At my follow up appointment, I again asked my oncologist about causes. He said he is always asked about dairy and alcohol and said that there was not really strong evidence for either of them as causes. We discussed stress. Like Vertangie said, stress alone is not significant but stress does lower the immune system when prolonged and that if in a vulnerable person, could alter their tumour suppressing genes etc etc. My son had cancer as a baby and we had loads of tests etc. They know there is a genetic fault on one of the chromosomes and think that when he had measles, this may have triggered off the cancer. Who knows - my other son has also the genetic fault but no cancer, I am being tested to see if I have the faulty gene, but I didnt get his type of cancer, but got breast cancer which is believed to be interlinked. People have asked if I smoked, drank alcohol, etc etc when pregnant. No. I was very careful and wasnt that old. Just bloody unlucky.
Very interesting.
I think stress, but then we are all different and if its going to happen, it happens. I smoked, not a lot, and quite many years before dx. I was 43. Drank more than I should for about 4 years whilst going through horrid divorce, megga stress. when I was 40 I had a “simple” operation to remove an ovarian cyst and it wen horrible wrong. 8 weeks in intensive care, colostomy bag for 5 months then another op to reverse that - MEGGA stress.
My parents divorced when I was young, both remarried, I don’t speak to my mother, my father and my step mother have only just started speaking to me after 10 years of “being sent to coventry”. so more stress and all that. I had a very stressful job in London. But I’m not saying that is what caused my BC, it’s just I drew that lottery number and it wasn’t a good one. So, I live for today, enjoy life, run marathons, keep fit, eat all good things. But who knows. Whey my number is called, that’s it. Not much we can do about it - is there?
I got BC when my daughter was 10 months old. Had pre-eclampsia and induced. 2 stone overweight and not much exercise. Other than that I am a non-smoker, non-drinker and chlled to the core.
My Oncologist said it was linked to hormones during pregnancy but I am er- pr-. Her-2 +.
I think its all the crap that is put in food and packaging eg salad bags - what keeps them fresh for so long!
At the end of the day its just bad luck and nothing can change it!
Until medical science discovers why some women get breast cancer and what causes it I am going to live my life as I want and take no notice of the ever changing and often contradictory theories.
I think we have as much chance of coming up with answers to this question as we do of understanding why, e.g., certain members of our households may get the same cold and others don’t.
Jenny
which points to our immune system…
I was saying to a friend only recently that one day, a cause will be found, of that I am sure. I feel that stress played a big factor in my illness along with being overweight as I had been so slim and fit when younger. But recently I have wondered about our diet/environment and agree with millielucas that so much c**p is put into our food. And why does wine not have to have it’s contents put on the bottle?! It may be wine, OMG!
Irene
I was originally diagnosed in 1990 - had loads of high risk factors - 8yrs on high dose contraceptive pill ( oncologist asked which pills I’d been on and then nodded significantly to his team ), history of infertility, started periods at 12, first and only pregnancy aged 33 but no family history, never smoked and very little alcohol in those days.
Back in 1990, I had lumpectomy and an overdose of radiotherapy but there was no testing or removal of lymph nodes, no attempt to stop my periods which continued until my secondaries diagnosis in 2002, no mammograms until 10 years after diagnosis and no tamoxifen. Amazingly I remained in remission until 2002 when a new primary and secondaries were diagnosed. In the few years before my secondaries diagnosis, I had a huge amount of stress, both my parents died - my mother after 10 horrid years of increasing dementia, my husband becoming ill and having to medically retire, problems with my job and a subsequent job change and then my daughter going through the usual teenage problems.
I ate and continue to eat dairy but have definitely increased my wine consumption since my secondaries diagnosis but even then it is only a couple or three glasses of wine per night.
Back in 1990, no one suggested to me that my life style was to blame in any way for my diagnosis and I actually I don’t think it was otherwise I wouldn’t have had 12 years of remission. But I hope that the scientists do find a solution to this s*****y disease soon.
Wendy x
Like Valkyrie I wonder if there is a link between acne, excess body hair etc. I too suffered very badly with acne from about nine until early 30s and also excess body hair from aged 16. Wonder if I had undiagnosed PCOS. I am now 56 and have bc. I have never been pregnant and wasnt particularly careful! Neither have I ever taken pill or HRT. But i did become overweight from mid 40s. No doubt someone somewhere is looking into all this. I hope. I am also HER2.
i have said before that i think stress has a lot to do with cancer ,as immune system gets low ,but i really dont think we will ever know the true reason why some get it and others dont ,my own mother dies of stomach cancer in the early 50s and i was diognosed with lobular (tottaly unrelated )in 2006 ,out of 6 sisters im the only one with breast cancer .albeit ive had a very stressful life ,separated from family as a baby ,marrried a violent man ,had 3 kids very quickly breastfed them all. divored then married a bigamist .another divorce. met a love;ly man (HA HA) left pregnant at 39 .met amarried last hubby .found out he was an alchoholic divored him .lostt my home and had to find accomodation for my self and young daughter .moved into this house (very near an electricty pylon ) then diognosed with lobular in 2006 .stress yes i think so in my case .but we are all differant so who will ever know . im just busy getting on with living .but its a very emotive subject and we should never feel guilty about getting ill ,despite what the media say half the time they make things up anyway . lynn x
Would love to be able to piece together the reasons so that it would all make sense. All I can say about Lisa is that she was always young, slim, fit, ate healthily, didn’t smoke, only drank socially once in a blue moon, no particular stress, no breast cancer in family as most women lived into 90s, the only thing she did that wasn’t considered healthy was to be on the pill for 15 years while they saved and got everything in place before trying to start a family this next year. One sign she had of hormone problems was a year before she was dx with breast cancer was that she got a few dark patches on her face especially over her top lip and I said at the time that i thought she should come off the pill as I thought it was a sign of too much estrogen. She was going to come off it when she was dx. And as a lot of you know Lisa had a very aggressive cancer that they thought they had stopped or slowed down until the brain tumours. Hope they do find the answer.
Sue x
Starfish - interestingly my daughter has been diagnosed with PCOS (though I never was). I was worried for her about a bc/ovarian cancer link but my Onc says there’s no link between PCOS and bc. As you say, I hope there is someone looking into the hormonal issue.
Fascinating stories and how different,no really significant common factors.I had my kids at 26 and 30,couldnt breast feed,had regular breast cysts for 30 years pre dx but wasnt on the pill for more thaan a year,never smoked,hardly drink at all [occasional wine with meal].Was slim and fit up to age 45 then rapidly put weight on cos OH does all cooking and I have no will power!I am trip neg and worried because the peripheral neuropathy caused by chemo makes it almost impossible to exercise[cant swim well]although I have modified diet I am still very overweight.Still I am 64 and am also hoping for the best while fearing the worst.Love Vx
Hi everyone,
Very interesting thread.
I would like to see the research being done into the difference in breast cancer rate between different countries. I am wondering if it’s because we have certain things LACKING in our diet and lifestyle as much as the things which are present. For example, certain foods such as turmeric,garlic,shitaki mushrooms,have known anti-cancer properties. Maybe our choice of foodstuffs in the western world is missing some of these important ingredients. Any thoughts?
I know I want to do whatever I can to improve my chances of not developing secondaries, I can’t just sit back completely but want to be as proactive about it as possible…but at the same time don’t want to become obsessive about it, because a happy dispositon is probably a helpful thing to have…keeps the immune system working well ! I will feel happier knowing I am doing what I can to keep my body healthier than it has been.
I, too, have had a period of stress before my diagnosis, due to stressful job followed by husband’s serious illness. I felt unwell during that time, and felt something was wrong with me. Immediately after my mastectomy I felt better! ( not being at work may have been part of that!! ).
I also began menstruating early,at 11, had heavy periods,had my two children late when I was 29 then 31, breastfed both for a good length of time,and have started having menopausal symptoms just before dx. I only drank alcohol for a few years before I married. (maybe it affects our hormones more at that crucial time?)
. I had put on two stone in weight before dx,too. Interesting!
Best wishes to you all,
Ann xx
I used to think mine might not have been helped by the whole stress thing, as was unhappy in marriage and constantly uptight and stressed for a long time before diagnosis. But then again we live in highly technological societies now and you have to wonder if this could be the reason the likes of countries like ours have such high rates.
There was a discussion a bit like this a few months ago, and someone mentioned that you didn’t hear of so much breast cancer with our Mother’s and Grandmother’s generations, but then again as someone pointed out, people didn’t discuss and were so open with their illness as they are now. You just heard of people dying of cancer, but it wasn’t always discussed or gone into any further.
I was on the pill from the ages of 17 to 30, didn’t breast feed, tried with both, but didn’t really succeed. Started periods at age 11. I’ve always liked a drink, but then have gone for weeks without bothering, certainly not a heavy drinker.
All I know is everywhere you turn someone knows someone that has just been diagnosed with BC. Three years ago when I was diagnosed, there was three of us all diagnosed at the same time working in the same hospital corridor. All within about 3 months of each other. That’s a worrying thought. Having said that I had only been there for a few weeks when I found my first lump, so don’t think anything in the environment caused it, but who knows. 50 years ago you would never have heard of 3 women all working together within a few yards, developing cancer like this. You would have thought Oh my god!!! But now it has become so common place we just take it for granted. It is without doubt an epidemic. I don’t care what anyone says.
I don’t think we will ever know for definite. Maybe in 50 years time, someone will come up with an explanation, but for the time being there will be scores of women reporting to breast clinics all over the country and being given the devastating news for the unforeseeable future!!!
My GP told me that in the last 5 years the number of bc patients under the age of 50 has increased by 70% in our area.I find that very worrying indeed mind you she didnt give actual figures just that statistic.
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I’m 62 and have just been diagnosed and had a mastectomy. Although I do drink, but not a lot and I’m overweight, in my case i think stress has caused mine. I had a terrible few years a while back, just continual, I have a controlling husband who I have to walk egg shells around. He thinks that if you don’t talk about things, they automatically go away. Oh I wish they did. ALso I had a nast knock on the breast concerned so was that the trigger I wonder.
If it is true that breast cancer is more prevelant in the south than the north (and I don’t know if this is the case) then this may be a class issue because breast cancer is commoner in middle class women…though working class women have poorer outcomes…explanations may be around diet, nos of children, early diagnosis or not, and the tendency for midde calls women to shout louder for best practice treatments.
Jane
Well I would like to see published figures in this country to start with. I have checked internet and can find no comparisons. Between counties, different hospitals, different treatments offered at different hospitals and success rates or otherwise as a result. I feel this is information we should all have a right to. We all pay for the NHS at the end of the day. But as far as I can see this information is not published.