Breast Cancer Prevention

As a female, I have an opportunity to listen in and have discussions regarding breast cancer prevention. I've listened to people discuss their concerns, their fears, the information they've gotten from their doctors, friends and sometimes, personal experience. This wasn't always the case. There was a time that people, including women, didn't discuss breast cancer prevention (many of them STILL aren't discussing it).

I was exposed to breast cancer in my family long before I understood its implications, and yet I don't have one memory of discussing breast cancer prevention. My maternal great-grandmother had breast cancer that metastasized to her bones. My maternal grandmother had breast cancer that metastasized to her brain. My mom, along with my step-grandma, had breast cancer that metastasized to their livers. (My step-grandma was a nurse and even SHE didn't talk about it!)

When my great-grandma was alive, the family always referred to her illness as bone cancer. With my grandma, I never even knew she HAD cancer until after it metastasized to her brain (so of course from that point it was referred to only as a brain tumor as if the breast cancer never existed). With my mom, we at least referred to it as breast cancer, we just didn't discuss it much.

Why Isn’t Everyone Talking About It?

Before my mom, I would have told you that breast cancer prevention was a taboo topic. I'm not sure whether the folks from my mom's generation felt it was impolite to discuss in public, or whether they were just too embarrassed to bring it up in a discussion. And since I never heard anyone talking about it, it didn't dawn on me (at least not in time) to discuss it with my mom.

As I mentioned, even after she was diagnosed, we didn't discuss it much or what we could do about it. And still, the only breast cancer prention discussions we were having were about my getting mammograms done.

Types of Prevention

Since my mother's diagnosis and death, along with the knowledge of my family history, I began educating myself on what factors outside of heredity that I could possibly have control over. For those of you who are learning about what to do in the way of breast cancer prevention, check out the list below to see if you're doing any of things right now. If you're not, whether you're a male or female, and whether or not you have a family history of cancer, consider adding some of these breast cancer prevention habits to your daily routine. Breast cancer is NOT just hereditary!

• Drink Green Tea

• Exercise regularly to avoid obesity

• Cut down on total fat intake

• Eat more high fiber foods

• Keep alcohol consumption moderate

• Monthly Breast Self-Exams (starting by age 20)

• Yearly Gynecologist Visits

• Baseline Mammogram between the age of 35-39 (younger if you're high risk)

• Yearly Mammograms for those over age 40 (younger if you're high risk)

This is just a very short list of basics that you can implement into your life very easily. For more detailed information, check out our Resources Section.

Drug Therapy as a Form of Breast Cancer Prevention

First of all, I'll give you my two cents on drug therapy. I am not a medical expert in any way, shape, or form so be sure to check with your doctor before making any decision. In fact, given my personal experience, check with SEVERAL doctors, for you AND your family's sake.

If you've read our Family History , then you know that my mom and I dropped the ball when it came to doctor and drug therapy research. Her surgeon prescribed Tamoxifen. This was the wonder drug of the time, and from what I read online, it still is. But who discusses the downside of this therapy? The early onset of menopausal symptoms...hot flashes, vaginal dryness, loss of sexual drive...This, from my experience, is downplayed as the mere "lesser evil" of having been diagnosed with breast cancer. Nowadays they're offering Tamoxifen as a prevention therapy along with some new breast cancer drugs.

Education is the Key

Whether you're male or female, and whether you have a family history of breast cancer or not, educating yourself and your family about breast cancer prevention is key. I know from speaking with people who have been touched by this disease, including conversations I'd had with my mom, that many people avoid the topic all together, simply because the word cancer causes fear.

The question then becomes, what are you afraid of when it comes to educating yourself and your loved ones about prevention? For myself, I'd much rather get the word out to everyone I know on how to PREVENT it, than to ignore the information that's out there, hope no one I know gets diagnosed, and just wait until a test result comes back positive before I start learning what I can do after the fact! So think about it the next time you're dodging a conversation about breast cancer...