenged the iconoclastic report and contend that mammography is lifesaving. The American Cancer Society found no reason to alter its recommendation for annual mammographic screening for women over 40 years of age. The National Cancer Institute found that the screening test contributed to a pronounced drop in the death rate from breast cancer. The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine, concludes that 28 to 65 percent of the sharp decrease in breast cancer deaths from 1990 to 2000 was due to mammograms. The remainder was due to powerful new drugs to treat breast cancer.

In the era since mammography has become widely used, the size of tumors at the time of detection has declined along with the death rate from breast cancer. During the early 1980′s, when only 13 percent of women in the United States received mammograms, the average tumor size at detection was about three centimeters. By the late 1990′s, 60 percent of women were having regular mammograms, and the average tumor size had shrunk to two centimeters, according to data from the Cancer Society and the National Center for Health Statistics.

This seemingly small difference in tumor size is extremely significant in terms of prognosis. On average, the larger a tumor is, the longer (or faster) it has been growing, with a subsequent correlation between tumor size and metastasis. More aggressive, debilitating treatment must be undertaken against large tumors, and even with this, survival chances of women with large tumors are worse than those of women with smaller tumors.

Of course, there are always exceptions, and some small tumors are aggressive and spread early, while some larger tumors are slow-growing and remain localized. Currently, it is impossible to distinguish between them by mammography. Even after biopsy and microscopic exam, it is difficult to predict how a tumor will grow.

There have been claims made that the recent reduction in breast cancer mortality, nearly 2 percent a year since 1990, is due to improved drugs and treatment. However, there is evidence that early detection has made a major contribution. A 29-year follow-up of breast cancer deaths in two Swedish counties published in 2001 revealed a 63 percent decline in the death rate from breast cancer in women who were offered mammography, and no decline in the death rate in unscreened women, even though the same improved treatments were available to all.

Currently, all major U.S. medical organizations recommend screening mammography for women 40 and older, claiming that the procedure reduces breast cancer mortality by 20 to 35 percent in women ages 50 to 59 and slightly less in women 40 to 49 at 14 years follow-up.

Mammography is an imperfect screening tool. It sometimes produces false-negative results: in women under 50, mammography is likely to miss 20 to 25 percent of existing cancers, and in women over 50, it misses 8 to 10 percent. Because of this, when a woman or her physician feels a suspicious breast lump that does not appear on a mammogram, it should be examined by some other means, such as biopsy.

Filed Under: Awareness, Information, Problems Tagged With: , , ,

Can Hair Dye Cause breast Cancer In Women?

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Women want the dye to be present on the hair, but not on the scalp. Among women with other slow genes (the “CYP1A2 slow” phenotype), exclusive permanent hair dye use was associated with a 2.5-fold increased risk.

Large epidemiological studies show no elevated health risk for women using hair dyes. Now, an equally important part of the study is those women who were not at increased risk despite using the hair dye. It state that women who used permanent hair dye once a month had a 25% higher rate of bladder cancer.

Women who dye their hair might be different from the average woman in many ways. Those women have turned to at home hair dye kits. I heard of women going bald from over-dyeing their hair, or braiding it. The study of 1,300 women claims that those who started dyeing their hair before 1980 were one-third more likely to develop NHL. The researchers did not find any larger risk of cancer in women who started using hair dye later than 1980. The exception was women who used black hair dye for more than 20 years. Another study found that women who dyed their hair one to four times a year had a greater risk to develop ovarian cancer. Women who smoke and use permanent hair dyes have an even higher risk of cancer.

More studies might look at the risk of cancer from exposure to hair dye at work, which the researchers excluded from this analysis. For hematopoietic cancers, studies found a slightly increased risk of cancer in people who had used hair dye. For bladder cancer and breast cancer, the results indicate that there was no effect of hair dye use on cancer risk.

Risk of salivary cancer increased three times in hair dye users and risk of brain and ovarian cancer almost doubled. Personal use of hair dyes and risk of cancer: a meta-analysis. The researchers found no strong evidence of a link between personal hair dye use and an increase in cancer risk. But researchers have not been able to find a clear link between using hair dye and cancer risk, including the risk of breast cancer. Take-home message. This study supports previous research that found no link between hair dye use and increased risk for breast cancer.

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Breast Cancer – How Stress & Inescapable Shock Causes Cancer

January 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Cancer is only a physical symptom of underlying emotional stress on the body and the body’s cells. But how does emotional stress cause cancer in the body? And why does emotional stress only cause cancer in some people, while not in others?

For the majority of people, coping with stress and highly stressful or traumatic events or conflicts is dealt with, with relative ease. Although those in this larger group feel the devastating effects of stress, stressful events, trauma, and conflicts, including grief and loss – stressful events are seen as part of life’s challenges, life’s ups and downs, and they are for they most part anticipated and not completely unexpected. These people are able to move on with their lives quickly afterwards.

Those susceptible to cancer, are highly vulnerable to life’s stresses and trauma, and feel unable to cope when life throws a curve-ball their way. These people are perfectionists and live in fear of conflict, stress, trauma and loss and are deeply frightened of negative events “happening” to them. And when faced with a highly stressful or traumatic event they have not anticipated, which inevitably happens during their life, react adversely and are unable to cope.

They experience Inescapable Shock and remain deeply affected by the experience. They have difficulty in expressing their inner grief, their inner pain, their inner anger or resentment, and genuinely feel there is no way out of the pain they are feeling inside. And because their mind cannot fathom what has happened, and remains in a state of disbelief or denial, these inner painful feelings are continually perpetuated, shooting up stress hormone levels, lowering melatonin and adrenaline levels, causing a slow breakdown of the emotional reflex centre in the brain, and creating the beginning of cancer progression in the body.

When faced with a major trauma, the cancer personality feels trapped and unable to escape from the memory of the traumatic experience and the painful feelings of the experience. Stress hormone cortisol levels skyrocket and remain at high levels, directly suppressing the immune system, whose job it is to destroy cancer cells that exist in every human being. High stress levels generally means a person cannot sleep well, and cannot produce enough Melatonin during deep sleep. Melatonin is responsible for inhibiting cancer cell growth. This means cancer cells are now free to multiply. Adrenaline levels also skyrocket initially, but are then drained and depleted over time. This is especially bad news for the cancer personality.

Adrenaline is responsible for transporting sugar away from cells. And when there is too much sugar in cells of the body, the body becomes acidic. This means normal body cells cannot breathe properly because of low oxygen. Cancer cells thrive in a low oxygen state, as demonstrated by Nobel Prize winner Otto Warburg. Cancer cells also thrive on sugar to keep them alive. Put simply, too much internal stress causes a depletion of adrenalin, leads to too much sugar in the body, resulting in the perfect environment for cancer cells to thrive in the body.

For the cancer personality, the news of being diagnosed with cancer and the fear and uncertainty of death represents another Inescapable Shock, creating another spike in stress hormone cortisol levels, and a further drop in melatonin and adrenalin levels. There is also a further breakdown of the emotional reflex centre in the brain that causes cells in the corresponding organ to slowly breakdown and become cancerous.

Learned helplessness is a key aspect of the cancer personality when facing a perceived inescapable shock, and is a strong developmental factor of cancer. Researcher Madelon Visintainer took three groups of rats, one receiving mild escapable shock, another group receiving mild in-escapable shock, and the third no shock at all. She then implanted each rat with cancer cells that would normally result in 50% of the rats developing a tumour. Her results were astonishing.

Within a month, 50% of the rats not shocked at all had rejected the tumour; this was the normal ratio. As for the rats that mastered shock by pressing a bar to turn it off, 70% had rejected the tumour. But only 27% of the helpless rats, the rats that had experienced in-escapable shock, rejected the tumour. This study demonstrates those who feel there is no way out of their shock / loss are less likely to be able to reject tumours forming within their body, due to high levels of stress weakening the immune system. [Seligman, 1998, p.170]

Cancer occurs at the cellular level. And there are a number of factors that create stress on the body’s cells, causing them to become (1) depleted of adrenaline, (2) high in sugar and (3) low in oxygen, where they are more prone to mutate and become cancerous. The higher the sugar content of the cell caused by a depletion of adrenaline, and the lower the oxygen content, the greater the likelihood of normal cells mutating and becoming cancerous.

There are a number of factors that contribute to a normal cell becoming depleted of adrenaline, high in sugar and low in oxygen. Physiological stresses include (and are not limited to): Poor nutrition, Chemicals, Toxins, EMF Radiation, Parasites, Liver / Colon / Kidney disease, Lack of Exercise, etc. Psychological stresses include (and are not limited to): Inescapable Shock, Repressed Feelings, Depression, Isolation, Poor Sleep, Emotional Trauma, External Conflict, etc.

In the vast majority of those with cancer, there exists both a combination of psychological as well as physiological stresses that have contributed to the body’s cells becoming depleted of adrenaline, high in sugar and low in oxygen, causing them to mutate and become cancerous.

Filed Under: Awareness, Information, Problems Tagged With: , , ,

Breast Cancer Problems Faced By Women

December 25, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There was a time when Breast Cancer was termed to be as a dreaded disease. But things have changed now. If detected earlier, this could be easily treated. Removal of your breast during the treatment of breast cancer can be one of the painful things you would have to go through. It may not be the same case for all patients. With the increasing knowledge about the cures and treatment breast cancer can be treated very easily.

Breast cancer occurs when cell in our breasts known as tumor grow out of control causing damage to the nearby tissues and spreads throughout. These tumors which are cancerous are known as malignant tumors and cause lot of damage to your body. As it takes lot of time for a tumor to grow, it may not be easy to detect the tumor during self exam. But these can be detected with mammograms.

Breast cancers best treatment – early detection. Once cancer is detected it becomes easier for the doctors and yourself to fight it out. By the age of 20 all women should start doing Breast Self Examination (BSE) it is one of most easiest and earliest ways of detecting cancer. These check ups should be done few days after your periods. You should do this check up at least once a month. A clinical breast exam should be done at least once a year.

Some of the signs to look for, while doing BSE…

-A lump found in and around the nipple or underarm
-Change in size or shape
-Nipple discharge or nipple turning inward
-Redness of skin or warmth
-Formation of dimple or change in skin texture

Some of the causes of having breast cancer

Gender: Being a woman is one of the common reasons for suffering from breast cancer. Event though men suffer from this disease too, just being a woman puts you in lot of danger.

Age: As you grow older your chances of having breast cancer increases.

Family History: If somebody in the family has suffered from breast cancer your chances of having breast cancer increases.

Being overweight or obese: If you are an overweight women your chances of breast cancer increases after menopause.

Lack of exercise: Being lethargic and lack of any physical activity leads you towards increasing weight and chances of breast cancer

Alcohol: Drinking alcohol becomes very risky as it increases your chances of breast cancer

Methods to Prevent Breast Cancer

-Turn into a vegetarian
-Have plenty of organic food and vegetables
-Avoid red meat and any processed foods
-Avoid alcohol and colas
-You can have something sweet by having Stevia, an herb which is a substitute to any other toxic artificial sweetener
-Having whole grains is very good such as Oatmeal, Kamut and Psyllium, which are a good source of fiber and enters directly into your bloodstream
-Your diet must include wheat, bran and Cabbage as they are very nutritious food which helps to prevent breast cancer
-Garlic, Ginger, carrots, celery, cilantro, parsley and parsnip has some of the highest cancer fighting nutrients. Include them in your daily diet.

Filed Under: Problems