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Risk
Factor
We
do not yet know exactly what causes breast cancer, but we do
know that certain risk factors are linked to the disease. A
risk factor is anything that increases a person's chance of
getting a disease such as cancer. Different cancers have
different risk factors. Some risk factors, such as smoking,
can be controlled. Others, like a person's age or family
history, can't be changed. But having a risk factor, or even
several, doesn't mean that a person will get the disease.
Some women who have one or more risk factors never get breast
cancer. And most women who do get breast cancer don't have any
risk factors. While all women are at risk for breast cancer,
the factors listed below can increase a woman's chances of
having the disease.
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SECOND OPINION
Once
you receive your doctor's opinion about what treatments
you need, you have the right to get more advice before you
make up your mind. Other doctors' opinions can help you
make one of the most important decisions of your life.
Getting another doctor's advice is normal medical
practice, and your doctor can help you with this effort.
Many health insurance companies require and will pay for
other opinions. Another opinion can help you:
- Confirm
or adjust your treatment plan based on the diagnosis
and stage of the disease.
- Get
answers to your questions and concerns and help you
become comfortable with your decisions.
- Decide
about taking part in a research study of new breast
cancer treatment methods.
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Meditation and Stress
Reduction
The pressures of life are so
great that they affect our health. Stress can bring about
tension, fear, anxiety and depression. We know that our state
of mind affects our health and our risk of disease. Our mental
state can actually cause stress related illness. When you
consider that an estimated 60 to 90 percent of all doctor
office visits may be stress-related, the benefits of
meditation become obvious. Under stress, there is enhanced
sympathetic nervous system activity, and elevated blood
pressure, heart rate, and respiration. Circulation changes and
blood moves away from the periphery into muscles and vital
organs. This is why a person often looks pale when they're
stressed out. In this state, learning ability and other mental
functions tend to be inhibited.
We can relate to the negative
effect of stress as it relates to increased risk of heart
disease blood pressure, skin problems, allergies, fatigue and
even immune suppression that would make cancer harder to avoid
or treat.
But just as negative or
traumatic events can adversely affect us, so, too, can we use
our minds to influence ourselves in the direction of health.
Thoughts and feelings associated with love and intimacy, for
example, are known to enhance immune function and have
recently been shown to prevent or limit heart disease.
Psychotherapy that breaks through emotional blocks rooted in
early childhood trauma can bring about a healing of
neurological pathways. Even religious faith -- the belief in
Divinity can in times of illness support healing.
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