Category: prevention and fitness

Observing Breast Cancer Awareness

In October, awareness of breast cancer is highlighted. This common cancer affects both women and men, with various types identified. Risk factors include age, genetics, and lifestyle. Early detection and preventive measures can significantly improve outcomes, emphasizing the need for education and support during Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Health issues are usually not the major concerns when it comes to elections, but they are related to the major issues, like the cost of living, taxes, and crime.

Among the major campaign issues are health-related concerns, including women’s reproductive care, gun violence, opioid addiction and deaths, mental health crises, and the cost of healthcare.

So it is appropriate that in October awareness of two major health issues are observed. This post highlights one of them, breast cancer.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

This information is current as of the date of original publication or update but may have changed by the time you read this. Do not use this information for diagnosis or treatment purposes. Before making health decisions, discuss with a qualified healthcare professional.

What is breast cancer?

Breast cancer happens when cells in the breast change and grow out of control. The cells usually form a tumor.

Sometimes the cancer does not spread any further. This is called “in situ.” Cancer that spreads outside the breast is called “invasive.” It may spread to nearby tissues and lymph nodes or metastasize through the lymph system or the blood, spreading to other sites in the body.

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer in women in the United States. It can also affect men.

What are the types of breast cancer?

There are different types of breast cancer. The types are based on which breast cells turn into cancer. The types include:

  • Ductal carcinoma, which begins in the cells of the ducts, is the most common type.
  • Lobular carcinoma, which begins in the lobules, is more often found in both breasts than other types of breast cancer.
  • Inflammatory breast cancer has cancer cells that block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast. In this rare type, the breast becomes warm, red, and swollen.
  • Paget’s disease of the breast, is a rare cancer involving the skin of the nipple and the darker skin around the nipple. It is also rare.

What causes breast cancer?

Breast cancer happens when there are changes in the genetic material (DNA). Often, the exact cause of these genetic changes is unknown.

In some women, these genetic changes are inherited. Breast cancer caused by inherited genetic changes is called hereditary breast cancer.

Some genetic changes raise your risk of breast cancer, including changes in the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, and also increase your risk of ovarian and other cancers.

Besides genetics, your lifestyle and the environment can affect your risk of breast cancer.

Who is at risk for breast cancer?

  • Older age
  • History of breast cancer or benign (noncancer) breast disease
  • Inherited risk of breast cancer, including having BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene changes
  • Dense breast tissue
  • A reproductive history that leads to more exposure to the estrogen hormone, including
    • Menstruating at an early age
    • Being at an older age when you first gave birth or never having given birth
    • Starting menopause at a later age
  • Taking hormone therapy for symptoms of menopause
  • Radiation therapy to the breast or chest
  • Obesity
  • Drinking alcohol

What are the signs and symptoms of breast cancer?

  • A new lump or thickening in or near the breast or in the armpit.
  • A change in the size or shape of the breast.
  • A dimple or puckering in the skin of the breast. It may look like the skin of an orange.
  • A nipple turned inward into the breast.
  • Nipple discharge other than breast milk. The discharge might happen suddenly, be bloody, or happen in only one breast.
  • Scaly, red, or swollen skin in the nipple area or the breast
  • Pain in any area of the breast.
a mammogram image
a mammogram revealing a breast cancer image source- National Library of Medicine, Open-i

How is breast cancer diagnosed?

Your health care provider may use many tools to diagnose breast cancer and figure out which type you have:

  • A clinical breast exam, checking for lumps or anything else that seems unusual with the breasts and armpits.
  • Imaging tests, such as a mammogram, an ultrasound, or an MRI.
  • Breast biopsy.

If cancer is diagnosed, you need tests that study the cancer cells so your physician can decide which treatment is best for you.

  • Genetic tests for genetic changes such as in the BRCA and TP53 genes.
  • HER2 test. HER2 is a protein involved with cell growth, on the outside of all breast cells. If your breast cancer cells have more HER2 than normal, they can grow more quickly and spread to other parts of the body.
  • An estrogen and progesterone receptor test measuring the amount of estrogen and progesterone (hormones) receptors in cancer tissue. If there are more receptors than normal, the cancer is called estrogen and/or progesterone receptor positive, may grow more quickly.

Staging involves doing tests to find out whether the cancer has spread within the breast or to other parts of the body. The tests may include other diagnostic imaging tests and a sentinel lymph node biopsy to see if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.

What are the treatments for breast cancer?

  • A lumpectomy to remove just the cancerous lump
  • A mastectomy to remove the entire breast
  • Radiation therapy
  • Chemotherapy
  • Hormone therapy, which blocks cancer cells from getting the hormones they need to grow
  • Targeted therapy, which uses drugs or other substances that attack specific cancer cells with less harm to normal cells
  • Immunotherapy

Breast cancer death rates declined 42% from 1989
to 2021 among women. The progress is attributed
to improvements in early detection and treatments.

American Cancer Society

Can breast cancer be prevented?

You may be able to help prevent breast cancer by making healthy lifestyle changes that help lower your risk of breast cancer.

  • Staying at a healthy weight
  • Limiting alcohol use
  • Getting enough exercise
  • Limiting your exposure to estrogen
  • Breastfeeding
  • Preventive medications for women at high risk
  • Preventive mastectomy, also for high-risk
  • Mammograms-not to prevent cancer but may prevent death if cancer is caught in an early, easier to treat stage

Adapted from NIH: National Cancer Institute

CDC’s National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program offers free or low-cost mammograms to women who have low incomes and are uninsured or underinsured. Find out if you qualify.

Get involved with Breast Cancer Awareness Month and access resources for education and support for those with breast cancer. Visit the

National Breast Cancer Foundation

Bring Your Brave Campaign

CDC launched Bring Your Brave in 2015 to provide information about breast cancer to women younger than age 45. The campaign tells real stories about young women whose lives have been affected by breast cancer. These stories about prevention, risk, family history, and survivorship bring to life the idea that young women can be personally affected by breast cancer.

Through these testimonials, Bring Your Brave aims to inspire young women to learn their risk for breast cancer, talk with their health care provider about their risk, and live a healthy lifestyle.

For more information

Exploring the HEART of Health

I hope you have learned something about breast cancer that motivates you to guard your health. If you are a breast cancer survivor I invite you to share your story in the comments, your experiences can help someone else.

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

I reviewed a book written by a cancer doctor and breast cancer survivor, Dr. Lori Leifer. Read it at this link.

After You Hear It’s Cancer-a book review

“After You Hear It’s Cancer” by Dr. Lori Leifer and John Leifer offers a comprehensive guide for navigating cancer diagnosis and treatment. Drawing on personal experiences, the authors provide practical advice on various stages of cancer care, including diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment challenges, along with resources for support and advocacy.

Keep reading

Dr. Aletha

Will fewer guns reduce firearm deaths? Insights from Gun Ownership Study

In September 2024, a second attempt on Donald Trump’s life was made in Florida, but he remained unharmed. A study by Oregon Health & Science University found that gun prevalence, not mental illness, is driving the high rate of firearm deaths in the U.S. Suicide accounts for most firearm deaths in Oregon. Countries that reduce gun ownership have lowered their firearm death rates. In the U.S., legislation to restrict gun ownership faces resistance. The study emphasizes the need to reduce gun prevalence to decrease firearm death rates. It also highlights the importance of safe storage to prevent access to firearms, especially in households with children.

“For the second time in just over two months a man armed with a rifle attempted to assassinate Donald Trump. A Secret Service agent spotted a man with a gun at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla., and fired at him before the man could hit anyone. Trump was unharmed, and the police arrested a suspect.” from The New York Times, Monday, September 16, 2024

Photo by Tom Jackson on Pexels.com (illustration only)

I had already started this post when this incident happened on September 15, 2024. This is the second time Mr. Trump has been a target of gun violence, the first time wounding him and killing two innocent bystanders.

I have written before about the epidemic of injuries and deaths due to gun violence. Whether it’s one person injured in a domestic altercation or a single shooter causing mass casualties, we see far too many of these episodes. They should never happen.

Everyone believes we need a solution but can’t agree on what. Do too many people have guns or do the wrong people have guns, or both?

I found this article interesting and wanted to share it with you. It is from an email newsletter I receive from Oklahoma Voice. Oklahoma Voice provides independent, nonpartisan reporting and is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

The article reviews a study done at Oregon Health and Science University looking at how gun ownership and mental illness are related to gun violence.

Study finds prevalence of firearms is driving soaring gun deaths in U.S. – not mental illness 

by Ben Botkin, Oklahoma Voice
September 12, 2024

If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide or a mental health crisis, call or text 988 for free, immediate support 24/7.

The prevalence of firearms in the U.S. – not mental illness – is driving the surge in gun deaths across the country, a new study concludes.

The research led by an Oregon Health & Science University professor looked at mental health conditions and firearm deaths in the U.S. and 40 other countries. It found the U.S. had 20 times more deaths by firearms than the other countries even when rates of mental illness were the same.

“We have the same degree of mental health issues as other countries, but our firearm death rate is far greater and continuing to increase. In most of the countries, firearms deaths are decreasing.”

Dr. Archie Bleyer, a clinical research professor at OHSU and lead author of the study

Other researchers have looked at mental illness and gun ownership but this study is the first to include this many countries.

Bleyer’s findings, published in the journal PLOS One, challenge the common assumption that mental health disorders are to blame for the high rate of firearm deaths in the U.S., which have risen 23% since 2000 while dropping 27% in other countries.

Bleyer, a pediatric oncologist, dug into the issue after his 12-year-old grandson’s classmate died by a firearm. He said he knew the boy’s mother and her son “left a note and used the gun, but didn’t need to die because he had a bad day.”

“her son left a note and used the gun, but didn’t need to die because he had a bad day.”

Dr. Bleyer, pediatric oncologist

Suicides account for most firearm deaths in Oregon, and young people often are the victims. In 2022, 488 people died from suicide by firearm in Oregon, according to Oregon Health Authority statistics. 127 of them were people under age 35. Another 161 people died in firearm-related homicides.

Overall, 674 people died of firearms in Oregon in 2022, including accidents and interactions with police.

The study found that policies on gun ownership can reduce firearm deaths. Countries that have decreased the number of guns owned by residents reduced their firearm death rates. These include Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Israel.

In Australia, the government drove down the rate of gun ownership with a government program that purchased firearms from gun owners. Other countries limit the number of firearms an individual can own or ban assault weapons.

In the United States, Congress has struggled to enact legislation cracking down on gun ownership, with strong resistance from gun rights activists and many Republicans.

Two years ago, following the mass school shooting of 19 students and 2 others in Uvalde, Texas, Congress passed a law to expand background checks for gun buyers. And in August 2024 a law banning “ghost guns,” which are untraceable, took effect in Oregon.

Bleyer said decreasing the number of firearms in the country is critical to stemming gun deaths. He noted that the U.S. has 4% of the world’s population, but almost one-quarter of the world’s firearms, and half of all non-military assault weapons are in the U.S.

Actions that reduce the level of gun ownership will help reduce the deaths that are linked to suicides and accidents, he said.

“By reducing prevalence, we should be able to reduce the firearm death rate,” he said.

Another issue is the ease of access to firearms, especially for households with children. He and other experts recommend safe storage devices that can deter people.

“Even though parents more often than not think their gun is locked and their children do not know where it is or how to unlock it, they’re usually wrong,” Bleyer said. “More often than not, when tested, their children know where it is, how to get into it and they often will play with it when their parents are gone.”

At the same time, Bleyer stressed his study doesn’t change the mental health crisis and lack of treatment that plagues Oregon and other states.

“We do have significant mental health problems, there is no doubt about that,” he said. “We don’t have enough mental health providers, facilities, treatments. It’s the way that we have facilitated killing ourselves that leads to death with firearms where we take this to the extreme.”

Other contributors to this study are Dr. Stuart Siegel, of the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California; Dr. Jaime Estrada, of Texas Doctors for Social Responsibility; and Dr. Charles R. Thomas Jr. of Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and previous chair of the Department of Radiation Medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine.

 
 
 

Oklahoma Voice is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Oklahoma Voice maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janelle Stecklein for questions: info@oklahomavoice.com. Follow Oklahoma Voice on Facebook and X.

This article is published under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.

Exploring the HEART of Health

If you or a loved one have experienced gun violence my heart aches for you. I desperately want our nation to address this unacceptable problem. Whether or not you have experienced it, the best solution is to be prepared.

Review this previous post to learn how to survive if you are threatened with gun violence.

How to survive an active shooter

Shootings in the United States have resulted in numerous casualties across diverse demographics. An active shooter poses a significant threat, necessitating preparedness. The recommended response includes three strategies: RUN to safety, HIDE if escape is impossible, and FIGHT as a last resort. Prioritizing personal and collective safety is crucial.

Keep reading

I’d love for you to follow this blog. I share information and inspiration to help you transform challenges into opportunities for learning and growth.

Add your name to the subscribe box to be notified of new posts by email. Click the link to read the post and browse other content. It’s that simple. No spam.

I enjoy seeing who is new to Watercress Words. When you subscribe, I will visit your blog or website. Thanks and see you next time.

Dr. Aletha