Breast Cancer Symptoms

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women, and one of the most common types of cancer in general.  It is estimated that one in seven women that live to age 90 will develop breast cancer.  It is especially prevalent in some families, making the statistics a bit skewed.  If you have a family history of breast cancer, your chances of developing the disease are much greater.  Itís therefore a good idea to stay especially vigilant for breast cancer symptoms.

Breast cancer symptoms donít often manifest themselves until the cancer is already in its later stages of growth, and may have already metastasized to other more vital areas of the body.  That is why it is so important for women to regularly get checked.  Mammograms may be unpleasant, but late stage breast cancer symptoms are worse.

The most clear and common breast cancer symptom is of course a lump in your breast.  It is important to keep in mind that not all lumps are cancerous.  Most women will develop numerous lumps in their breasts throughout their lives; they are especially common during periods of rapid hormonal changes such as puberty, and menstruation.  Some women will have more lumps than others.

A more severe breast cancer symptom will be pain in your breasts.  A cancer that has grown large enough to impinge on nerves will be a noticeable lump in a self check or mammogram, so hopefully you’ll catch anything before it gets to the point of causing pain.  If one or both of your breasts are in pain, again its important to keep in mind that you don’t necessarily have breast cancer.  During puberty and periods of hormone fluxes, tenderness of the breasts is common.  Also pregnancy, and some medications can cause pain or tenderness in your breasts.

Even though most cases of breast cancer are diagnosed in women over 40, women in their teens and twenties are occasionally diagnosed as well.  Most people don’t know that about one percent of the cases are in men.  Starting from puberty, it is a good idea to start checking yourself for lumps.  Remember, during this period you’re likely to find a lot of lumps that are harmless.  With some experience and some consultation with your doctor, youíll soon get an idea of the kinds of lumps that are normal, and the kinds of lumps that may be breast cancer symptoms.

DNA Testing

This is an article about DNA testing.  We hope that you find this article to be oth interesting and entertaining.  If you have thoughts about the topic, please leave your comments below.

Daytime television is unlike anything else out there. In fact, it is horrific. There are soap operas, court shows, and a plethora of talk shows. Each is worse than the one that came before it. Yet we watch and watch and watch. These shows have been around for years and donít seem to be going anywhere any time soon.

The most unsettling shows in the daytime category have to be talk shows. It seems as though the producers of talk shows only have a handful of show topics that they recycle and regurgitate over and over again. The most overdone of these is the dna testing show.

How many times have you turned on your tv and seen some poor woman getting berated by an audience of strangers because she is there for some free dna testing? I have seen this show so many times it makes me sick. If a woman has no idea who her babyís daddy is, thank god there is the Maury show out there to help her figure that mystery out. After all, dna testing can be very expensive and single moms may be the last group of people out there that could afford such a thing.

If I was being honest, I would have to say that as much as I am disgusted by the dna testing shows, I am equally enthralled and entertained. This is the human comedy/tragedy at its best. You have two people that once were close, if only for a night and now they cannot stand each other.

In other situations you have a father that just decided one day that he no longer wanted the responsibility and so he began to deny fathering his children. Either way, these situations are very sad. Yet we watch and watch and watch.

The ever-popular dna testing talk shows are hard to watch at times. There is a lot of pain, frustration, anxiety, and emotion involved. The bottom line is that in the midst of all this there is a child that needs to be taken care of. Whether or not the childís parents are standup, responsible people the focus should be on the child. If someone is caught in a situation that requires dna testing, you can be sure that something somewhere went terribly wrong.

For some reason, we keep watching. Human tragedy at its finest, right? Are the people who produce the show the sick people here or is it the people who watch? I have to incriminate myself here and go with the second choice.

 Megan Simpson loves watching the human condition and sharing her observations.  She is a contributing editor providing her view on a wide variety of topics.