A great read

5 Rarely Discussed Breast Cancer Early Warning Signs
By Ty Bollinger

Breast-Cancer-Early-Warning-Signs-1-new
Breast cancer awareness month has just gotten underway, which means the Great Pink Push is being unleashed. The cancer industry will shift into overdrive, urging women everywhere to get their mammogram screenings as they beg for cash donations for breast cancer research. All the while providing little in the way of practical preventative tips and tools that women can use to avoid this common form of cancer.

As an informed, health-savvy individual, you probably want to know what you need to look for right now in order to nip breast cancer in the bud. Instead of trying to deal with it after you’ve already been diagnosed – which hopefully will never happen! We’ve compiled a list of five early warning breast cancer signs, most of which are rarely talked about in the media. Learn these signs as part of your preventative arsenal to stay ahead of the game.

Don’t Just Look for Breast Lumps

The most common way that conventional doctors look for breast cancer in women is to identify lumps in the breast. They most often do this with mammogram x-rays. This offer physicians a basic roadmap for navigating the terrain of breast tissue, allowing them to pinpoint any lumps, masses, or other questionable abnormalities that might point to a malignancy.

But mammograms can be a potential cause of cancer due to the ionizing radiation they send into breast tissue. They also aren’t accurate 100 percent of the time, despite what you may have been told. Lumps and masses in breast tissue can be either benign (harmless) or malignant (harmful), and mammograms don’t differentiate between the two. This often leads to false diagnoses and unnecessary treatments with chemotherapy and radiation.

A better option, if you choose to undergo routine cancer screenings, is thermography. This unique screening method allows doctors to not only look for unusual lumps or growths, but also identify whether or not angiogenesis is taking place within the breast tissue.

A lot of health experts like to talk about breast cancer as something that results from “bad genetics,” being passed down from mothers to their daughters. This implies that breast cancer can’t be avoided and occurs as an unfortunate “luck of the draw” type scenario. And depending on the type of breast cancer they’re talking about, there may be some merit to this popular theory.

But most types of breast cancer are a result of environment, diet, and lifestyle, all of which dictate how a woman’s endocrine system produces and balances hormones. In other words, hormone imbalance plays a much greater role in determining breast cancer risk than many people think. Thermography can help qualified physicians determine whether or not a woman has an elevated breast cancer risk due to this often overlooked early indicator.breast-cancer-warning-signs
Know the Breast Cancer Signs

Every woman’s body has a unique ebb and flow, and getting in tune with your own personal rhythm is invaluable for staying healthy. Paying close attention to any unusual changes that might be occurring, especially within breast tissue, is critical to avoid breast cancer.

If you feel any unusual aches or pains in your breast, including occasional throbbing, pain, or even fluctuating discomfort, talk to your doctor. Many women assume that only an isolated lump with localized pain suggests the presence of breast cancer. The truth is that breast cancer can manifest as “scattered, seed-like” tumors that, in some cases, spread like small tentacles throughout breast tissue.

Experts from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston warn that breast cancer often shows up without the classic lump, showing symptoms such as swelling and irritation, dimpling, nipple discharge beyond normal lactation, nipple inversion, and/or a thickening and reddening of skin around the nipple.

“There are breast cancers that present as half a lump or there may be no lump at all,” says Dr. Naoto Ueno, chief of Translational Breast Cancer Research at the Center, as quoted by CBS News. “It could just be a strange-looking skin appearance or skin being red or dimpled.”

Just be sure to look for patterns of change or any new and unusual symptoms that occur outside the norm. Occasional pain may not be indicative of breast cancer, but persistent itching, for instance, could point to fluid buildup, poor lymph function, or your body trying to create new blood vessels for breast tumors.

Can Back Pain Indicate Breast Tumor Development?

Upper back pain that feels as though it’s coming from deep within the bones may be an early sign of breast cancer. But don’t assume that every occasional bout of soreness or back pain means you’re becoming the next statistic! Chronic back pain that doesn’t relent with stretching, chiropractic, or other means may be a sign that breast cancer tumors are forming.

Sometimes when tumors are developing in a woman’s breast, they put pressure on the ribs and spine causing new found and persistent pain. You need to be aware of any changes that occur in your spinal column, upper back, and even neck. Talk to your doctor if you feel as though the pain you’re experiencing is unusually pronounced and marked by pressure from a possible internal growth.

Nutrient Deficiency and Breast Cancer

If you’re not getting enough of the right nutrients in your diet, including vitamin D and iodine, your risk of developing breast cancer is already elevated. Nutrient deficiency is endemic in the West. Many people don’t realize that what they’re not eating is increasingly their likelihood of developing chronic health conditions such as breast cancer.

Nearly 75% of the adult “healthy” population is deficient in iodine, which has been shown to help ward off cancer cells in the breast and elsewhere throughout the body. Vitamin D is another risk factor in breast cancer. A 2012 study published in the Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism revealed that low vitamin D levels are a hallmark in women with breast cancer. Other studies show similar findings.

A good rule of thumb in today’s nutrient-depleted world is to supplement with these and other cancer-fighting nutrients such as selenium and zinc. You may also wish to consult with a trained naturopath or integrative doctor. They can help you identify any specific nutrient deficiencies you might have and help you optimize your unique biological “terrain” for best breast cancer prevention. https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/5-early-warning-breast-cancer-signs/

My Breast Cancer Journey

Updated to include my most recent, second diagnosis. Available as an e-reader and shortly will be available in paperback. Purchase a copy at Amazon.

Risk of breast cancer

KNOW YOUR RISK?
There are 625,000 women who will have either at moderate to high risk of developing cancer and Pink Hope wants to find them.
Share this tool with your friends, family, work mates and with your help we will find these woman and help them to assess, manage and reduce their risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
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World Cancer Day

http://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Storm-Breast-Cancer-Journey-ebook/dp/B017UTFFRQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1454553250&sr=8-1&keywords=fighting+the+storm

Fighting The Storm - My Breast Cancer Journey

Available on Amazon Kindle. My Breast Cancer Journey

Gorgeous

'I have stage three breast cancer and I have never felt more beautiful in my entire life': Cancer-stricken model poses after chemo to inspire other women
Cancer-stricken model poses after chemo to inspire other women

Sugar

This Common Dietary Ingredient May Increase Breast Cancer and Lung Metastasis Risk
According to a recent study, 30% of mice in a controlled group developed breast cancer after six months compared to 50%-58% of mice that were given this ingredient commonly found in your kitchen.
This dietary ingredient could be a trigger for breast cancer and lung metastasis
One commonly hypothesized "trigger" of cancer metastasis that researchers have been focused on for years is an item found in basically every American household: sugar. Sugar is a source of energy for healthy cells in our bodies, but researchers have long postulated that it could also be the energy source that kicks cancer cells into overdrive. However, proving this hypothesis has been a challenge -- until now.

Breast Cancer and Pregnancy: POSITIVE Study Welcome

Dr Kathy Miller from Indiana University, back with another Medscape Oncology video blog. I haven't been with you for a while, and I want to make you aware of two pieces of information specifically about pregnancy and birth outcomes in our patients with cancer.

First, make your way to the November 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and you'll find a case-control study from the International Network on Cancer, Infertility, and Pregnancy (INCIP) that looked at 129 babies born to women who were diagnosed and treated for their cancer during pregnancy and compared them with a matched cohort of children with mothers who did not have a cancer diagnosis or treatment during pregnancy.[1] The good news: no difference in outcomes. There was no difference in gestational age, size for gestational age, cognitive development, and incidence of cardiac disease or cardiac malformations. This is great news for our patients who, in the midst of pregnancy, are diagnosed with cancer and need treatment.

Now on the flip side, many of you know that I spend most of my time treating patients with breast cancer. The issue I'm often faced with is pregnancy after diagnosis and treatment in my young patients with cancer. We've talked before in this forum about the results of the Prevention of Early Menopause study (POEMS),[2] suggesting that using ovarian suppression during chemotherapy can facilitate preservation of fertility and successful delivery of babies after treatment. However, this study was in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)-negative disease.

In our patients with ER-positive disease, it gets a whole lot more complicated. We need to think both about the hormonal milieu associated with pregnancy and what impact that might have. We also need to think about the impact of interrupting antiestrogen therapy to allow for pregnancy. This has really been a data-free zone, with very little information to guide these patients.

However, among the international community, a study has started, known as the Pregnancy Outcome and Safety of Interrupting Therapy for Women With Endocrine Response Breast Cancer (POSITIVE) trial,[3] investigating pregnancy outcomes in women with ER-positive disease. This trial will enroll patients who are premenopausal; have ER-positive tumors; and have a history of antiestrogen therapy for a duration of 18-30 months, and are now at a point where they desire conception.

The trial will investigate stopping their antiestrogen therapy to allow for conception and delivery, with the goal of being off antiestrogen therapy for a maximum of 2 years. After delivery and breastfeeding, if possible and desired by the woman, she will then resume antiestrogen therapy to complete at least a total 5-year duration.

This study is not randomized, but it has a goal of enrolling 500 women worldwide. It will track success of those conception attempts, health of the women, recurrence of their breast cancer, new cancers, and health of the babies, and will give us a tremendous amount of really important information to guide those discussions with our younger patients.

I want to make sure you all are aware of this trial. It is an incredibly important trial for these patients, and one they really want and need us to conduct. If you're seeing a young patient who is premenopausal, has ER-positive disease, and is interested in pregnancy, please join the POSITIVE trial so that her data can contribute to our understanding of these important issues even more. Be sure check out the New England Journal of Medicine for some good news about the health of the babies born to our patients.

Oncology

When you don't have another appointment with your Oncologist until April. The receptionist calls and tells you the doctor wants to see you next week. Panic stations. Freaking out right now. Life will never be "normal" again. Living in fear.