From self-exams to mammograms, explore our online resources today to research information and feedback about screening methods from other cancer forum members at CancerCompass.com. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/cancer-prevention/screening/1,0,127,108.htm Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT Sat, 25 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT http://backend.userland.com/rss RSS.NET: http://www.rssdotnet.com/ So, I went to my doctor about six weeks ago presenting with uncomfortable, urgent, foamy urination. It came urgently, sure, but also in small amounts or normal amounts or not at all...but it was always foamy. Over time, the urgency left me, but it has stayed foamy and cloudy ever since. Then, when I was out with my wife one night, I had a really awful pain in my right eye and then both eyes seemed to itch and felt sore...so I went to the bathroom at the store and found that my eyes were completely bloodshot in the mirror. Since then, my eyes have been bloodshot (particularly the right one) and itchy at times and dry to the point where I have to use drops daily. I also got "flu-like" symptoms (felt like crap, nauseous, a little dizzy and tired) without a fever of any note and was prescribed with an antibiotic. I've not really felt normal since...and the antibiotic didn't do anything really, either. The next thing I noticed was that sitting down was uncomfortable and I noticed little hollows had appeared on my buttocks. I also noticed that the fat in my face was changing. I looked up what was going on and realized I was experiencing a sort of lipodystrophy. I also noticed, as the days wore on, that I was more sensitive to cold, more sensitive to heat, and generally everything else felt more uncomfortable. Plus, I was itching everywhere. Scalp and chest and back and sides and...well, you get the point. Eating was something that made me nauseous, particularly breakfast, and when I DID eat...well, it felt like I couldn't eat much past a certain point. Like my stomach was made tinier in a short period of time. I was/am losing weight in a way I never have and it's pretty scary (15 lbs. in 5 weeks and some change without even trying). I also noticed that I was weaker and couldn't lift things or move things quite like I could before all this started. I'm a big guy...and a relatively strong guy. Noticing that my muscles felt like I had used them to do some serious exercise to just simply do basic things was (and is) really scary. I also noticed that I was shedding hairs a LOT more than I had before all this...and that continues. The hair itself is brittle and lacking the normal "grease" hair usually produces. I had shoulder pains really bad at first and then a stiff-feeling neck and a sore top of the spine/base of the neck. The neck/spine thing has not changed...it's still pretty sore all the time. I'm icing it, but yeah. Let's see...what else? I got a weird cheek rash/skin thing that comes and goes. It's on both cheeks and sort of matched the rash that showed up on my knees. Both get worse when I take a hot shower. The fat in my cheeks has reduced greatly, primarily on the right side...and at the temples. I'm a chubby-faced guy, so it's less obvious to people I know...but I now have crow's-feet around my eyes and generally the skin in my face is easily manipulated because it's not fully of fat like it once was. The veins in my hands and feet and arms and lower legs are really obvious and visible now. My skin in general is really dry and I need to use a moisturizer all the time now. Additionally, I have had a vague, dull almost-pain in both my ears. Like an ear infection...sort of. Plus, I've had the same sort of almost-pain (and sometimes actual twinges of pain, like a pinching) on either side of my throat. I produce a ton of phlegm every morning and often when I eat...usually totally clear, but it sometimes has little flecks of blood. Not sure if that's dry skin or...what? It freaks me out, though. Have soreness in my hips now, too. I do feel like it's harder to swallow things at times and it can be uncomfortable...so I've started avoiding breads and chips and stuff like that. I also had angular cheilitis for a bit...and have had dry mouth and have had a really white tongue for the majority of all this. In addition, I've had burping and passing gas a lot more than normal. Particularly the burping, even though I don't drink carbonated stuff anymore. I have insomnia, depression, anxiety. My torso, though still retaining a lot of the fat, is still losing weight...just in a different way than my arms/lower legs/face/neck. I feel like I have to swallow a lot...and it seems a bit more awkward and uncomfortable at times. Sleeping has become uncomfortable, too, and I'm not sure if that's what's making my ribs sore or if it's something else. I know that sleeping on the right side of my face, the one with more eye problems and less fat, is really uncomfortable, too. Plus, I usually sleep with one arm under my pillow and sort of on my side...and now when I wake up the arm I've been doing that with is often tingly and asleep and the shoulder or elbow is sore. And so on...and so on...yadda yadda yadda. It sucks, and my body is not doing what it normally does...and like I said, it's really scary. I've given urine three times because the doctors thought it was a UTI at first, then thought it could be an STD (though that was highly unlikely, as I am married)...so we checked me for EVERY one of those and nothing came up (duh). Next, the doctor took some blood and ran more urine tests. I think she did a complete blood count and said everything looked fine. She also said my urine was clear and looked great and there was no protein in the urine (despite my pee being foamy and cloudy EVERY DAY and EVERY TIME I go to the bathroom). She told me my thyroid, kidney, prostate all checked out, too. Yeah, I had to get the finger up the backside. I just wanted to know what was going on in my body. I still do. Sadly, as she marked each of those things off the list of what might be going on with me, I kept coming back to cancer in my head.  My looking at stuff online made me even more freaked out, which is not surprising, but also helped me understand what my symptoms could be pointing to. My doctor referred me to an infectious disease specialist, but that appointment is not until the end of the month. Plus, I don't think that's what I'm dealing with. I have been breaking out in cold sweats and feeling "not right" any time I do even minor amounts of exercise or bending over in certain ways or crouching down, particularly these last couple of days, and generally having an energy ebb. My lung capacity feels reduced or it seems more difficult to breathe at times. I got frustrated with the last call I had with my doctor's nurse when she told me they were getting me an appointment with the infectious disease doc and when it was...and she told me they had exhausted all of what they could look at on-site and my doctor was basically passing me off to someone else. It's not the expert I needed to see, though. I don't think this is an infectious disease. I think I'm dealing with cancer (and accompanying cachexia...muscle wasting and fat wasting)...which seems probable also because my Dad passed from lymphoma a few years back and, well, as I said before...I'm a big guy and have had weight issues my whole life. I'm only 37, but cancer doesn't seem to look at age. On top of all this, I've done some reading about esophageal cancer (one of the worst cancers to get, from what I understand...not that any are great or anything) and realized I could have been dealing with symptoms of this a long time and not realized it. The difficulty swallowing at times, food getting stuck in my throat and such. The constant phlegm production that I chalked up to "allergies" and sometimes accompanying headaches. The production of phlegm/mucous even more when I eat breakfast or lunch, in particular. Occasional heartburn, but enough that I've had to have rol-aids on hand in the past as a regular thing. On top of that, I've really gotten into spicy food this last year or so. Plus, you know, my diet in general was lacking in vegetables and fruits and other healthier options the majority of my life...even though prior to all of this I had been doing well in changing my habits and thought I was http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,70905,0.htm YetiLord75 Thu, 14 Mar 2013 00:00:00 GMT Mum diagnosed stage 4 aggressive colon cancer plus liver lungs spine pelvis and bones... its bad i am sure... only 7 months after endoscopy and colonoscopy in Nov11 that were all clear.   NOW doctor says its hereditary and I need to have same... FEAR has set in...   68yo Mum is non smoker non drinker been on healthy calorie controlled diet for 22 years, is in healthy weight range, and has been meticulous about having all required tests MORE often than required and she gets a bad diagnosis. I am 48, smoke WAY too much (chain), drank a lot in younger days but not so much now... eat garbage to the point where I had to have a lapband to stable weight gain and cant control myself... high stress job, irratic sleep patterns.... and NEVER deal with health issues adequately... no pap smear in 15 years  never had mammogram... got the picture???   How can I possibly deal with this? It's like I know it will be bad.   I http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,66631,0.htm SJM1965 Sun, 10 Jun 2012 00:00:00 GMT Apollo Cancer Institutes India launches national Oral Cancer Awareness campaign to spread awareness about Oral Cancer, its causes and prevention. During this campaign they will organize free oral screening camps in various cities in the eastern and north-eastern part of the country. You can read more about it onhttp://www.pressreleasepoint.com/apollo-cancer-institutes- http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,59688,0.htm dianablues Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHid http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,59687,0.htm dianablues Tue, 31 May 2011 00:00:00 GMT Hi everyone I just had a Test done and my results came in  but dont know how to read it. My was 6.2 u/ml 34.0 what does this all mean help.Plzzzz zzzzzzz http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,55507,0.htm lulu21 Wed, 02 Feb 2011 00:00:00 GMT Two weeks ago, a 1.5 cm nodule was found on my thyroid via ultrasound.  I have no symptoms;  my doctor felt a lump during a routine exam.  I cannot get into an Endo for a biopsy for another 6 weeks.  Is this typical?  It seems cruel to make a patient wait so long.  Should I keep calling around  -- or even travel to another city -- for a prompter appointment.  And, just one more question.  Does the fine needle biopsy hurt? http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,8401,0.htm Newyorklc Fri, 22 Dec 2006 00:00:00 GMT http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/24/smallbusiness/cellpoint_canc http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,45127,0.htm Thereishope Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT My son was diagnosed with embryonal rhabdomyasarcoma last August. They scanned his bones, blood, and marrow, and he was clear. He went through 11 months of chemotherapy, and one round of radiation. His scans showed he was clear of the tumor (in his cheek) 2 months after he started the chemo, he had to complete the year.Now they're telling us they're going to scan his bones again, as far of his post-chemo scans (his last day of chemo was last week).Is this normal? http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,38480,0.htm MANHOODLUM Mon, 27 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT I am 22 and have been dealing with this stuff for 2 years now.  I have had 4 biopsies, 1 cryo and was just informed after my last biopsy a week ago that my dr is very concerned about a place inside my cervical canal. Turns out the places have spread since my last one. I ended up having 6 places. He said he was real concerned about that one and that I would most likely be getting the LEEP procedure. I would have preferred the cryo again but he said he cant get to the one inside the canal. He said he isnt necessarily saying it has already turned to cancer but we needed to wait til the results which I should get in the next few days. I am scared! For one I dont really know what to expect. I am absolutely terrified of needles. My last biopsy was awful. He took one from one of the places and of the one in the canal. They hurt so bad they had to try to keep me on the table cuz I was trying to get away from him. The cryo didnt phase me but this scares me. We first talked about it 2 years ago but he decided to wait. I have dreaded this the whole time. I would prefer to be asleep so I didnt know what was going on but its going to be an in office procedure. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,36290,0.htm britt3673 Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 GMT I just wanted to post about how important self testing is. I saw a commercial on TV for an iFOB test that had a lot of information about colon cancer attached to it. I got really nervous and decided to order a test and try it out. I'm a 33 year old male with no family history of colon cancer.After taking the test from colonhealthcheck.com, I went to my doctor and he gave me a colonoscopy, and found out I had some polyps which he removed. Since then, I've been testing myself and encouraging my family and friends to test themselves as well. The Colon Health Check Kit comes with two tests, which is great for me since I'm paranoid and like to take the test more than once a year.I never knew that a test like this existed or was available over the internet. On this site, it talks about needing to send the sample to your doctor, but this test allows you to do the test yourself all in just a couple easy steps. I tried a couple different ones since the first time I used it, but this is the one I like the best. Check it out yourself. There's a cool link on about.com that talks about the test as well.iFOB testing really saved me, as far as I'm concerned. Early detection is the best cure. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,32750,0.htm robertw900 Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT The headlong rush to develop companion diagnostics to identify molecular predisposing mechanisms still does not guarantee that a cancer drug will be effective for an individual cancer patients. Nor can they discriminate the potential for clinical activity among different cancer agents of the same class. The drug discovery model has been limited to one gene/protein, one target, one drug. The "cell" is a system, an integrated, interacting network of genes, proteins and other cellular constituents that produce functions. You need to analyse the systems' response to drug treatments, not just one target or pathway. Uncovering the genetic differences that determine how a person responds to a drug, and developing tests, or biomarkers, for those differences, is proving more challenging than ever. As a result, patients with cancer are still being prescribed medicines on a trial-and-error basis. The key to understanding the genome is understanding how cells work. The ultimate driver is "functional" diagnostics (is the cell being killed regardless of the mechanism) as opposed to "target" diagnostics (does the cell express a particular target that the drug is supposed to be attacking). While a "target" diagnostic test tells you whether or not to give "one" drug, a "functional" diagnostic test can find other compounds and combinations and can recommend them from the one test. The core of functional diagnostics is the cell, composed of hundreds of complex molecules that regulate the pathways necessary for vital cellular functions. If a targeted drug could perturb any one of these pathways, it is important to examine the effects of the drug within the context of the cell. Both genomics and proteomics can identify potential new thereapeutic targets, but these targets require the determination of cellular endpoints. Cell-based functional diagnostics are being used for screening compounds for efficacy and biosafety. The ability to track the behavior of cancer cells permits data gathering on functional behavior not available in any other kind of testing. The cell "function" methodology measures the net effect of all processes within the cancer, acting with and against each other in real-time, and it tests "living" cells actually exposed to drugs and drug combinations of interest. It would be more advantageous to sort out what's the best "profile" in terms of which patients benefit from this drug or that drug. Can they be combined? What's the proper way to work with all the new drugs? If a drug works extremely well for a certain percentage of cancer patients, identify which ones and "personalize" their treatment. It may be very important to zero in on different genes and proteins. However, when actually taking the "targeted" drugs, do the drugs even enter the cancer cell? Once entered, does it immediately get metabolized or pumped out, or does it accumulate? In other words, will it work for every patient? All the validations of this gene or that protein provides us with a variety of sophisticated techniques to provide new insights into the tumorigenic process, but if the "targeted" drug either won't "get in" in the first place or if it gets pumped out/extruded or if it gets immediately metabolized inside the cell, it just isn't going to work. DNA microarray work will prove to be highly complementary to the parellel breakthrough efforts in targeted therapy through cell function analysis. http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,30968,0.htm Gdpawel Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT I like to show you some thing that I thought was amazing  It from the book the Cell Factor by Dr Ross Walker MB..BS (HONS),F.R.A.C.P it concerns cancer and heart disease you can see a bit about him at  http://www.icmi.com.au/Speaker/Health_Lifestyle/Dr_Ross_Walk  Most people don't know about how cancer works (please feel fee to get this check out with your doctor.) and what I'm going to tell you is a bit basic  it a lay mans way of looking at it  so just bear with me. It about saturated fat and cancer. It not a theory that cancer may be curse by saturated fats (or ti-fats ) you see the cell cant tell one lot of fat from an other. The membrane of the cell is made of fat when a tri-fat comes along the normal cell just make it into part of it  membrane the problem is tri-fats are smaller then normal fat. so when nutrient come along they find it hard to get though the cell wall or  membrane. so the cell start to starve. Now  the cell a living thing and it wants to stay alive, one way of doing that, is to tern it self into a  cancer cell. A cancer cells use fermentation to produce energy. You see cancer don't need oxygen, but they do need sugar and protein. Cancer can absorb  protein from near by normal mussel cells so it can  turn that protein into glucose. and the glucose into energy that why the patient body get shinier because the main function of a cancer cell is to make more cancer cells. if you put energy into the normal cell you stop it going into cancer, but if the cell is cancer’s all ready,  The cancer cell will use the  energy to make more cancer cells. that why when we have cancer we have to stay away from Sugar it hard in this day and age as ever thing got sugar in it There is a whole lot more I like to tell you about this book but it a lot to take in so for now Ill leave it there. Take Care Ray     http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,26222,0.htm jcr65566 Fri, 18 Jul 2008 00:00:00 GMT My mom has been back and forth from MD Anderson and her home town which is a four hour drive. And still they have not diagnosed her yet, but will when her other test come back. I know this is what she has. Her dr. in her home town kept telling her the test where comming back as ovarian cancer but she had total hystorectomy when i was five. Now we know why he kept telling her this. Everything im reading is so bad and im not gonna kid myself. Ive worked in nurseing homes. I know what cancer does. But this one seems to be so hateful in such a rush. I guess what i want to know is what can i expect from her surgery and chemo. Is the post surgery really that bad? I know what lies ahead but dont really want to face it at this time. But i know i must to prepare myself and be strong. My other sister is so stressed out over this she is haveing heart and blood pressure problems. Another question is, is this cancer really not stageable? I thought i read somewhere it could be. Any feed back would be great. God bless you all... http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,20517,0.htm twithers Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT  i suffereed pain in my left leg as it run to my thigh  my stomach fells full always my vowel disposal is not normal its is smaller amts in 3 times a day. i feel so weak  always i have myomas and been ligated when i was 26 yrs old. im overweight 192lbs and im financially unstable so i only depend on my computer to know where i stand please help me  answer me any one who have d knowledge.im afraid  this condition of mine will lead to a serious disease .............tanks jenny http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,15223,0.htm momjenny Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT Two weeks ago I had a pet scan, I am looking for anyone who is familiar with the scan.  I had a booster shot Monday & Tuesday then the pet scan on Wednesday.  The result of my scan showed my bones let up like a Christmas Tree.  The people doing the scan was unaware I recently had Boosters that week.  So I am concerned the material they injected 45 minutes before the scan went only to my bone marrow because of the booster.  Is this possible?  My scan results came back no evidence of recurrencts or resideual adenopathy.  I am hesitant to believe the impression from the office.  I feel a new lump on my neck and continue to feel the mass under my arm still.  I am curenlty on my 8 treatment for HL stage 3 B.  I would appreciate any insight on this matter ?   Thank you http://www.cancercompass.com/message-board/message/all,14836,0.htm Your_Friend Sun, 29 Jul 2007 00:00:00 GMT