Five strategies for staying healthy and fighting breast cancer | Healthy Living

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month – the time of year when pink ribbons come out. But monitoring your breast health should be a year-round activity. Breast cancer is the fifth leading cause of death for women. Each year about 40,000 women will die from breast cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

By Donna Banks • October 21, 2010 10:19 pm

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month – the time of year when pink ribbons come out. But monitoring your breast health should be a year-round activity. Breast cancer is the fifth leading cause of death for women. Each year about 40,000 women will die from breast cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s behind heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and respiratory disease. The disease is treatable and with early detection many women go on to live full lives.

Knowing your risk factors for breast cancer can be helpful.

Age: The chance of getting breast cancer increases as you get older. Most women with breast cancer are post-menopausal. About 94 percent of new cases of breast cancer occur in women over the age of 40.

Family history: The risk of breast cancer increases if a woman has close relatives with either breast or ovarian cancer. But many women who develop breast cancer have no family history of the disease.

Race: Breast cancer is more common in some racial and ethnic groups. It occurs more often in white women than Hispanic, African-American, Asian or Native American women. African-American women, however, are more likely to die of breast cancer than women of other racial or ethnic groups.

Childbearing history: Not having children or having your first child later in life, in your 30s and 40s, increases your risk.

Certain medications: Using hormone replacement therapy for several years may increase your risk.

Staying healthy and preventing cancer

Medical experts still are researching how to prevent cancer. In the meantime, here are some ways to protect your overall health and try to reduce your risk for certain cancers

  • Eat five servings or more of fruits and vegetables each day.
  • Get regular physical activity.
  • Maintain a healthy weight.
  • Limit alcohol intake to no more than one drink a day.
  • Don’t smoke.

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    Breast exams

    Many women perform monthly breast self-exams. Finding a lump or other change can be alarming. It’s definitely a reason to see your health care provider but most lumps – about 80 percent – are benign.

    Breasts contain tissues of varying consistency. Regular exams can help you become familiar with the texture and consistency of your breasts. Breast tissue changes as you age, becoming more fatty and less dense over time. Call your provider if you find a new lump or notice changes in your breast tissue.

    Mammograms

    Regular mammograms are the best tool doctors have to find breast cancer early. A mammogram can show early signs of cancer long before you or your doctor can feel or see changes. If the disease is found and treated early, women can go on to live a long and healthy life.

    A mammogram is a low-dose X-ray picture of the breast. A woman stands in front of a mammography machine and one of her breasts is placed between two plates, which flatten the breast and keep it still for the X-ray. The picture taken by the machine will be reviewed by a radiologist, who will interpret the image to look for signs of cancer or other problems.

    MultiCare Health System continues to fully support the American Cancer Society’s breast screening guidelines, which include annual mammograms for women 40 and older.

    Another test your health care provider could perform is an MRI. A breast MRI takes multiple pictures of your breast that, when viewed together, create detailed pictures. This test is given when your provider needs more information about your breasts.

    Treatment

    There are many different treatments for breast cancer.

    Surgery: An operation to remove some of or the entire breast. This is the most common treatment.

    Radiation therapy: Radiation targeted at the cancer to kill the cancer cells.

    Chemotherapy: Drugs that kill or stop the growth of cancer cells.

    Hormone therapy: Removing or blocking hormones to stop cancer cells from growing.

    Breast cancer is very treatable. Most tumors can be treated successfully before cancer spreads. And in about 90 percent of cases, the women will live at least another five years.

    Donna Banks, registered nurse, is a breast health coordinator for MultiCare Health System.