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I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

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Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#41

Post by nomilk »

rococode wrote: post #24
whatshisface wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's suspicious?

From what I can tell as a non-medical professional, some of the most concerning warning signs are: - Sudden weight loss (>10-15 pounds without a change in exercise or diet) - Any kind of recurring pain, especially headaches - Your poop is messed up - Blood anywhere - coughing up blood, nosebleeds when you don't usually have them, blood in your poop or urine - Mood or behavior changes (helpful if you have someone clos…

I'd just add signs of skin changes too:

- New moles.

- Moles that increases in size.

- An outline of a mole that becomes notched.

- A spot that changes colour from brown to black or is varied.

- A spot that becomes raised or develops a lump within it.

- The surface of a mole becoming rough, scaly or ulcerated.

- Moles that itch or tingle.

- Moles that bleed or weep.

- Spots that look different from the others.

Info directly from here: https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prev...

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#42

Post by Findecanor »

epistasis wrote: post #8

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…

The most common cancer: colon cancer, would be 95% preventable if only people got over silly notions about their butts and got a colonoscopy when they have reached age 45-50.

Colon cancer takes a decade to develop from polyp to tumour. The main purpose of a colonoscopy is to find and snip any polyps there could be in the colon. Then you'd be safe from colon cancer for a decade or more.

You would normally not feel much: the sensory nerves in the colon are only really able to feel if you have gas. And many hospitals offer sedation, so you wouldn't need to experience the procedure anyway. The worst part is the restricted diet for a week before (avoiding foods that would cling to the intestine wall) and emptying the bowels the day before. If you know that you have healthy kidneys, do ask your doctor for the good laxative that is a small dose that doesn't taste bad.

Myself I have an unusual genetic condition, so I unlike normal people, I do a colonoscopy every year. I stay awake and watch the monitor, because I actually want to see what I look like inside. At the end when you reach the small intestine, the cilia on the walls inside there are quite fascinating.

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#44

Post by gambiting »

Findecanor wrote: post #42
epistasis wrote: post #8

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…

The most common cancer: colon cancer, would be 95% preventable if only people got over silly notions about their butts and got a colonoscopy when they have reached age 45-50. Colon cancer takes a decade to develop from polyp to tumour. The main purpose of a colonoscopy is to find and snip any polyps there could be in the colon. Then you'd be safe from colon cancer for a decade or more. You would normally not feel muc…

There is an interesting difference between the way countries approach this btw. In US, sedation is standard and used in 90%+ of colonoscopies. In UK sedation is rarely used unless specifically requested by the patient, you usually get some gas and air instead. It's not even due to cost, it's just that sedation for colonoscopy is generally unnecessary, it's an uncomfortable but not particularily painful procedure.

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#45

Post by Findecanor »

vasco wrote: post #25
Findecanor wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently she worked for years as cabin crew. Cabin crew do get subjected to more mutating cosmic radiation than other people. Some routes are worse than others of course: the worst are the ones over the North Pole (Europe-Alaska or Europe-Japan/Korea/Beijing) where the Earth's protecting magnetic field is weaker. I've been told that one such flight provides a dosage about equivalent to that of a CT-scan. Imagine do…

Or it was random.

xbar's post has statistics: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30597524

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#46

Post by nomilk »

xbar wrote: post #39
epistasis wrote: post #8

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…

My sincere admiration for the author's strength in the face of this terrible hardship. A person can also avoid cancer by choosing a career that is not cancer-inducing. Given the author's cabin crew history: 3.4% of female flight attendants reported having had breast cancer compared with 2.3% of women in the general population group 2.2% of female flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared wit…

Do pilots have similarly increased rates? Or does it likely correlate with lifestyle factors (sunbaking, smoking etc).

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#47

Post by Andrew_nenakhov »

xbar wrote: post #39
epistasis wrote: post #8

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…

My sincere admiration for the author's strength in the face of this terrible hardship. A person can also avoid cancer by choosing a career that is not cancer-inducing. Given the author's cabin crew history: 3.4% of female flight attendants reported having had breast cancer compared with 2.3% of women in the general population group 2.2% of female flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared wit…

Looks like planes need more radiation protection. A thick heavy lead shield would be best.

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#48

Post by ajuc »

Findecanor wrote: post #42
epistasis wrote: post #8

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, s…

The most common cancer: colon cancer, would be 95% preventable if only people got over silly notions about their butts and got a colonoscopy when they have reached age 45-50. Colon cancer takes a decade to develop from polyp to tumour. The main purpose of a colonoscopy is to find and snip any polyps there could be in the colon. Then you'd be safe from colon cancer for a decade or more. You would normally not feel muc…

I have to have colonoscopy every year since I was 18 because of risk factors. I agree it's much less awful than people think (and I especially agree that laxatives and liquid diet prior to it suck much more than the procedure itself). I never take sedation cause it doesn't really hurt and doctors say it's better to have feedback from the patient.

I also have to do MRI every year and it's much more frustrating for me because they always complain I'm breathing wrong, and I have asthma so it's not easy to "breath right". It takes ages.

Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer

#50

Post by 11235813213455 »

I think healthy/unhealthy is not just about "very healthy diet, good fitness routine, good sleep, low stress, and no other health issues"

It's actually also about regularly stressing your body with things like cold/hot exposure (using natural elements/seasons), for example a pragmatic daily fitness (for example commuting with a bike) instead of a more 'artificial' fitness in a gym, an organic diet foraged yourself (with enough knowledge of course) instead of bought from shops, getting sometimes sick and recovering, reinforcing immunity

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