Seeing as October is Breast Cancer awareness month this week Wellness Wednesday topic is breast cancer. Breast cancer is cancer that starts in the tissues of the breast. There are two main types of breast cancer: Ductal carcinoma starts in the tubes (ducts) that move milk from the breast to the nipple. Lobular carcinoma starts in the parts of the breast, called lobules, which produce milk. In rare cases, breast cancer can start in other areas of the breast. Over the course of a lifetime, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer.
Risk factors you cannot change include:
- Age and gender -- Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you get older. Most advanced breast cancer cases are found in women over age 50. Men can also get breast cancer. But they are 100 times less likely than women to get breast cancer.
- Family history of breast cancer -- You may also have a higher risk of breast cancer if you have a close relative who has had breast, uterine, ovarian, or colon cancer.
- Genes -- The most common gene defects are found in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes. These genes normally produce proteins that protect you from cancer. If a parent passes you a defective gene, you have an increased risk of breast cancer. Women with one of these defects have up to an 80% chance of getting breast cancer sometime during their life.
- Menstrual cycle -- Women who got their periods early (before age 12) or went through menopause late (after age 55) have an increased risk of breast cancer.
Other risk factors include:
- Alcohol use -- Drinking more than 1 to 2 glasses of alcohol a day may increase your risk of breast cancer.
- Childbirth -- Women who have never had children or who had their first child after age 30 have an increased risk of breast cancer. Being pregnant more than once or becoming pregnant at an early age reduces your risk of breast cancer.
- DES -- Women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriage may have an increased risk of breast cancer after age 40. This drug was given to the women in the 1940s through the 1960s.
- Hormone therapy (HT) -- You have a higher risk of breast cancer if you received hormone therapy with estrogen for several years or more.
- Obesity -- Obesity has been linked to breast cancer, although this link is not well understood. Experts think that obese women produce more estrogen. This may fuel the development of breast cancer.
- Radiation -- If you received radiation therapy as a child or young adult to treat cancer of the chest area, you have a very high risk of developing breast cancer. The younger you started such radiation and the higher the dose, the higher your risk. This is especially true if the radiation was given during breast development.
Breast implants, using antiperspirants, and wearing underwire bras do not increase the risk of breast cancer. There is also no evidence of a direct link between breast cancer and pesticides.
Early breast cancer usually does not cause symptoms. This is why regular breast exams are important. As the cancer grows, symptoms may include:
- Breast lump or lump in the armpit that is hard, has uneven edges, and usually does not hurt
- Change in the size, shape, or feel of the breast or nipple -- for example, you may have redness, dimpling, or puckering that looks like the skin of an orange.
This is why is so important ladies to keep yourself aware help fight breast cancer, read more on the topic to find out what you need to do to check yourself in good Heath !
All info was gather from A.D.A.M. Medical Encyclopedia
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001911/#adam_000913.disease.causes
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