Ovarian Cancer: Symptoms, Risk and Treatment







Our lives are filled with stress, unhealthy eating habits, chemicals, and this transformed us into a nation of people that are getting sick really fast.

The real problem would be that we are developing diseases that are life threatening and sometimes even medication resistant.

One of these diseases is ovarian cancer. Donnica L. Moore, MD is trying to raise awareness in her articles "Ovarian Cancer: Reduce Your Risk", saying that "ovarian cancer is the ninth most common cancer in women (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers) and the fifth leading cause of cancer death in women. While it can affect women at any age, the average age of diagnosis is 63; the average age of death from ovarian cancer is 71. Yet nearly 5% of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are 34 or under.

According to American Cancer Society data, 21,880 American women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2010 and 13,850 women died as a result", and also that "fewer than 20% of ovarian cancers are caught early, in stage 1, when they’re most treatable and the patient has the highest survival rate. Unfortunately, most women with ovarian cancer have progressed to stage 3 by the time they’re diagnosed, when the prognosis is much lower. This is why the motto of many ovarian cancer advocates is, ".

A while back, ovarian cancer was considered a "silent killer", because it was thought to have no symptoms in the early stages, but as the time went by, doctors noticed that many women diagnosed with this condition had the same symptoms like: "bloating or increased abdominal girth; pelvic or abdominal pain (or pain with intercourse); frequent or urgent urination; and either difficulty eating or a sense of feeling full very quickly", says Dr. Moore.

There isn't a certain "recipe" for ovarian cancer, meaning that doctors don't know exactly what causes it, but they have identified some risk factors that can eventually lead to developing the disease. "The risk of ovarian cancer increases with increasing age; family history of ovarian or breast cancers; personal history of breast cancer; infertility (with or without taking infertility medications) or never having been pregnant by choice; endometriosis; postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy use; and genetic factors (particularly BrCA1 or BrCA2 mutations). The risk of ovarian cancer is also lower among women whose first child is born before she turns 30 years old. Risk also decreases with each successive pregnancy and with breastfeeding for at least one year", she explains further.

Although it might seem hard to believe, oral contraception can help you lower the risk of ovarian cancer. "ANY oral contraceptive use was associated with a significant reduction in risk of developing ovarian cancer. The studies showed that women who take birth control pills for more than 5 years reduce their risk of by 50%", says Dr. Moore. Also "the risk reduction benefit persists for up to 30 years after discontinuing oral contraceptive use as well".

Your diet and lifestyle can have a big influence on protecting yourself from ovarian cancer as well as other types of cancer. "A landmark report on diet and cancer published by the American Institute for Cancer Research in 2007 noted that non-starchy vegetables may offer protection against ovarian cancer", says dr. Donnica L. Moore, advising us to "increase your consumption of these two foods: tomato sauce and raw carrots. Kaempferol - a flavonoid found in tea, broccoli, kale and spinach, and luteolin, which is provided by peppers, carrots, cabbage and celery, have both been identified as cancer protective".

Dr. Moore also advices us to enrich our diet with whole grains like oats, quinoa, barley and spelt, among others, and to have one or two cups of black tea per day. "Laboratory studies suggest that tea could protect against ovarian cancer, as well as other cancers, in several ways. The most promising theories focus on the powerful antioxidants in tea that may help prevent and repair damage to cells' DNA that could otherwise lead to cancer" says the doctor in her article.


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