Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

seema.page

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 523 posts

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

#131

Post by formerly_proven »

viceroyalbean wrote: post #97
nomilk wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

After some googling I found a few studies that seem to show an increased risk for pilots as well, particularly skin cancer. I think the increased risk of skin cancer is interesting since that would (layman's speculation) probably be the most affected by radiation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12862322/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559846/

Normal glass has low transmission for UV-B and UV-C, but significant transmission of UV-A. This in combination with high altitudes (so less atmosphere) and also simple thermal heating, could already explain this.

Perhaps aircraft should add an UV-A blocking layer to their windows?

I don't think increased radiation levels would contribute differentially to skin cancer, because we're talking about gamma rays.

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

#132

Post by sumedh »

frontman1988 wrote: post #40

> As cliché as it may sound, health really is wealth. All the money in the world can’t buy you perfect health Sometimes I feel mortality and health issues are a good reality check for the super rich who think their money can buy everything in the capitalist world. Cancer is often random, just like how it was random that she married a guy who went on to become a billionaire. You can't have everything in life.

> All the money in the world can’t buy you perfect health

You can atleast buy the treatment, if you are poor you will usually just die a painful death.

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

#133

Post by Tenoke »

11235813213455 wrote: post #50

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 (w…

This all seems like bad advice stemming from some naturalistic fallacy.

>a pragmatic daily fitness (for example commuting with a bike) instead of a more 'artificial' fitness

For example this just seems random. Driving a bike is not even more natural (were there bikes in the EEA) and if anything will just expose you to more polluted air, and increase your risk of dying by a car crash compared to gym alternatives. This doesn't mean biking is bad compared to not doing anything but that's not the claim here.

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

#134

Post by ehnto »

bjarneh wrote: post #93
xbar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The skin cancer + flight attendant connection has to be due to white people working in the industry. People tend to fly to places with plenty of sun and warm climates. Australia's skin cancer rates are also very high, although not so much among the aboriginal population.

I would imagine it's because of the increased radiation you receive during a flight. For one flight, it's negligible, but if it's your job to be in the stratosphere for 20+ hours a shift, year round, it will probably start to add up. It would be like spending all your work life on the beach.

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

#135

Post by rayzmundo26 »

Whats the heathy diet she refers to? Sugar intake? Carb intake ?

She seems in physically great shape but has this been attained by eating food all day, not giving the body time to rest. Would time restricted eating have helped?

All bodies are different, but having tried various diets over the years , fasting or time restricted eating seems to give me the best benefits, I look at lot younger than my age(45).

I see a lot of long distance athletes in my own country(Ireland) the same age as myself that look aged, is this because of the copious amounts of high carb food that they eat to sustain their energy. Also have seen a lot of cases of heart attacks recently in these so called fit people. Sorry a bit blunt there

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

#136

Post by JMS2021 »

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…

UK here for context. We only have to fast for 12-24 hours prior to the colonoscopy. You can drink water or plain tea (no sugar, cream or milk).

They offer "gas and air" mainly. You don't even have to have that. You are fully awake during the procedure, laughing at the live HD video feed from inside you on the big screen.

You can be fully anaesthetised but that's very rare here in the UK.

After the appointment, it's a free cup of tea, and some biscuits. You have to wait for a couple of blood pressure tests, but after 15 mins recovery you can leave and go home. The entire process from entering the clinic unti leaving is about an hour.

The process is mildly uncomfortable but not really painful. Nothing like childbirth for example.

Don't be scared. It doesn't hurt too much. And as other commenters have written, any polyps they remove could have become tumours in 10 years, and afterwards, you are effectively safe from colon cancer for a decade.

If the NHS (UK) find and remove any polyps, they'll add you to a watch list for regular colonoscopy procedures. I have one every 2-3 years, others have them annually.

Get that camera up you... It might save your life.

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

#137

Post by robbiep »

heleninboodler wrote: post #57
Findecanor wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

How many have you had? My understanding is the risk of a perforated colon is actually quite high, like 1 in 500. Do you worry about that risk? I got referred to a gastroenterologist before I was 45 and he talked me out of it because he didn't think it was going to show anything (my symptoms that I was referred there for were gone by then) and the risk wasn't worth it. Obviously if you're going to get some life-saving…

Commonly quoted figures are 1:2000 in western countries with experienced operators with good operators claiming significantly better than that

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

#138

Post by copperx »

mjbeswick wrote: post #79
medion wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being in control of the other third is fairly significant... Seems almost too significant?

Even things that people don't usually associate with cancer have an impact, such as alcohol consumption, medication, oxidative stress caused by diet etc...

Alcohol consumption is a high one. But, medication? Most (but not all) medications are tested for carinogenic effects.

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

#139

Post by rstoj »

Early-onset breast cancer is most likely genetic, so the only thing that could've been done is to catch it earlier by having enhanced monitoring.

Hopefully we'll learn more about the underlying genetics and have better risk assessment tests in the future to catch these earlier.

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

#140

Post by robbiep »

dynamohk wrote: post #107
Findecanor wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

To scale whole population could just do ultra-sound for colon Polyps + CRP blood test. Then go from there.

Ultrasound is not a useful imaging modality for anything in the GI tract. Most countries do have FOBT screening available
Post reply on HN