I am the healthiest person I know, and I got cancer • Hacker News Board

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

#431

Post by ncmncm » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

Gatsky wrote: post #392

giantg2 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

HPV is extremely common, usually asymptomatic, and already known to contribute to other reproductive cancers. Why is it "implausible"? It seems this study at least shows it is plausible.

The effect is weak. The ubiquity of HPV infection should show a stronger association if it were important. It could contribute to a subset of prostate cancers, but this has not been proven beyond correlation. There are other issues - HPV related cancers like cervical cancer or head and neck cancer show an age related peak and decline, whereas prostate cancer incidence continues to rise with age. But the HPV vaccine i…

The effect will necessarily appear weak when incidence of HPV is over 80%. At 95% it would appear weaker yet. That any signal shows up under the circumstances means the effect is huge.

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

#432

Post by frumper » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:22 PM UTC

simpthrown8id wrote: post #429

I sympothize with the poster but the headline is potentially misleading. I don't think the article really qualifies her status as a healthy lifestyle individual. I'm sure she may think she leads a very healthy lifestyle but there are a lot of misconceptions out there, when it comes to health. What exacerbates it is, once people learn that some things are not healthy, they switch to alternatives without understanding…

You list a lot of things that aren't healthy. Can you give an example of a typical 2 meal day that doesn't include oils, fat, meat, dairy, or whatever else isn't healthy? I'm genuinely curious.

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

#433

Post by dekhn » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:24 PM UTC

giantg2 wrote: post #311

jll29 wrote: post #279

First of all, I'm sorry to learn the author got cancer; I wish her all the best and continued strength. Many contributors have already made good suggestions how to reduce the risk of getting cancer, or how to deal with it; but I found most posts quite _technical_. Speaking in general terms, cancer is not a disease like a common cold. The human body sooner or later is bound to decay, which pretty much starts once one…

"eventually will wipe any individual out." Sure, eventually. It's one thing if people are getting cancer or having heart attacks later in life. It's a little concerning when a fairly large number of younger people are afflicted. The rate of cancer has risen about 30% for young people since the seventies. So it seems that there's something wrong in our environment or lifestyles that could be increasing risk. That's ve…

The more likely explanation for rising cancer rates for young people are: better detection, and other diseases/causes of death being dealt with. Not lifestyle or environment. A better example for lifestyle/environment would be the fates of Japanese people who switch from Japanese diets when moving to America. Significant distributional shift in types of cancers.

When all other causes of death are removed, only cancers will remain.

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

#434

Post by wbsss4412 » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:27 PM UTC

jpmattia wrote: post #378

catchclose8919 wrote: post #204

This is one of the things where it matters more how healthy/unpolluted your environment is . I'd dare to say that a not-so-phisically-active moderate-smoker living in a less polluted environment has way lower cancer risk than a bio-vegan athlete buddhist monk living in a polluted industrial hellhole. I'd wish we lived in a world where we could actually address chemical, air-particulate +/- microplastics pollution ser…

You got me curious about cancer rates by country: https://www.wcrf.org/dietandcancer/global-cancer-data-by-cou... They list 50 countries, and relevant to your post: - Belgium #4 with 329.9/100K - Italy #24 with 290.6/100K Not a huge difference tbh. Regarding the comments about vitamin D, Sweden is lower than Italy. So I think the correct conclusion is: These things are complicated.

A 16% reduction solely on the basis of which country you’re in seems like a pretty substantial reduction to me.

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

#435

Post by giantg2 » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:28 PM UTC

ddfx00 wrote: post #420

giantg2 wrote: post #376

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, and what is contributing to obesity? Are there environmental factors affecting androgenic functions? Is it all just people being sedentary over eaters? Or something else?

- micro plastic everywhere, water, food, ground. Majority of American women breastfeed their children with their own milk containing plastic - cancerous substances from cars exhaustion, cigarettes and such going inside people every day of their lives - toxic and cancerous chemicals used for processing foods and drinks we are breathing, drinking, eating and staying in contact with cancerous substances 24/h day. I'm su…

"switch to a sustainable diet and ditch intensive farms using chemicals to boost production"

Do we know what the population limit would be for us to sustainably support people?

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

#436

Post by justin_oaks » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:31 PM UTC

lars512 wrote: post #122

When 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 i…

Thanks for this. I have someone in my family who staunchly believes that if you eat only the "right" foods then you'll never get cancer.

It's sad to me to see this. It is denying reality and it is unnecessarily hostile to those who are already struggling. I have a sister who died of breast cancer in her late 30s. It's a slap to my face for someone to blame her for getting sick and dying.

Each of needs to be able to accept that sometimes bad things happen to us regardless of the choices that make.

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

#437

Post by paulpauper » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:32 PM UTC

jll29 wrote: post #279

First of all, I'm sorry to learn the author got cancer; I wish her all the best and continued strength. Many contributors have already made good suggestions how to reduce the risk of getting cancer, or how to deal with it; but I found most posts quite _technical_. Speaking in general terms, cancer is not a disease like a common cold. The human body sooner or later is bound to decay, which pretty much starts once one…

There is a lot wrong with this post

Speaking in general terms, cancer is not a disease like a common cold.

you don't say

I am at peace with that, for we need to make space for the next generation (only adding people to planet earth would not be sustainable, as resources are scarce - imagine nobody would ever die). Being on this planet for a limited time period makes it more important to make the right choices, because we have only one life

This suggests a Malthusian, zero-sum world in which no new net value can be created. Someone could have said that 200 years ago, yet living standards are higher than ever in spite of more people than ever. Poverty rates worldwide continue to fall.

And it's not just cancer, there are many ways one may pick the unlucky straw: it is not widely known, but the number of people who die from a heath attack in their 20s is significant. Make the best of every minute you have, and live it as if it were your last.

This doesn't mean we need to accept death when it can be prevented. The promise and hope of technology is to expand human potential and not have to settle for fate. Someone again could have said this 200 years ago about any other medical condition that is now treatable or curable today,

This is the sort of defeatist logic that is popular online these days, but we won't have to settle for just giving up.

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

#438

Post by ncmncm » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:34 PM UTC

midjji wrote: post #292

catchclose8919 wrote: post #204

This is one of the things where it matters more how healthy/unpolluted your environment is . I'd dare to say that a not-so-phisically-active moderate-smoker living in a less polluted environment has way lower cancer risk than a bio-vegan athlete buddhist monk living in a polluted industrial hellhole. I'd wish we lived in a world where we could actually address chemical, air-particulate +/- microplastics pollution ser…

It would be nice if we did, but while this would likely lower cancer slightly, I dont think it would come anywhere close to eliminating it. I think cancer is mostly a tradeoff for auto immune diseases and adaptation speed. A immune system good enough to prevent them, would also kill most all, and prevent any deviation from its template. This is particularly likely for the kinds of cancers which hit before 40. In gene…

Just going vegetarian has a much greater than 10% difference for many cancers. Not all, but colon cancer is one of them.

Nuclear is not in fact a good alternative. But solar and wind are.

It is unfortunate that the cheapest solar panels have 8g/m^2 of cadmium; one hopes that is reclaimed at EOL. But a house fire with those on would seem to create a superfund site.

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

#439

Post by paulpauper » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:35 PM UTC

kiba wrote: post #329

jll29 wrote: post #279

First of all, I'm sorry to learn the author got cancer; I wish her all the best and continued strength. Many contributors have already made good suggestions how to reduce the risk of getting cancer, or how to deal with it; but I found most posts quite _technical_. Speaking in general terms, cancer is not a disease like a common cold. The human body sooner or later is bound to decay, which pretty much starts once one…

for we need to make space for the next generation (only adding people to planet earth would not be sustainable, as resources are scarce - imagine nobody would ever die). Being on this planet for a limited time period makes it more important to make the right choices, because we have only one life. No. Living longer means we have to live with our decisions. People who live short lives don't have to live with decisions…

this notion of a population limit just refuses to die. The world is not a petri dish

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

#440

Post by stared » Tue, Mar 08, 2022, 4:37 PM UTC

latexr wrote: post #372

jll29 wrote: post #279

First of all, I'm sorry to learn the author got cancer; I wish her all the best and continued strength. Many contributors have already made good suggestions how to reduce the risk of getting cancer, or how to deal with it; but I found most posts quite _technical_. Speaking in general terms, cancer is not a disease like a common cold. The human body sooner or later is bound to decay, which pretty much starts once one…

> Being on this planet for a limited time period makes it more important to make the right choices, because we have only one life. The thought may be freeing to you, but many others become paralysed by it, obsessing about “the right choices” at every moment. An alternate view: it is because we only have one limited life that our choices don’t matter. We and everyone our choices touch will die, and nothing will have m…

> The thought may be freeing to you, but many others become paralysed by it, obsessing about “the right choices” at every moment.

I had been struggling with the same issue. The opposite (“our choices don’t matter”) is depressing.

However, two things help me:

The first is “Optimistic Nihilism” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBRqu0YOH14) - a view very close to Zen/stoicism. The second is that ALL choices matter, but their impact is finite and subject to randomness. I used to think that all of my choices were forever and set in stone. While technically correct, it misses that the future changes only a bit. We might be tempted to think that “the grass is greener”, or “I should have bought Bitcoins”, but it is like “I miss I didn’t join my friends when they went to a cassino”. Moreover, it is FAIR that a finite effort results in a finite result.