by Karen Oslund Knowing your body is one of the best ways to spot an early warning sign for cancer, but what does that mean? If you, like me, are middle aged, you might be more accepting of aches and pains than you once were, resigned to the fact that as we age, more things are going to bother us. But paying attention to a new pain, growth, discoloration, hoarseness, swallowing change, or weight loss, [...]
By Karen Oslund, Executive Director At the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County, every year we help hundreds of people who have cancer, and some of them did everything “right.” It is important to say this first, because although we can reduce our risk for cancer by making healthy lifestyle choices, we can never eliminate it completely, and a cancer diagnosis should never induce self-blame. We are all at risk for cancer. That said, a [...]
By Karen Oslund Executive Director, Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County Recently, a story on Facebook caught my attention and set off my inner alarm bells. “Sunscreen Causes Skin Cancer!” was the headline. The story went on to claim that the best defense against skin cancer is exposure to the sun. No! This is Fake Health News! Fake Health News draws from the same bag of tricks as fake political news. The writers establish an [...]
Current and Former Smokers: Eat Your Fruits and Vegetables (Source: Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, February 23, 2017) Each additional daily serving of fruits and vegetables that smokers and former smokers eat is associated with a 4 to 8 percent lower risk of their developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the third leading cause of death in the United States, a new study found. The study, in Thorax, looked at more than 44,000 Swedish men, ages [...]
A disturbing article is headlining the health-related news this week: there is an alarming upward trend in the incidence of colorectal cancers in younger people. According to Rebecca Siegel, an epidemiologist with the American Cancer Society, the incidence of colorectal cancer in older adults continues to decline, but, “people born in 1990 have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer compared to the risk someone born in 1950 faced [...]
My first month as Executive Director of the Cancer Resource Centers of Mendocino County is drawing to a close and my mind is swimming with hope and possibility. I can already say that I am profoundly moved by the compassionate, very personal work of the CRC staff to ease the minds, relieve the suffering, and make the journey easier for the cancer patients and families we work with every day. I am thrilled to step [...]
Healthy Habits Lower Your Cancer Risk We all are aware of the fact that life style choices impact our overall health and that many types of cancer are directly associated with unhealthy habits. Tobacco and Cancer Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women and the most preventable form of cancer death in the world. Besides lung cancer, tobacco use also increases the risk for [...]
CANCER SCREENING GUIDELINES BY AGE AND GENDER (Source: American Cancer Society) Colon Cancer – Women and Men Ages 20 to 49 Find out if you are at higher than average risk for colon cancer because of family history, genetic disorders, or other factors. If you are not, testing is not needed for this age group. If you have an increased risk of colon cancer, talk with your health care provider about a plan for colon [...]
Healthy Lifestyle Choices (Source: American Cancer Society) Habits that (statically) Reduce Your risk of Getting Cancer Stay Away from Tobacco. There is no safe form of tobacco. If you smoke or chew tobacco, stop! Encourage the people around you to quit. See ACS’s Guide to Quitting Smoking (http://www.cancer.org/healthy/stayawayfromtobacco/guidetoquittingsmoking/index) or Guide to Quitting Smokeless Tobacco to learn more about quitting. Stay away from secondhand smoke. It can cause cancer, as well as many additional health problems. [...]
Skin Cancer Warning Signs (source: The Skin Cancer Foundation) Throughout the year, you should examine your skin from head to toe once a month, looking for any suspicious lesions, even if you practice sun safety. Self-exams can help you identify potential skin cancers early, when they can almost always be cured. For a successful self-exam, you need to know what you’re looking for. To spot either melanomas or non-melanoma skin cancers (such as basal cell [...]