According to the CDC, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women after skin cancer, and around 270,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer every year. Medical research about this disease has progressed in leaps and bounds over the past few decades. Breast cancer is now a very treatable condition, but one thing remains the same– the earlier you catch it, the better.
Although younger women are still at risk, breast cancer primarily affects women who are over 50, or in their menopausal years. This means that as you age, it becomes more important than ever to perform self breast exams and get mammograms so that any unusual changes in your breasts can be noted and monitored. However, menopause comes with a host of changes to your breasts that are completely normal, so how do you know what’s a problem and what’s a typical sign of your body aging? This list will help you determine when to worry about the risk of breast cancer, so keep reading to learn more!
Normal Breasts
Lumps
Lumps in the breast are one of the most well-known signs of breast cancer, and feeling a lump can make any woman’s stomach drop. However, not all lumps in the breast are cancerous, or even abnormal! If you feel a lump that is not painful, that is smooth and regular in its shape and texture, and that moves freely under the skin and tissue instead of being fixed in one spot, it’s probably something benign like a cyst or a fibroadenoma. You should still tell your doctor about it, but it’s likely not a problem.
General Soreness
Pain can be a sign of serious problems in the breast, but it’s also a normal symptom of hormonal changes in the body. Sore, uncomfortable breasts can indicate PMS, pregnancy, or menopause. As a rule of thumb, if your breast pain is affecting both sides and can be felt across the majority of the breast instead of one specific spot, it isn’t worrisome, especially if it’s accompanied by other signs of hormonal fluctuations.
Inverted Nipples
Part of the reason regular self breast exams are so important is because recognizing signs of cancer involves learning what’s normal for you, and noticing if something changes. Inverted nipples are a major warning sign of cancer, but only if your nipples suddenly invert. If you’ve always had nipples that point in, that’s normal!
Discharge
Discharge can sometimes be a cause for concern, but many women experience perfectly normal and healthy nipple discharge in their lives. You should always make a note of any nipple discharge that isn’t breast milk and tell your doctor about it, but it’s most likely not something you need to worry about.
Size Change
Once you’re past puberty, it would certainly be convenient if your breasts stayed the same size, but in reality that’s often not the case! Many things can cause a woman’s breasts to fluctuate in size, from the menstrual cycle to pregnancy and breastfeeding. You may notice changes in how your breasts look as you enter menopause. Your falling estrogen levels can cause your breasts to lose volume and look smaller. However, if your change in breast size is affecting both sides equally, it can be considered normal!
Warning Signs of Breast Cancer
Abnormal Lumps
Cancerous lumps in the breast are sometimes painful and sometimes painless. They are often “fixed,” meaning they’re stuck to one spot in the breast and are not easy to move. Lumps that are a sign of cancer are also often irregular in the way they feel, being rough or bumpy instead of smooth. If you feel a lump like this in your breast or under your arm, make an appointment with your doctor right away.
Skin Changes
A common sign of breast cancer is “dimpling” of the skin in a specific area, sometimes called orange peeling because of the way it makes the skin’s texture look like an orange. Areas that are red, dry, or feel thicker than the areas around them can also be warning signs that should be checked out by a doctor.
Suddenly Inverted Nipples
Having inverted nipples is normal, but having your nipples become inverted suddenly after never being that way before is something that you should call your doctor about immediately.
Abnormal Discharge
While some nipple discharge is normal, it can also be a sign of cancer, so you should always tell a doctor about any nipple discharge you experience, especially if you notice that your discharge is bloody.
Abnormal Size or Shape Change
Changes in the size and shape of the breast that can’t be explained by a hormonal change like PMS or menopause are a definite cause for concern. This is especially true if you notice that a change is only affecting one breast and not the other, or if you’re noticing that one particular area of the breast is larger or looks like it’s bulging.
Taking Care of Your Health
Monthly Self-Exams
Even if you’ve never done them before, it’s never too late to make doing self breast examinations a part of your routine. Once a month, go through the steps of a self-exam and make note of anything that seems out of the ordinary to bring up to your doctor. This is important not just to look for lumps and other signs of cancer, but so that you can get familiar with your breasts and know when something is normal for you and when something is new!
Annual Exams and Mammograms
Mammograms aren’t fun, but they are vitally important to lowering your risk of breast cancer and allowing any problems in your breast to be caught early enough to be treatable. The American Cancer Society recommends that women get a mammogram every year from ages 45 to 54 (or even younger, especially if you have a family history of breast cancer) and every two years from age 55 onwards. You should also be getting a breast cancer screening from your doctor or gynecologist every year! These exams can not only allow you to catch breast cancer at a treatable stage, but they can make the treatment process far easier and more painless. Their importance can’t be overstated, so if you’ve been putting off your mammogram or screening, now is the time to schedule it!
Breast cancer risk is a part of life for women, especially as you enter menopause, but it doesn’t have to be something that scares you if you follow these steps and make sure you’re getting your regular exams. To learn more about menopause and women’s hormonal health, you can continue to read our blog here!
Breast Cancer Awareness Month has drawn to a close, but the time to be paying attention to the health of your breasts isn’t just during October, it’s all year round. While breast cancer is more treatable and has a higher survival rate than ever before, it’s still best to catch it as early as possible, meaning you should be extremely conscious of any potential symptoms, including pain and changes in your breasts.
The symptoms of menopause and the signs of breast cancer can occasionally overlap. As your body enters the early stages of this transition, changes to your breasts are common, and it can be hard to tell what’s normal and what is a cause for concern. To be safe, it’s best to make sure you get your regular mammograms and perform your monthly self-exams. These are some normal breast-related symptoms of menopause, and some other ones that should warrant a check with your doctor!
Normal Menopause Symptoms
Pain or Tenderness
Any time your hormones get out of balance, whether for an oncoming period, a new pregnancy, menopause, or a whole host of other reasons, your breasts can feel sensitive and sore. During menopause, it becomes less predictable than it was with PMS. Take note of any pain or tenderness for good measure, but unless it’s severe or persistent, it’s usually not anything to worry about!
Changes in Size and Shape
The dropping levels of estrogen in your body as you enter menopause can affect the size, shape, and look of your breasts. You may notice that they lose density and fullness, and they may appear to be a completely different size or shape than they were when you were younger, especially if you’ve breastfed children in the past. These changes are normal and many women experience them during menopause.
Lumps or Masses
Feeling a lump or mass in your breast is enough to get any woman’s heart racing, but not every lump means cancer. Cysts are a common cause of breast lumps and are nothing to be concerned about, especially if you’ve been performing your monthly self-exams over the years and you know that you’re prone to this kind of mass. Lymph nodes also might feel like a small lump but are perfectly normal. However, other kinds of lumps can be dangerous– keep reading below to learn how to tell the difference.
Talk to Your Doctor
Hard or Fixed Lumps
Lumps in your breast that are soft, have defined margins (i.e. edges that are regular and easy to feel) and are mobile, meaning they can be moved around by touch, are usually benign and not dangerous to your health. You should still discuss them with your doctor if they concern you, but they don’t typically indicate cancer.
Lumps that are hard, have irregular borders, and are fixed (meaning they can’t be easily moved by touch) can be signs of breast cancer. If you find a lump, mass, or growth in your breast that fits this description, you should inform your doctor of it right away.
Nipple Changes or Discharge
Changes in the shape and size of your breast are normal during menopause, but you should be very aware of changes in your nipples, particularly if your nipples invert suddenly (or start pointing inwards when they used to point out). Unexplained nipple discharge is also a sign that something is amiss and should be discussed with your doctor.
Skin Changes
A skin effect called “orange peeling” is a common sign of breast cancer. This means that the skin on a particular area of your breast takes on a dimpled appearance, like the skin of an orange. This is something you should look out for when you perform your regular self breast exams. You should also keep an eye out for any redness, rashes, or irritation on the skin of your breasts. Some kinds of cancer won’t cause a lump but will present with these symptoms instead, and any unexplained skin irritation on your breasts is something to tell your doctor about.
Lopsided Size or Shape Changes
For the most part, as long as changes in the size, shape, and appearance of your breasts are symmetrical, they’re not anything to be too worried about. However, if you notice a sudden change like a swelling or shrinkage of the breast on one side but not the other, it’s definitely something to make a note of and get checked out.
The changes that occur in your body during menopause are easy to get scared by. It’s a time when a lot is shifting and altering, and it’s only natural to be concerned about your health. However, if you keep in mind what’s considered a normal breast change and what’s not when it comes to menopause, it should help to set your mind at ease. If you want to learn more about women’s health and taking care of yourself during menopause, continue to read our blog here at Renewed Vitality!
Being diagnosed with and experiencing breast cancer is extraordinarily difficult for both patients and loved ones. For breast cancer survivors, there are thankfully a few reliable options that can improve and restore quality of life to similar levels, pre-diagnosis. Hormone therapy is one such option for breast cancers that are sensitive to hormones.
Hormone therapy to treat breast cancer can be a great option after undergoing surgery to decrease the chance that the cancer will return. Such hormone therapy may also be used to reduce the size of a tumor before surgery, increasing the probability that the cancer will be removed in its entirety. Even if a patient’s cancer has spread to other parts of the body, hormone therapy for breast cancer may help control it.
Let’s take a closer look at how proper hormonal therapy works and can benefit breast cancer survivors.
Hormones and Hormone Therapy
Starting with the basics, hormones are essentially chemical messengers that regulate specific functions in the body, including reproduction. Hormones are created and released by many glands in the body and eventually enter the bloodstream, where they circulate to other tissues across the body.
In terms of hormone therapy, the most common forms of breast cancer are either designed to block hormones from binding to receptors on cancer cells or to decrease the body’s creation of hormones. More specifically, hormone therapy is typically used for breast cancers that are found to have receptors for the naturally-occurring hormones estrogen or progesterone. Hormone therapy can prevent these hormones from attaching to cancer cells, which stops the cells from growing, and as a result, prevents or delays breast cancer recurrence. Hormone therapy can also reduce or prevent the occurrence of a second, independent breast cancer.
Hormone Therapy Myths
While still a controversial issue, bioidentical hormones are increasingly believed to not cause cancer. The belief that they did began with a false impression back in 1991 when the very controversial Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was stopped because of the increased occurrence of chronic disease among subjects. This study incorporated the synthetic hormone, Prempro, and study subjects were 63 years old on average.
Meta-analyses following this study have shown both that most of the subjects came with pre-existing conditions that led to the development of disease during the study, and that hormones have the potential to reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases in women.
Importantly, over 15 major medical organizations now encourage hormone therapy as part of a safe and effective treatment plan for many adverse health conditions (2013). And, according to a 2015 survey conducted by the North American Menopause Society, over 60 percent of clinicians prescribe or support the application of bioidentical hormones.
When is Hormone Therapy Used for Breast Cancer?
As mentioned above, hormone therapy is typically prescribed after surgery (as adjuvant therapy) to reduce the probability of the cancer returning. It is also, sometimes, started before surgery as neoadjuvant therapy.
Hormone therapy for breast cancer is usually taken for approximately 5 years. Treatment that goes beyond 5 years is usually made available to women who have cancers that carry a more substantial risk of coming back. In essence, hormone therapy can still be an effective solution to treat cancer that has come back after treatment or that has spread to other parts of the body.
Hormone therapy for breast cancer can be an incredible treatment solution for women who have survived breast cancer and want to improve their health and quality of life while reducing their risk for future cancers. If you and your healthcare provider think hormone therapy for breast cancer could be a good option for you, contact Renewed Vitality today! We are the Reading area’s hormone therapy resource and can help you start feeling healthy and like yourself again.
The month of October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women after skin cancer, and one in eight women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Thanks to treatment advances and an increase in earlier detections through screening, the breast cancer death rate dropped by 1% per year from 2013 to 2018. With fundraising and research taking place every year, especially during October, this disease becomes less deadly all the time, and hopefully one day soon a cure will be in sight. Since it’s the month to go pink and show your support, here are a few events near Berks County, PA.
Endure for a Cure
Crossfit 717 in Lemoyne, PA, is hosting their 10th annual Endure for a Cure fitness challenge on November 6th, starting at 8:30 a.m. All proceeds go to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. There will be a basket raffle, t-shirt sale, and light refreshments, and the competitions will include a one-mile run, clean ladder challenge, and a “Grace” challenge.
Mat Pilates Class
Club Pilates and Wyndridge Farm Beer Garden will be hosting a Pilates Mat Class Fundraiser at Wyndridge Farm Beer Garden in Lancaster, on October 15th at 5:30 pm. Spots are reserved via donation, and all proceeds will go to the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition. The class will be 50 minutes long and participants must bring their own mat. You must be older than 13 to participate in the class, but children of all ages are welcome to attend and enjoy food and drink after the class as well. Donate $25 or more and get a free drink voucher!
Knock Out Breast Cancer
Come to Club La Maison Fitness and Health Complex in Wayne, PA for Knock Out Breast Cancer, a morning of free fitness classes to benefit Living Beyond Breast Cancer. Donations are optional but encouraged. Classes begin at 8 a.m. on October 30th and will run until 10:20 a.m., including BodyCombat, BodyPump, Sprint Cycling, and Core. Bagels and coffee will be provided after classes have concluded.
Zombie Fun Run
Presented by Field of Screams, the 2021 Zombie Fun Run 5K will be held on November 13th at Field of Screams in Mountville, PA. Get chased by terrifying zombies through this unique 5K course that includes mud, obstacles and more. Choose to run during the day, or for the true thrill-seekers, after dark. There will be kid-friendly runs throughout the day and goodies provided at the finish line. Event proceeds benefit the Pennsylvania Breast Cancer Coalition.
If you’re not feeling up to being chased by zombies or heading to the gym to raise money and awareness, here are some simple and easy things you can do for Breast Cancer Awareness month that will make just as much of a difference.
Get Checked
One of the best ways you can raise breast cancer awareness is to get yourself screened! Women are recommended to begin getting mammograms at age 40, and continue getting them yearly until about age 55. While mammograms are a full scan of the breast, regular breast exams should be performed for all adult women at least every few years by your doctor, and it’s recommended to also do a self exam on a monthly basis, so that you can become familiar with your breasts and easily notice any changes. If you’re of the age to have your mammogram or clinical exam done and have been putting it off, this is the month to do it. Early detection is key! Those who don’t need exams or mammograms can help by offering to drive their loved ones to the appointment.
Offer Your Support
If you have a family member, friend, or loved one who is a current breast cancer patient or breast cancer survivor, taking the time to be there for them and let them know how much you love them is one of the most important things you can do this month (or any time of year). You don’t need to show up with pink pom-poms in hand and a “fight cancer” t-shirt on to be making a difference, just spend some time with them and help in whatever way you can. Offering to drive them to a doctor’s appointment or treatment session, or cooking or buying them a meal can be a huge help for someone who is dealing with such a difficult time. Above all, if you can brighten their day and put a smile on their face, then you’ve helped them!
