In Letting it all out might increase chances of cancer survivorship, we shared that finding techniques to minimize stress is an effective way to better health. Our focus in that post was journaling and talk therapy as a means to expressing thoughts and feelings, rather than stuffing your emotions and keeping it all inside. According to the experts featured in that post, "It's about the link between the mind and the body and how your mind state can affect the disease state in the body."

In addition to journaling and talk therapy, cancer centers are offering cancer patients and caregivers self hypnosis techniques to help reduce stress as a part of an overall cancer treatment program. M.D. Anderson Cancer Center's social work supervisor Aida Molano, who has taught hypnosis and self-hypnosis classes at the center for the last 16 years, is offering a 30-minute self-hypnosis CD online as a free download.

According to Molano, hypnosis can help patients and caregivers offset sleeping difficulties, fear of medical procedures, problems concentrating, pain and fatigue using hypnosis techniques. If interested, by clicking on this link, you can download the free 30-minute self-hypnosis CD.

Breast cancer statistics for 2003 are in, and researchers have announced that the number of breast cancer cases dropped by an impressive seven percent, with the greatest drop occurring in women between ages 50-69 diagnosed with estrogen receptor positive (ER-positive) breast cancer.

The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center researchers attribute this good news to the fact that in the same time frame, millions of women stopped taking hormone replacement therapy (HRT) over concerns that HRT led to an increased risk for breast cancer.

If the statistics hold for upcoming years, HRT will have proven a greater causative effect leading to breast cancer than originally believed.

"Incidence of breast cancer had been increasing in the 20 or so years prior to July 2002, and this increase was over and above the known role of screening mammography," stated Donald Berry, Ph.D. "HRT had been proposed as a possible factor, although the magnitude of any HRT effect was not known. Now the possibility that the effect is much greater than originally thought all along is plausible, and that is a remarkable finding."

While the researchers best guesstimate is that HRT might be the contributing factor to the drop in ER-positive breast cancer cases for 2003, they cannot be 100 percent certain at this point. We will need to wait and see what the years 2004 and 2005 tell us about any continuing declines in breast cancer cases, and learn what other, if any, contributing factors are responsible for the decline.

Previous posts we have done regarding HRT and breast cancer:

• Hooray for HRT!?
• HRT and smoking dramatically increases breast cancer risk
• HRT increases breast cancer risks

For women with estrogen-driven breast cancer suffering the symptoms of menopause, being prescribed traditional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is out of the question. The risks are simply too great in introducing any estrogen into the body. There are few alternatives and many women decide to suffer with hot flashes, flushes, night sweats and cold flashes, a clammy feeling, sporadic rapid heart beat, irritability, mood swings, sudden tears, insomnia, fatigue, feelings of anxiety, dread, apprehension, difficulty concentrating, disorientation, depression and mental confusion -- without any significant relief. One of the alternatives is personalized natural hormone replacement therapy that is individually mixed specific to each woman's needs.

According to Sydney Menopause Centre at Randwick's Royal Hospital for Women director Dr John Eden, who has diagnosed two women patients with uterine cancer, believes the cancer is linked to natural hormone replacement therapy. Australian doctors are warning women to think twice before taking handmade hormone compounds prepared by chemists, due to the danger that these preparations can lead to elevated hormone levels that could lead to excessive bleeding, increased risk of breast and uterine cancer and blood clots.

"Many women think they are getting a herbal treatment and are shocked to learn they are getting a hormone treatment," stated Dr Eden. Dr Helena Teede, research director at the Jean Hailes Foundation, also added that many women were unaware these preparations were not approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

Researchers are beginning to tell us that being overweight increases cancer risks for a number of cancers. But then being overweight increases our chances of developing a number of diseases. While there are all kinds of diets, and gurus who claim they know the way, the remedy for long-term weight loss isn't going to change -- it's all about moving more, and eating less.

But what if you are moving more and eating less and the pounds stubbornly refuse to fall away? Amy Paturel, an expert in nutrition and public health, recently reviewed the top ten reasons why when you do all the right things, you aren't getting the expected results. The ten reasons Paturel discusses that can prevent weight loss are lack of sleep, synthetic chemicals in the environment, weather effects in temperatures being too hot or too cold, not smoking, prescription medications, giving birth at an older age, natural selection and overweight parents having overweight children.

Of course, this doesn't mean you are doomed to weight gain or being overweight but it might mean that you will need to take a look at some of the possible causes of why you are experiencing weight gain and not experiencing weight loss.

Paturel goes into an explanation of each of these causes in Ten More Fat Factors: It's Not Just the Cupcakes.

The Center for Caregiver Training is developing web based education courses for AIDS/HIV and cancer caregivers that offer practical skills to manage and cope with the responsibilities of being a caregiver. Caregiving 101 has three completed modules of lessons -- Learning About the Disease; Working with Your Medical Team; and Building a Personal Support Team.

To make the most of the time spent visiting with the doctor, one of the lessons in the Working with Your Medical Team module is How to Be Prepared for a Ten Minute Doctor's Visit.

Here are some of the tips included in the lesson:

• Always maintain an up-to-date medication list that includes all prescription and non-prescription items taken.
• Keep a journal of information that the doctor feels is important. This might be weight, temperature, blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and level of pain.
• Between visits, make a note of any unusual symptoms experienced in the journal. This might be night sweats, nausea, lack of appetite, insomnia, fatigue, confusion or anxiety.
• In the journal, jot down questions you might have for the doctor as you think of them.
• Bring the journal with you when you take your loved one to visit the doctor.
  

Other modules in development are Finding Help in the Community, Tools for Life as a Caregiver, Daily Care at Home, Managing Medications, Maintaining Nutrition, Managing Symptoms & Side Effects, Managing Pain and Coping With Mental Changes.

Some women have chosen herbal remedies to relieve menopause symptoms over concerns about health risks associated with hormone replacement therapy (HRT). One of the herbs used is black cohosh.

After reviewing all the data on black cohosh, used by women to relieve menopausal symptoms of hot flashes, insomnia, excessive sweating, palpitations, headaches, poor sleep, depression, and irritability, Britain's Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has decided to require black cohosh products come with a warning about the potential for liver damage.

Fast food and junk food snacks are not good for health. Smoking is not good for health. Little sleep and non-existent periods of relaxation are not good for health. Lack of exercise and weight gain from stress eating are not good for health. But according to researchers, women who work long hours are prone to some or all these habits, and that is not a good thing for their health. Smoking, damage to the immune system due to unrelenting levels of stress, lack of exercise and weight gain all increase cancer risks.

Leeds University conducted a study that showed women typically respond to the stress of working long hours by engaging in negative habits that are detrimental to their immediate and long-term health. According to researchers, the reaction to stress can manifest in choosing unhealthy high fat and high sugar snacks before choosing healthier food.

The study compared how men and women respond to stress, and if there was a difference. Some experts stated that men are less likely to be affected by working long hours because they are not expected to multi-task when they get home from work in the same way women are expected to do. Researchers said most women agree to their take on the matter.

Knowing that some women alleviate stress in unhealthy ways, gives women an opportunity to step back and assess how they might choose better strategies for dealing with stress -- or in minimizing some of the causes of stress in their life. Aside from these research findings, I think both men and women in modern society are under enormous daily stress and we all need to step back and evaluate how much of our health we are willing to compromise.

While many cancer patients use, or are interested in, herbal remedies to improve the quality of life during cancer treatments and beyond into cancer survivorship, research-based evidence in how and why herbs work is still largely ignored as scientific study. In my opinion, not nearly enough rigid investigation is going on in relation to herbal therapies even though, from a patient's perspective, there is much interest. I become very intrigued when I do read that a study will be done to further the knowledge into the validity -- or not -- of age-old herbal remedies. If it works, I want to know why.

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia will be studying several herbs, ginseng and valerian, that might be of significant benefit to cancer patients undergoing cancer treatment to off-set some of the common troublesome symptoms like insomnia and fatigue. Ginseng is believed to fight fatigue and improve the immune system. Valerian is known to relax and calm, and act as a sleep aid. Perhaps while they are investigating these two herbs, they can figure out a novel way of toning down the smelly gym sock phenomenon associated with valerian. I still haven't found a way to use it without encountering its most unpleasant aroma.

Stress is not good. Long-term stress can suppress the immune system. Part of cancer prevention is supporting a healthy immune system so it can do the job of stopping cancer before it has a chance to develop into disease.

Whether stress is related to work or family life, most of us experience too much stress in our daily life. Why the same events will cause some people stress and not others, or why the same event can cause us to experience stress at one time but not seem to bother us as much at a different time, is largely based on our perception of the event and how we define what is happening.

One of the best ways to escape stress? Never personalize what is taking place. Easier said than done, but with practice, it works in reducing the amount of stress and the number of times you experience stress in a day. Still, easier said than done.

Studies show that nighttime heartburn increases the risk of developing other serious conditions, including cancer of the esophagus. Day or night, chronic reflux can gradually damage the esophagus. It may lead to inflammation and scar tissue that narrows the esophagus. In some people, chronic heartburn can lead to Barrett's esophagus, changes in the cells that increase the risk of esophageal cancer. But nighttime heartburn tends to leave acid in the esophagus longer, and therefore may cause more damage than daytime heartburn.

Healing Heartburn written by Lawrence J. Cheskin, MD and Brian E. Lacy, MD of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, MD discusses how acids from the stomach can cause serious damage to the esophagus if left untreated. It can also cause chronic insomnia and difficulty working through the pain.

Some common ways to help stop heartburn are not eating two or three hours before you go to bed; putting blocks under the top of the mattress to elevate the head 4 to 6 inches; chewing gum to increase saliva which coats the esophagus with natural bicarbonate; and avoiding foods that can lead to heartburn -- such as alcohol, chocolate, coffee, carbonated drinks, citrus fruits and juices, tomatoes, pepper, vinegar, catsup and mustard, and spicy or fatty foods.

As in most cases where natural remedies and diets will not take care of the situation, you should consult your doctor for a more complete check up and diagnosis.

Want to lose weight and cut your cancer risks associated with weight gain? Get more sleep. Researchers found that women who slept for five hours per night were 32 percent more likely to experience major weight gain and 15 percent more likely to become obese compared with women who slept seven hours a night.

While researchers are certain about the results of the study, they cannot explain why women who get less sleep gain more weight. "Prior studies have shown that after just a few days of sleep restriction, the hormones that control appetite cause people to become hungrier, so we thought that women who slept less might eat more. But in fact they ate less," stated Sanjay Patel, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. "That suggests that appetite and diet are not accounting for the weight gain in women who sleep less." They speculate it might be women who sleep less are more tired and somehow not moving as much during the day.

On May 24, 2006, The Vegetarian and Vegan Foundation will be launching White Lies, a campaign to raise awareness of the health risks of consuming dairy products. Why You Don't Need Dairy, an event to mark the beginning of the campaign, will feature Heather Mills McCartney as a speaker who will call for milk to be dropped from the nation's diet. At the same time, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, PCRM, a nonprofit health organization comprised of physicians and nutritionists, will be asking consumers to eliminate dairy from their diet for three weeks to see if they notice an improvement in health.

In three short weeks, PCRM is confident those who take the dairy-free challenge will notice immediate benefit in better digestion, easier breathing, better sleep, a lessening of headaches and for sufferers of acne or dermatitis -- clear skin. Health benefits that are not immediately noticeable but of significant value is a reduction in the risk of prostate and ovarian cancer. Research had proven the link between dairy and these two cancers. Because dairy products such as cheese, ice cream, milk, butter, and yogurt all contain high levels of fat, it is reasonable to assume there might be a dairy link to other cancers as well.

The Nutrition Resource Centre of the Ontario Public Health Association, has published Non-Dairy Sources of Calcium, available as a PDF document online, with food suggestions that offer plenty of calcium.

New research indicates that newly diagnosed and treated breast cancer patients who engaged in weight bearing exercises twice a week over a six month period of time significantly improved the overall quality of both their physical and emotional life. Simple weight bearing exercises improved strength and body composition; alleviated insomnia, depression, and anxiety; managed weight gain; and lessened the symptoms of chronic fatigue.

Past research has explored the effect of aerobic exercise as a possible treatment for quality of life-limiting symptoms. Compared to this study, aerobic exercise offers only half the effect that six months of strength training offers to women recovering from breast cancer surgeries and treatments. The new study, conducted by Tetsuya Ohira, M.D. of the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health at the University of Minnesota, is the first to examine the effect of strength training on quality of life among breast cancer survivors.

According to the research, "Changes in body composition and strength may empower these women with a sense of return to feeling in control of their bodies that may translate into feeling greater efficacy in other areas of life." The only suggestions I would make is to talk to your surgeon about the appropriate time to begin exercising after breast cancer surgery, and to begin slowly. As time goes on, and your body has a chance to heal, the workout can become more rigorous, but you do not want to push yourself before your body is ready.