BREAST CANCER EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS
We've added these breast cancer videos by popular demand. Take a look. Let us know what you think of them:
Here's an article that Gordon recently wrote for another website. We've reproduced it here because it's a common question that breast cancer sufferers ask about. Do you have hot flushes or hot flashes? Well, if you do, there may be some hope of relief. Read on .....
Hot Flushes in Breast Cancer Patients
By Gordon Cameron
Hot flushes or hot flashes in breast cancer patients are a common problem.
Many breast cancers are sensitive to circulating estrogen levels and for many women, suppressing the production or the effects of estrogen on the body is a major strategy in their treatment. A lack of estrogen will produce symptoms identical to the menopause and the most unpleasant of these are hot flushes, sweats or hot flashes.
A new research project has looked at the effect of a drug called Megace or megesterol acetate in treating hot flushes in women with breast cancer.
They studied nearly three hundred patients with breast cancer who had completed surgery and chemotherapy and at least four months of tamoxifen treatment for their condition.
Before they took part in the study the women had to have experienced at least ten hot flashes of any severity or at least five severe episodes each week.When the research data was looked at, eighty five percent of the women who took part were on tamoxifen, and forty percent had more than sixty hot flushes per week. Three quarters of them had experienced sweats and flashes for more than six months before they started in the study.
The women were divided into three groups. One group were given a placebo tablet, one group got 20mg of Megace and the other received 40mg of Megace each day. They all took their medicine for three months. A good outcome was defined as completion of treatment with a seventy five percent or greater reduction in hot flushes from that womens starting point.
If the treatment they were on worked well the women were given another three months of the same medication and dose. If they did not get benefit after three months then they were given 20mg a day of Megace on top of what they were already taking.
Reduction of flushings of seventy fiver percent or more was reported in
• only 14% of those women who were on placebo medication
• 65% of those women who were on the 20 mg dose
• 48% of the women who were on the 40 mg dose of drug
In addition, most successes at three months were maintained at six months in seventy seven percent of the women on 20 mg and in eighty one percent of the women on 40 mg per day - but there was no significant impact on other menopausal symptoms like vaginal dryness or joint pains.
For the women taking Megace the main side effects were fluid retention and weight gain, fatigue and sometimes mild depression.
The researchers concluded that Megace was very successful in alleviating sweats and flushes in breast cancer survivors with lasting results at 6 months. They recommended the twenty milligram dose for most women and said that this treatment should be considered for all women with menopause flushing symptoms after breast cancer treatment.
Gordon Cameron is a physician in Edinburgh Scotland. He has a special interest in the symptoms of breast cancer.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gordon_Cameron
http://EzineArticles.com/?Hot-Flushes-in-Breast-Cancer-Patients&id=1294228
Labels: breast-cancer, breast-cancer-symptoms, cancer-support, hot-flushes
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Symptoms of breast cancer
The Symptoms of Breast CancerI often get emails or have comments posted on this breast cancer blog site asking about the symptoms of breast cancer.
Here's a brief summary but please remember - if you have any doubts at all then please go see your doctor for a check as soon as possible.
In most women, breast cancer is first noticed as a painless lump in the breast.
Other
symptoms of breast cancer may include:
changes in the size or shape of a breast
dimpling of the skin of the breast
a thickening in the breast tissue
a nipple becoming inverted (turned in)
a lump or thickening behind the nipple
a rash (like eczema) affecting the nipple
a bloodstained discharge from the nipple (this is very rare)
a swelling or lump in the armpit.
Please remember that a pain in the breast is rarely a symptom of breast cancer. In fact, many healthy women find that their breasts feel lumpy and tender before a period.
But some types of benign breast lumps can be painful - so I'm going to say it again and this time in big writing:
IF YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS ABOUT POSSIBLE BREAST CANCER THEN PLEASE GO SEE A DOCTOR AS SOON AS POSSIBLE
Got the message yet :-)
Labels: a-lump-in-the-breast, breast-cancer, breast-cancer-symptoms, symptoms-of-breast-cancer
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Breast Cancer T-Shirts
I love life
Sure - its been very difficult at times over the last couple of years but I haven't lost sight of what's really important. Family, fun, laughter and the ability to find enjoyment in even the darkest of days.
So .... to celebrate that .... and to move on beyond the ubiquitous pink ribbons which are now found virtually everywhere - I asked my son Nic to design a new T shirt logo. You can see it to the top left of this page. I love it and wear it regularly.
Anyway - I've had so many people approach me and ask where they can get one too that Nic has teamed up with Cafepress.com to offer them for sale worldwide.
Here's the deal - each T shirt is available in a range of styles and colors. We'll arrange to donate five dollars to breast cancer charity for every one sold. The quality of the garments is great and Cafepress offer a great back up service should you have any problems.
Follow
this link to see bigger pictures and to explore the range of options that Nic has created.
Move beyond pink ribbons and show the world that you love life too !
Labels: breast-cancer, breast-cancer-t-shirt, cancer-sites, cancer-support
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Breast Cancer and Hip Size
Yikes - can it really be true that hip size is a predictor for the
risk of getting breast cancer? A new study suggests that it might be.
Scientists from the UK's Southhampton University have shown that women whose mothers have wide and round hips could be seven times more likely to develop breast cancer
It seems that a women's hip size is a marker of her oestrogen production.
Wide, round hips represent markers of high sex hormone concentrations and if your mother has wide hips then you - the daughter - could be at increased
risk of breast cancer.
The study looked at the health of over 6,000 Finnish women born from 1934 to 1944 and comparing it with information on their mothers' hip size. The measurement used was the intercristal diameter -- the distance from hip bone to hip bone.
According to the findings, a woman's
risk of breast cancer went up by 60 per cent if her mother's hips were more than 30 cm across. The risk increased with hip size and with the length of time the baby was in the womb.
I'm not sure how this fits into the big picture of breast cancer awareness but it's certainly food for thought.
Labels: breast-cancer, breast-cancer-risk, living-with-cancer
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Weight Loss and Cancer Risk
Can Losing Weight Reduce Cancer RiskNew research hinting that losing weight cuts the risk of breast cancer is the latest development in the cancer - healthy lifestyle debate.
At a conference in Birmingham UK earlier this month the National Cancer Research Institute heard that middle-aged women who lose weight and exercise twice weekly are 40 per cent less likely to develop breast cancer.
It seems that weight loss was the key factor, followed by a low-fat diet with plenty of oily fish.
Scientists believe weight gain prompts inflammation in fat stores, in turn stimulating breast cells to become cancerous.
Evidence of another link between diet and disease is more ammunition to the growing body of opinion that says the way we conduct our lives has an overwhelming bearing on our future health.
Now all of this is good and well but of course many people who have an exemplary health diet will still develop cancer. The food issue is only a part of the jigsaw in my view - not nearly the whole story but still, I guess that it all helps.
What do you think?
Labels: breast-cancer, cancer-diet, living-with-cancer, weight-loss-cancer-link
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New Herceptin Information from the HERA studyHerceptin is going to form a big part of Marjory's treatment program. New
research data from a huge international trial of
Herceptin in early breast cancer has been released in the last few days. This shows that women treated with Herceptin had their risk of cancer recurrence reduced by about 35% and their risk of death reduced by about the same amount.
Please read my other recent posts about
herceptin treatment and about
new breast cancer drugs when you're taking this information into account. Remember that herceptin only works in women whose breast cancer is susceptible to it - so called HER2 positive breast cancer. About twenty five percent of women with breast cancer have a tumour that will respond to
herceptin treatment.
The HERA trial is one of the largest breast cancer research studies ever done. It looked at more than 5000 women with HER2 positive breast cancer around the world.
The HERA study will report results again in the coming months about whether taking Herceptin for two years is any better than taking it for one year. The study is still going on so that information is not available yet.
Concern about herceptin causing damage to the heart has also been eased by the HERA study results. Only 0.6% of women who took herceptin showed any significant signs of heart problems.
These results provide yet more good news for those women whose breast cancer can respond to herceptin. New guidelines for treatment with herceptin in the UK are expected soon.
Gordon
This site now has several herceptin treatment articles - you should check them out for more information relating to herceptin's place in breast cancer treatment
Labels: breast-cancer, breast-cancer-risk, herceptin, living-with-cancer
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