12 ms·

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of can

Individually, a person can reduce their cancer risk with a few things like not smoking, and avoiding sunburns, etc. but that does not eliminate the risk of cancer. It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living. That said, there is a toooon of cancer that we can prevent as a society though better public health messaging and better environmental laws, such as creating housing and cities that ban cars, so that we are not continually exposed to pm25 risks.

nomilk 5y ago
Second to not smoking is getting checked at the first sign of anything suspicious. A lot (tens of percents) of people wait months or years.
- whatshisface 5y ago
  What's suspicious?
  - wahern 5y ago
    If you have to ask you probably lack the suspicion gene.
  - rococode 5y ago
    From what I can tell as a non-medical professional, some of the most concerning warning signs are: - Sudden weight loss (>10-15 pounds without a change in exercise or diet) - Any kind of recurring pain, especially headaches - Your poop is messed up - Blood anywhere - coughing up blood, nosebleeds when you don't usually have them, blood in your poop or urine - Mood or behavior changes (helpful if you have someone close to you who may notice this) - Feeling fatigued even when well-rested - Swelling or lumps anywhere - Trouble sleeping Which is a lot of stuff, but fortunately can be summed up as "If you feel consistently worse than you usually do, go see a doctor". The key is to make your judgement of "I am indeed feeling consistently worse" within a couple of weeks, not a few months or even years while hoping it'll get better on its own. It's harder than it sounds - life is always busy and it's easy to tell yourself that your discomfort is mild and you can hold out a little longer. I waited too long to act on some bad heartburn and my few months of delay were rewarded with permanent damage to my lower esophagus...
    - nomilk 5y ago
      I'd just add signs of skin changes too: - New moles. - Moles that increases in size. - An outline of a mole that becomes notched. - A spot that changes colour from brown to black or is varied. - A spot that becomes raised or develops a lump within it. - The surface of a mole becoming rough, scaly or ulcerated. - Moles that itch or tingle. - Moles that bleed or weep. - Spots that look different from the others. Info directly from here: https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prevention/sun-safety/check-for-signs-of-skin-cancer https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prev...
    - chasd00 5y ago
      when i was in my 20's a drank a lot of dr pepper. I switched to diet dr. pepper just by chance and it stuck as a habit. I lost so much weight so fast i went to the doctor fearing the worst. He did the math in front of me around how much less sugar i was consuming by that switch and it all added up. i was blown away.
  - james_impliu 5y ago
    For anyone reading with children... My daughter has cancer in her eyes. The only symptom was a barely noticeable squint despite it being very late stage (and then suddenly, dilated pupil and a color change in her pupil). In theory, the other symptom would have been a white reflection in her pupil had we ever taken a flash photo.
    - Toutouxc 5y ago
      So sorry man. Also, what the fuck is wrong with the world? Cancer in someones's daughter's eyes, really?
- 8ytecoder 5y ago
  My brother had mild breathing issues and back pain for a really long time. He resisted getting tested until the day his pain got severe enough to call for an ambulance. It turned out to be a giant tumor - large enough to press against nerves and cause back pain. He’s the fittest person I know and we all thought he overdid himself at the gym causing a back issue. It’s just that everything can be cancer and nothing. Some cancers have obvious symptoms others not so much. Any unexplained and rapid weight loss seems to be the most obvious. I don’t want to look up all the symptoms. Everything from gastric issues, back pains to moles and warts can be due to cancer.
WA 5y ago
Ban burning wood in cities, they are even bigger sources of pm2.5
- srini_reddy 5y ago
  give the poor people LPGs, and yes it is possible.
- pharmakom 5y ago
  Cars have other issues such as noise pollution and road danger. Ban / substantially reduce both, please.
  - kgran 5y ago
    Also, uneconomical use of urban land.
    - falcolas 5y ago
      > Also, uneconomical use of urban land. Uh, like green spaces? Those aren't economically valuable, but they're immensely valuable to humans.
      - epistasis 5y ago
        Not green spaces, as those do provide significant value to humans, and that value does show up economically too, even though we shouldn't value them primarily in that respect. It's more about people hoarding lots of land for parking, roads for cars that are unsafe for use by non-car users, and then also vertical space above short buildings that goes unused.
- danuker 5y ago
  Make an exception for gasifier furnaces.
andi999 5y ago
Dont forget radon, depending on your location: https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/rhm/basic-info/1st/02-05-07.html https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/rhm/basic-info/1st/02-05-07.h... Edit: of course country averages are mildly pointless, since it can strongly vary between different places in that country, so it might be worth to check on the city level
- whizzter 5y ago
  The high values in Sweden (and partly perhaps Finland) was partly(there are also geological reasons) due to a popular popular brand of concrete (called Blue Concrete colloquially) being made with Alum Shale that happened to contain a large amount of Uranium (and thus the radiation/decay will eventually produce Radon gas). This combined with Sweden being a fairly cold country (with people keeping their windows shut) was a recipe for disaster with the further combined effect of smoking and radon gas leading to quite a few fatalities. These days multi-family housings are regularly inspected to make sure that Radon gas amounts aren't too high (even if the required limits are fairly high in an international context).
Darmody 5y ago
Preventive healthcare. It's way cheaper than treatments and medicines once you're sick and the best part, you don't get sick that much. And that's something private healthcare can't provide, or at least not as effectively as the public healthcare.
- danuker 5y ago
  I wish the government published statistics on healthy-years-of-life-lost-per-year-covered for each private insurance agency.
  - sokoloff 5y ago
    Wouldn’t that data necessarily lag by so many decades as to be useless?
StapleHorse 5y ago
Maybe too specific, but a better ventilation while soldering and 3D printing is also a good idea.
xbar 5y ago
My sincere admiration for the author's strength in the face of this terrible hardship. A person can also avoid cancer by choosing a career that is not cancer-inducing. Given the author's cabin crew history: 3.4% of female flight attendants reported having had breast cancer compared with 2.3% of women in the general population group 2.2% of female flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared with 0.98% of women in the general population group 1.2% of male flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared with 0.69% of men in the general population group 7.4% of female flight attendants reported having had non-melanoma skin cancer compared with 1.8% of women in the general population group 3.2% of male flight attendants reported having had non-melanoma skin cancer compared with 2.9% of men in the general population group https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-examines-cancer-rates-among-flight-attendants.html https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-examines-cancer-rat...
- nomilk 5y ago
  Do pilots have similarly increased rates? Or does it likely correlate with lifestyle factors (sunbaking, smoking etc).
  - viceroyalbean 5y ago
    After some googling I found a few studies that seem to show an increased risk for pilots as well, particularly skin cancer. I think the increased risk of skin cancer is interesting since that would (layman's speculation) probably be the most affected by radiation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12862322/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12862322/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559846/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559846/
    - formerly_proven 5y ago
      Normal glass has low transmission for UV-B and UV-C, but significant transmission of UV-A. This in combination with high altitudes (so less atmosphere) and also simple thermal heating, could already explain this. Perhaps aircraft should add an UV-A blocking layer to their windows? I don't think increased radiation levels would contribute differentially to skin cancer, because we're talking about gamma rays.
Findecanor 5y ago
The most common cancer: colon cancer, would be 95% preventable if only people got over silly notions about their butts and got a colonoscopy when they have reached age 45-50. Colon cancer takes a decade to develop from polyp to tumour. The main purpose of a colonoscopy is to find and snip any polyps there could be in the colon. Then you'd be safe from colon cancer for a decade or more. You would normally not feel much: the sensory nerves in the colon are only really able to feel if you have gas. And many hospitals offer sedation, so you wouldn't need to experience the procedure anyway. The worst part is the restricted diet for a week before (avoiding foods that would cling to the intestine wall) and emptying the bowels the day before. If you know that you have healthy kidneys, do ask your doctor for the good laxative that is a small dose that doesn't taste bad. Myself I have an unusual genetic condition, so I unlike normal people, I do a colonoscopy every year. I stay awake and watch the monitor, because I actually want to see what I look like inside. At the end when you reach the small intestine, the cilia on the walls inside there are quite fascinating.
- gambiting 5y ago
  There is an interesting difference between the way countries approach this btw. In US, sedation is standard and used in 90%+ of colonoscopies. In UK sedation is rarely used unless specifically requested by the patient, you usually get some gas and air instead. It's not even due to cost, it's just that sedation for colonoscopy is generally unnecessary, it's an uncomfortable but not particularily painful procedure.
  - Gareth321 5y ago
    It's unnecessary but a lot of pain medication is "unnecessary." We use it to reduce pain because we don't like to feel pain. This seems self evidently common sense to me. In New Zealand my colonoscopies were carried out with ketamine, which is incredibly safe under medical supervision. Unless there are contraindicated medical conditions, I see no reason not to use something like ketamine or a light dose of oxygenated nitrous oxide.
    - gambiting 5y ago
mjbeswick 5y ago
Half of cancers in the developed world are due to lifestyle; so how you live has a huge impact in you chances of developing cancer. People often overlook other factors that increase your chances of developing cancer such as obesity, exposure to viruses, immunodeficiency, background radiation etc. Humans are in quite an unlucky position when it comes to developing cancer, due to our relatively small size and long lifespan. Cancer doesn't affect smaller animals so much, as they generally don't live long enough for it to develop. Larger animals that live long lifespans aren't affected so much, such as elephants and whales.
- rob74 5y ago
  One other major factor people also overlook is genetics - not that you can do anything about it, but if you have cases of cancer in your family, you should probably be extra careful. Plus the obvious things like fair-skinned people needing to be more careful about skin cancer etc.
  - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
    Pretty much everyone has some cancer in their family. Cancer is really common. You won't always know there was cancer, though: How often do you hear about Grandpa's prostate or that mole your cousin had removed?
    - WinterMount223 5y ago
      That’s always shared among the family. Don’t know where you are from.
      - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
        No, it most definitely isn't. I'm originally from the US, by the way. The midwest, if that helps. Some families will talk about it, others don't, and a lot will pass on talking about it if it was 'no big deal'. So the weird mole? Yeah, you probably didn't hear. You especially didn't hear if it was your cousin. Not everyone will talk about their prostate, especially folks more embarrassed about bodily functions or anuses. A lot of prostate cancer doesn't require treatment, after all, and no reason to talk about it. If your great grandmother had cancer, you probably don't know, especially if she died from a heart attack or stroke. Doubly so if your parents and grandparents are still alive and have not had cancer. And yes, I've met all sorts of folks like this. I worked in a pharmacy for years. You just assume everyone will talk about such things.
headsoup 5y ago
How prevalent was colon cancer a) historically and b) since the advent of colonoscopies?
- rob74 5y ago
  How healthy was the average diet a) historically and b) since the advent of colonoscopies?
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  It doesn't take much to realize that no one can answer this. Causes of death get really weird as you go back in time. And it isn't like we can dig up bodies to know since soft tissue isn't usually preserved. We know cancer has been an issue for centuries, though. We've not been doing colonoscopies nearly as long and we still don't do them to the general population (Even if your country recommends you get them once you reach a certain age: Healthcare is sparse in many areas of the world). This does mean that we really don't know how prevalent it is except in some populations. And even then, we probably don't know since we do not routinely do them to younger folks. I'm sure there are all sorts of other issues with this, but I'm a layperson and I'm guessing you are too.
teleforce 5y ago
One of my parents died recently due to cancer and I beg to disagree with your statement "It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living". Perhaps not that scientifically savvy but this video presentation by a medical doctor does highlight the anomaly of the Middle East population that have significantly least mortality due to cancer, most probably because of their lifestyle and habit. [1]Why Does the Middle East Have the Lowest Cancer Rates in the World: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29852556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29852556
- vmception 5y ago
  I like the video We’re still grasping at straws Its nice that we have all these distinct populations to give clues to a broader solution, but there is still nothing to emulate, no rubric to follow, just a couple things to help you feel like you’re in slightly more control than you actually are All these rates of cancer stats per capita are based on detecting the cancer, which we are notoriously bad at. It is either by happenstance or because its too late. We don't know how fast it grows, some practically overnight, some over decades. The delta changes as well. When detection methods get more personalized and better, I think the rates will go up dramatically while also providing the biggest chance at fixing and figuring out real prevention methods.
  - teleforce 5y ago
    Yes you are right nothing concrete yet but it's beginning to take shape now regarding the lifestyle and habit as the risk factors for cancer. For more scientifically savvy research please check this recent video presentation from Dr. Leeper, Professor of Surgery and the Chief of Vascular Medicine at Stanford University. He's a cardiologist and co-founder of two biotechnology companies, 47 Inc. and Bitterroot Bio, that aim to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. [1]What do cancer and heart disease have in common? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnzYymcRnrs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnzYymcRnrs
chaostheory 5y ago
I’m surprised no one mentioned excess calories (typically from carbs) as a risk.
- teleforce 5y ago
  Yes it's most probably one of the main risk factors and it's being actively research at the moment. Please check my other comments for the recent video presentation that's based on the state-of-the-art research from a Stanford University Professor regarding the risk factors for cancer and CVDs.
m12k 5y ago
The way I think about cancer: Each and every one of us is playing Russian roulette daily with a revolver with a giant drum with tens of thousands of empty slots and a single bullet. And some people load more bullets in the drum by smoking, drinking, getting sunburned, other risky behavior or just losing the genetic lottery. At the end of the day, the outcome is still random. You'll still come across chain smokers that live to be 100 and people like Seema in the post, who get cancer despite doing everything "right". It doesn't seem fair - because it isn't, it's random. The best we can do is change the odds, not guarantee the outcome.
- Turfie 5y ago
  It's never random. All is just a process of causes and conditions, albeit a very complex one. We just can't track all the variables.
  - thombat 5y ago
    At the root of medicine is biochemistry, and at the root of chemistry is quantum physics: the formation and breaking of chemical bonds is at core random events shaped by probabilities. We can only say how likely events are, not which ones will happen when.
    - thisismyswamp 5y ago
      Or rather even if it is deterministic, it might as well be random to us.
  - throwaway22032 5y ago
    Sure, in the same sense that a roulette table or a deck of shuffled cards isn't actually random, it's just cause and effect.
  - paraschopra 5y ago
    It's random for all practical purposes if you can't figure out the causes.
Terry_Roll 5y ago
No mention of diet although you hint at it indirectly when you say avoid subburns. So Copper is used to make melanin the skin pigment which then converts 99.9% of UV radiation into heat. Now if the copper in your diet is going towards the melanin production there is less for Interleukin-2 which helps white blood cells become more accurate. Ironically, people eat more leafy greens (salds) during the summer months when UV levels are highest so there is a seasonal environmental element to factor in as well. Too much copper though and it will make you paranoid (dopamine-noradrenaline), and the female oestrogen pill (oestrogen) increases or retains more copper in the body which might probably explains some young womens reports of not feeling too brilliant when young and on the pill.
RspecMAuthortah 5y ago
The author is from India. India has been experiencing a wave of changes in the face of a growing middle class. The pollution level in every major cities is just abysmal, there is very little regard for quality control - parts of India in the north are basically covered in toxic fogs for a decent part of the year. Add to that an increasing adoption of plastics, recipes involving frying oil in high temperature and western style take out meals, even the wealthy Indians are not leading as healthy of lifestyle as they might think. Here is an anecdote - growing up we used to have local festivals in the temples where they would distribute meals in banana leaves almost exclusively in all the temples. Fast forward these have been replaced with single usage low grade plastics and cups which when served hot I honestly fear leech plastic into food. The number of cars in any metropolitan cities have exploded - older forms of transportation like rickshaws are almost gone (not that I am saying I condone the poor rickshawalas having to pull weights twice their own but just setting context). Traditional Indian meals involved less frying and using ghee, which has higher smoke temperature compared to soybean which is also very poor quality.
holoduke 5y ago
And not forget to ban all fastfood from society. No coca cola, no burgers, no sweets. Healthy diets obligation for everyone.
suyash 5y ago
also stop eating meat, specially red meat.

nomilk 5y ago

Second to not smoking is getting checked at the first sign of anything suspicious. A lot (tens of percents) of people wait months or years.

whatshisface 5y ago
What's suspicious?
- wahern 5y ago
  If you have to ask you probably lack the suspicion gene.
- rococode 5y ago
  From what I can tell as a non-medical professional, some of the most concerning warning signs are: - Sudden weight loss (>10-15 pounds without a change in exercise or diet) - Any kind of recurring pain, especially headaches - Your poop is messed up - Blood anywhere - coughing up blood, nosebleeds when you don't usually have them, blood in your poop or urine - Mood or behavior changes (helpful if you have someone close to you who may notice this) - Feeling fatigued even when well-rested - Swelling or lumps anywhere - Trouble sleeping Which is a lot of stuff, but fortunately can be summed up as "If you feel consistently worse than you usually do, go see a doctor". The key is to make your judgement of "I am indeed feeling consistently worse" within a couple of weeks, not a few months or even years while hoping it'll get better on its own. It's harder than it sounds - life is always busy and it's easy to tell yourself that your discomfort is mild and you can hold out a little longer. I waited too long to act on some bad heartburn and my few months of delay were rewarded with permanent damage to my lower esophagus...
  - nomilk 5y ago
    I'd just add signs of skin changes too: - New moles. - Moles that increases in size. - An outline of a mole that becomes notched. - A spot that changes colour from brown to black or is varied. - A spot that becomes raised or develops a lump within it. - The surface of a mole becoming rough, scaly or ulcerated. - Moles that itch or tingle. - Moles that bleed or weep. - Spots that look different from the others. Info directly from here: https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prevention/sun-safety/check-for-signs-of-skin-cancer https://www.cancer.org.au/cancer-information/causes-and-prev...
  - chasd00 5y ago
    when i was in my 20's a drank a lot of dr pepper. I switched to diet dr. pepper just by chance and it stuck as a habit. I lost so much weight so fast i went to the doctor fearing the worst. He did the math in front of me around how much less sugar i was consuming by that switch and it all added up. i was blown away.
- james_impliu 5y ago
  For anyone reading with children... My daughter has cancer in her eyes. The only symptom was a barely noticeable squint despite it being very late stage (and then suddenly, dilated pupil and a color change in her pupil). In theory, the other symptom would have been a white reflection in her pupil had we ever taken a flash photo.
  - Toutouxc 5y ago
    So sorry man. Also, what the fuck is wrong with the world? Cancer in someones's daughter's eyes, really?
8ytecoder 5y ago
My brother had mild breathing issues and back pain for a really long time. He resisted getting tested until the day his pain got severe enough to call for an ambulance. It turned out to be a giant tumor - large enough to press against nerves and cause back pain. He’s the fittest person I know and we all thought he overdid himself at the gym causing a back issue. It’s just that everything can be cancer and nothing. Some cancers have obvious symptoms others not so much. Any unexplained and rapid weight loss seems to be the most obvious. I don’t want to look up all the symptoms. Everything from gastric issues, back pains to moles and warts can be due to cancer.

WA 5y ago

Ban burning wood in cities, they are even bigger sources of pm2.5

srini_reddy 5y ago
give the poor people LPGs, and yes it is possible.
pharmakom 5y ago
Cars have other issues such as noise pollution and road danger. Ban / substantially reduce both, please.
- kgran 5y ago
  Also, uneconomical use of urban land.
  - falcolas 5y ago
    > Also, uneconomical use of urban land. Uh, like green spaces? Those aren't economically valuable, but they're immensely valuable to humans.
    - epistasis 5y ago
      Not green spaces, as those do provide significant value to humans, and that value does show up economically too, even though we shouldn't value them primarily in that respect. It's more about people hoarding lots of land for parking, roads for cars that are unsafe for use by non-car users, and then also vertical space above short buildings that goes unused.
danuker 5y ago
Make an exception for gasifier furnaces.

andi999 5y ago

Dont forget radon, depending on your location: https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/rhm/basic-info/1st/02-05-07.html https://www.env.go.jp/en/chemi/rhm/basic-info/1st/02-05-07.h... Edit: of course country averages are mildly pointless, since it can strongly vary between different places in that country, so it might be worth to check on the city level

whizzter 5y ago
The high values in Sweden (and partly perhaps Finland) was partly(there are also geological reasons) due to a popular popular brand of concrete (called Blue Concrete colloquially) being made with Alum Shale that happened to contain a large amount of Uranium (and thus the radiation/decay will eventually produce Radon gas). This combined with Sweden being a fairly cold country (with people keeping their windows shut) was a recipe for disaster with the further combined effect of smoking and radon gas leading to quite a few fatalities. These days multi-family housings are regularly inspected to make sure that Radon gas amounts aren't too high (even if the required limits are fairly high in an international context).

Darmody 5y ago

Preventive healthcare. It's way cheaper than treatments and medicines once you're sick and the best part, you don't get sick that much. And that's something private healthcare can't provide, or at least not as effectively as the public healthcare.

danuker 5y ago
I wish the government published statistics on healthy-years-of-life-lost-per-year-covered for each private insurance agency.
- sokoloff 5y ago
  Wouldn’t that data necessarily lag by so many decades as to be useless?

StapleHorse 5y ago

Maybe too specific, but a better ventilation while soldering and 3D printing is also a good idea.

xbar 5y ago

My sincere admiration for the author's strength in the face of this terrible hardship. A person can also avoid cancer by choosing a career that is not cancer-inducing. Given the author's cabin crew history: 3.4% of female flight attendants reported having had breast cancer compared with 2.3% of women in the general population group 2.2% of female flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared with 0.98% of women in the general population group 1.2% of male flight attendants reported having had melanoma skin cancer compared with 0.69% of men in the general population group 7.4% of female flight attendants reported having had non-melanoma skin cancer compared with 1.8% of women in the general population group 3.2% of male flight attendants reported having had non-melanoma skin cancer compared with 2.9% of men in the general population group https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-examines-cancer-rates-among-flight-attendants.html https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/study-examines-cancer-rat...

nomilk 5y ago
Do pilots have similarly increased rates? Or does it likely correlate with lifestyle factors (sunbaking, smoking etc).
- viceroyalbean 5y ago
  After some googling I found a few studies that seem to show an increased risk for pilots as well, particularly skin cancer. I think the increased risk of skin cancer is interesting since that would (layman's speculation) probably be the most affected by radiation. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12862322/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12862322/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559846/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5559846/
  - formerly_proven 5y ago
    Normal glass has low transmission for UV-B and UV-C, but significant transmission of UV-A. This in combination with high altitudes (so less atmosphere) and also simple thermal heating, could already explain this. Perhaps aircraft should add an UV-A blocking layer to their windows? I don't think increased radiation levels would contribute differentially to skin cancer, because we're talking about gamma rays.

Findecanor 5y ago

The most common cancer: colon cancer, would be 95% preventable if only people got over silly notions about their butts and got a colonoscopy when they have reached age 45-50. Colon cancer takes a decade to develop from polyp to tumour. The main purpose of a colonoscopy is to find and snip any polyps there could be in the colon. Then you'd be safe from colon cancer for a decade or more. You would normally not feel much: the sensory nerves in the colon are only really able to feel if you have gas. And many hospitals offer sedation, so you wouldn't need to experience the procedure anyway. The worst part is the restricted diet for a week before (avoiding foods that would cling to the intestine wall) and emptying the bowels the day before. If you know that you have healthy kidneys, do ask your doctor for the good laxative that is a small dose that doesn't taste bad. Myself I have an unusual genetic condition, so I unlike normal people, I do a colonoscopy every year. I stay awake and watch the monitor, because I actually want to see what I look like inside. At the end when you reach the small intestine, the cilia on the walls inside there are quite fascinating.

gambiting 5y ago
There is an interesting difference between the way countries approach this btw. In US, sedation is standard and used in 90%+ of colonoscopies. In UK sedation is rarely used unless specifically requested by the patient, you usually get some gas and air instead. It's not even due to cost, it's just that sedation for colonoscopy is generally unnecessary, it's an uncomfortable but not particularily painful procedure.
- Gareth321 5y ago
  It's unnecessary but a lot of pain medication is "unnecessary." We use it to reduce pain because we don't like to feel pain. This seems self evidently common sense to me. In New Zealand my colonoscopies were carried out with ketamine, which is incredibly safe under medical supervision. Unless there are contraindicated medical conditions, I see no reason not to use something like ketamine or a light dose of oxygenated nitrous oxide.
  - gambiting 5y ago

mjbeswick 5y ago

Half of cancers in the developed world are due to lifestyle; so how you live has a huge impact in you chances of developing cancer. People often overlook other factors that increase your chances of developing cancer such as obesity, exposure to viruses, immunodeficiency, background radiation etc. Humans are in quite an unlucky position when it comes to developing cancer, due to our relatively small size and long lifespan. Cancer doesn't affect smaller animals so much, as they generally don't live long enough for it to develop. Larger animals that live long lifespans aren't affected so much, such as elephants and whales.

rob74 5y ago
One other major factor people also overlook is genetics - not that you can do anything about it, but if you have cases of cancer in your family, you should probably be extra careful. Plus the obvious things like fair-skinned people needing to be more careful about skin cancer etc.
- Broken_Hippo 5y ago
  Pretty much everyone has some cancer in their family. Cancer is really common. You won't always know there was cancer, though: How often do you hear about Grandpa's prostate or that mole your cousin had removed?
  - WinterMount223 5y ago
    That’s always shared among the family. Don’t know where you are from.
    - Broken_Hippo 5y ago
      No, it most definitely isn't. I'm originally from the US, by the way. The midwest, if that helps. Some families will talk about it, others don't, and a lot will pass on talking about it if it was 'no big deal'. So the weird mole? Yeah, you probably didn't hear. You especially didn't hear if it was your cousin. Not everyone will talk about their prostate, especially folks more embarrassed about bodily functions or anuses. A lot of prostate cancer doesn't require treatment, after all, and no reason to talk about it. If your great grandmother had cancer, you probably don't know, especially if she died from a heart attack or stroke. Doubly so if your parents and grandparents are still alive and have not had cancer. And yes, I've met all sorts of folks like this. I worked in a pharmacy for years. You just assume everyone will talk about such things.

headsoup 5y ago

How prevalent was colon cancer a) historically and b) since the advent of colonoscopies?

rob74 5y ago
How healthy was the average diet a) historically and b) since the advent of colonoscopies?
Broken_Hippo 5y ago
It doesn't take much to realize that no one can answer this. Causes of death get really weird as you go back in time. And it isn't like we can dig up bodies to know since soft tissue isn't usually preserved. We know cancer has been an issue for centuries, though. We've not been doing colonoscopies nearly as long and we still don't do them to the general population (Even if your country recommends you get them once you reach a certain age: Healthcare is sparse in many areas of the world). This does mean that we really don't know how prevalent it is except in some populations. And even then, we probably don't know since we do not routinely do them to younger folks. I'm sure there are all sorts of other issues with this, but I'm a layperson and I'm guessing you are too.

teleforce 5y ago

One of my parents died recently due to cancer and I beg to disagree with your statement "It's not a disease that primarily comes from unhealthy living". Perhaps not that scientifically savvy but this video presentation by a medical doctor does highlight the anomaly of the Middle East population that have significantly least mortality due to cancer, most probably because of their lifestyle and habit. [1]Why Does the Middle East Have the Lowest Cancer Rates in the World: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29852556 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29852556

vmception 5y ago
I like the video We’re still grasping at straws Its nice that we have all these distinct populations to give clues to a broader solution, but there is still nothing to emulate, no rubric to follow, just a couple things to help you feel like you’re in slightly more control than you actually are All these rates of cancer stats per capita are based on detecting the cancer, which we are notoriously bad at. It is either by happenstance or because its too late. We don't know how fast it grows, some practically overnight, some over decades. The delta changes as well. When detection methods get more personalized and better, I think the rates will go up dramatically while also providing the biggest chance at fixing and figuring out real prevention methods.
- teleforce 5y ago
  Yes you are right nothing concrete yet but it's beginning to take shape now regarding the lifestyle and habit as the risk factors for cancer. For more scientifically savvy research please check this recent video presentation from Dr. Leeper, Professor of Surgery and the Chief of Vascular Medicine at Stanford University. He's a cardiologist and co-founder of two biotechnology companies, 47 Inc. and Bitterroot Bio, that aim to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. [1]What do cancer and heart disease have in common? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnzYymcRnrs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnzYymcRnrs

chaostheory 5y ago

I’m surprised no one mentioned excess calories (typically from carbs) as a risk.

teleforce 5y ago
Yes it's most probably one of the main risk factors and it's being actively research at the moment. Please check my other comments for the recent video presentation that's based on the state-of-the-art research from a Stanford University Professor regarding the risk factors for cancer and CVDs.

m12k 5y ago

The way I think about cancer: Each and every one of us is playing Russian roulette daily with a revolver with a giant drum with tens of thousands of empty slots and a single bullet. And some people load more bullets in the drum by smoking, drinking, getting sunburned, other risky behavior or just losing the genetic lottery. At the end of the day, the outcome is still random. You'll still come across chain smokers that live to be 100 and people like Seema in the post, who get cancer despite doing everything "right". It doesn't seem fair - because it isn't, it's random. The best we can do is change the odds, not guarantee the outcome.

Turfie 5y ago
It's never random. All is just a process of causes and conditions, albeit a very complex one. We just can't track all the variables.
- thombat 5y ago
  At the root of medicine is biochemistry, and at the root of chemistry is quantum physics: the formation and breaking of chemical bonds is at core random events shaped by probabilities. We can only say how likely events are, not which ones will happen when.
  - thisismyswamp 5y ago
    Or rather even if it is deterministic, it might as well be random to us.
- throwaway22032 5y ago
  Sure, in the same sense that a roulette table or a deck of shuffled cards isn't actually random, it's just cause and effect.
- paraschopra 5y ago
  It's random for all practical purposes if you can't figure out the causes.

Terry_Roll 5y ago

No mention of diet although you hint at it indirectly when you say avoid subburns. So Copper is used to make melanin the skin pigment which then converts 99.9% of UV radiation into heat. Now if the copper in your diet is going towards the melanin production there is less for Interleukin-2 which helps white blood cells become more accurate. Ironically, people eat more leafy greens (salds) during the summer months when UV levels are highest so there is a seasonal environmental element to factor in as well. Too much copper though and it will make you paranoid (dopamine-noradrenaline), and the female oestrogen pill (oestrogen) increases or retains more copper in the body which might probably explains some young womens reports of not feeling too brilliant when young and on the pill.

RspecMAuthortah 5y ago

The author is from India. India has been experiencing a wave of changes in the face of a growing middle class. The pollution level in every major cities is just abysmal, there is very little regard for quality control - parts of India in the north are basically covered in toxic fogs for a decent part of the year. Add to that an increasing adoption of plastics, recipes involving frying oil in high temperature and western style take out meals, even the wealthy Indians are not leading as healthy of lifestyle as they might think. Here is an anecdote - growing up we used to have local festivals in the temples where they would distribute meals in banana leaves almost exclusively in all the temples. Fast forward these have been replaced with single usage low grade plastics and cups which when served hot I honestly fear leech plastic into food. The number of cars in any metropolitan cities have exploded - older forms of transportation like rickshaws are almost gone (not that I am saying I condone the poor rickshawalas having to pull weights twice their own but just setting context). Traditional Indian meals involved less frying and using ghee, which has higher smoke temperature compared to soybean which is also very poor quality.

holoduke 5y ago

And not forget to ban all fastfood from society. No coca cola, no burgers, no sweets. Healthy diets obligation for everyone.

suyash 5y ago

also stop eating meat, specially red meat.