September is Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Awareness Month

For both women and men, September is Ovarian and Prostate Cancer Awareness month. It is during this time in which more awareness should be put into both ovarian and prostate cancer.

Ovarian Cancer

One of the more difficult to detect cancers happens to be ovarian cancer. When the time comes in which each symptom starts to make an appearance, usually this type of cancer is already in its advanced stages. After diagnosis, many sufferers do not usually live longer than the time prescribed by their physician. Because of this, there are not as many research results that have been done in order to know what screening or habits of lifestyle is able to detect this cancer early enough for successful treatment or to prevent this type of cancer to appear in the first place.

In the USA, the National Cancer Institute has stated that among every other type of cancer, this type is the 5th primary cause of women’s death due to cancers. In the reproductive system of females, it is also the 5th primary cause of death. Ovarian cancer risks include being obese, having increased cancer antigen 125 levels, taking replacement hormone therapy after menopause, having ovarian cancer in the family history and being older. Other risk factors include having conditions that are hereditary such as Lynch Syndrome or nonpolyposis hereditary colon cancer. There are also other factors that lessen the risk of a woman in developing cancer of the ovaries including those that have had a hysterectomy or tubal ligation, women who had breast fed, given birth or taken contraceptives orally. At the moment, there is no routine screening or standard test for this type of disease. If you have a family history of this disease, the best advice is to be extra cautious.

Endometrial cancer is among all the female reproductive cancers that have a clear link to being overweight. The policy report of the AICR includes findings that up to seventy per cent of cancers of the endometrial layer were preventable if a woman got a minimum of half an hour of exercise daily and ate a healthy diet. According to this report, being overweight had a link to forty nine per cent of cancers of the endometrial layer.

Prostate Cancer

In the United States, prostate cancer is the next most common cancer among males after cancer of the skin. There is, however, a survival rate of almost one hundred per cent if early detection occurs before the spread of the cancer. Risk factors for prostate cancer include having relatives that have it, being of African-American descent and being more than fifty years old.

Begin getting screened annually starting the age of fifty and ask to include an antigen test that is specific to prostates. Ask your health care provider to also include an annual digital rectal exam. Those with greater risk factors need to speak to their health practitioner about tests such as these starting the age of forty five. Watch out for symptoms such as continued pain in the upper thighs, pelvis and lower back, painful urination, the necessity to frequently urinate and any changes in your habits of urination.