Dealing with cancer involves more than diagnosis and treatment of the physical effects of the disease.
A diverse group of health professionals met in Halifax last week to discuss how best to support the social and emotional needs of cancer patients and their families and make those supports readily accessible.
Those kinds of services aren’t always available, particularly to people in rural areas, said Mary Jane Esplen, a Toronto nurse and president of the Canadian Association of Psychosocial Oncology.
But even when they are, a stigma around seeking support and a societal pressure to “keep a positive attitude” can prevent people from using it, she said.
To overcome those barriers, cancer-care providers need to ensure things like distress screening are a standard part of what’s offered to every patient.
Continue reading “Cancer is serious, but what about your feelings?”
It is important to understand Prostate Cancer.
Each year, about 179,000 are diagnosed with prostate cancer, and it will claim about 37,000 lives. If prostate cancer is detected early it can be treated effectively, but early prostate cancer has no symptoms.
Prostate cancer occurs mainly in men over 50 years and is the most common male cancer after skin cancer. Many men are aware of others at the same age who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. This raises the questions: what is my risk? Should I be tested?
The symptoms of both benign enlargement of the prostate gland and malignant tumours (cancer) are similar and can include any of the following:
difficulty in passing urinepassing urine more frequently than usual, especially at nightpain when passing urineblood in the urine (this is not common).
People with higher levels of vitamin D in their bodies are 72 percent less likely to die from colon cancer , according to a new study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Colon cancer kills approximately 50,000 people in the United States per year.
Prior research has indicated that in addition to acting as an essential nutrient, vitamin D may inhibit the growth of tumors or even kill cancerous cells.
So where can you find vitamin D ?
Well, Vitamin D can only be made by the body when sunlight falls on skin unprotected by sunscreen. This raises some big questions for Australians who have been living with the sun safe message for the last 20 years.
