WOULD LIKE YOUR OPINION AND DISCUSS BC

shy violet said:

I was taking care of my mom
I was taking care of my mom at home with advanced ovarian for two years. She had a difficult life as needed to be on IV fluids 24/7 and had to eat constantly...she had a high, short intestine after surgery with ostomy bag...so her body absorbed very very little. Anyway point is yes stress and I had a knot near collarbone during that time but could not get help because I had no insurance. Lost my job when FMLA ran out. A year later the pain was so severe I went to a womens clinic and finally got diagnosed and lump had grown out of my body and was 8 cm by 8 cm...

Now why I can't totally say it was stress is I believe we have a journey and life learning plan from God. The whole time my mom was sick I was angry and mostly at breast cancer. That is who was getting the money and research and drug help. Ovarian cancer has so far to go with not so much money. I didn't understand. So I get breast cancer with no family history. I believe God wanted me to really travel that road and learn what I could not grasp. I have learned things that would have made me a better caregiver...I know now that research at breast cancer is shared and benefits ovarian and other cancers...I see a stronger push from ovarian patients for help and research. I am not angry at God or anyone. I am blessed because I have a way to help by sharing me and what I have learned...love, shy

This study on stress
has been going on for awhile. I am a 15 year murder victim survivor, I worked full time, raised three kids, married, and life in general is/was hectic. I think stress does ADD to the components of cancer, but I don't think it can actually CAUSE cancer. If so, either there would be more zoned out people on substances, OR ........................

Stress does lower the immune factor. Some people thing of cancer as an immune disease. Lower a defense, up it pops.

I am now a 4 year survivor. The past two years, I am the primary caregiver for an elderly parent. The stress never leaves. Do I worry about stress causing my cancer to return? No, but I do worry about reoccurance.

I guess what I'm saying is as I move forward in life, I seem to trade one "stress" for another. The stress from an unsolved murder case is always with me.....life's problems never go.....new ones (my parent--errant sibling) pop up. YET, I go on, stay vigilant, and until there is concrete proof that stress is the actually CAUSE, I don't think I'll buy into that one.

No Stress
For quite a few years my life had been quite stress free prior to Dx. Have there ever been times of stress yes but not in many (15) years. Hubby is retired USN so there were always stresses raising the boys and keeping everything on the level when he was deployed.

There is no history of any form of cancer in either side of my family for 4 generation until me. in my case I believe it is a cumulative effect of environment. Between 18 - 24 months old my tonsils were taken out and because I was so young and they were so 'rotten', radiation was done to my throat to keep them from growing back (surprise 'they' grew back anyway and I still have them LOL) - back then in 1948 the radiation they used was not very nice at all. I was raised on USA and then USAF bases, I was USA and married to Hubby for 19 1/2 yrs of his 20 in USN (he was a PR/Parachute Rigger so we were always 'with' the airplanes) so I've almost always been around plane/jet exhaust. As a small child Daddy was stationed near where above ground nuclear tests were done. I was a hairdresser for years, have done screen printing and upholstery. We now live under one of the flight paths of a B1B base. All of that along with a few other things and that I'm IBC says to me it's the culmination of my life expiences

Susan

pinkflutterby said:

Stress, I was under LOADS of
Stress, I was under LOADS of stress went through a very difficult divorce after a horrible marriage he was mentally and phycially abusive to me and the kids. so yes yes yes for me

Stress, stress and more stress.
This is difficult to prove because I believe it is how we handle stress that can effect our immune systems and not the life events themselves. I was under great stress due to having started a new business and my son's serious health issues. Some people have stressful lives but do not develop cancer but in my case, I had terrible coping skills. I had a history of taking on other peoples problems and did not ask for help when I needed it. Not anymore! I am Co-Dependant No More. That's a good book by the way.

Roseann

Part of Puzzle
I don't think stress causes cancer but I think it's a part of the whole puzzle. I was under a lot of stress before my dx. My mother-in-law who was my best friend and sounding board received a dx of pancreatic cancer and died about 4 days later. The same week she was dx my mother was dx with Stage 4 lung cancer - she lasted for 8 months and I had to travel on a weekly basis to see her. In between my youngest daughter had a wedding. My MIL died in Oct., the wedding was in April and my mother died in June. All pretty darn stressful.

Interesting topic. Hugs, Sally

contributing factor, not cause
Personally, I think there are some people who have a predisposition for cancer because of inherited genetic traits, lifestyle, invironment......If one of those people also has an unusual period of stress like what you are talking about, and if their response to stress includes physical reactions, then stress might be one of the many things that results in cancer for that individual. However, I think there are really too many possible variables to say that stress causes cancer. There are many people who go through stressful times and come through without getting cancer, and there are many people who get cancer (myself included) without such stress, who can say? If stress caused cancer, then I should have gotten it when my first child was stillborn, or when my Sister was diagnosed, or one of the many times I have moved to a new city....instead I got it 4 years after my Sister died and after we had been living in the same house with the same job, kids doing well, etc, etc for 3 years. In the end I think cancer just happens, who knows how/why?

Hopefully this makes sense, seof

RE said:

Nope
Hello Annette,

For me life was peachy, no deep stress all was good. I have read where stress is a contributor because it lowers your antibodies which then leaves you open to any and all illnesses not just cancer. I have had bc three times and the last time I was 8 years out and no stress once again life was peachy.

I did ask my onco did i do this to myself by being heavy or by not eating enough fruits and veges (by the way I have always eaten a lot of both and lean mean only) he said no I did not do this to myself it simply happens and we are not at fault for our illness. So anyway for what its worth that is my two cents.

(¯`v´¯)
.`*.¸.*RE´

Not sure what I think on
Not sure what I think on this as far as a cause of cancer. I had been through a very stressful 3 years before dx though. God Bless
(((Hugs))) Janice

cahjah75 said:

not sure if it's contributing
or not.... Since menopause I gained 80#s and even though I had lost about 20#s I managed to finally lose another 25#s last fall. Hubby and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary in April by flying to Hawaii and taking our first cruise. We then spent a week with my youngest sister & bil in WA and had a wonderful time. 5 days after returning home found out my mom was in the IC in hospital with a blood disorder. 3 weeks later she was doing ok and I found out I had bc. I actually stressed out a bit to tell my mom because I'm the 3rd of 4 daughters with bc dx. My grandmother died of bc and her oldest sister (90) was dx 22 years ago and had mastectomy. She's doing fine. My mom needed to heal and didn't need the stress but I'm happy to say she's doing well. My younger of the 3 sisters has a recurrence of DCIS in her other breast after 9 years and will have a lumpectomy and rads again on Oct 14. This is what is stressful! My other sister is an 8 year survivor and sees the same oncologist I do. So, it's in my family and not sure if stress had anything to do with it.
Char

NO stress here...
AND I always felt I would NEVER have cancer in my lifetime! Go figure.

sal314 said:

Not As Much Stress As I Have Now
When I was diagnosed, I had a little stress, but being that I'm a 9 year survivor, my stress level SINCE my diagnoses is 100 time worse. I have two kids with special needs and the stress is always there. And...it will never let up. I'm also dealing with the new diagnoses of my father having terminal esophageal cancer.

Do I believe stress caused my cancer? No. Do I believe it can cause a recurrance? No. What I do believe is that it does reek havoc with your immune sytem and hormone levels, thus making it less able to repair itself and do it's job effectively.

I'm actually thinking that a heart attack is more likely going to do me in than a recurrance of cancer! LOL. That's why I work so hard at trying to keep my stress to a minimum. Easer said than done!!

Sally

I know it doesn't help
Yes, I've had "supressed" stress, meaning I'm the type that buries it deep. Apparently, that's not good. Stressful childhood, marriage...job...etc...

I had this overwhelming need to know what exactly caused my cancer because how was I going to know what to avoid if I didn't know what caused it? Well, now I believe it's an array of things such as genetics, environment, stress and God only knows what else.

My Mother took DES while preganant with me to lessen the chances of a miscarriage (she had 2 before me). Here's one of the many articles on the drug DES on the Internet. I'm a DES daughter...read on...

Over the years, DES has been linked to various forms of cancer and reproductive problems in both male and female children born to women who took the drug.

For years, it has been associated with cervical cancer and a rare vaginal cancer in younger women, but since 2002, studies have linked DES to breast cancer as well.

Diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic hormone also known as Stilboestrol, was given to pregnant women to lower the risk of miscarriage beginning in the 1940s and into the mid-1970s. The drug was withdrawn from use for this indication in 1975, after its dangers to mothers and their unborn children became apparent.

Those women exposed to the drug suffered from infertility due to withered fallopian tubes and faced five times the risk of ectopic pregnancy. They were also up to three times more likely to miscarry, according to the August 7, 2006 Daily Mail.

When the problems caused by exposure in the womb became known, DES daughters were advised to have annual exams with smears taken from the vagina and cervix, and those women with vaginal tissue abnormalities, such as adenosis, were found to have nearly 50% more auto-immune diseases than DES daughters without such abnormalities.

Medical experts say the biggest problem has been that no one knows how many women took the drug and therefore people need to be made aware of the problem so they can ask their mothers if they recall taking DES during pregnancy and seek proper screening and care.

"Worldwide," according to the Daily Mail article, "six million women are believed to have taken it," before the drug was withdrawn in 1975, when studies revealed its adverse effects on unborn children.

Stress
Annette,
I can say I wasn't under any more than normal stress. Actually my life was on an even keel for once. My husband and I were actually at a good place. My son and DIL had a wonderful set of twins. I think if this wasn't the case I wouldn't have done as well as I have.

Janie