A Breast Cancer Question(s)?!


Question: I like reading about this problem so I found some stuff that I have questions about. Maybe you can answer them?

"Women who get their periods early (before age 12) or went through menopause late (after age 55) have an increased risk for breast cancer."
Question 1: So if a woman got her period before the age of 12, AND ALSO went through menipause after the age of 55, does that double her chances? The way that this statement is worded makes it sound like a either-or, but I'm wondering about both?

"Childbirth -- Women who have never had children or who had them only after age 30 have an increased risk for breast cancer. Being pregnant more than once or becoming pregnant at an early age reduces your risk of breast cancer."
Question 2: What does having children have anything to do with reducing breast cancer risk?


Answers: I like reading about this problem so I found some stuff that I have questions about. Maybe you can answer them?

"Women who get their periods early (before age 12) or went through menopause late (after age 55) have an increased risk for breast cancer."
Question 1: So if a woman got her period before the age of 12, AND ALSO went through menipause after the age of 55, does that double her chances? The way that this statement is worded makes it sound like a either-or, but I'm wondering about both?

"Childbirth -- Women who have never had children or who had them only after age 30 have an increased risk for breast cancer. Being pregnant more than once or becoming pregnant at an early age reduces your risk of breast cancer."
Question 2: What does having children have anything to do with reducing breast cancer risk?

Interesting and sensible questions!
1) "Increased chances" doesn't mean "double". It could be that one factor increases your chance of something by 10% and another factor increases it by 5%. Even if you have both factors together, your chances are still only increased by 15%. Although sometimes it's more complicated than that and having both factors changes your risk in a different way, by acting "syngeneically" (ie the total is more than the sum of the parts, e.g. 25%) or to a lesser degree, where the total is less than the sum of the parts, but still more than either one alone (e.g. 12%) I don't know what the exact case is for the two risk factors you mention.

2) Having a baby alters your hormones significantly. Your breasts are doing what they were designed for - making milk to feed a baby. Even if you don't actually breastfeed they still go through the process of getting ready to make milk. Breastfeeding for 12+ months over your lifetime (could be 6 months each with 2 babies) reduces your breast cancer risk too. Also, while you are pregnant and breast feeding you don't have periods. So your body does not have the regular cycle of hormonal changes.

3) Yes it could be a decrease in size. Tumours can regress (shrink) naturally in response to changes in your body, or if your immune system starts to attack the tumour. Breast cancers in particular are often sensitive to oestrogen, so as the level of oestrogen rises and falls with your monthly cycle, it is possible that the tumour could grow and shrink. Shrinking could also be a bad sign - that the tumour is breaking up and parts of it are migrating through your bloodstream. This is called metastasis, but it usually occurs at the single-cell level and not in big enough chunks that you would feel a difference.

You are reading statistics only. Actually what they trying to say is, the more periods you have the higher your chances are of getting breast cancer. Therefor, if you are more often pregnant you have your period less.
But this is only a statistics and there a people who have breast cancer in their 30's and 40's and have gotten their period after the age of 12 years and they do have children.
An acquaintance of mine got breast cancer in her early 30's and she was breast feeding her 2nd baby at that time. She was trim and lived a clean life. She is not with us any longer.
Most of the times cancer is found on Mammograms
and no lump is present or can't be felt.

Basically, to sum up these statistics: estrogen (and progesterone too, but estrogen is the main culprit) is a carcinogen. The greater your lifetime exposure to estrogen, the greater your risk of breast cancer. In addition, earlier exposure to estrogen has a greater effect than later exposure. That's why having children earlier in life counts more than later in life in terms of reducing your risk of breast cancer. Also, how early you start your period and how late your period lasts is partially dependent on your level of exercise, amount of calories in your diet, and xenoestrogens (estrogens in the environment). So starting your period early can be a sign of exposure to these things that in and of themselves will likely raise your risk of cancer.

Having children alters your hormone exposure. Also, breast feeding reduces your risk of cancer because it reduces the amount of bad chemicals in your breasts, like dioxin and such.





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