If Cancer Runs in Your Family...

[Mike03]

I'm just looking for advice about how you deal with it if there is a very strong family history of cancer in your family, yet you maybe a caregiver for a parent or a brother or sister, but you are concerned, but you don't want to let them know you are concerned that you might have it too.

Are you ever afraid to find out?

Do you worry it might hurt anyone's feelings if you say, "I'm afraid I might have this, I want to get a blood workup?"

Or do you sometimes just want to block it out completely, not know at all?

Just to keep functioning and trying to help the person I need to be there for, I am trying to block out the possibility I may have this too, even though it seems to run in my family.

[kimmerspixelated]

1. I used to be a hypochondriac.

Then when I read that a nobel prize winning doctor discovered that all diseases are the result of a mineral or vitamin or nutritional deficiency, I realized the proof is in preventative care by putting the purest food you can find in your body. Supplement with the best you can through your own research. No disease can survive in an alkaline state. Try to live as stress free as possible. Find Joy, and quit polluting yourself and you don't have to worry about diseases.

[Mike03]

3. I am doing that, but it's become an obession, and I'm not

sure having a Howard Hughes like obsession is all that healthy mentally.

[TZ]

6. not true

for your one quack there are about 1 million scientists who say otherwise. You need to study GENETICS sometime. And btw. BTW no PERSON can survive in an alkaline environment. With the exception of the stomach (which is acidic) pH of the body is NEUTRAL--7 because after all we are mostly water, which is pH 7
BTW--what the hell are viruses bacteria and protozoan caused diseases? Chopped liver?
Seriously, read some science
BTW- I am a biologist with extensive experience in the field including publication in a peer-reviewed journal. Your scientific creds please.

[bicentennial_baby]

7. And eating anything doesn't necessarily cure

hypochondria, which is a psychological disorder. This much I know. :)

[kimmerspixelated]

8. I have never claimed to be any kind of expert!

You need to get a grip and stop online assaults! Furthermore...I don't believe in reading scientific journals that are largely funded by Merckk, etc. It's so one-sided swayed to the tune of money! I always want to ask folks like you...If you have a serious illness and your traditional md says you're doomed...do you just sit there and take it, or do you do some research on your own and seek out remedies that have been around for centuries that have helped people? Just curious. If you can believe that Vit. C cures Scurvy( EVERYONE AGREES WITH THAT!!!) why can't other diseases be cured with other vits,min. herbs, etc?!!! ???????????

[SPKrazy]

10. I'd hardly call that an assault

the poster simply put you in your place as you seemed to be saying to the OP that reading the Nobel Scientist's words and eating well.

I agree that people need to keep their minds open to all kinds of possibilities

but assault?

This is DU

that was nothing

[CreekDog]

21. well the guy that propagated those theories is getting paid to say what he says too

so it's not so simple to discount what someone says based on who pays them.

i wish it were, but fact is, almost everyone gets paid by somebody.

[CreekDog]

20. i think that poster was quoting that informercial hack/quack

although i can't disagree with eating well and trying to live the kind of life they were suggesting.

regarding the akalinity, that's where it goes off the rails on a crazy train for me and that's how i connected it to that informercial guy.

[CreekDog]

19. wait a minute, that's that "natural cures they won't tell you about" guy

hasn't he been discredited thoroughly enough?

and i thought that if your pH was off a little, you'd be in a whole lot of hurt pretty quick.

[Blue-Jay]

2. Life is for the living.

Go forth and live.

[ThomCat]

4. I am lucky. Here in NYC there are specialty doctor's offices.

I found my primary doctor at a Cancer prevention and treatment clinic. She has since moved to another clinic in Chinatown and I followed her down there because she's an excellent doctor.

I get a thorough cancer screening every year. It's nice to have the piece of mind that I've checked, and if it shows up I'll be prepared for it.

Both of my parents have survived cancer, and at least 3 close relatives have died of cancer. Each one had a different type of cancer. I'm the freak of the family for having Rheumatoid Arthritis instead of getting cancer like everyone else.

[Mike03]

11. That's an uplifting post

Thanks.

I would like to get screened for the two or three risk factors I know I might have, but they are highly technical, and I don't know how to approach a doctor and say, "Please do these tests."

I'm not even sure I can do that.

[Connonym]

5. I think it's normal to be worried

My dad died of cancer and his mother died young of a rapidly progressing female cancer. I worry because I've had abnormal Pap smears. And this is stupid but I'll admit this too, I have not had insurance for a couple years and I haven't had a Pap smear for over 3 years. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that I could go to Planned Parenthood but what good would it do to be diagnosed if I didn't have insurance to treat it? At any rate, I'll be insured as of next month and I've already scheduled an apt to go in and have my Pap and mammogram. I think all you can do is try to not panic and there's probably no need to share any feelings of panic with someone who is going through cancer. Take care of yourself though. Try to live as healthy as you can, get the proper screenings and just be aware of early signs. It's hard not to be paranoid, hard to not worry about every little thing being a symptom but obsessing about it won't make you happy. So do what you can and just try not to stress about the rest. :hug:

[Mike03]

12. Thanks a lot for sharing this.

My sister's friend is in a situation a lot like yours. It is scary.

My one problem is that, probably, in order to obtain the tests I need to obtain, I will have to ask him to connect me, since he is at a prestigious clinic that I can't just walk into.

Maybe I can be rather casual about it. It's a rather rare and hard to diagnose cancer. I think probably my sisters will want to know as well if we carry the risk factors.

[IndianaJones]

9. I don't worry about it. nt.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

13. Hell, it doesn't need to run in your family for it to scare you

Nobody in my immediate family (siblings, parents, grandparents) has ever had cancer. The only relative of mine who had cancer that I can think of was my aunt, who died of lung cancer only after smoking like a chimney.

But because I am a bloody hypochondriac, I worry obsessively about getting cancer and other serious diseases. Last month, I was scared to death over a canker sore in my mouth. A stupid canker sore, which I aggravated by poking and proding until I finally went to the doctor and he said it wasn't anything serious at all. And now it's gone. But it scared the hell out of me.

Hypochondria really, really sucks. I think I use it as a defense mechanism. If I worry about the worst case scenario, it won't happen to me. I don't consciously do this, but I can't avoid it.

[bicentennial_baby]

14. Welcome to the club...

:pals:

And never, ever look up your symptoms online...ever. :)

[Tommy_Carcetti]

15. At various times I've worried about ALS, MS, diabetes, cystic fibrosis, dormant staph infections...

and just about any cancer imaginable. I'm the most healthy sick person that ever lived.

Yes, definetly don't play doctor and try to self-diagnose. Never.

[bicentennial_baby]

16. My parents have MS and ALS, actually...

And me, I'm terrified of cancer :crazy:

:hug:

[CreekDog]

22. me too. i'm always on the verge of a 24-hour terminal illness

i think a good rule of thumb is that cancer doesn't appear or come on in a day or two.

you're better off just driving more carefully if you want to reduce your risk in the short term.

i do know how you feel and i can sympathize.

when i was a little kid i thought "side stitches" were a heart attack (my grandfather had a heart attack around the same time). so i have a long history of hypochondria.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

23. Oh yeah that reminds me

Heart attacks and strokes. Those scare me too.

[CreekDog]

24. if you are getting your routine checks and having well-founded concerns checked

and you are only left with hypochondria, follow up and talk to someone who specializes in the mind.

you shouldn't have to live day after day in terror or trepidation and you don't have to.

do i sound like a commercial?

[Contrary1]

17. I have several types of cancer on both sides of my family tree...

Lung, colon, stomach, prostate, skin...
I was responsible for adding breast cancer to the mix, something I had never worried about. Go figure.

What specific cancers are you referring to?

[skygazer]

18. My mother was afraid to find out

She waited so long to go to a doctor that by then it was too late and she died a painful and lingering death.

It's always better to know.

You can actively fight what you know is there. Living in fear and not knowing is worse than knowing and having something to work toward.

Cancer runs deep through both sides of my family.

signed,

skygazer
cancer survivor