I looked into this revently, from what I can tell, no study could show a reduction in deaths from doing mammograms. This is because they detect many cancers that would go away on their own thus unnecessarily exposing you to chemotherapy which brings other health risks. A good starting point on this topic is this video: https://youtu.be/_sg14En-Z7A (I was doubtful at first, but everything he says is backed up by studies)
I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
121–130 of 523 posts
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#122When a cancer like this hits, there's a surprising amount of victim-blaming that goes on. People's fear of random events like this make them look for reasons why it hit you but could never happen to them, so they scour your personal choices for any sign of recklessness.
I love that the author of this kicked it off by saying she's the healthiest person she knows. It short-circuits the victim blaming and lets you see it as the unfortunate random event it is.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#123Here's an alternate explanation: Maybe cancer is way to common and keeps being formed in the human body... but also the body gets rid of it by itself. This is why most people who have cancer never find out about it. The few people who are always going for "regular screenings" are the only ones who find out about it and get "treatment" when it was completely unnecessary. Here's another alternate explanation: Maybe wha…
First explanation seems to be easy to verify.
RCT with two groups of (similar demographic) people. Everyone is given a full body checkup for finding cancer. Half of them are treated for any cancer found and the other half are left as is.
Check the longevity and status of cancer in both groups.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#124One can put oneself in a low risk population by making healthy choices, but that population still has a probability of getting cancer associated with it. The risk can be inherent (you can be very healthy but with brca mutations a women will have something like an 85% probability of having breast cancer by age 45 I believe). You may also live near a gen-x dumping factory and not be aware of it, and then there is just the dumb bad luck of having errors during DNA replication and subsequently in the DNA repair mechanisms.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#125Earlier quoted context omitted.
After being diagnosed with colon cancer when I was 26, I'd say start even earlier. Don't settle for "it's probably just hemorrhoid's". That's the reason my kids will start when they are 16. Does anyone know why I got cancer? No. Does it really matter? Honestly, no. Just to re-iterate the point: Go through all the screening you can, cancer (of any form) is easer treated when caught early. Or even prevented.
>Go through all the screening you can, cancer (of any form) is easer treated when caught early. Or even prevented. There's reasons why we don't screen for all cancers all the time - one being that when you are young and healthy the false negative rate and risk of complications of the test are often higher than the chance the test catches something.
Full-fledged biopsies, without any other indication, are exaggerated. A simple colonoscopy isn't. Nor are the other, standard, screening tests. And still most people just don't even use the standard screening options. My personal guess, because people are afraid the screening is finding something. Without the screening, you can happily continue your life in ignorance. Usually, this is regretted if they actually have cancer later, once the cancer is so advanced that actual symptoms manifest.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not that complicated. Some people are unlucky. There is nothing one can do to avoid disease eventually. Some people start getting sick in their 80s, some die healthy & peacefully in their sleep in their 90s and some get cancer being <10 years old.
> There is nothing one can do to avoid disease eventually. You can move where this cancer is rare. https://ourworldindata.org/cancer#the-prevalence-of-cancer-a... Or better yet, optimize for a total healthy lifespan, not just against cancer: https://ourworldindata.org/burden-of-disease#the-global-dist...
> You can move where this cancer is rare.
I figure some of those light coloured countries have more people simply not getting a diagnosis. Additionally going to central africa as a white person might increase your chance of skincancer enough to offset any reduced of other cancers.
It's probably better to just go to where people live the longest and adjust to the local diet/rythm, etc
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#127Individually, 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…
Half of cancers in the developed world are due to lifestyle; so how you live has a huge impact in you chances of developing cancer. People often overlook other factors that increase your chances of developing cancer such as obesity, exposure to viruses, immunodeficiency, background radiation etc. Humans are in quite an unlucky position when it comes to developing cancer, due to our relatively small size and long life…
These ‘X % of cancers are due to lifestyle’ statements are an extrapolation from observational data we know is confounded and are an overestimate for sure. What they mean by ‘lifestyle’ isn’t even consistently defined, and thus has no predictive let alone explanatory power. Just look at the data from animals, they get cancer all the time and they aren’t eating cheerios and binge drinking. Cancer does effect smaller animals just as much [1].
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#128As usual correlation don't imply causation. My uncle was a professional national level runner, he was the healtier person that I know: he ran several kilometers every day, ate correctly, no drinking, no smoking, sleep at least 8 hours/day, etc. He died from cardiovascular problems. This not means that a correct and healty lifestyle is not going to reduce the risk, but it's not the only factor.
The former captain of the Indian cricket team, Sourav Ganguly, recently suffered a heart attack while he was exercising. He was lucky that he was able to get prompt medical attention and recovered. But he was a fit professional athlete who was used to exercise from a young age and even he suffered from cardiac problems.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#129Seema is the wife of the founder of one of the biggest online stock brokerage firm called Zerodha.
Her husband is a billionaire and she has access to some of the best healthcare out there. Not that many people from India get a mamogram on a regular basis. So her husband's wealth must have helped her with the screening that helped her to diagnose breast cancer at an early stage.
Re: I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
One of my parents died recently due to cancer and I beg to disagree with your statement "It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living". Perhaps not that scientifically savvy but this video presentation by a medical doctor does highlight the anomaly of the Middle East population that have significantly least mortality due to cancer, most probably because of their lifestyle and habit. [1]Why Does the M…
I like the video We’re still grasping at straws Its nice that we have all these distinct populations to give clues to a broader solution, but there is still nothing to emulate, no rubric to follow, just a couple things to help you feel like you’re in slightly more control than you actually are All these rates of cancer stats per capita are based on detecting the cancer, which we are notoriously bad at. It is either b…
Yes you are right nothing concrete yet but it's beginning to take shape now regarding the lifestyle and habit as the risk factors for cancer.
For more scientifically savvy research please check this recent video presentation from Dr. Leeper, Professor of Surgery and the Chief of Vascular Medicine at Stanford University. He's a cardiologist and co-founder of two biotechnology companies, 47 Inc. and Bitterroot Bio, that aim to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease.
[1]What do cancer and heart disease have in common?