Why does cancer tend to be younger? Which cancers are more likely to occur in young people? How should we actually prevent it?
There are two main reasons for the rejuvenation of cancer. The first is that young people's eating habits are becoming more and more westernized. Many young people don't like to eat green vegetables and fruits, but prefer meat and foods with high sugar content. Young people don't think this is junk food, so the intake frequency is relatively increased. In addition, young people's daily routine and irregular exercise habits often lead to sedentary and relatively reduced exercise.
Another important reason is that most young people rely on their youth and have no sense of crisis/risk, so they tend to ignore it. For example, older people are more likely to think of cancer if they have poor stool and stomachache for a long time, but young people usually don't.
In fact, the cause of cancer formation is directly related to repair ability and aging, but there are also some external factors that may accelerate gene aging. For example, many young people in Taiwan Province Province suffer from intestinal dysfunction and pathological changes due to long-term constipation, in which case the risk of cancer will increase.
However, the incidence of cancer in young people is still not as high as that in the elderly. Only in recent years, we feel that more and more young people are suffering from cancer. But if statistics are true, the number of elderly people suffering from cancer is still much higher, because cancer is originally a disease with aging genes, but compared with ten years ago, the number of young people suffering from cancer has an increasing trend.
Which cancers are more likely to occur in young people?
For example, uterine cancer, breast cancer and colorectal cancer all tend to be younger. The youngest patient I contacted was a 22-year-old female college student with breast cancer. After carefully evaluating the medical history of these young cancer patients, most of them have no family history, but usually their diet is westernized, and they like sweets, bubble tea and so on. And they are usually obese and have an early physiological period. Besides, they don't exercise much. Many young people also discovered it because of their initial neglect.
When should cancer prevention start?
Although the concept of health preservation and cancer prevention sounds old-fashioned, young people still need to know information including their own physical condition, whether their eating habits are healthy, and whether there are abnormal physical symptoms. If they belong to an unhealthy lifestyle group, cancer may come to you early. If you eat out, or your menstrual period comes earlier than others, and your mother or aunt has breast cancer, your risk of breast cancer will be higher. You should have an examination earlier. If you touch some lumps, or have some mild symptoms, you don't immediately think it must be cancer, but treat it as a possible option. Don't ignore it.
Or lead your life to a healthier state, and then do regular health checks and dabble in some medical knowledge.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
Generally, young women can have regular * * * self-examination, such as after menstruation 1 week. They can observe whether there is asymmetry, protrusion, lump, depression, secretion and other abnormal conditions in the appearance of * * *, and they can also do palpation on * * * by themselves, so they don't have to be too nervous when they find problems. If they are in doubt, they should see a doctor as soon as possible.
However, it is suggested that you can consult a doctor regularly for clinical palpation, and consult a professional doctor every two years when you are 20-30 years old, and once a year 1 time after 30 years old. After all, the time and probability for a well-trained doctor to touch a lump and find abnormality will be higher. For example, a lump the size of a ping-pong ball can be touched by ordinary people, but doctors can even touch a lump the size of a peanut, which actually takes a long time. If the lump of * * * is peanut-sized, it may be at most 0 or 1 period (the cure rate is 90- 100%), and the size of table tennis may be 2 or 3 periods (the cure rate is 60-80%), so the probability of * * * remaining is also high. Many people think this kind of thing is very private, but now the staff in some hospitals are all women, and the privacy equipment is also very good. It is recommended to see a doctor if you have any questions, and don't be taboo; Early detection means early treatment. If found early, it may be cancer in situ. Generally speaking, stage zero cancer is really not cancer, so really don't worry too much.
Besides physical examination, are there any suggestions for all-round cancer prevention?
It is important to cultivate exercise habits. It is especially recommended to do some aerobic exercise and resistance exercise. Young people should exercise for at least 60-90 minutes a week, and it is best to exercise a little while sweating and breathing, but still be able to talk.
Have you ever heard the wrong message about cancer?
It is said that drinking energy water and alkaline water can prevent cancer. It is rumored that acidic constitution is easy to get cancer, and it is necessary to drink alkaline water to balance cancer, but this is really completely wrong! In fact, the tumor itself regulates the cellular environment through its own mechanism, making the body anoxic, so cancer grows more easily and faster, and energy metabolism is needed under anoxic state, so it becomes anaerobic metabolism and is easy to produce lactic acid. Simply put, it is not that cancer cells like acidic environment, but that it creates acidic environment, which also refers to the cellular environment of cancer cells, so it is useless to drink alkaline water. It is better to exercise to strengthen blood circulation and improve the oxygen content of the body.
If cancer patients are young, what is the biggest difference between them and the elderly?
The biggest difference should be that the state of mind and body is completely different. Young people don't have much social experience. Not only do they never think that they will get cancer, but when they encounter such great setbacks at once, they are often at a loss and will be much more depressed than the elderly who have cancer.
Most of them get cancer at the age of 30-40. Because Taiwan Province Province generally marries late, many people are newly married and even have children to take care of, which will have a great impact on time and economy. For example, they may lose their family's financial resources because of anti-cancer. In addition, cancer treatment will also damage their health. For example, if they receive chemotherapy for breast cancer, they will lose their fertility, which will be a big problem for their later life.
There are also differences in health. Although the physical function of elderly patients will be damaged whether they are treated or not, the physical function of elderly patients will actually decline to some extent. Even with treatment, the function will not decrease too much. However, if young people suffer from cancer, such as surgery, it will affect their daily life for a longer period of time, and even other diseases that should be obtained in the next few decades will appear ahead of time because of treatment, such as menopausal syndrome and osteoporosis, and sometimes other complications will occur.
Not only that, although young people have good physical strength and tolerance, most of their cancers in old age are caused by chronic long-term accumulation of genes. Relatively speaking, the problem of gene mutation is not so serious, but for young people, the time equivalent to gene mutation is relatively compressed and the degree of malignancy is relatively high, so young people are usually particularly prone to relapse and spread after cancer.
What is the biggest difficulty for young patients to face cancer?
In addition to the treatment process, I think there are psychological and economic burdens, because cancer treatment is not only time-consuming but also expensive. Some young patients have cancer without insurance and medical resources are relatively poor. For cancers such as colorectal cancer and breast cancer, many treatments are not covered by medical insurance, which will inevitably bring great pressure to young cancer patients.
Can the mood have an effect on cancer? What kind of attitude should we face?
Old people can face cancer in the way they used to solve setbacks, but young people often have no experience to help them learn to fight cancer. When relatively young people have cancer emotions, they are usually hit more than the elderly, and there are often no peers around them to learn and consult. There will be a lot of emotional wear and tear for young people who fight cancer setbacks.
In addition, patients who are more optimistic, positive and have better family support usually calm down faster, with fewer side effects and relatively better treatment effect. By the way, young patients often don't have enough family support, so parents will feel that they can't get it at all, and young people with cancer can't feel the same, which will inevitably make patients more anxious.
However, negative people usually don't have enough motivation to seek treatment. Generally, young people are more sensitive to side effects and treatment, and may be more anxious or uncomfortable.
If the patient is young, what advice can he give to his family?
The kindness of the elders at home may sometimes make it more difficult for patients to fight cancer, so parents need to learn and know how to take care of patients in the right way. The most important thing is that the assistance between family members should be classified and play different roles. Some should take care of patients or children, some should listen to more medical knowledge, and some should find financial resources, do their own jobs and help patients.
On the contrary, if the caregivers are young people, what problems will they generally encounter? What advice would you give?
Young people have good internet skills, so there are generally two ethnic groups. One is that they have relevant background and will search relevant literature, but it is easy to question the current medical measures with the latest but immature research, and even the situation that affects medical care appears. The other is that when the information is not integrated correctly, they will use some inappropriate therapies. Moreover, young people don't have that much financial ability, so how to help them will be a problem. In addition, with the declining birthrate, maybe their mother is in hospital, and only one or two people at home take care of it, or no one will take care of it for half a year. Sometimes I don't even know the course of treatment and question medical treatment, so I don't have the time and financial resources to actively fight cancer, which is much worse than the previous treatment.
Do you have any suggestions on finding medical information?
Usually there are some business articles on the Internet, which may not be written by professional doctors, so if you want to find medical information, you should pay attention to the release time of the information and try to find the information written by "specialists". Besides, sometimes it is better to ask a second opinion than to collect information. For example, in the United States, a second doctor's consultation report is needed, and private medical care will pay high surgical fees and other medical expenses. However, in Taiwan Province Province, because of medical insurance, decisions are often made after listening to doctors' opinions. I recently met a patient with primary breast cancer. At first, she spent a lot of money on chemotherapy, but her stool kept bleeding, but the doctor said it was hemorrhoids. He went to check later and found that it was caused by colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, he decided to leave in less than two months, but if he had asked another doctor at that time, the result might have been different. Therefore, it is very important to ask for a "second opinion" when he finds cancer or his condition is not ideal.
Do you have any suggestions for young people nowadays?
It is suggested to absorb more health knowledge. In addition, although you haven't paid health insurance, I suggest you do health check-ups or get vaccines at your own expense, such as cervical cancer vaccine, and take good care of yourself, so you will spend less money in the future, especially now that there are fewer children. Only taking care of your health as early as possible is the only way to stay away from cancer.
Finally, another important thing is to buy insurance. From an economic point of view, treating cancer will really be a great burden, especially when you find that you have cancer, it is too late to buy insurance, which means that many drugs or treatments have to be paid at your own expense. So I suggest that you would rather buy less things and save extra money to buy cancer insurance. After all, a good medical model and medical insurance will not come out immediately in the future. Good drugs are usually expensive, even more expensive, and the sooner the better.
Brief introduction of Dr. Chen Junyi: Doctor of Medicine of China Medical University, currently attending physician of Xilejian Clinic in Taipei, attending physician of oncology department of Taichung Hospital of Health Department of Executive Yuan, once director of hematology department of Taichung Children's General Hospital, director of oncology department of Taipei Hospital of Health Department of Executive Yuan, attending physician of hematology department of affiliated hospital of Taipei Medical College, etc., specializing in integrated traditional Chinese and western medicine, individualized treatment and planning of cancer, nutritional consultation and treatment of cancer, treatment of cancer and treatment and prevention of side effects caused by cancer.