For the people who had/have cancer...?

Question

Why do you think you had/have it? because of the wrong foods or drinks, no physical exercise, genetics or is it just because there are no rules?

And if you had an advice for other people who, for example, don't have any family member who'd had cancer, what would it be in order to prevent it or reduce the chances of an outburst of the disease?

Answer 1

I had lung cancer, I've been around smokers all my life. I quit smoking myself for over 15 years and then started again. I'm in the process of trying to quit again. However cancer does run in my family. My aunt has bladder cancer, my uncle died of throat cancer, my mom is a breast cancer survivor, my cousin has a stomach cancer. My Grandmother also was a breast cancer survivor. All of us have always been very active. It wasn't until I got gall bladder disease that I really started to change my bad eating habits. Sometimes no matter how careful you are you can still get cancer.  

Answer 2

You do what you can with the understanding that irregardless if you do "everything right" you can still get cancer.

A good diet and exercise can help, but avoid those flavor of the month products that "aka" prevent cancer, just overpriced c**p.

The mainstream media is the worst place to get health information.

Answer 3

You can't narrow it down to any one cause or even a group of things. First, it totally depends on the type of cancer you have and where. And second, it depends on factors that no one has ever discovered--in other words, no one knows why some people get it and some don't, even when the contributing factors are identical.

For some types of cancer you can minimize your likelihood of getting it:

Skin cancers: stay out of the sun and use sunblocks all the time.

Bowel and colon cancers: eat a good diet, rich in fiber and vegetables.

Lung cancer: don't smoke. Anything.

Mouth and throat cancers: don't smoke. And don't do dips or chews. Take care of your teeth and gums.

Other than these, you can't pin down any particular things that will prevent you from getting other types of cancers, like leukemias, lymphomas or bone cancers. When I had lymphoma, my doctor said that approximately 80% of this type were traced to exposure to environmental causes--toxins, poisons, etc. But that wasn't necessarily the reason I got it. My ex husband got an extremely RARE form of cancer--in his sinuses--that seemingly arose from nowhere. Maybe. We don't know, and never will.

Only a small percentage of cancers are "inheritable" types--aggressive breast cancers being the most well-known.

Just take care of yourself as best you can. That's all any of us can do.

Answer 4

My teenage son recently died from an aggressive abdominal sarcoma. He was healthy, active, and a completely normal high school boy. He had a sports physical for school, was found to be in excellent health, forty days later he was diagnosed with multiple abdominal tumors . . one the size of a volley ball had pushed his heart out of place.  We looked for answers . . . there are none . . not one reason . . nothing remotely genetic . . we found others with his same type of disease and we all compared notes as best we could . . hoping to find something similar that would explain why our kids this disease. The only similarities in all cases . . . is that this type of sarcoma predominately strikes males in the second decade of life . . almost 4 to 1. But children as young as 22 months, females, and young men as old as 40 have also been reported as having this. So . . the connection to being a  young growing male .. isn't always there either.

There is no known way to prevent the over 200 different types of cancer . . you can remain as healthy as possible, never smoke, drink, exercise, be a vegetarian . . and you can still get cancer.

The best protection is to become aware of your own body and what is and isn't 'normal'. Stay as healthy as possible in case you ever need to fight this rotten disease. Check for an unusual painless lumps or bumps that seem to be growing .. see a doctor for a well physical at least once a year . . avoid known risk factors or carcingens such as smoking . . and other than that . . really there is not much more you can do .. there is no guarantee that you will not at some point develop one of the 200 cancer types or subtypes.  Just remain aware of the possibilities . . and go live your life.  No sense in worrying about it.

The only reason I present it in this manner is because so many people wrongly assume that if they are healthy, exercise, eat all the right foods, don't smoke or drink . . that they will not get cancer. So many are so totally shocked when it happens to them or a loved one . . they feel let down by the medical profession and the advertising. They cannot believe that they got cancer because they did 'everything right'. But you can . . no one knows with 100 percent surity how to prevent all cancer .  . . but we do know that the earlier it is found the better chance for survival.

Answer 5

I have lymphoma -  pesticides, chemicals in paint or stains, water treatment, all man made products. This cancer wasn't past down from family. Its basically from man made products including sugar. The best thing anyone could do is to eat healthy and exercise.  

Answer 6

There are certain forms of cancer  which you can lessen the risk of catching by good diet and not smoking and sun blocks.I have had treatment for skin and prostrate cancer and have always taken the precautions I mentioned.You have to be lucky too.I am off this very afternoon for my 3monthly scan as I am all clear at momentso it can be beaten.

Answer 7

There are hundreds of different kinds of cancer, and countless causes.

Many times the cause for a particular cancer is unknown.  How can you avoid that?

Answer 8

I believe that my lifestyle contributed to my cancer.

I have no history of this cancer in my family.

I know now that everyone has cancer cells in their body - if you immune system is working properly your body will get rid of those cells.  If it's not, you store them up and they become tumors.

I ate really bad - junk food all the time, soda 6-8 cans a day, rarely ate vegis and fruits, I was always at least 20 lbs over weight after about age 22, I drank, I started smoking at age 24 or so and continued for 7 years, I did drugs...  I was exposed to chemicals, hardly exercised, etc.

I also had a gall bladder surgery which had serious complications.  I had CT scans daily for almost 28 days to fix the infection I had in my abdomen.  They were necissary, but now I am told by my endochrinologist that there is a high incidence of thyroid cancer in people who have had this type of exposure (the radiation dye) a lot over a short period of time - just like mine.

I probably could have avoided the gall bladder surgery by eating better - my doc told me that.  

I am trying to make a different life for my son - it is hard.  It is difficult to change the way you have always lived, but we are trying.

I would say live a healthy lifestyle - eat all natural and fresh foods - I read somewhere that if something has 5 or fewer ingredients on the package, it's pretty natural.  So choose your foods well.  Don't eat processed foods or foods with lots of chemicals in them.  (For example, look at the ingredients on a bag of original Lays chips, then look at the ingredients on a bag of doritos - there are like 10 times the number on the doritos, so the lays are the better choice.)

Soda is a terrible thing to put in your body - drink water and green tea and fruit and vegi juices instead.

exercise every single day - even if it's just a brisk walk in the sun for 30 minutes, it makes a huge difference in your over all health.

Don't stress about every little thing.  Adopt a quiet mind and keep it that way as much as possible.

Good luck

Answer 9

I'm in remission from breast cancer.

Fewer than 10% of cancers are hereditary; mine wasn't. Having a family member, or even a number of family members, with cancer doesn't usually mean you are at increased risk of cancer.

Food and drink? No. There's no food or drink that has been scientifically proven to cause or contribute to cancer. But, like many people, I thought a healthy diet would protect me against cancer. I was (still am) vegan with a largely organic diet; I exercised regularly and have never smoked. So -  it was none of those things.

The thing is, nobody knows what causes cancer, or why one person  gets it and another, with the same risk factors or lack of them, doesn't. Nobody knows why it affects the healthy and the unhealthy alike.

Smoking has been linked to lung and some other cancers; excessive sun exposure has been linked to skin cancers. So that's two important precautions you can take. Other than that, you're pretty much on your own.

I think having a body + sheer bad luck are the biggest risk factors for cancer.