Most men think that breast cancer is only a woman’s disease. This common mistake can be fatal for thousands of men every year. Early detection is key to cancer survival, so here are a few essentials that men need to know about male breast cancer.
Breast Cancer Is Not Just for Women
Many people diagnosed with cancer think, “Why me?” With cancer on the rise all over the world, the better question could be, “Why NOT me?” 1 in every 1,000 men in the US will develop male breast cancer. 1 in 8 women will develop it.
Breast Cancer Has a Genetic Component
Such a high proportion of women getting breast cancer means an increasing number of men who might have a family history of it, and who would therefore be more prone to get it.
Men who have a family history of breast cancer might be carriers of a mutated BRCA gene. This gene normally helps suppress cancerous activity, so a mutated one will not be able to do its job as efficiently. There is now a test available that is easy to conduct and relatively inexpensive.
Depending on your results, you can either gain peace of mind, or come up with a male breast cancer screening schedule and perhaps further testing by working with your doctor.
A Healthy Lifestyle Can Protect against Male Breast Cancer
As with most diseases, a healthy lifestyle can go a long way towards keeping you healthy and warding off disease, including heart disease and cancer. Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women in the USA, killing more men and women than all of the top ten cancers combined. The good news is that a heart-healthy lifestyle can help prevent many kinds of cancer too.
A diet rich in plant-based proteins and low in red meat, saturated fat, full-fat dairy, and trans fats such as in fast food can be one of the best ways to stay healthy well into your senior years.
The Mediterranean Diet, Okinawan Diet and DASH diet are all heart-healthy diets. The DASH diet also lowers high blood pressure. There are also many free resources online about the DASH diet to help you get started. It has the added advantage of helping people lose weight while on the diet.
Other important aspects of a healthy lifestyle include:
- Not smoking
- Weight control
- Regular exercise
- Effective stress relief
- Regular sleep habits and eight hours of sleep per night
Early Diagnosis is Best
Prevention is key, if possible, but if you have a history of breast cancer in the family, your second line of defense is early detection and treatment. The biggest concern for most people who are told they have cancer is what their prognosis is likely to be. This will be linked to how soon any illness is detected.
Staging
Once a diagnosis of cancer has been established and staged by the doctor, they will make recommendations about the best treatment/s depending on the stage of the cancer and the person’s age, overall health, and any underlying medical conditions they might have.
Treatment Options
The main treatment options are:
- Surgery
- Radiation therapy
- Chemotherapy
- Hormonal therapy
All of these have unpleasant side effects, so again, prevention and early detection are essential.
If any women in your family have had breast cancer, start a routine of regular breast self-examination and discuss your concerns with your doctor to see what they recommend in terms of testing. Also consider getting a BRCA test, and discussing breast cancer with both your daughters and your sons.
