This is a FINAL CALL to anybody who would like to participate in the Breast Cancer Awareness month to blog for boobies! If you haven’t found some time to write about breast cancer-related issues, or if it isn’t appropriate for you to write about breast cancer on your blog, perhaps this could be a very good opportunity for you to do so, because a Blogging for Boobs campaign has just been launched 
Blogging For Boobs is an event that is hinged around the need to make people aware that they should regularly self-examine breasts for lumps or growths. Whilst men are susceptible to developing cancer of the breasts and should also self-examine, the much larger percentage of those afflicted with the cancer are women. Globally, approximately 1.5 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year.
So if everybody could spare, say, 30 minutes to research and write about breast cancer, imagine the kind of knowledge we would all be passing around! Imagine the number of lives we could all save. It could even be yours, or your sister’s, or your girlfriend’s! And imagine the kind of support and motivation we would be lending to surviving breast cancer patients!
The online campaign will be held on this coming Sunday, 28 October 2007 (wherever you are in the world) and you are encouraged to write about anything that can raise awareness over the matter.
You may send your inquiries to boobs@webforhumanity.org. Also, check out the badges and buttons you can add to your blog if you wish to participate.
I will be blogging for boobies, will you join me?
This post is published in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Awareness month. Please note that information presented in this article was extracted and adapted from various sources in the Internet, and that you are advised to consult your doctor for more information.
We’ve heard that many of the breast cancer cases are diagnosed before they can produce any symptoms. We’ve also read that routine use of mammogram helps women identify the disease long before it can cause any symptoms. In fact, in the early stages, breast cancer may be asymptomatic and women may notice only a breast lump. As the breast cancer progresses, the cancer cells can invade in to the surrounding normal structures and other distant organs and this may lead to development of symptoms.
Any one or more of the following may occur during various stages of progression of breast cancer.
- A lump (mass) in the breast, these lumps are most commonly painless.
- Swelling or thickness of the breast.
- Redness, swelling and or pain in the breast.
- Lump in the arm pit area due to the spread of breast cancer to the lymph nodes in that area.
- Areas of warmth or redness in the breast.
- Development of asymmetry of the breast.
- Inversion or changes in the appearance of the nipple.
- Flattening or indentation on the skin of the breast. This may indicate a change in the underlying structures.
- Scaling or redness of the skin on the breast.
- Unusual dimpling in the breast which may indicate adhesion to underlying structures.
- Discharge from the breast or nipple. This can be clear, dark or bloody in nature.
- Burning, itching or scaling of nipples.
- Pain or tenderness in the breast or underarm area.
- Infection or inflammation of breast.
- Development of breast abscess.
- Bone pain may occur during the late stages of breast cancer due to involvement of bone.
- Change in the mental status, seizure, and neurological events can occur in the late stage of the disease due to involvement of brain or spinal cord.
- Jaundice may occur in the later stages of breast cancer due to the involvement of liver or surrounding structures.
- Chest pain and difficulty in breathing may occur in the late stages of the disease due to involvement of lung and surrounding structures.
If you (or somebody you know) experience any of the symptoms listed above, please consult the doctor immediately. Remember that early detection saves lives.
More on the Breast Cancer Awareness series:
This post is published in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Awareness month. Please note that information presented in this article was extracted and adapted from various sources in the Internet, and that you are advised to consult your doctor for more information.
I have read in the internet that a risk factor is anything that affects your chance of getting a disease, such as cancer. As such, different cancers have different risk factors, e.g. exposing skin to strong sunlight is a risk factor for skin cancer and smoking is a risk factor for cancers of the lung, mouth, larynx (voice box), bladder, kidney, and several other organs.
But on the other hand, having a risk factor, or even several risk factors, does NOT mean that you will get the disease. In fact, most women who have one or more breast cancer risk factors never develop the disease, while many women with breast cancer have no apparent risk factors (other than being a woman and growing older).
Following are some risk factors that I have compiled:
Risk factors that you cannot change
- Gender: Being a woman is the main risk factor for developing breast cancer.
- Aging: Your risk of developing breast cancer increases as you get older. Breast cancer is extremely uncommon among women younger than 30 years. About 12.5% of invasive breast cancer diagnoses are among women younger than 45, while about 66% women with invasive breast cancer are age 55 or older when they are diagnosed.
- Genetic/Hereditary: About 5% to 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary, resulting directly from gene changes (called mutations) inherited from a parent.
- Family history of breast cancer: Breast cancer risk is higher among women whose close blood relatives have this disease. Having one first-degree relative (mother, sister, or daughter) with breast cancer approximately doubles a woman’s risk. It’s also important to note that 70% to 80% of women who get breast cancer do not have a family history of this disease.
- Personal history of breast cancer: A woman with cancer in one breast has a 3- to 4-fold increased risk of developing a new cancer in the other breast or in another part of the same breast. This is different from a recurrence (return) of the first cancer.
- Race: White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than are African-American women. However, African-American women are more likely to die of this cancer.
- Geographic location: The incidence of breast cancer is significantly lower in Japan, Thailand, Nigeria, and India compared to Denmark, New Zealand, U.K. and the United States. These differences in the incidence of breast cancer are most likely related to the difference in dietary habits, cultural differences, environmental factors and the average number of pregnancies.
- Menstruation: Women who started menstruating before age 12 or who went through menopause after age 55 have a slightly higher risk of breast cancer. This may be related to a higher lifetime exposure to the hormones estrogen and progesterone.
Lifestyle-related factors and breast cancer risk
- Not having children, or having them later in life: Women who have had no children or who had their first child after age 30 have a slightly higher breast cancer risk. Having multiple pregnancies and becoming pregnant at an early age reduces breast cancer risk.
- Oral contraceptive use: Studies have suggested that women now using oral contraceptives have a slightly greater risk of breast cancer than women who have never used them, but this risk seems to decline once their use is stopped. Women who stopped using oral contraceptives more than 10 years ago do not appear to have any increased breast cancer risk.
- Breast-feeding: Some studies suggest that breast-feeding may slightly lower breast cancer risk, especially if breast-feeding is continued for 1.5 to 2 years.
- Alcohol consumption: Use of alcohol is clearly linked to an increased risk of developing breast cancer. The risk increases with the amount of alcohol consumed. Women who have 2 to 5 drinks daily have about 1.5 times the risk of women who drink no alcohol.
- Overweight/Obese: Being overweight or obese has been found to increase breast cancer risk, especially for women after menopause. Before menopause your ovaries produce most of your estrogen, and fat tissue produces a small amount of estrogen. After menopause, once the ovaries stop making estrogen, most of a woman’s estrogen comes from fat tissue. Having more fat tissue after menopause can increase your estrogen levels and thereby increase your likelihood of developing breast cancer.
- Physical activity: Evidence is growing that physical activity in the form of exercise reduces breast cancer risk. The only question is how much exercise is needed. In one study from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) as little as 1.25 to 2.5 hours per week of brisk walking reduced a woman’s risk by 18%. Walking 10 hours a week reduced the risk a little more.
More on the Breast Cancer Awareness series:
Learn more about risk factors and breast cancer symptoms with medical websites that are a vast resource of valuable information. But if you are showing symptoms or have several breast cancer risk factors, you should speak with your doctor immediately.
