Diet, exercise, lifestyle to decrease the risk of BC recurrence

iserbrown

We wish it was that simple!  If there are strays cells that the treatment doesn't pick up well the odds are not good!  @melclarity I am sure that you and others in this predicament followed a healthy lifestyle leading into, during and after treatment - I agree, it is what it is!

My lifestyle leading into was as healthy as it could be but I still ended up in the BC camp - one of the first things said to me by the surgeon was you are in the typical age group - I was sailing through menopause, no effects and I started to think I must've missed it but wham I got the worse kind of side effect of menopause, BC!

Take care

Romla

I think it’s about reducing the risk not eliminating it sadly.Also if one’s health is good we may have a better chance of fighting this disease mentally , emotionally and physically.

As a post menopausal person I wonder if part of this diet/exercise/lifestyle thing is to reduce the fat in my breasts which is converted to oestrogen which has caused my Er+ disease. ie to reduce BMI by making my body leaner.

One question I am interested in is how many women with breast cancer were treated pre bc with hormone drugs- I was prescribed high dose HRT , many women undoubtedly have used the oral contraceptive pill -to my non medical mind I wonder if there is a link to some types of breast cancer.Not that it changes things for me but it may for my daughter’s generation.

iserbrown

Lots of unanswered questions for us all!

melclarity

@Romla i was fit and healthy and pre menopausal prior to BC so none of it reduced the risk at all and sadly everyone I know were the same. 

Romla

I understand it may not help an individual but according to the research presented at San Antonio in 2016 which presented studies of populations of breast cancer people it is believed to mitigate against recurrence - there are no guarantees  but is believed the %risk of recurrence is substantially less if these factors are introduced.On top of which is the benefit these kind of changes make to recovery after treatment psychologically and physically .

Lowering risk of recurrence is also why many of us undertake hormone therapy too.It is not a guarantee.

I would not want to discourage anyone from making these changes if there is a chance they may help on any level.I do understand however some have been disappointed in this regard.

melclarity

I've always been pro exercise, that's never been in question, I think people misconstrue what is being said. For the record after 1st diagnosis as many others I also know, resumed their healthy diets and exercise to still have a recurrence?? So not sure where the risk is less lol clearly in all the populations that didnt have recurrences lol. I'm talking of many many people I know who had recurrences and were fit and healthy before and after.

I absolutely love and recommend exercise you see? but I would hate anyone to be blindsighted thinking by doing all these things it will not happen to them, thats all Im saying. Like everything do the things you enjoy that enhance your life and make you happy...x

Wildplaces

I found this interesting. 

https://rd-springer-com.ezproxy.anzca.edu.au/content/pdf/10.1007/s11912-016-0539-4.pdf

Wildplaces

Let's see if my attaching a file as a PDF works - alas it's on Yoga, about which I know very VERY little, but maybe I should learn more:)

Wildplaces

HRT 

https://canceraustralia.gov.au/publications-and-resources/position-statements/hormone-replacement-therapy-hrt-and-risk-breast-cancer

I did not take HRT ( was premenopausal at diagnosis), but I did take the OC for short burst of time over the years. 

nikkid

@Giovanna_BCNA can you please delete me from this discussion? It’s totally doing my head in (wish we had a ‘leave discussion’ button). Thx heaps x

primek

I know for myself...even though I was very fit pre chemo and ate well mostly...since diagnosis my biggest aim is to increase my exercise again. I have struggled following recovery of chemo but I'm not giving up. It's the single thing both my oncologist and breast care nurse has stresssed as important for recurrence reduction (no guarantees of course ) risk as well as keeping weight down. This discussion has been fabulous as it has inspired me to keep pushing on. I've added in body  pump and swimming into my week as well as aquafit and a weights workout on weekends. So far so good with no crash and sticking to my rules set by my exercise physiologist of working 5-6/10 not 8-9/10. If all going well in 2 months I'll add in more. 

Romla

Thanks for the paper @Wildplaces

Wildplaces

Nikki - I am sorry.
I started this... I never imagined it would flow this way.
Way back - I really wanted to talk about food, hence my first word Diet... - and specifically about the things you as a collective do to eat for both health AND pleasure - when I asked for recipes I meant it.
There is a similar thread on another site where the ladies even post their fav salad or quick meal that helps them stay on target etc...it's a bit of fun and support.

Da bomb on exercise came out of nowhere, and to be honest I quite taken back. I am two years down so I have some distance but there is a part of me that - would like to stay healthier ( I worked hard and thought I was unbreakable, never did it occur to me I could get sick) and to find the motivation (I know feeling well should be plenty) to keep working towards that goal. What is my goal? Feeling as well as I can for as long as I can - and maybe if that is long enough, it will be almost enough for me to forget, even for a while, that I once had/have cancer.

I hope that at least some of this makes sense to you.

melclarity

@Giovanna_Bcna please also delete me from this thread. Really disappointed, there's no mutual respect for opinions only judgments. And still people are missing the point...ive never once said anything against exercise! Clearly nobody has bothered to read what ive said. Unbelievably ridiculous. 

Wildplaces

Mel,

I have read what you said a few times. 

Please do not go. Out of all of us you are the one who has most experience with an exercise physiologist.
I asked Giovanna but I think the Mods hesitated timing wise so I will ask you - openly - would you consider running a thread along the lines " Lets post our daily exercises ". I don't post nearly enough on this thread and I am clearly not known for my support or diplomatic skills - but I think it might be a great place for us to bring our daily efforts without any comment/thought about prevention or ... 
Just what it takes to get up and walk around the block some day. So we just write down - well, ahhh I would write down how I can not stretch to save my life, I can walk, but no stretch...
(Giovanna can vouch that I did suggest this to her a couple of weeks ago but let it drop on time.)

So Mel ( and maybe Iserbrown if ....willing to help ???) would you both accept my apology for not listening to you well enough and if you both believe it's potentially worthwhile consider it  - if a discussion like that already exist on this site - again mea culpa. Or if you can find a more catchy tittle go for it!!

well it's only post and only one thought.