Maureen McGrath's Health Show Podcast
Breast Cancer 101: Early Detection equals better outcomes!
Imagine the power of knowledge could save lives, particularly when it comes to the pervasive threat of breast cancer. With one in eight women facing this diagnosis, and men not exempt from its reach, our latest episode is an empowering guide brimming with preventative insights. We uncover the influence of lifestyle choices on breast cancer risk, from alcohol consumption to the role of combined hormone therapy, arming you with critical strategies to enhance your health dialogue with medical professionals. This isn't just about statistics; it's about taking proactive steps to protect your future, your body, and your peace of mind.
When we consider breast cancer, a lump isn't the sole harbinger—lesser-known signs like dimpling and nipple discharge also wave red flags. We talk about these symptoms, reinforcing the lifesaving grace of early detection through mammograms and self-exams. Further exploring the emotional journey of cancer treatment, we share stories that illuminate the resilience of the human spirit. Wrapping up, we introduce Contino, an innovative solution for stress urinary incontinence, offering a glimpse into a world free from the constraints of pads and diapers. Join us to embrace a well-informed, vigilant approach to health that could make all the difference.
Imagine the power of knowledge could save lives, particularly when it comes to the pervasive threat of breast cancer. With one in eight women facing this diagnosis, and men not exempt from its reach, our latest episode is an empowering guide brimming with preventative insights. We uncover the influence of lifestyle choices on breast cancer risk, from alcohol consumption to the role of combined hormone therapy, arming you with critical strategies to enhance your health dialogue with medical professionals. This isn't just about statistics; it's about taking proactive steps to protect your future, your body, and your peace of mind.
When we consider breast cancer, a lump isn't the sole harbinger—lesser-known signs like dimpling and nipple discharge also wave red flags. We talk about these symptoms, reinforcing the lifesaving grace of early detection through mammograms and self-exams. Further exploring the emotional journey of cancer treatment, we share stories that illuminate the resilience of the human spirit. Wrapping up, we introduce Contino, an innovative solution for stress urinary incontinence, offering a glimpse into a world free from the constraints of pads and diapers. Join us to embrace a well-informed, vigilant approach to health that could make all the difference.
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Speaker 1:This podcast is brought to you by Life360 Innovations, creators of the Contino urethral insert, a non-surgical, health Canada licensed medical device for men with stress urinary incontinence. Contino is easy to use and blocks the flow of urine without the need for adult diapers or pads. More than just a medical device, the Contino Care Program connects you with experienced medical professionals and creates a personalized treatment plan that provides ongoing support so you can get back to life. Go to MyContinocom to see if Contino is right for you and book your free continence assessment. Get bladder leakage control with Contino and get back to living. Remember, go to mycontinocom. That's M-Y-C-O-N-T-I-N-Ocom. Welcome to my health show podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in. It's my honor to speak to you about subjects that are very important for health your health, the health of your family and the health of our society, basically because these conditions impact our social, economics, our healthcare systems and it can affect so many people and there's so many things that one can do to prevent disease. And that's really the goal of what I'm trying to do to help you gain a little bit more knowledge so that you feel more informed, that you can build a better rapport with your doctor, that you can know what questions to ask. So it's pretty simple.
Speaker 1:I want to talk to you tonight about breast cancer. That's a disease that affects one in eight women, depending on the time of life. It's a group of cells that loses control. These abnormal cells grow. They typically grow into a lump and oftentimes women will find a lump in their breast, or their partner may find a lump, and this lump may also invade tissue that is in surrounding areas or nearby tissue, and it also can metastasize, so the cancer cells can go to other parts of the body. That's when we say that the cancer has spread, and when we find cancers early, like in stage one or stage two, we can treat them more easily.
Speaker 1:Mostly women get breast cancer at any age, but men can get breast cancer as well. But if you are one of the people who is lucky enough to live to the age of 90, you will be one of eight women who gets breast cancer, and those statistics are staggering. And it's really surprising just how breast cancer, the rates of breast cancer, increase as one ages. For example, if you're around 19, 20, 21 years old, your risk of getting breast cancer, your odds, are approximately like one in 1800. But at the age of 70, it's one in 26.
Speaker 1:There's a number of risk factors for breast cancer and the first one that I want to talk about are the things that you can control. And the very first thing that I want to talk to you about about one of the things that you can control is your alcohol consumption. And the reason I bring this up is because oftentimes during the perimenopausal years which is, you know, can start happening at age 35, 36, 37 for some women, and into the 40s. So the perimenopause of the years leading up to menopause, and during those years many women suffer with hot flashes and night sweats and joint pain and musculoskeletal pain and heart palpitations and anxiety and headaches and insomnia, and oftentimes we see that alcohol consumption increases. During this time We've had a paucity of appropriate treatments for women. Not all women can take hormone therapy. A lot of doctors are not educated. They get about eight hours of education in medical school and, quite frankly, that is not enough. So the reason I'm bringing up alcohol consumption is because it's such a societally accepted drug, basically, and in fact, if you're not drinking, people think that there's something wrong with you. But also during perimenopause, women will increase their alcohol consumption, according to some studies, because they want to deal with their perimenopausal symptoms. This is no way to deal with your perimenopausal symptoms. Oftentimes, though, there are women who will cut back on alcohol during this time because they realize they no longer have a tolerance for it, or it actually makes their perimenopausal symptoms worse. Alcohol consumption is associated with an increased risk for breast cancer, as is combined hormone therapy, and somebody asked me what is combined hormone therapy, and it's estrogen and progesterone. It's estrogen and progesterone. So when you take the two hormones in combination, and typically that is given daily. The other thing is that is a modifiable risk factor that you can do. Before I get to the ones that are not modifiable, the factors that you are not able to control, but these are things that you can control Excess body weight, although it's very difficult for a lot of women.
Speaker 1:We've seen, really, the tsunami of people who have gone on Ozempic and who have decreased their visceral fat, which is important, especially during perimenopause, menopause, postmenopause also decreased their lipids, decreased their blood sugar. Decrease their lipids, decrease their blood sugar, reducing their risk of cardiovascular disease. So I'm curious about what effect that will have on breast cancer. But reducing excess body weight is very important. Cutting out smoking is also important and there are ways to do that. There are medications and programs that can support you and help you to do this. And cutting out the fat in your diet. And you know what? There's just so much fat in diets today and we eat so many processed foods and that can be very harmful and increase your risk for breast cancer. So let me just review those quickly.
Speaker 1:Lack of exercise, consumption of alcohol In fact, this one is so important I just want to say this again Oftentimes, when women are treated for breast cancer, they are told do not consume alcohol any longer. That's how important that is. So let's just start with that one. It's number one alcohol consumption. Reduce your alcohol consumption. Increase your exercise, cut out smoking altogether, eliminate it. Try and reduce your excess body weight, cut out the fat in your diet and also really assess your risk factors for hormone therapy, combined hormone therapy in particular.
Speaker 1:Now, the things that you cannot control are when you started having your period or when you went into menopause. So late menopause and early menstruation seem to be associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, as is a family history never having given birth to children, previous atypical cells and dense breast tissue very important as well. If you've ever had chest wall radiation, that can increase your risk of breast cancer, and genetic mutations are associated with an increased risk of breast cancer as well, and Ashkenazi ancestry also is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer. So there are things that you cannot control, you cannot modify in your life. And then there are those factors that you cannot control you cannot modify in your life. And then there are those factors that you can modify.
Speaker 1:Again, it's very important to live a healthy lifestyle, and I know that I'm really bantering on about alcohol, but the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Abuse and Addiction has it right and it's no more than two drinks a week. I mean, actually they're having recommendations that no alcohol is good. A neuroscientist explained it to me one time. He said to me that you know people drink alcohol. It's absorbed into the gut, it gets reabsorbed into the cerebrospinal fluid. People go to sleep at night, their CSF, or cerebrospinal fluid, bathes their brain and their brains are getting bathed in alcohol and that is associated not only with an increased risk of breast cancer but also an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease. It's not good.
Speaker 1:Note that more than seven drinks a week increases your risk of heart disease and stroke and we have to really look at all of these factors. And I'm curious if, when patients go to their doctors, if the doctors are actually asking them and then doubling because everybody lies about how much alcohol that they consume the doctors are asking how much alcohol are you consuming? Because that's increasing your risk of heart disease and stroke, the number one killer of women. And three to six drinks a week increases your risk of developing colorectal cancer, for example. Not only breast cancer, but 85% of breast cancers occur in women that do not actually have a family history. So if you do have a sister, a mom, a close relative, a daughter who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, your risk doubles. Diagnosed with breast cancer, your risk doubles because you have that very close relative that has been diagnosed with breast cancer and it's just so sad because it does impact families and less than 15% of women with breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
Speaker 1:It does increase your risk, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it is an absolute. So, of course, as you age, your risk is increasing that you may get breast cancer. That is very important information because it's important that you do breast self-examinations. You have your doctor do them, you get mammograms and more and more we're hearing about dense breasts and a lot of women are enraged that we're not appropriately providing screening for women with dense breasts. It's very, very important and because women need a mammogram and they also need an ultrasound as well. You know, bottom line is women need to start getting the healthcare that is necessary. We are not little men. Women are an entity unto ourselves and you know it's so important that you utilize prevention.
Speaker 1:It's really important to change your lifestyle to cut out that alcohol. Increase your vegetables, increase your fruits in your diets as well. You reduce your risk, for example, of getting breast cancer. If you lose 10 pounds, you reduce your risk by 10%. For a woman who is overweight, she reduces her risk of getting breast cancer if she loses 20 pounds. This is why I'm very curious about these new medications like Wegovi and Ozempic the semaglutides to reduce weight for people, especially visceral fat, which is seemingly happening, and that's that fat that's in the abdomen, that surrounds the organs and can actually increase your risk of many diseases, not just breast cancer, but also heart disease as well, and also even increase your risk of falls and fractures. You know depression, anxiety. I've noticed that people on those and I'm not pushing them, but people who've tried to lose weight and have been unable to, and then they do after using Ozempic they're lighter, their moods are better. I mean, it's just a small thing that I've noticed about patients in my clinical practice.
Speaker 1:But it's also important not just to take the medication but also to change your diet. You actually have to start eating a healthy diet and 68% of breast cancers are preventable if you started having a healthy lifestyle when you were a child. So I'm talking to parents out there and parents who are you know what. I know it's busy, people are working inside and outside of the home, but think about the food that you were giving to your children. Don't make it all fast food, don't make it all convenient. You know it's important that kids get protein, low glycemic index vegetables, a little bit of starch, you know, have healthy meals and, of course, sit down at the table. 50% of breast cancers are preventable if your healthy lifestyle starts in midlife. So it's never too late to start living a healthy life. This is just so important and I hope it's not falling on deaf ears, but you know there's just such a tremendous sadness in my patients who have been diagnosed or have a past history of a diagnosis of breast cancer. It changes their lives in so many ways.
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Speaker 1:I want to review some of the signs of breast cancer and I just want to name some of the ones. I mean the obvious one is a lump that a woman may find in her breast, but something that women may not think about is a dimple. A dimple in the breast can be a sign of breast cancer. If your nipple retracts, that can also so goes in. That can also be a sign. Orange peel skin, you know. Thickening of the breast, hardening sores on your skin around your breast, in and around your breast. Nipple discharge needs to be investigated immediately whether it's spontaneous or it's bloody, or if it's clear, or if it's milky. Whatever Crust on your nipple as well, or if there's an area of warmth or redness, those can be signs of breast cancer. And so you know there's a myth that breast cancer always causes a lump. It doesn't always cause a lump. As I said, it can be discharged If anything changes with your breasts.
Speaker 1:My advice is go and see your doctor, because you're not necessarily going to find a lump, and it's very important that you are screened for breast cancer, because we need to find breast cancer and any cancer as soon as possible, in the early stages, and it can often start years before you find something. And so the only way that we can save lives is to actually do screening, do your screening mammograms diagnostic mammograms if you need those, and early detection. I cannot overstate that it's so important and that can change your treatment outcomes. It can actually change the type of treatment that you may be advised, and so that is really important as well. You know, some of the treatments are radiation, chemotherapy, surgery, lumpectomy, mastectomy, double mastectomy, and you know, if a person's cancer is small and there's no positive modes, they may be able to avoid chemo.
Speaker 1:Another reason to find your cancer early and to stay on it um, people, women who have stage one breast cancer, and actually, as I mentioned, guys can get it too, but it's far more common in women. But so, people who have stage one, there is a 99.8% five-year survival rate. That is pretty good. But stage four, it dropped significantly to about 23%. And so, and you know, people think of survival rates and you know I often think of this because they think, oh, you're going to survive. You know five years, you have a 98%, but what did you go through for those five years? Did you go through chemotherapy and radiation and nausea, vomiting, headaches, inability to work, loss of job, impact on finances, impact on relationships, vaginal dryness, painful sex, divorce. I mean, you know there's a significant number of women who divorce after a cancer diagnosis because some people just cannot handle it.
Speaker 1:And so it's important that we screen for cancer. How do we do that? As I mentioned, breast self-examination. But it's not always a lump. Keep that in mind and then have your doctor do a breast exam as well. We have 2D and 3D mammography, ultrasound, mris for the high-risk patients, and there can be contrast enhanced mammography and molecular breast imaging as well.
Speaker 1:And not thermography is not a way to diagnose breast cancer. Not thermography is not a way to diagnose breast cancer, and you know there's so many ways. You can go online and view some of the ways to examine your breasts, but it's good to do it in the shower. Lift your arm up your breasts are wet and go in a circular motion starting from the outside. Feel the nipple, look for any discharge. You know what? Don't forget your girls. Take a look at them, feel them. Ask your partner if they feel anything to mention it to you, because it could be the gift of life.
Speaker 1:Mammograms are not easy. A lot of people worry about radiation. There's a very small dose of radiation and in fact it's comparable to what you actually get when you're going outside, so it's a very small amount and does not increase your risk of breast cancer or any types of cancer at all. And in fact, mammography is so amazing that breast cancer mortality has decreased by close to 50% since screening mammography began in 1988. Yeah, that's the only time. That's as long as we've been doing this. That's it. You'd think it would be longer. It probably should have been longer, but that's how long we've been doing them and we need to continue doing them, and you need to continue doing your screening mammograms as well. Doing them and you need to continue doing your screening mammograms as well.
Speaker 1:The women who have mammograms are 40% less likely to die from breast cancer than those who do not have mammograms. So an annual mammogram, starting at age 40, saves the most lives. Of course, this depends on healthcare societies in society. It depends on doctors, it depends on compliance and women remembering this as well, but sometimes it's every other year that it's done. One in six breast cancers are diagnosed in women in their 40s. Think about that. And so that's the time of life.
Speaker 1:You can make some significant changes. You can change your diet. You can reduce your alcohol or eliminate alcohol altogether. You can stop smoking. Finally, because you really don't want to be 70 or 80 and still smoking, because, believe me, you're going to be getting chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and it's going to be difficult to breathe, likely be on oxygen, and it is brutal. So great time to stop smoking and increasing your exercise, cutting down on your fat.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes perimenopause is associated with increasing weight and also sometimes women will cut down. They're not as busy You're not running around with little kids during this time and, as I say, to deal with perimenopausal symptoms, they are often drinking and so or they increase their consumption of alcohol, and it's a very stressful time for women. They're often caring for their young children. Aging parents this is the sandwich generation on steroids. You know they're working inside and outside the home. Women are still doing 75% of the domestic work at home. I know guys you're mowing the lawn Hello. Once a week you're snowmobiling, whatever. It's not that often. It's not the daily grind of keeping the place going and I know that for myself in my house. I mean, if I don't do the housework, I mean I will say occasionally my husband does laundry, but for the most part, if I don't empty the dishwasher, nobody empties the dishwasher. If the kitchen doesn't get cleaned by me, it doesn't get cleaned by anybody.
Speaker 1:And this is such a significant illness diagnosis, significant um, illness diagnosis, disease. You know it's um, it's really, really horrific and we really need to prevent breast cancer and the way to do. That is through education, you know, and um, it's so important that that we follow um our doctor's advice and we advocate to improve screening. So, for example, physicians disagree with the recommendations from the Canadian Task Force on preventive healthcare that recommends against routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years that's when one in six women will get it, of course. Recommends screening mammography every two to three years for women aged 50 to 74 years. Recommends against performing breast self-exam. Recommends against performing clinical breast examination, against supplemental screening for women with dense breasts. I mean, this is absolutely crazy. We need to advocate for this and you know, oftentimes, you know women will start to advocate after it affects them. We need to do it before then. You know that is very important, you important and don't be afraid to go and get your mammogram. It's likely going to be okay. 93% of women will get a normal result and only 7% will need additional tests and it's typically one or more mammographic views. Some will need an ultrasound and 16% will need a needle biopsy and this is very simple procedure, and four will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Are afraid, they're afraid of the results that they're going to get, but it's so important that you go and get your screening mammography and advocate for increasing that frequency as well.
Speaker 1:You know we really don't know as much as we can about cancers that you know, at some point we're going to learn so much. But you know, what we know is that some cancers grow slowly. Some cancers lie dormant for a long time and they're indolent as well. Slow growing. Don't know enough about cancers. We don't know which ones will become life-threatening. We don't know why some have metastasized so quickly without any symptoms. It's, you know, it's something we really need to think about and we really need to accept the screening risks in order to reduce the likelihood of breast cancer and then death for so many women at such an early age in their 40s, when they're raising children.
Speaker 1:You know, overdiagnosis is a bit of a possibility. You know that some cancers might never surface on their own and only found when screening was done, so really no need to know about them. And then people will go on to did they need the chemo or not? And the chemo can have such negative side effects and adverse events associated with radiation et cetera. You know, did we really need to treat that? You know well, you know it's worth taking that risk to save so many lives. If you have any questions, you can always email me nursetalkathotmailcom, and let's hope that we in this country and in both countries and around the world, we increase the women or access to healthcare and the proper screening treatments for women who've had breast cancer, women with dense breasts and women who have genetic mutations or have had previous lymphomas and other cancers as well, because they need more than a mammogram, and you know it is so important and you know the issue with dense breasts and we're hearing a bit more about that lately is that you know it's just more difficult to find a cancer when you have dense breasts, when you have more difficult to find a cancer when you have dense breasts, when you have thickened densities or fatty areas.
Speaker 1:Some women have extremely dense breasts. Of course, it's on a continuum as well and you can only find out that you have dense breasts by viewing a mammogram. It's not by your breast size or what your breasts feel like. Oftentimes sisters will have dense breasts, but there is software that we can use to measure the level of density and only 60% of eligible women have mammograms, so the rest cannot find out their density and once you find out that you have dense breasts. You actually need to have more investigations, you have to have ultrasound, and it's so important to know if you have dense breasts so that you can understand the implications associated with that. And in fact, we have in Canada 3.6 million women over the age of 40 who have dense breasts, and at least 600,000 women are in the highest density category and there's four categories there which increases their risk, you know tremendously, because it increases the risk of cancer. It's an independent risk factor and it's actually more of a risk than having a close family relative, like a mother or sister, with breast cancer. And so it's very important that you know this about yourself and you also get the proper screening as well. And so we're going to be learning more and more about dense breasts, because this is an issue and we're going to see more women diagnosed with breast cancer who have dense breasts. So very important that you get your screening mammogram plus your ultrasound, because it's the only way that malignant breast masses can be found in dense breasts. So a lot of information today. Speak to your doctor about this information, don't skip your mammogram and just live as healthy of a life as you possibly can.
Speaker 1:I'm Maureen McGrath and this is the Health Show Podcast. Thanks so much for tuning in and being with me this evening In the name of your health. I'm Maureen McGrath. Thanks so much for tuning in. I'm Maureen McGrath and you have been listening to the Sunday Night Health Show Podcast. If you want to hear this podcast or any other segment again, feel free to go to iTunes, spotify or Google Play or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. You can always email me nursetalk at hotmailcom or text the show 604-765-9287. That's 604-765-9287. Or head on over to my website for more information. Maureenmcgrathcom, it's been my pleasure to spend this time with you.
Speaker 1:This podcast is brought to you by Life360 Innovations, creators of the Contino urethral insert, a non-surgical, health Canada licensed medical device for men with stress urinary incontinence. Contino is easy to use and blocks the flow of urine without the need for adult diapers or pads. More than just a medical device, the Contino care program connects you with experienced medical professionals and creates a personalized treatment plan that provides ongoing support so you can get back to life. Go to MyContinocom to see if Contino is right for you and book your free continence assessment. Get bladder leakage control with Contino and get back to living. Remember, go to MyContinocom. That's M-Y-C-O-N-T-I-N-O dot com.