I absolutely agree that we should not be thinking ‘i should have, could have…’
Someone mentioned earlier that they were not looking to ‘blame’ something. But isn’t it interesting that we all seem to feel like this, there is no bitterness coming through from everyone(and let’s face it, we could be forgiven if we were). I think this is a great thread, very interesting and informative, and as someone with a sister and 2 daughters, the more we know about this the better, even if it just ‘informal’ at this stage,
Tracey
Ps switched to a zinc free deo, rather than anti-persperant last year. Also, have never wrapped my cheese in cling film!
This is a really, really interesting thread. I find it strange that other people have the same risk factors etc but still don’t develop BC.
Having said that I firmly believe that mine was due to stress (I’m sure that other factors combined with that). I was dx at 56 and must have been very low as far as risk factors go. Had my kids in my early twenties, only on the pill for a couple of years, menopause finished by 46, no HRT, good diet, exercise, no family history etc etc. Did have pills to dry up the milk though.
I had an extremely stressful job, but thrived on that. Then two years before my dx my dad was given a terminal prognosis and he wasn’t told. It was so hard to watch him fighting hard to survive.I completely went to pieces - panic attacks, overdid the drinking etc. His treatment by GP, hospital compounded the stress. It was simply dreadful. Six months after his death I was dx.
I know it’s too simplistic to blame the stress of the situation and also know that logically my 3cm lump took longer than a few months to grow, but I can’t think of any other reason.
I also know that it does no good trying to find a reason (or something to blame). It is what it is.
Now, I’ve taken early retirement from the stressful job and just enjoy grandchildren and holidays (in that order!)
Mal
Gosh Me too, I absolutely agree about not looking for any blame in what we did or didnt do, i realy hope no one sees this thread like that cos i realy hate all that sort of stuff myself, ,its just about tossing ideas around and about everyones thoughts and personal expierences , gathering bits of info together , its good to learn from each other.
Thanks again everyone who has posted, it is realy intersting to have a broader view.
I gave up deorderant after dx ,i know there isnt any proof that its a factor in BC ,but once id read Dr Philippa Darbres study about the parabens found on breast tumours ,it bothered me a bit so i gave it up lol, know there isnt any proof about parabens either but just made me realise how all these things can get into the body. Luckily for me i dont seem sweat to much ,only when im having breast exams (why is that) poor doctors ,always keep the wet wipes handy lol.
Im realy enjoying this thread too , glad that others are finding it usefull and interesting too.
Linda xx
Hi Lindiloo
Just want to add, I def dont think this thread is about blame either. Its a great source of info.But as Tracy said, its great to see no hint of bitterness at ‘our lot’, so maybe the common denominator is that we’re all such nice accepting people LOL !!!
Anyway, as I saw on another thread re:genetic BRAC1 status where a ‘bonus’ was the poster felt she had discovered the risk for her own daughter, Im glad in lots of ways to have flagged up the risk to my four sisters to be vigilant in their checking of the boobies!!
Love
cathie
Thinking about the stress factor issue , i thought this recent finding from the Wellcome Trust sanger Institute was interesting, it talks about while most cancers can take 10ys or more sometimes to develope from a single cell, some cancers seem to grow very quickly which might explain why people are sometimes DX shortly after a clear Mammo, wonder what others thoughts on this ? they refer to it as chromosomes that basically explode.
sanger.ac.uk/about/press/2011/110106.html
x
Hi Cathie,
Definately all very nice lovely people just like yourself lol,its great that we can all talk about this stuff without any bitterness too, thanks for joining in ,debates like this can alert us sometimes to some things that we can pass on to our own daughters .
Linda x
Dx last year at 65 after routine mammo, 6mm IDC ER+, no familly history, 2 kids in my twenties breast fed a little while, pill for 3 years, HRT 3 years. Hysterectomy in my 30’s and one ovary removed (without being asked) so I suspect oestrogen dominance.
Also found I was very caffeine sensitive so for 25 years I’ve not had tea or anything with much in the way of catechins in it. Always had loads of fruit and veg, brown rice and made own wholemeal bread since was 21.
As a big girl down under I swam in milk, butter and icecream. In my 30’s I stuck to a Pritikin diet (no added sugar, very low fat) for 10 years and stayed at a proper weight.
Lot of stress since 2000 when my mum died far away, horrible contracting work and commuting 200 miles at weekends and then walking out of a permanent job it was so bad.
When I was diagnosed I thought I’d got over all that, I’d dieted off a stone and was only mildly overweight, but the year previous had been very stressful at work and I’d had to work more than my normal part time hours.
My jury is still out as to a possible cause.
I have a few cancers in my family.Mum breast cancer,great aunt breast cancer in the 1930’s had mastectomy and lived till a ripe old age. aunt also breast cancer.uncle had leukemia aunt had stomach cancer,all on my dads side of the family apart from my mum ofcourse.My mum had 2 sisters niether had breast cancer but my mums uncle and cousin had prostate cancer.is it all coincidence or conected I wonder.
Melxx
You would certainly think it was all connected wouldnt you mel, i am the opposite though ,no one in my family neither mothers side or fathers side has had any sort of cancer , just me so god knows how that happened! all my family members either died of old age or heart attacks or in my dads case a stroke.My mum is still with me thank goodness, My sister who has been worried sick since my DX got called up for her national mammo screening a few mths back and was fine,all clear thank god,poor sis she burst into tears when she got the letter bless her.
x
Hi Lindiloo,
I was diagnosed in Aug 2010 and consultant kept asking if i had banged my breast at some time as this can wake up the cancer?? strangley enough though i did have cancer in my mouth when I was 3yrs old and this was caused by me falling and knocking out my tooth had to attend hospital until I was 13yrs old? so I have been wondering if that is how mine has started but not sure if I have ever banged my boob hard enough to wake it up?? I have no family history of BC did stop smoking 5 yrs ago and really dont drink job not to stressful, so really not sure but love this thread does make you sit up and think.
Take care all
Vicky x x
Hi,
After reading Vicky’s post about injuring the breast, I remembered a couple of things; For many years Id had an odd little hole on my BC breast which leaked white pus sometimes (sorry if that too much info !) and Id also had several years of horrible boils on the same breast and the surgeon mentioned them to me at the DX. I asked if this was significant but she said no-but I do wonder…
Cathie
Cathie and vickies post made me remember something I had forgotton.
I have constantly ‘knocked’ the breast that had the cancer in, on a unusal top we have on our newel post at the bottom of our stairs as I walked down the stairs and into the hall. I know that I have knocked my breast regualarly since we moved in over 20 years ago. It did cross my mind when I was diagnosed that the tumour was in exactly the same place that I used to knock my breast but I didn’t think anything of it. I just wander now whether that did have something to do with it after all, or whether is it just a coincidence.
Hi Lindiloo and everyone
Brilliant thread - sort of makes you aware of what your thoughts have been and how similar possibly to others. I was DX March 2009 with IBC aged 50. This was after left boob started swelling and getting lumpy and tender middle of Jan. The previous October I had come of the pill after many years as I developed phelibitis in my left leg! (I was told to stay on the pill till then as I had no side effects, I kept asking if it was ok.) I also had been DX with ME around 5 yrs before - stressful job in school contributed - and was off work for 3 months left there 4 years ago and went to work with OH. I also started periods aged 11 which apparently is a risk factor. Smoked at times and drank quite a bit of alchohol at times too! Always tried - amongst all this to eat sensibly and exercise - actually hit my all time heaviest while having chemo! I’m still on herceptin at the mo as sinister mark on liver at first scan, nothing there since and my onc. admits they really don’t know what it was but as it disappeared after chemo he’s keeping me on it for time being as a safety blanket - Advantage is I’m sure it boosts my inmune system - no cold etc. for ages! and I’m full of energy and no sign of ME!
I also only have one child born when I was 29.
Sorry seemed to have gone of subject a bit!!
Hi Ladies,
Its interesting this one isnt it, a lady who i care for (shes 85) was dx with breast cancer 25rs ago,had a MX at the time but no other treatments, is convinced that what caused her BC was a bang to her chest after she fell on the bedpost , wonder if anymore ladies have had hard knocks to the chest?
xx
PS - Tamoxifen brain or something kicking in. The son of friends who works in genetic research told me that any autopsy of an 80yr old would show 200 tumours. I have a feeling that out of control, ageing cells are part of the equation but that offers no comfort to younger friends who are DX - sorry.
Hiya Fudge,
When you moving to Falmouth lol, great to hear about no ME and the mark on your liver disappearing since being on Herceptin, that is good news ,and no colds too! if you have any spare energy can you throw some my way please lol.
Realy good to hear your expierences in all this too.
glad you are keeping well.
Linda x
…Tamoxifen brain twice over - thought I’d sent message re my history but it’s not up - sorry.
Briefly - Diagnosed last Sep, following stadard MOT m’gram aged 65 - E+++. Father died at age 68 of colon cancer, mother 86 - never been in hpl but autopsy showed ischaemic heart disease and tumour in gall bladder. All 4 children (incl male) of my mother’s elder sister have had breast cancer but cousin has done research and thinks it’s Sephardi gene from her father’s side. I had ovarian cysts in early 20’s - ended up with only part of one. 2 children, breastfed. Few yrs on pill and later HRT for menopause - didn;t like this, so stopped. So, we could have a hormonal factor here.
Stress - moved back to London in 2005 - loadsa stress(relationship not cancer) retired about 3yrs ago from v stressful job - never regretted it and so stress levels reduced. Did think last yr I was v tired and think that may have been a sympton.
Environment - one of the nurses I saw was full of info re this: drinking water in London has been thru’ 7 people, plastic bottels produce oestragen.
Lindiloo - are you trying to correlate all this? Barbara
I too swear it is stress that can store up trouble! We were rolling towards retirement in that comfortable place of the kids married with partners happy, loving where we live and enjoying the grandchildren, when we went for a long weekend on (yep!) Friday 13th last where we had a car accident , Hit by 3 cars in the rear whilst waiting to make a right turn, handbrake on and indicating! I found out later I had caused some damage to neck and shoulder in fact lost 40% strength in left arm! in Dec my mother died and we had family rows about funeral (long messy story) but we got there then in Feb I got new job so spent the next 6 months showing them how good I am working my socks off so all in all a very stressful year! I still think stress plays a big role in this illness! Have spoken to nurses, other patients and it is the one thing we all agree on! We may be programed in some way but stress is the trigger!!!
I thought I would add here that being a teacher of disaffected youth (16yrs) and going through a lot of stress that I didnt realise I had my onc told me that there is a high percentage of teachers with BC because of the stress of the job. So think twice about going back there!
I no longer teach but work 4 days a week in retail - tedious but can cope with tamoxifen brain lol. Money is awful
but I am happier and with 3 days off a week I have never been so free. I always worked 7 days a week and prepared lessons etc., even on a #sunday!
I do believe that stress can be lived with so much so that we do not notice that we have already gone past the danger zone - how many of us put up with a pain somewhere and three months down the line say "I must see the doctor about this)
Stress lingers on and we feel we are over it but it can still affect us later on.
Divert your stressed thoughts, dont think about it just relax. We can have the life we want if we smile, think happy thoughts and relax. Why not!!!
Hi Barbara,
Am hopeing we may see some trends by sharing our expierences,find a pattern as it were into possible cancer contributeing events that may have led up to our cancer DX, seeing if we can fit any pieces in this complicated puzzle,DNA damage is of course key , but what causes the damage?i think that Xenoestrogen proberly play a huge role , but stress seems to be a common factor for quite a few of us too, family history is quite high also so far, so a faulty gene possibily hereditary,though not for all of us , glad that you mentioned “water” though, as of course all the drugs we all take and many enviroment chemicals are filtered back through our water system ,cleaned ect but there was a story a few years back that some rivers up in the north east where all the fish had started turning female, so another example of the leaching of oestrogens into our enviroment giving us all this oestrogen overload.
But of course not all breast cancers are oestrogen dependent either.
sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101026111613.htm
independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/male-fish-are-being-feminised-by-river-pollution-1446764.html
Thanks for shareing your expierence
Linda x