Everyone has thrown some real interesting comments on here . There are so many factors.Until now i didnt realise quite how many. Ithink we will all end up better people who value different things in life to what we used to.
I also think we will all end up making changes that are better for us , i will certainly try not to get too stressed as we have had the worst year ever before being diagnosed with this .(Even now as my father in law was flown back from his holiday yesterday as he had suffered an heart attack ,he now has a ten hour operation ahead of him tomorrow).
I am also going to eat healthier as i want to do that for myself and excercise more.Who knows if it will make any difference but i will do it to make me healthier anyway .
I just know that i will come out of this a better person as im sure we all will .I will appreciate family time more too instead of rushing around doing housework and will make time for us all to enjoy things together.
Thank you again for all your replies Lisha xx
Hi,
I remember that report about the fish in a north east river turning female, the oestrogen in our water is a bit of a worry as its not something that any of us can control or avoid ,also i expect half the population is taking one form or another of pill so god knows what residues from that we are all being exposed to on a daily basis.
There is a lot of interest at the moment in Heavy Metals and breast cancer, and quite a few studies are already taking place on this, a recent sudy showed that there are distinct patterns of heavy metals and trace elements in the hair of breast cancer patients in comparison to healthy controls.
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21660533
Interestingly there was a recent review of the studies conducted on BC and Metals which seem to indicate a possible/probable link too.
zerobreastcancer.org/research/metals_bc.pdf
Re, why are breast cancer rates increasing,i think Lulu is proberly right in that earlier detection/screenings ect are now picking up a lot more cancers , and to add to this we are all also liveing so much longer so this will certainly also have a big influence on the increased BC rates also.
scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2011/02/04/why-are-breast-cancer-rates-increasing/
Its a minefield , and personaly i dont think we will ever find the cause of breast cancer as there are just too many varables/types, and breast cancer isnt just one desease.
The first ever recorded case of BC was recorded as far back as 3000 B.C ,so not a new desease by any means but obviously before the existance of the/Pill/HRT/Hormones in cattle/fast foods/binge drinking/enviromental chemicals ect.
Im not so sure we will ever find a cure for breast cancer , but i do think in years to come BC will most likely become a chronic desease and be manageable with treatments like diabetics and many other chronic deseases are.
All we can do is keep as fit and healthy as we can .
Linda
I couldn’t agree more - there are probably things we can all do to make ourselves healthier and fitter, but there are also major things that are outside of our control (like being female) and the best thing we can do is not stress about it LOL
Lisha, I hope things go well for you - you don’t deserve this and haven’t done anything to bring it on yourself any more than any of us have. We got a rough deal and we have to make sense of it and deal with it in our own way.
take care xxx mon
this topic jumped out at me-i’ve secretly been blaming myself-i’ve found the responses very interesting-but what i am left with is the fact that i’ve got bc-i’m being treated for it-i can alter my lifestyle (my exercise regime has declined as my wine consumption has increased)so that i can support my body in the best possible way-so thanx very much for all the ideas-not sure where the recipe thread is-but i do know all there is to know about healthy eating as i work for weightwatchers lol-when i was diagnosed i looked at the bcc website to see what advice i could take-it was what i knew anyway doh-time to get back to following my own advice-healthy delicios food-exercise and alcohol in moderation-good luck everyone to feeling well-stella x
I have not read through the 4 pages of this thread, so forgive me if I repeat something someone else has said.
there are lots and lots of things that different studies have shown that might increase the risk of breast and other cancers, but if they had found a resounding cause then it would be shouted from the rooftops and the goverment would be pushing it down our throats just as much as they are promoting the 5 a day idea.
It seems to be that the only thing that we all have in common is that we have breasts (need to include they guys here) and the second thing we have in common is that we have breasts.
Before I was diagnosed I was interested in general health, I want to be as fit and active as long as possible and I have made some changes over the years. But I will only do something that fits well into my lifestyl. What is the point of living longer if it is not a daily enjoyment.
So to answer the original post, cancer is such a complicated thing. No one knows exactly why those cells get damaged when they divide, why the then mutate to cancer, why our immune system dont recognise them and kill them etc etc etc. I have done some reading on how it all works and it is such a long complicated process between a normal cell dividing and a malignant cancer forming and the scientists know so little about it still.
So I would say, it is not your fault. If someone said when you were 15, dont do this because we know, 100% that it will give you cancer then you would have not done it, but nobody knows that, so nobody told you. There are thousands of stories about this causes this disease, this is bad for you --and every year they change.(whipee, salt is now good for you, i love the stuff) and whilst the research is ineresting and I am very interested in every link posted, it is still only an indication. And nobody realy knows
Hi ethlydsyl,I’ve put a link below to the recipe thread 
breastcancercare.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=27669&hilit=+recipes&p=560838#p560838
Melxx
Interesting thread.
I too thought about blaming myself for my breast cancer. But for me it was my mobile phone. I had got into a habit at work of putting my mobile phone on vibrate and tucking it into my bra (left side) so that my family could contact me during a rather difficult period 2 years ago. (Work didn’t approve of mobile phones in the office) 2 years on and I have breast cancer in the left breast. I can remember all the controversy regarding mobile phones and mobile phone masts and the increase in cancers reported within the areas where the masts were placed. Every day we must be bombarded with invisible electronic stuff which may or may not cause or contribute to disease.
Macmillan recently issued a statement that cancer is increasing, and now instead of 1 in 3 people it will soon be 1 in 2 people who experience personally a form of cancer - now that is frightening stuff! Is it because we are living longer or because we now have more sophisticated screening methods in place?
Personally speaking I try not to worry to much about the future as I am too busy enjoying the NOW.
I took my BC diagnosis as a wake up call. Although I had a reasonably healthy diet, and exercised regulalry I was overweight and probably drank too much wine.
So while I strongly believe that none of us are too blame for our BC, we can take responsibility for looking after bodies to the best we can. After all, a BC diagnosis doesn’t make us immune to other health problems that often occur as we age such as diabetes, heart problems etc.
But we are only human too and we need to give ourselves a break from the blame game.
Linda - that research on heavy metals is very interesting and worrying. I remember reading somewhere that those of us born in the 60s and 70s probably had the highest exposure to toxic chemicals, metals, pesticides, etc of all recent generations (barring those in the trench warfare of course).
It may well be that, for some us, the damage was done in utero or in childhood - we simply don’t know.
So my view is look after ourselves as best we can but enjoy life too. Elinda x
OMG, not only is my cancer where i rest my tea in the morning it is where I used to pop my mobile phone in my bra whilst drumming or rushing about.
I know might say that in which case why is not everyone getting brain cancer, but breast tissue is very sensative.
not that i realy believe this, but it is a thought
thanx stressy messy-stella x
my hubby asked my surgeon what causes bc and the surgeon said “we don’t know”.
my gran and my mum both died of bc, they never had chemo. i have got/had bc and had chemo so i hope that it’s worked.
my worry is my daughter, i was tested for braca and it came back clear. i was told that doesn’t mean that my bc is not genetic/hereditory. my daughter (17) has had terrible period probs since she started (12) the doctor has put her on the pill. my bcn asked the surgeon for me if it would be safe for her to be on it and he said that there is no evidence that the pill is linked to bc.
i just hope that my daughter has not got my bc gene if it is genetic.
she looks more like her dad but my son is like me so how do you tell a young man to check himself for breast lumps?
I cannot remember when boys testicles get to a good size, and I dont know when men should start checking themselves for testicaular cancer, probably not as teenagers. But there can be no harm discussing family history and prevention and telling him to check his testical and "pecs’( I think mens breast are called pectoral muscles) it does not need to be a routine check, and most lumps are found in the shower anyway.
he just needs to be aware that any change in his pecs should be looked into straight away.
I am not suggesting that he will get testicular cancer, i was just thinking checking both areas made it a more masucline thing to do
Hi Vodka,
If you would like to give the helpline a ring I’m sure they’ll be able to give you some pointers in how to go about discussing this with your son.
Take care,
Jo, Facilitator
Hi, im new to this!! I know how you feel i keep saying is it me? i have been fighting since 2008, had 3 bouts so far and awaiting results on thursday from a biopys.
im not the best at keeping fit and eating the right things and somethimes when im down it gets worse.
i think you have to do what is right for you! and you here this is good for you, don’t eat this, maybe if a easy 7 day diet plan for a healthly eathing, was out there that we could all do, might help.
twinkletoes I agree. There are people on here that have never smoked or drank, not genetically involved, dont do dairy, excercise and are not over weight and still have cancer.
if there was one answer fits all they would have found it by now.
Mind you there is nothing wrong with this being a bit of a wake up call. Either to look at your diet and decide to improve it, or to look at your life and decide to just carry on enjoying it (or perhaps a bit of both) Personally i cannot see anything that i am going to do differently. Except perhaps be more tactfull in how I react to people telling me that they or their family have cancer