Complementary Techniques Standards for Safety and Effectiveness on protection of thebreast

Although many complementary medicine techniques have been used for centuries, the availability of scientific data on many of these techniques has been limited. However, researchers supported by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine are conducting well-designed studies of some complementary techniques, including acupuncture and massage.
Some complementary techniques have professional associations with developed standards, but many do not. And some therapies have several associations with different standards. In the United States, some complementary therapies require that practitioners be state licensed or certified to practice.
These complementary therapies require licensed or certified practitioners:

• acupuncture
• chiropractic therapy
• massage (not all states require)
• Shiatsu (not all states require)

Other therapies that don't require licensing do offer practitioners the option of being certified with a certification board. It's usually best to look for a certified practitioner for these therapies:

• hypnosis
• massage (in states that don't require licenses)
• music therapy
• Shiatsu
• yoga

Some therapies can have risks or side effects for certain people.

If you have:	Avoid these complementary therapies:
Lymphedema	Acupuncture Some types of massage Shiatsu Yoga
Bleeding disorders or take blood thinners	Acupuncture Chiropractic therapy
Low white blood cell count/are receiving chemotherapy	Acupuncture Massage Shiatsu
Irritated skin/are receiving radiation	Massage Shiatsu
Weakened bones or osteoporosis	Chiropractic therapy Massage Shiatsu Yoga
Mental illness	Hypnosis Progressive muscle relaxation
Pregnancy	Aromatherapy

The bottom line is that there is no scientific evidence that any complementary therapy can cure cancer. Complementary therapies work best as part of your total treatment plan, combined with conventional medical treatments. Always talk to your doctor about any complementary therapy you would like to try. He or she can integrate it into your treatment plan and possibly recommend a practitioner.

Complementary & Holistic Medicine on protection of breast cancer

              The goal of complementary medicine is to balance the whole person — physically, mentally, and emotionally — while conventional medicine does its work. For many people diagnosed with breast cancer, complementary medicine has helped to:

• relieve symptoms
• ease treatment side effects
• improve quality of life

Researchers are working to better understand the value and benefit of complementary medicine in breast cancer.
In this section, you can read:

What Is Complementary Medicine?

Learn about how complementary medicine works, points to consider, and costs associated with complementary techniques.

Types of Complementary Techniques

Explore a wide range of complementary therapy techniques — from acupuncture and yoga to prayer, music therapy, and massage.

The Healing Benefits

Discover how complementary therapies can help you manage the physical and emotional symptoms of breast cancer.

Is Complementary Medicine Safe and Effective?

Learn about the treatment standards, safety testing, and potential side effects associated with complementary medicine.

Finding a Practitioner

How do you tell if a complementary medicine practitioner is reputable? Learn how to find a skilled practitioner and what questions to ask before starting treatment.

Talking to Your Doctor

Learn how to discuss complementary medicine with your doctors and nurses.

What Doctors and Patients Say About Complementary Medicine

Hear from women who have used complementary therapies and doctors who recommend them.

Resource Guide

Get a list of trusted websites and books where you can learn more about complementary medicine and a list of places to find a skilled complementary medicine practitioner.

The medical experts for Complementary Medicine are:

• Raymond Chang, M.D., and Pamela Yee, M.D., Meridian Medical Group, New York; Institute of East-West Medicine, New York; Albert Einstein School of Medicine, New York 
• Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., Director of Integrative Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 
• Beth Baughman DuPree, M.D., F.A.C.S., breast cancer surgeon, Comprehensive Breast Care Associates, Langhorne, PA; author of The Healing Consciousness.
• Jane I. Hart, M.D., Preventive Medicine Consultations, Cleveland Heights, OH

• Personal Quote

  "Some complementary therapies work better for some people than others—just like some chemotherapies are more effective for some women than others. I've gotten a lot of benefit from many complementary therapies, but you have to try some out for yourself. Look at your options and then decide what makes sense for you."
  
  —Janine, breast cancer. 

Treatment & Side Effects on breast cancer protection

In recent years, there's been an explosion of life-saving treatment advances against breast cancer, bringing new hope and excitement. Instead of only one or two options, today there's an overwhelming menu of treatment choices that fight the complex mix of cells in each individual cancer. The decisions — surgery, then perhaps radiation, hormonal (anti-estrogen) therapy, and/or chemotherapy — can feel overwhelming.
Breastcancer.org can help you understand your cancer stage and appropriate options, so you and your doctors can arrive at the best treatment plan for YOU.
In the following pages of the Treatment and Side Effects section, you can learn about:

Planning Your Treatment 

What types of treatment are available, the most likely sequence of treatments, treatment options by cancer stage, and fitting treatment into your schedule.

Getting a Second Opinion

Reasons for getting a second opinion about your treatment plan, how to go about getting one, and what to do once you’ve got it.

Surgery

Breast-conserving surgery (lumpectomy), mastectomy, and lymph node dissection, and what to expect from each. Also included: Prophylactic surgery and breast reconstruction.

Chemotherapy

How chemotherapy works, who should get it, different types and combinations, and side effects and how to manage them.

Radiation Therapy

How radiation therapy works, who it's for, advantages, side effects, and what to expect when you get it.

Hormonal Therapy

The link between hormones and breast cancer and how different groups of drugs — including ERDs, SERMs, and aromatase inhibitors — can affect that link. Also covered: Side effects of hormonal therapies

Targeted Therapies

How they work, who should get them, how they're given, side effects, and major studies.

Complementary & Holistic Medicine

How complementary medicine techniques such as acupuncture, meditation, and yoga could be a helpful addition to your regular medical treatment. Includes research on complementary techniques and ways to find qualified practitioners.

Drugs for Treatment and Risk Reduction

A reference list of drugs used to treat and reduce the risk of breast cancer, including how they work, to whom they are typically given, and side effects.

Treatments for Pain

Ways to treat cancer- and treatment-related pain, including types of medications and tips on talking to your doctors about pain.

Treatment Side Effects

A reference list of side effects and ways to manage them.

Lymphedema

All about lymphedema, including who is at risk, what to watch out for, how to reduce risk of lymphedema flare-ups, and how to find a lymphedema therapist.

Clinical Trials

What clinical trials are and how they work, why they're important, and how to find trials that may be appropriate for you.

Breast Cancer Risk and Risk Factors on protection of breast cancer

By now you may be familiar with the statistic that says 1 in 8 women will develop invasive breast cancer. Many people misinterpret this to mean that, on any given day, they and the women they know have a 1-in-8 risk of developing the disease. That’s simply not true.
In reality, about 1 in 8 women in the United States — 12%, or about 12 out of every 100 — can expect to develop breast cancer over the course of an entire lifetime. In the U.S., an average lifetime is about 80 years. So, it’s more accurate to say that 1 in 8 women in the U.S. who reach the age of 80 can expect to develop breast cancer. In each decade of life, the risk of getting breast cancer is actually lower than 12% for most women.
People tend to have very different ways of viewing risk. For you, a 1-in-8 lifetime risk may seem like a high likelihood of getting breast cancer. Or you may turn this around and reason that there is a 7-in-8, or 87.5%, chance you will never get breast cancer, even if you live to age 80. How you view risk often depends on your individual situation — for example, whether you or many women you know have had breast cancer, or you have reason to believe you are at higher-than-normal risk for the disease — and your usual way of looking at the world.
Even though studies have found that women have a 12% lifetime risk of developing breast cancer, your individual risk may be higher or lower than that. Individual risk is affected by many different factors, such as family history, reproductive history, lifestyle, environment, and others.
For more information on understanding breast cancer risk and risk factors, visit the Lower Your Risk section of Breastcancer.org.
This section is designed to help you better understand breast cancer risk and some of the factors that can increase risk.
Initially, breast cancer may not cause any symptoms. A lump may be too small for you to feel or to cause any unusual changes you can notice on your own. Often, an abnormal area turns up on a screening mammogram (x-ray of the breast), which leads to further testing.
In some cases, however, the first sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass in the breast that you or your doctor can feel. A lump that is painless, hard, and has uneven edges is more likely to be cancer. But sometimes cancers can be tender, soft, and rounded. So it's important to have anything unusual checked by your doctor.
According to the American Cancer Society, any of the following unusual changes in the breast can be a symptom of breast cancer:

• swelling of all or part of the breast
• skin irritation or dimpling
• breast pain
• nipple pain or the nipple turning inward
• redness, scaliness, or thickening of the nipple or breast skin
• a nipple discharge other than breast milk
• a lump in the underarm area

These changes also can be signs of less serious conditions that are not cancerous, such as an infection or a cyst. It’s important to get any breast changes checked out promptly by a doctor.
The term “risk” is used to refer to a number or percentage that describes how likely a certain event is to occur. When we talk about factors that can increase or decrease the risk of developing breast cancer, either for the first time or as a recurrence, we often talk about two different types of risk: absolute risk and relative risk.

Absolute risk

Absolute risk is used to describe an individual’s likelihood of developing breast cancer. It is based on the number of people who will develop breast cancer within a certain time period. Absolute risk also can be stated as a percentage.
When we say that 1 in 8 women in the United States, or 12%, will develop breast cancer over the course of a lifetime, we are talking about absolute risk. On average, an individual woman has a 1-in-8 chance of developing breast cancer over an 80-year lifespan.

U.S. Breast Cancer Statistics on protection of breast cancer

• About 1 in 8 U.S. women (just under 12%) will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime.
• In 2011, an estimated 230,480 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 57,650 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.
• About 2,140 new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to be diagnosed in men in 2011. A man’s lifetime risk of breast cancer is about 1 in 1,000.
• From 1999 to 2005, breast cancer incidence rates in the U.S. decreased by about 2% per year. The decrease was seen only in women aged 50 and older. One theory is that this decrease was partially due to the reduced use of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) by women after the results of a large study called the Women’s Health Initiative were published in 2002. These results suggested a connection between HRT and increased breast cancer risk.
• About 39,520 women in the U.S. were expected to die in 2011 from breast cancer, though death rates have been decreasing since 1990 — especially in women under 50. These decreases are thought to be the result of treatment advances, earlier detection through screening, and increased awareness.
• For women in the U.S., breast cancer death rates are higher than those for any other cancer, besides lung cancer.
• Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among American women. Just under 30% of cancers in women are breast cancers.
• White women are slightly more likely to develop breast cancer than African-American women. However, in women under 45, breast cancer is more common in African-American women than white women. Overall, African-American women are more llkely to die of breast cancer. Asian, Hispanic, and Native-American women have a lower risk of developing and dying from breast cancer.
• In 2011, there were more than 2.6 million breast cancer survivors in the US.
• A woman’s risk of breast cancer approximately doubles if she has a first-degree relative (mother, sister, daughter) who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. About 15% of women who get breast cancer have a family member diagnosed with it.
• About 5-10% of breast cancers can be linked to gene mutations (abnormal changes) inherited from one’s mother or father. Mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the most common. Women with these mutations have up to an 80% risk of developing breast cancer during their lifetime, and they are more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age (before menopause). An increased ovarian cancer risk is also associated with these genetic mutations.
• In men, about 1 in 10 breast cancers are believed to be due to BRCA2 mutations, and even fewer cases to BRCA1 mutations.
• About 85% of breast cancers occur in women who have no family history of breast cancer. These occur due to genetic mutations that happen as a result of the aging process and life in general, rather than inherited mutations.
• The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender (being a woman) and age (growing older).
• As of Jan. 1, 2009, there were about 2,747,459 women alive in the United States with a history of breast cancer. This includes women being treated and women who are disease-free.

Understanding Breast Cancer

If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with breast cancer, it's important to understand some basics: What is breast cancer and how does it happen?
In this section, you can learn about how breast cancer develops, how many people get breast cancer, and what factors can increase risk for getting breast cancer. You also can learn more about signs and symptoms to watch for and how to manage any fears you may have about breast cancer.
Breast cancer is an uncontrolled growth of breast cells. To better understand breast cancer, it helps to understand how any cancer can develop.
Cancer occurs as a result of mutations, or abnormal changes, in the genes responsible for regulating the growth of cells and keeping them healthy. The genes are in each cell’s nucleus, which acts as the “control room” of each cell. Normally, the cells in our bodies replace themselves through an orderly process of cell growth: healthy new cells take over as old ones die out. But over time, mutations can “turn on” certain genes and “turn off” others in a cell. That changed cell gains the ability to keep dividing without control or order, producing more cells just like it and forming a tumor.
A tumor can be benign (not dangerous to health) or malignant (has the potential to be dangerous). Benign tumors are not considered cancerous: their cells are close to normal in appearance, they grow slowly, and they do not invade nearby tissues or spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors are cancerous. Left unchecked, malignant cells eventually can spread beyond the original tumor to other parts of the body.
The term “breast cancer” refers to a malignant tumor that has developed from cells in the breast. Usually breast cancer either begins in the cells of the lobules, which are the milk-producing glands, or the ducts, the passages that drain milk from the lobules to the nipple. Less commonly, breast cancer can begin in the stromal tissues, which include the fatty and fibrous connective tissues of the breast.
Over time, cancer cells can invade nearby healthy breast tissue and make their way into the underarm lymph nodes, small organs that filter out foreign substances in the body. If cancer cells get into the lymph nodes, they then have a pathway into other parts of the body. The breast cancer’s stage refers to how far the cancer cells have spread beyond the original tumor.
Breast cancer is always caused by a genetic abnormality (a “mistake” in the genetic material). However, only 5-10% of cancers are due to an abnormality inherited from your mother or father. About 90% of breast cancers are due to genetic abnormalities that happen as a result of the aging process and the “wear and tear” of life in general.
There are steps every person can take to help the body stay as healthy as possible and lower risk of breast cancer or a breast cancer recurrence (such as maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking, limiting alcohol, and exercising regularly). Learn what you can do to manage breast cancer risk factors.
Always remember, breast cancer is never anyone's fault. Feeling guilty, or telling yourself that breast cancer happened because of something you or anyone else did, is not productive.

Breast Cancer and Your Job on breast cancer protection

The impact of a breast cancer diagnosis on work life can vary from person to person. For some people, the effect is minimal. You may have an understanding supervisor, a flexible schedule, and an encouraging team to support you through treatment. For others, there might be some questions about how to manage work and treatment: What do I tell my boss? Should I take time off from work for treatment? How will I pay the bills?
This section offers ways to manage the emotional, physical, and legal aspects of balancing your job and your treatment:

• Telling Your Boss and Co-workers about Your Breast Cancer Diagnosis
• Working During Treatment
• Taking Time Off Work for Treatment
• Self-employed and In Treatment
• Looking for a New Job
• Recognizing and Responding to Discrimination at Work   
  The first question you may want to ask yourself when thinking about talking to your boss or coworkers about your breast cancer diagnosis is “Should I tell?” You don’t have to tell anyone at work, unless it is apparent that your diagnosis or treatment will interfere with your ability to work or your work schedule. Keep in mind that if you decide not to discuss your health at work, some questions may be raised if your productivity level is affected, or if you miss a lot of time at work due to treatment appointments.
  You might decide to just tell some people — your supervisor, your closest colleagues, or someone with whom you share responsibilities. Or, you could decide to tell everything to everyone, depending on how comfortable you feel. So how do you tell them, and what do you tell them? Keep in mind that people may react differently; you may receive great amounts of support from some coworkers, while others might not be as comfortable with the conversation.
  Your comfort is the most important, so do what feels right for you. Here are some things you might want to try to make the discussion a little easier:
• Have the conversation in a comfortable, yet private area.
• Talk to your co-workers in smaller groups of one to three people, to make conversation easier.
• Assure your team of your commitment to your job. Explain that you will do everything in your power to do the best job you can. For example, you can ask someone to handle your duties when you’re not at work and you’ll follow up when you return.
• Don’t be afraid to ask your co-workers for help and understanding. Explain that you may need some flexibility in your schedule and support in some projects.
• Explain that you will keep everyone posted on your health as needed. Allow coworkers to ask some questions about your situation — most likely, they care and want to help. At the same time, if they seem to be asking too many questions, let them know that you appreciate their concern, but that you’d like to focus on work.
• Discuss a possible change in your appearance. You may experience hair loss, for example, if you’ll be having chemotherapy treatments.