By: Dori Schwaiger.

[ Posted On: 2010-05-06 ]  

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How can something that makes you look and feel so healthy…be so bad for you?

Facts taken from the Skin Cancer foundation:

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States.

More than 90% of all skin cancers are caused by the sun.

The risk for skin cancer doubles after 5 or more sun burns.

Approximately 59,940 melanomas will be diagnosed this year alone, over 8,110 will result in death.

Despite these alarming hard core facts, sun tanning is on the rise among teenagers and older 30′s to 50 year olds alike. The quest for a healthy glow and a bronzed body has become a national past time. Whether it’s from the sun or a tanning bed, these sun worshipers are slathering on the expensive sun tan oil with blatant disregard to the long term damaging effects of UVA and UVB Rays. Unbelievable as it may be, these self proclaimed sun lovers admit to using little to no sun protection at all.

Baking your skin in the sun or tanning bed for an extended period of time is an extremely dangerous and often fatal idea. The undisputed facts show that over exposure to the sun can have you ultimately dieing for a tan.

How Do We Damage Our Skin?

The first sign of skin damage is sunburn. Sunburns, no matter how mild you think they may be result in DNA damage. This most certainly paves the way to skin cancer, also known as melanoma.

Did you know that getting a tan is your body’s way of defending itself from the harmful rays of the sun?

Tanning zaps your skin’s youthful appearance, the damage builds up over time. What most of us don’t realize is that while your busy building that perfect tan, you skin is slowly and silently building a case for skin cancer. The Ultra Violet Radiation is responsible for pre-mature skin damage that is called Photo Aging.

Photo Aging – Do You Look Older Than You Really Are?

Over the years we all age naturally. People that tan age at an accelerated rate due to over exposure to UV Light. Once this process is set in motion, it is almost impossible to reverse.

Yes, there are expensive procedures available, but your skin will never be able to regenerate at the pace the sun is working to make you look older. No amount of money in the world can give you back your skin’s collagen, natural elasticity and youthful glow.

Signs of Photo Aging

Deep wrinkle patterns & fine lines

Dried, parched look and feel to skin

Freckles and liver spots, most prevalent on your face, chest, hands and back area

Dilation of small blood vessels under the skin

Destruction of elasticity

Dry, rough patches

Sallow complexion

Mottled, spotted complexion

Thinner, more delicate looking translucent skin

Smart Protection From The Sun

The warm glow of the sun beckons to everyone. Summer months and warm winter vacation spots have us all heading for the boats and bathing suits. Many of us enjoy the great outdoors on golf courses, pools and playgrounds. It is inevitable that the searing sun will be there to do its damage. Most people will not make the commitment to stay out of the sun, and you don’t really have to. Just learn to be sun smart and protect yourself from the harmful rays.

Here Are Some Smart Prevention Tips

Stay away from all UV Tanning Beds. (no matter what they claim, they are not safe)

Stay out of the sun between the hours of 10am – 4pm (these are the dangerous hours, seek the shade if possible.)

Limit exposure time while in the water. UV Rays are magnified by the water.

Wear proper sun gear – A good sun hat with a broad brim or sports cap. Wear UV protected sunglasses. Always wear a shirt when in the sun for long periods of time.

Apply sunscreen to all exposed skin areas. Make sure it has an SPF of 15 or higher. Apply sunscreen at least 20 minutes before exposure to the sun, as well as reapply every 2 hours.

Keep all babies under the age of 6 months out of the sun.

Do not allow small children to become sunburned. Apply sunscreen to all children over the age of 6 months.

Pack an umbrella when heading to the beach or park.

Have a skin exam by your physician annually.

Certain skin types may be at greater risk to develop skin cancer. Sun damage occurs in everyone. Learn the early warning signs of melanoma. Early detection is your best defense at surviving skin cancer. Limiting your sun exposure and being sun smart could save your life.

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By: James S. Pendergraft

[ Posted On: 2010-02-01 ]  

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In women, breast cancer is the common type of cancer and it is affecting one out of eight women. At any time, this cancer may develop and the risk increases with developing of cancer as the women get older. In most of the post-menopausal women, it is common and with the increase in age will increase the risk as well.

When the breast cancer is spread beyond the breast, then it is said to be in metastatic state. This means that cancer has traveled from breast to another part of the body. The cells of cancer will travel through blood vessels or lymphatic system.

Causes

As of today, the breast cancer like any other forms of cancer is considered as one of the final outcomes of multiple hereditary and environmental factors. The risk of breast cancer will be increased by 70% in young people by inhaling the secondhand smoke and primarily menopausal women are affected by this.

Symptoms

So many fears are elicited by breast cancer including the ones that are related to surgery, loss of body image, death and loss of sexuality and however, if the breast caner is diagnosed earlier, then it is curable. Therefore, it always recommended doing a regular self screening of the body. Usually, the breast cancer will show thickening or lump in the breast tissues but not all the breast lumps are cancerous.

Often, the breast cancer will occur in left breast and also in the upper quadrant. Other than the lump, the indications of this cancer include skin dimpling, changes in breast shape and size, spontaneous discharge of single nipple or nipple inversion.

Treatment

In order to treat the breast cancer, controversies are still raging all over the world. The options to treat the breast cancer include chemotherapy, surgery, herceptin, hormonal therapies, radiotherapy and other complementary treatments.

Whenever the tumor is localized, surgery is the mainstay of the breast cancer treatment. Some of the surgeries include the possible hormonal therapy (with aromatase inhibitor or with the tamoxifen), radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy.

MammaPrint test is the first tests that became one of the first breast cancer predicator, which won the formal approval of the USFDA. This is a new type of gene test, which will predict whether women with the early stage of cancer will replace in about 5 to 10 years. This test will help to influence on how aggressively the tumor in the initial stages can be treated.

ILT (Interstitial Laser thermotherapy) is one of the innovative methods that are used to treat the breast cancer through minimal invasive manner. This method does not involve any surgical procedures. This procedure will not have any adverse effect on health and during the intermediate follow-up; the survival rate of the patient is high.

Routine mammography of the women aged more than 40 to 50 years is very much recommended by many science institutes. By doing so, if there is cancer, then it can be detected at the earlier stages and it can be treated effectively at early stages.

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By: Bello Kamorudeen

[ Posted On: 2009-09-28 ]  

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The Part D drug benefit is prescription drug coverage for people with Medicare. Medicare offers Part D to everyone with Medicare. (People enrolled in Medicare are called Medicare beneficiaries.) Part D coverage may help you lower your prescription drug costs and help protect you from higher costs in the future. It can give you greater access to the anti cancer drugs you need to treat your cancer . To get Medicare Part D drug coverage, you must join a plan that is run by an insurance company or other private company that has been approved by Medicare.

If you join a Medicare drug plan, you usually pay a monthly premium. If you decide not to join a Medicare drug plan when you are first eligible (able to join), you may pay a penalty if you decide to join later. If your income and resources are limited, you might qualify for extra help paying Part D costs.

There are different plans that vary in cost and the type of drugs that are covered by each plan and it is hard to compare them. As a mesothelioma cancer patient, your may incur huge annual drug expenses , so it is important to look at each plan’s coverage, as well as your cost-sharing obligations during coverage gaps. Coverage gaps are dollar limits that, when reached, leave you responsible for some or all of the drug costs

The coverage gap or “donut hole” is the gap in which you must pay 100% of your prescription costs. Once your total drug costs (what you and the plan pay for your prescriptions) reach a pre-set dollar amount for the year, you will hit the “donut hole.” Then you will pay all of your drug costs until the total out-of-pocket costs reaches another pre-set amount. Reaching this amount triggers what is called catastrophic coverage. After that, Medicare Part D will cover 95% of your drug costs and you will pay a flat co-pay or 5% of the cost of the drug for the rest of that year. (Keep in mind that some cancer drugs cost a lot and 5% can be several hundred dollars a month.)

If your drug plan has a coverage gap , here are some ways you can avoid or delay entering the gap, and save money on drug costs while in the gap:

- See if you can switch to generic drugs or other lower-cost drugs.

- Ask your doctor about drugs that would work just as well as the ones youre taking now. Even though many cancer treatment drugs do not have generics, the savings in non-cancer drugs may be enough to help you avoid the coverage gap.

You can find out more about saving money by using mail-order pharmacies, generic, or less-expensive brand-name drugs from the Compare Medicare Prescription Drug Plans section of medicare website-www.medicare.gov.

Keep using your Medicare drug plan card, even if your drug expenses get up to your coverage gap. Using your drug plan card ensures that youll get the drug plans discounted rates and that the money you spend counts toward your catastrophic coverage.

For mesothelioma cancer patients, this new benefit covers some drugs that were not covered in the past. Before Medicare Part D, Medicare covered only those prescription drugs given as injections in doctors’ offices or treatment centers. That included many cancer drugs. Coverage of these cancer drugs will continue under Medicare, while the new Part D coverage will help pay for the anti cancer drugs that are prescribed for you at the local pharmacy.

The new Part D drug benefit is good news for Medicare beneficiaries who have been diagnosed with cancer, especially those who do not have any other way to pay for their prescriptions. Medicare Part D drug plans must accept all who apply and are eligible no matter their age or health status. Still, the coverage under this benefit does have some gaps that require out-of-pocket spending. And, not every drug on the market will be covered by every Medicare-approved drug plan. It is very important that you carefully review your drug plan options and compare the plan’s covered drugs to the drugs you take. Keep in mind that the plan can change, and you will need to be abreast of new developments every year.

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By: Bello Kamorudeen

[ Posted On: 2009-09-02 ]  

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Mesothelioma cancer, can be treated by the use of anti cancer drug therapies. These anti cancer drugs act by inhibiting tumor growth through the blocking of cell division and multiplication. This mode of action also unfortunately affects other rapidly replicating cells in the body, cells of the hair and the lining of the intestine are particularly vulnerable, thus leading to the common side effects of anti cancer drugs like hair loss and nausea.

Mesothelioma is notoriously resistant to common anti cancer chemotherapy as result of some reasons. The cancer takes a long time to mature and show symptoms, by the time these symptoms appear the tumor will be well formed with a lot of layers of dead cells that the anti cancer drugs will find it difficult to penetrate, and also by the time a diagnosis of mesothelioma is made, most victims have but a short time left to live so the drugs do not have enough time to exert their maximal effect.

New drugs that have been designed to overcome these challenges and have fewer and lesser side effects include:

Alimta (Pemetrexed)

Alimta was approved by The Food and Drug Administration in February 2004 as a new anti cancer drug for the treatment of mesothelioma. Its mode of action is by inhibiting the creation of thymidine and purine , two enzymes that are vital to cell growth. This stops the mesothelioma cancer cells from multiplying at a very fast rate. Its side effects include nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, fatigue, mouth sores and low blood counts. Patients are usually placed on vitamin B12 and folic acid supplements to reduce the severity of the side effects.

Cisplatin

This is a platinum-based chemotherapy drug that prevents the reproduction of DNA and is used to treat a number of different cancers including mesothelioma. The FDA approved it in 1978 to treat a number of cancers, and has proved somewhat effective on mesothelioma. Cisplatin however has some very serious side effects which inlude ear damage{ototoxicity} leading to hearing loss, kidney damage, nerve damage, and nausea, and so some oncologist are very reluctant to prescribe this drug to patients.

Tomudex (Raltitrexed)

This drug prevents cancer cells from replicating the DNA that is needed for multiplication and spread of cancer. This drug can be used as a monotherapy or in combination with onconase.

Vinorelbine

This anticancer drug was initially approved by the FDA in 1994 for the treatment of small lung cancer and breast cancer, but recent studies have shown that it could also be effective against mesothelioma, and the drug has little side effect profile. It can also be used in combination with some other chemotherapy drugs.

Onconase (Ranpirnase/P-30 Protein)

Onconase is a chemical taken from the eggs of the leopard frog that blocks protein synthesis which leads to blockage of tumor cell division and growth. It has shown promise as becoming one of the more effective drugs for treating cancer, as survival rates for one and two years are 34.4% and 21.6 respectively, as opposed to six to eight months without treatment.

Veglin

This is an anticancer chemotherapy drug that blocks the growth of tumors in people suffering from lymphoma, Kaposi’s sarcoma, and colon and lung cancers. Many oncologists believe that it could be effective in fighting mesothelioma, as Veglin inhibits vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a substance that is usually found in very high concentrations in mesothelioma patients. VEGF helps tumors grow new blood vessels which help to supply nutrients to the new tumor cells. This drug inhibits this process thus starving the new cancer cells of their much needed nutrients, leading to their ultimate death

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