Prevention And Early Detection
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Bright Pink talks a lot about taking a proactive approach to breast and ovarian health. It sounds exciting and optimistic, but what does it really mean?
First, it means doing whatever we can to lower our chances of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Next, it means making sure that if breast and ovarian cancer do develop, they are caught early, in a treatable stage.
These are important things for every young woman – average and high risk alike – to think about. After all, with early detection and treatment, the survival rate for breast and ovarian cancer soars to more than 90%!
Here’s to Your Health
Breast and Ovarian Self Awareness
Here’s to Your Health
A healthy lifestyle is an important way to help prevent breast and ovarian cancer. Many of these tips are common sense when it comes to living healthy – like eating right and exercising – but a few may surprise you.
So let’s explore a few habits you can and should adopt to help decrease your risk level:
Eat Right Feel Right
Specifically, limit your fat intake – research shows a modest decrease in invasive breast cancer for women with a low-fat diet.
Get Moving
Make exercise a part of your daily life. Regular exercise for 30 minutes or more on most days can reduce your risk of developing breast cancer. Add weight-bearing exercise, and you’re also protecting your bones!
Make Weight
It’s important to maintain a healthy weight because there’s a clear link between obesity and breast cancer due to the excess estrogen production in fatty tissue.
Cut Back on Cocktails
There seems to be some link between alcohol and breast cancer, although scientists don’t really know how strong – so stay on the safe side and either limit your alcohol (that includes beer, wine and liquor) to one drink per day or eliminate it completely.
Think About It
Taking birth control pills, or oral contraceptives, for five consecutive years in your 20s and 30s can cut your risk of developing ovarian cancer by up to 50%.
Many of us may have heard that taking birth control can increase our risk of developing breast cancer. While this hasn’t been clearly shown, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons with a doctor who can help decide what’s best for you.
Breast Feed Your Babies
Breast-feeding for one to two years may lower your risk of developing breast cancer.
But keep in mind, while these activities can reduce your risk, they do not eliminate it – they are simply one part of an overall plan. And that plan should also include early detection, so read on!
Practice Breast & Ovarian Self Awareness
As a young woman, the golden rule for breast and ovarian health is to know your body and speak up if you notice any changes. If you find breast or ovarian cancer in their earliest stages, survival rates can be up to 92%.
Keep an Eye Out for Breast Cancer Symptoms
- A lump, which can feel like a frozen pea. Keep in mind these are lumps that don’t come and go with your menstrual cycle – they stay and grow.
- Pain that doesn’t go away.
- Bloody drainage from the nipple.
- Change in breast contour, like an irregular shape or dimpling of the skin.
Not All Lumps are Breast Cancer
Don’t freak out if you notice any of these changes! Chances are it’s completely normal. Here are a few reasons why:
- Breast tissue responds to our bodies’ normal hormones. (That’s why some of us feel tenderness or lumpiness in our breasts around our periods.) If a lump goes away after your period is over, chances are its nothing to worry about.
- Sometimes women develop cysts and non-cancerous growths in their breast tissue.
- Our lymph nodes can become inflamed and may feel like a lump.
But with that in mind, watch for symptoms that don’t go away or continue to grow – and don’t hesitate to have your doctor take a look. Young women can and do get breast or ovarian cancer, and it’s better to be safe than sorry!
Know Your Breasts
It’s pretty unlikely that we’ll develop breast cancer while we’re young, but it’s still important to know the normal look and feel of our breasts and speak up if we notice changes.
We should all start this now and make it a way of life when we’re young, so that if we do end up developing breast cancer – either as a young woman or in the future – we’ll be more likely to notice it early, when it’s treatable.
Sure, being breast self-aware is simple, but we know it can be hard to actually remember to do it. With our busy lives in mind, we put together a couple of great tools. Take a second and sign up right now for our Underwire Alert text updates or our Breast Self Exam E-Mail Reminders.Then, tell the ladies you love to do the same!
Be on Alert for Ovarian Cancer Symptoms
Unfortunately, it’s much tougher to detect ovarian cancer at an early stage than breast cancer – so much so that less than 20% of all ovarian cancers are found at an early, non-life-threatening stage.
That’s because the symptoms of ovarian cancer are often subtle and confused for menstrual symptoms or stomach problems:
- Prolonged bloating
- Enlarged abdomen
- Persistent feeling of indigestion
When Is It More than Cramps?
You’ve probably felt each of these symptoms at one time or another, so how do you know if it’s something to talk to your doctor about? Think about whether the symptoms disappear or if they’re constantly present and get worse.
If they’re persistent and increasingly worsen, then see a doctor and ask if it could be your ovaries.
Screening for Ovarian Cancer
For healthy women, there are no routine tests for ovarian cancer – it’s a common myth that your annual PAP smear can detect ovarian cancer. It actually tests for cervical cancer not ovarian cancer.
So it’s all the more important to know the symptoms of ovarian cancer and make a doctor’s appointment if they’re constant and getting worse.
Once symptoms are present, your doctor may perform one – or more – of these tests:
- A clinical exam.
- A trans-vaginal ultrasound to look at your ovaries for abnormalities.
- A CA125 blood test, which is a good diagnostic tool in some, but not all, cases.
Make Regular Dates with a Doctor You Trust
Your doctor is an important partner in your proactive approach to your breast and ovarian health, so make sure you’ve got one that puts you at ease and makes you feel comfortable enough to talk and ask questions during your appointment.
Schedule a well woman exam every year, even when you feel completely healthy. It should include:
- A clinical breast and pelvic exam, starting at age 20.
- A PAP smear, where cervical cells (but remember, not ovarian cells) are tested for irregularity.
- An annual mammogram, beginning at age 40 or, if you have a family history of breast cancer, 10 years before the age your youngest relative was diagnosed.
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