Breast Cancer Awareness - Women's Health

By Jon Wade

Each year breast cancer awareness charities make an extra effort to promote breast health. Evelyn Lauder initiated Breast Cancer Awareness Month (BCAM) in 1993 with the aim of increasing awareness, and also to raise funds to help research the condition and also provide support for sufferers.

Today, all the major UK cancer charities continue to champion the cause every October, employing the pink ribbon which is now a global symbol of breast cancer awareness. For more information on breast cancer awareness month, visit breastcancercare.org.uk

How to Check for Breast Cancer

Breast self-examination (BSE) is an easy but slightly unreliable method for finding possible breast cancer. The purpose is to identify changes in breast structure, especially lumps.

Self examination can only help to detect some forms of breast cancer, and there is no guarantee that it will always successfully detect cancerous growth. It is recommended that women over the age of 40 include a mammography in their general medical check up every 1-2 years.

How to check your breasts for signs of cancer

1. Stand upright with your upper body exposed in front of a mirror.

2. Start with your hands on your hips while just looking for signs of dimpling, swelling, soreness, or rednes.

3. Repeat this visual examination with your arms raised above your head.

4. While still standing, palpate (i.e. examine by touch) your breasts with your fingers, feeling for lumps. Try to use a larger area of your fingers rather than prodding. Feel both for the area just beneath the skin and for the tissue deeper within.

5. Go over the entire breast while examining. One method is to divide the breast into quadrants and palpate each quadrant carefully. Also examine the "axillary tail" of each breast that extends toward the axilla (armpit).

6. Repeat palpation while lying down.

7. Check the nipples and the area just beneath them. Gently squeeze each nipple to check for any discharge.

The Seven P's method

Another method of self examination is known as the Seven P's of BSE. It is similar to the above method, chose whichever you fell most comfortable with.

1. Position: Inspect your breasts visually and palpate in the mirror with arms at various positions. Then perform the examination lying down, first with a pillow under one shoulder, then with a pillow under the other shoulder, and finally lying flat.

2. Perimeter: Examine the entire breast, including the nipple, the axillary tail that extends into the armpit, and nearby lymph nodes.

3. Palpation: Palpate with the pads of the fingers, without lifting the fingers as they move across the breast.

4. Pressure: First palpate with light pressure, then palpate with moderate pressure, and finally palpate with firm pressure.

5. Pattern: There are several examination patterns, and each woman should use the one which is most comfortable for her. The vertical strip pattern involves moving the fingers up and down over the breast. The pie-wedge pattern starts at the nipple and moves outward. The circular pattern involves moving the fingers in concentric circles from the nipple outward. Don't forget to palpate into the axilla.

6. Practice: Practice the breast self-exam and become familiar with the feel of the breast tissue, so you can recognize changes. A health care practitioner can provide feedback on your method.

7. Plan: Know what to do if you suspect a change in your breast tissue. Know your family history of breast cancer. Have mammography done as often as your health care provider recommends.

For pre-menopausal women, BSE is best done at the same stage of their period every month to minimize changes due to the menstrual cycle. The recommended time is just after the end of the last period when the breasts are least likely to be swollen and tender. Older, menopausal women should do BSE once a month, perhaps on the first or last day of every month.
Limitations

About eight in ten lumps discovered by BSE are harmless. Nevertheless, any abnormality thus detected should immediately be reported to a doctor. Though most breast cancers are detected by women, BSE should be combined with an annual examination by a doctor for better chances of detection. Women can easily miss a breast lump that an expert can find. For the same reasons it is better to learn BSE from an expert.

BSE is not a replacement for more trustworthy techniques like mammography or an examination using MRI.

J.P.Wade runs the MotleyHealth.com a Fitness and Health community, http://www.motleyhealth.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jon_Wade

Breast Health is Vitally Important to Every Woman

By Paul Rodgers

Did you know that only 10% of breast health issues are attributed to family genes, the higher percentage due to environmental, dietary or lifestyle issues. Antioxidants are intimately involved in the prevention of cellular damage -- the common pathway for cancer, aging, and a variety of diseases. Antioxidants are key elements in preventing cancer, because they stabilize highly reactive free radicals that can otherwise damage our DNA and begin the process of cancer development.

Breast health is very important to adult women and good self-esteem about breasts and all physical features are very important for younger girls. The key is recognizing changes in how your breasts look and feel. Breast health is an important part of women's lives as they age and face increased risk of breast cancer. With current women's health statistics in the United States, the need to educate and provide effective nutritional supplements to maintain breast health is a necessity.

Prevention

The best policy is prevention with self-examination and using thermography to screen for trouble areas, which might show up as fibrocystic conditions or general inflammation. Your life is too important to not know the latest and greatest about womens health issues and the tried and tested. We do know that diet, lifestyle and stress relief play important roles in disease prevention, and these are places in our daily lives where we get to have a say.

Furthermore, it is believed that women should not rely on mammograms either. Women are only screened every three years and, usually, a mammogram can only detect a breast tumor once it has been growing for 8 years. By the time the tumor reaches 10 years, it could be too late. The other thing to remember is that a mammogram can only screen the part of the breast which can be put into the "clamp". It cannot screen under the armpit or between the breasts for example.

Conclusion

Every time someone's chest catches your eye, remember how important breast health is to your happiness. In the Chinese medical view, all elements of the body are interconnected, leading to the conclusions that breast health is connected to menstruation, exercise, diet, and mental health, just to name a few. The single most important way for you to actively pursue their health is with regular breast cancer screening. Lowering excess weight with healthy foods is a major part of prevention and treatment.

Because the breast belongs to the energy field of the heart, it's health is subject to our diet, circulation, emotions, and belief system. Being vigilant about your breast health is especially important for women at high risk, so knowing your risk factors for triple negative breast cancer is important. Your breast health is not only necessary for your self but is quite important for your baby because you breast health concerns with you baby if you are feeding mother.

As we know, breast cancer is the most feared disease amongst women and understanding how it develops, the risk factors and, most importantly, how to protect against it, will make women feel more in control and positive towards their breast health. Find out more about Breast Health

Paul Rodgers specializes in marketing natural health and beauty products

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/2488051