It’s well known that insomnia is a troubling problem. Not being able to sleep can cause a host of other health problems, such as depression, anxiety, accidents due to fatigue, inability to fight off infections, and even a decrease in ability to regain health if already ill. Therefore, studying what may cause insomnia in different patient groups is quite important.

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center studied 823 people who had cancer, looking at their sleeping patterns and how well they were able to sleep. What they found was that there was three times the difficulty sleeping among those with cancer than among people who don’t have cancer. Thirty seven percent of the patients reported having symptoms of insomnia, while 43% had insomnia syndrome.

Age played a role as well; younger people with cancer had a harder time than older ones. In addition, those with lung and breast cancers had the worst time sleeping. Their findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The data was gathered by assessing questionnaires that were completed by the patients. They were completed after the first two sessions of chemotherapy.

It’s not surprising to learn that people with cancer may have trouble sleeping. What needs to be done now is to find ways to help them, because someone battling a serious disease needs all the resources he or she can gather, and you need sleep for that.

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Post from: Blisstree

Insomnia Common with Chemotherapy

The Mayo Clinic published 10 tips to reduce cancer risk in their most recent issue of Mayo Clinic Women’s HealthSource.

Here are the tips and below there’s more explanation:

1. Stop smoking
2. Limit alcohol intake – some alcohol is okay, too much is not
3. Follow recommended intake of fruits and vegetable (daily!)
4. Decrease the amount of fat in your daily diet
5. Lose weight if you’re too heavy, try to gain weight if you’re too thin
6. Move! Get active
7. Watch your skin (from the sun and don’t use tanning beds)
8. Don’t take chances when having sex. Protect yourself.
9. See your doctor regularly and take part in recommenced screening tests
10. If you have had cancer or are at particularly high risk, speak with your doctor about chemoprevention, which is taking medications to reduce the risk of new cancers

How and why do these steps help?

First of all, none of these are a surprise. All these recommendations, save for the last one, are recommended to help reduce the risk of developing many health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and more. So by following these tips, you’re helping your body more than you may realize.

Smoking: Did you know that smoking not only increases your risk of developing lung cancer, but also mouth (tongue, cheek, palate, throat, gum) cancer? Your risk of bladder cancer also climbs quite a bit. Smoking affects your whole body, not just your lungs. Also, the social act of smoking is often accompanied by other not-so-healthy lifestyle factors, like drinking alcohol, limiting exercise, and so on. By quitting the cigarettes, your risk drops every day you’re no longer a smoker.

Alcohol: Many of us like to enjoy a good glass of wine, a cold bottle of beer, a good scotch – and many of us limit ourselves to a moderate number of glasses. However, if you drink too much, more than the recommended amount for your sex, you increase your risk of mouth, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, liver, colon and rectum cancers.

Fruits and vegetables: It’s not that difficult to add the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables into your daily diet, but it does take planning. Unfortunately, with the hectic lifestyles many people lead these days, food planning often goes out the door. Five servings of fruits and vegetables daily are the minimal amount that you should be taking in. The thing is, servings are not huge, so this is not impossible. Two and a half cups of fruits or vegetables over the course of the day is maybe one apple, one tomato and a couple of stalks of celery. That’s not too much, is it?

Limiting fat: This one may be of the easiest things to do. Fat is an essential part of the human diet; we need it for our body to function properly. However, the type of fat and the amount you get is important.

This table, from the USDA, shows you how much fat you should have according to the number of calories you should have per day:

And this table, from the same source, gives you an idea of what foods have what fat:

Source: ARS Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 17.

Weight control: Being a healthy weight for your body build helps your body in many ways. It can even help reduce the pain of osteoarthritis for some people. Being too thin also has health issues, so keep that in mind if you are trying to lose weight.

Get active: Enough said!

Watch your skin: Tanning is not beautiful – any change in your skin color means there is damage going on. Don’t use tanning beds – they’re even worse than the sun. Plus, too much sun exposure doesn’t just contribute to skin cancer, it makes your skin old, dry and wrinkly well before its time.

Protect yourself from sexually transmitted infections: Sex with people without protection exposes you to hepatitis and HIV, both of which are very high risk for cancer, let alone the disease itself. Human papillomavirus (HPV) causes genital warts, some of which can cause cervical cancer, cancer of the cervix.

Screening tests: Screening tests for prostate cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer, are all over the news, but don’t forget the other screenings that you can have done. You can have a colonoscopy to check for the beginnings of colon cancer and you can have your skin checked regularly to look for signs of skin cancer. If you are at high risk of a particular type of cancer, speak with your doctor about screening for that, as well. And, don’t forget your dentist. He or she is the one who can detect signs of oral cancer.

Chemoprevention: This is a relatively new area, most commonly known for women who take Tamoxifen to help reduce the risk of breast cancer coming back. You may want to speak with your doctor about this if you are at a high risk of cancer or you have already had it.

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Images: MorgueFile.com

Post from: Blisstree

10 Tips for Reducing Cancer Risk

Their reasoning is essentially that it doesn’t save enough lives and causes anxiety over false positives and unnecessary biopsies. Only 15% of women in their 40s are diagnosed with breast cancer via mammograms. Isn’t that enough?

Today, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius commented on the controversy stirred by the task force. She told women to keep doing what they’ve been doing for years and to talk with their doctors about the decision to have a mammogram. Sebelius also noted that the task force doesn’t set federal policy, but that insurance companies often look to them for guidance. However, she indicated that she doubts any health insurance companies will change their guidelines as result of the task force findings (CNN: “U.S. health chief: No change on mammogram policy”).

Has the damage been done though? Will women in their 40s take the task force’s new policy to heart and stop having mammograms? I’m personally rather amazed that the US Preventive Services Task Force would make such a striking recommendation against mammograms, which detect the most common cancer women face. Plus, none of the experts on the panel are oncologists! I would not be surprised if they reversed their opinion.

By the way, if you feel you need a mammogram and you’re under the age that it’s covered by your insurance company, don’t give up. There’s a difference between preventative and diagnostic mammograms. If you have special concerns, your mammogram may be covered with a diagnostic code.

How do you feel about getting a mammogram before age 50?

(Image via WikiMedia Commons)

Post from: Blisstree

Mammogram Policy to Stay the Same

She didn’t just think about it. Andrea started the Florida Breast Health Initiative. Since 2006, Andrea and her team of volunteers have knocked on the doors of around 20,000 homes. And they’ve helped provide more than 500 mammograms to Miami area residents.

Andrea and the Florida Breast Health Initiative volunteers spread the word that “Early detection is the best protection.” They devote the first three Saturdays of each month during the fall and spring to outreach and education. That’s when they sign up women for free mammograms. Then, on the last Saturday of the month, a mobile mammography van from a partner hospital takes to the mammograms literally to the doorsteps of the women who need them. With each mammogram, the volunteers at the Florida Breast Health Initiative are potentially saving a life.

Today, Andrea is being honored by CNN Heroes during a celebratory rally in Miami. She will receive $25,000, but can receive up to $100,000 if she’s voted the CNN Hero of the Year. You can vote for her at CNN until Thursday, November 19. The CNN Hero of the Year will be announced during a star-studded gala in Hollywood. The “CNN Heroes: All All-Star Tribute” will air on Thanksgiving night.

Read more about Andrea’s story at CNN: Army of volunteers saves lives with clipboards, high spirits.

(Images provided by CNN)

Post from: Blisstree

Breast Cancer Hero Honored Today

Better Homes and Garden Pink Ribbon Plaid Cookbook (Image © Dexie J Wharton)

It was actually given to me by my dear Mother-In-Law, months before she gave me the 400 Slow Cooker & One-Pot Recipes Cookbook. I*t was quite funny coz I had been waiting for the right time to buy myself a copy. I was always perusing the cookbook everytime we visited the Books A Million store. I kept telling myself I’d get one someday. Well, one day I opened a box from the mail and there it was, looking right at me.

I never told my Mother-In-Law I wanted that particular cookbook but she somehow know I’d love to own one plus we are connected with the Breast Cancer Awareness through family members so it means a lot to have one of this cookbooks in my possession.

Better Homes and Garden Pink Ribbon Plaid Cook Book (Image © Dexie J Wharton)

The cookbook features the 14th Edition of Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook. It has 64 pink pages showcasing 70 exclusive recipes from famous celebrity chefs like Paula Deen, Sandra Lee, Lidia Bastianich, and others along with infos on hoe to nurture the mind body and spirit. You’ll find delicious, mouthwatering, easy and simple 1,400 recipes all in one cook book.

Furthermore, in connection to this Better Homes and Garden Pink Ribbon New Cook Book, Meredith Books donated a substantial amount of money to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Copies of the Better Homes and Garden Pink Ribbon New Cook Book for online purchase are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Nobles, and Glyde. Or check your local bookstore nearby.

Post from: Blisstree

Better Homes & Gardens BCA Pink Cook Book

Image: istockphoto

Though no one can assure you that you won’t get breast cancer, there are several risk factors that affect your chance of developing the disease. While some of these risk factors are out of your control, others are lifestyle risks. Today, let’s look at some of the risk factors for breast cancer.

Risk Factors You Cannot Change

Gender
According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is about 100 times more common in women than in men. This is because women have more breast cells and because their cells are exposed to estrogen and progesterone.

Age
Though young women can get breast cancer, your risk increases as you get older. About two out of three invasive breast cancers are in women age 55 or older.

Genetic Mutations
Up to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be directly resulting from gene mutations inherited from a parent. The most common of those mutations are BRCA1 and BRCA2. Women with an inherited BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutation have up to an 80% chance of developing breast cancer. Genetic testing can be done to look for these and other genetic mutations. Consult your doctor for more information.

Family History
A woman who has a first-degrees relative (mother, sister or daughter) with breast cancer has about double the risk of getting the disease compared to a women with no first-degree relatives with breast cancer. Your own personal history of breast cancer comes into play as well. Once you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, you have three to four times the risk to get breast cancer in the other breast (or in a different location of the same breast).

Race
Caucasian women are slightly more likely to get breast cancer than are African-American women. However, African-American women are more likely to die of breast cancer because they oftentimes have more aggressive tumors. Studies have shown that Asian, Hispanic and Native-American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer.

Dense Breast Tissue and Certain Benign Breast Conditions
Women with denser breasts (more glandular tissue and less fatty tissue) have a higher risk of breast cancer. In addition, women with certain benign breast conditions may have an increase in risk. These benign conditions include non-proliferative lesions, along with proliferative lesions with and without atypia. You can learn more about these conditions at cancer.org.

More Menstrual Cycles
Women who start menstruating early (before age 12) or go through menopause late (after age 55) may have a slightly higher risk for breast cancer.

Also women who have received chest radiation therapy or diethylstilbestrol (DES) exposure may also have a higher risk.

Lifestyle Related Risk Factors

Not Having Children (or having children late in life)
Women who have not had a child until after age 30 (or not at all) have a slightly increased risk for breast cancer, in comparison to women who have given birth at a younger age.

Oral Contraceptive Use
Women using oral birth control pills have a slightly higher risk for breast cancer compared to women who have never used them. However, the risk seems to decrease when they stop using the pill.

Post-Menopausal Hormone Therapy
Hormone replacement therapy is often used to help relieve symptoms of menopause and prevent osteoporosis. Some studies have shown that long-term use of combined post-menopausal hormone therapy (progesterone and estrogen) may increase the risk of breast cancer. Extreme long-term use (more than 10 years) of estrogen therapy alone may also increase your risk.

Not Breastfeeding
Many doctors recommend continuing breastfeeding until your child is two years old because some research has shown that not breastfeeding increases your risk for breast cancer.

Alcohol Intake
Women who drink two to five drinks daily have about 1 1/2 times the risk of being diagnosed with breast cancer than those who drink no alcohol.

Obesity and Lack of Exercise
Having excess fat tissue (particularly after menopause) may increase your breast cancer risk because of the increase in estrogen. Daily exercise and a healthy diet are always your best bet. The American Cancer Society recommends 45 to 60 minutes of intentional physical activity five or more days a week. Some studies have shown that even walking a few hours a week reduces a woman’s risk significantly.

Other Factors

You have probably heard about a variety of other breast cancer risks, including high-fat diet, tobacco smoke and many more. Some of these factors are controversial. Talk to your doctor about these other possible risks.

Do a self breast exam monthly and be sure to go in for your annual check-up. Annual mammograms are recommended for all woman over age 40, and any women in a high risk situation.

Post from: Blisstree

Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

Interestingly, researchers in Italy discovered that a glass of wine every day could actually help minimize the skin toxicity of radiotherapy. They examined 348 women who were undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer and reviewed whether they drank wine during treatment and, if so, how much. This was then compared with the results of which women developed skin toxicity.

What the researchers found was that almost 14% of women who had one glass of wine per day experienced skin toxicity, compared with just over 38% of women who didn’t drink wine. The study findings were published in the August issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology Physics.

While these findings are early and need to be proven further, if holding off severe side effects is as simple as having a glass of wine every night, perhaps researchers will be able to develop a medication that could mimic the wine’s effects. The study didn’t mention if the researchers looked at what type of wine (red or white) and if this made a difference.

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Image: MorgueFile.com

Post from: Blisstree

Wine May Help in Breast Cancer Treatment

I was driving home from my friend Linda’s house (by the way, she is older than me) in this 90-degree heat with my air on 70 (because I don’t like to freeze, especially in summer), when I felt my seat warmer come on. What was so strange about it is that my seat only warms from the seat area, not the back, and that’s where I was feeling the heat. I checked the dial on the dashboard but the knob read 0. Strange. I reached around and felt the seat and it wasn’t hot to the touch. Then I realized the heat I feeling was radiating from the inside of my body, starting from my back and wrapping around my torso, causing me to shake and sweat – and I’m not talking a damp brow, but a sweat that drenched my scalp and clothes before I even pulled into my driveway.

I’ve been blogging about menopause and the risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for the law firm long enough to know that my symptoms were frightfully similar to that of a hot flash. But I can’t imagine that I’m old enough to be going through “the change.” A little symptom Googling and I surmised that it could likely have been a low blood sugar issue. My nurse practitioner friend Kathy said it was possible, but more likely I experienced a hot flash. I described a text book case. She said if my mother went through perimenopause at an early age, I likely could as well.

I can’t ask my mother because she’s dead. And thanks to my regular blogging with the law firm, I now am convinced her HRT killed her.

One most often hears of the connection between HRT and breast cancer. In 1991, the Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute launched the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a 15-year research program to address the most common causes of death, disability and poor quality of life in postmenopausal women – cardiovascular disease, cancer and osteoporosis. WHI consisted of a hormone trial and that is where researchers began to see an alarming trend –women on HRT were at an increased risk of serious health complications, most notably, breast cancer. The link between HRT and breast cancer has spurred numerous lawsuits against the makers of the one-time wildly popular Premarin and Prempro. People don’t hear so much about the uterine cancer risk because it’s a little different.

You can look up the connection between HRT and uterine cancer (also known as endometrial cancer) at the American Cancer Society or the National Institutes of Health and they’ll tell you the same thing – that the risk for endometrial cancer (this affects women who still have their uterus) is more than five times higher in women who take estrogen-only therapy (ERT) compared to estrogen plus progestin (HRT). Thus, women who no longer have a uterus are often prescribed ERT and women with a uterus are given HRT, which does not carry the same risk of endometrial cancer.

Years ago when my mother sat down with her general practitioner and requested help overcoming her symptoms of menopause, her GP gave her a choice – one pill would keep her menstruating, the other would not. She made the obvious choice. Perhaps the GP was unaware of the increased risk of uterine cancer with ERT. Maybe researchers were still combing the data. But the fact remains, my mother was diagnosed with uterine cancer. The next three years involved painful surgeries and procedures. The last six months were of excruciating pain.

My OB/GYN dismisses this connection. He says estrogen-receptor positive cancers are usually less aggressive and easier to treat. Sure, some studies show uterine cancer has an 84.4 percent survival rate. That hardly matters when you fall in the 15.6 range.

If it was a hot flash I experienced and I am embarking on my path down the shady road of perimenopause, I will not choose to take HRT. The risks are just not worth it to me. If the symptoms get worse – and I hear they often do – I will seek out holistic methods, acupuncture, yoga or whatever. And I will pray never to suffer like my mother had to.

Photo, Flikr, erix

Post from: Blisstree

If It Is ‘The Change,’ I’m Not Touching HRT

The program will open late in the summer and be free to patients. The center will help cancer patients with “physical, nutritional and psychosocial support” and also help others with chronic conditions.

Image: sxc.hu.

Post from: Blisstree

Jane Borg Cook Wellness Program

While teenage girls often will undergo an excisional biopsy when a lump is found, that may not be necessary, say the researchers. Breast cancer is rare in adolescents, and most lumps are benign masses related to hormones.

For the study, published in the American Journal of Roentgenology, radiologists performed ultrasound examinations on 20 girls who had lumps in their breasts. The girls were ages 13 to 19. The ultrasounds showed that 15 of the 21 lumps appeared benign.  Six of the lumps were suspicious.

After the ultrasound exams, biopsies or examinations revealed that all 21 lumps were benign. Loyola researchers believe that the study findings suggest that if a breast ultrasound finds nothing suspicious, the teen likely doesn’t need an excisional biopsy.

Of course, rare doesn’t mean impossible. Persistent lumps in a teen’s breast should always be examined by a doctor who can provide the medical advice necessary in each individual case.

Are you a teen who’s undergone excisional biopsy of the breast?

(Image via stock.xchng)

Post from: Blisstree

Breast Ultrasound for Teenage Girls