The Colon Club

I was told diet and exercise was more related to colon cancer than rectal cancer.

I am about to write an "off color" blog post about WHY I got cancer and HOW I could have prevented it.

I understand why I had several basal cells and two melanoma's - sun exposure.
But my double breast cancer doesn't add up, other than I'm a women who is aging (had children young, breast fed them longer than most people deemed "normal"). And my rectal doesn't add up. (no symptoms, marathon runner, healthy eater, moderate drinker)

And then, just the other day, it hit me.... I know why I got cancer and it had nothing to do with balancing my Yin and Yang, or vitamins, or vegetables, or good vibrations...

I got cancer because back in 1999 I slept with two men, on the same day, on Good Friday, and one was a Jew.

It's the only thing that makes sense. Now that I've figured it out, I can go on with my life.

Oh, and my oncologist just discovered two lumps in my left breast that I am having biopsied this week. Two lumps in a breast that was removed of its tissue two years ago. (double mastectomy)

I used to bitch about the breast cancer but by removing your breast you are mainly dealing with image. Rectal cancer is about function and its much more difficult to deal with.

One more round of chemo to go and then the reversal....

sorry if I took this too off topic BrownBagger, we monkeys are playful on a good day, mischievous on a bad...

"I got cancer because back in 1999 I slept with two men, on the same day, on Good Friday, and one was a Jew. "

Lmao, sounds like you were exercising though.

Love you're response GreenMonkey....i needed a chuckle....sorry to hear about the rest though....

cb

GreenMonkey wrote:I got cancer because back in 1999 I slept with two men, on the same day, on Good Friday, and one was a Jew.

I think you are on to something here. Here is a marvellous opportunity for forum members to add to our knowledge of CRC. I propose a new thread where members can post their sexual history as it relates to the onset of their disease.

I have seen far too many exceptions to the rule about exercise and cancer risk on this site alone to think it means anything. I think all of this talk about exercise is just another way to keep people busy so that the facts about the horrible state of cancer treatment goes ignored. There is another reason why so many younger people are getting colon cancer and someone needs to find out the true reason rather than distracting people with the exercise hype.

Laurettas wrote:I have seen far too many exceptions to the rule about exercise and cancer risk on this site alone to think it means anything. I think all of this talk about exercise is just another way to keep people busy so that the facts about the horrible state of cancer treatment goes ignored. There is another reason why so many younger people are getting colon cancer and someone needs to find out the true reason rather than distracting people with the exercise hype.

Obviously I don't consider it hype, but I am one of those people who exercised a lot before being diagnosed, but got CRC anyway. And I've been exercising a lot post-dx, and that didn't stop me from getting a couple of recurrences. So it's obviously not blanket protection from this disease. But I don't think it's just a distraction, either. Exercise promotes good health (mental and physical), and in my view, the healthier you are, other than the CRC, the better you'll be able to tolerate surgery, chemo, etc. While you might argue that exercise hasn't helped me fight this disease, I think it has contributed to keeping me alive longer than I otherwise would have.

I view this article as just another way of promoting a healthy lifestyle through exercise. The CRC angle is just that--an angle. But I don't see anything wrong with that.

As to any connection to sexual activity, my only observation is that it's a lot harder to get laid when you have cancer, so probably best to get as much as you can before you get dx. Similar in that respect to exercise, in fact.

Laurettas, I am right there with you.

I'm a scientist, I know that "doing X will reduce your risk of Y" does not equal "you have Y so therefore you didn't do X", but I really think that physicians talking about cancer risk reduction don't always consider how patients/survivors will react to the tone of the discussion.

Just my opinion, as a life-long exerciser diagnosed at 39 at 5'5" and 115 pounds. Clearly it was my sedentary lifestyle and incipient obesity that brought this on me.

I also raised a eyebrow at the Vitamin D comments in the article - one thing that came out of my diagnosis was that I was severely Vitamin D deficient. Just because taking more Vitamin D won't prevent CRC in someone who already has basically normal levels (in fact doing so can be dangerous), doesn't mean identifying and correcting severe deficiency has no benefit. To this day I have to take incredible amounts to keep my values barely within normal ranges. According to my oncologist the jury is still out on whether low Vitamin D can be causative (solely or as an exacerbating factor) in CRC, but my understanding is that it's still on the table.

OK, rant over...

Lauretta

I don't consider exercise hype. In fact the only hype in it is perhaps hyperactivity for me. I exercised and got cancer, so I don't see that there is a direct correlation, but I believe that in the general population there is a link between sedentary lifestyle and cancer. Where I work I have 3 people the same age as me that are all in the 30+BMI range (read obese) and none of them have cancer. With a current BMI of 17.9 I am in the malnourished range so you could say that I have had thoughts of why me. Some crazy genes decided that for whatever reason, they'd not die, and populate other cells to not die and that became cancer.

What exercise has done has enabled me to undergo 2 surgeries, 6 months of chemo and come through relatively unscathed. My bowel movments were crap (ok had to add that in) after the operations until I could really get back to exercising again, and since then I have been fortunate in that I am now like clockwork with no clustering. Diet and exercise is what I chalk that up to.

Most of all exercise has given me a sense of escape from cancer, and a time away from it all. It has kept me sane. I think it does no harm and a heck of a lot of good and it all comes down to individual choice. I chose to not eat banana bread every morning snacks, chips and hamburgers for lunch, coke all afternoon and pizza for dinner like my co-workers. The fact that I got cancer and they havne't doesn't change that for me.

Lory,

Interesting to note your comments on vitamin D. I have only started taking vitamin D suppliments since dx but I have had Psoriasis since I was 14 (I'm now 40) and there is a link between Vitamin D and Psoriasis. When I read of the link between Vitamin D and crc I started taking suppliements. I note that the jury is still out on this but I'm on the bandwagon

Kiwi

From my research, and I'm not a scientist, the two things that seem to pop most often in cancer prevention are exercise and regular use of aspirin. I think it seems obvious that the a more active, less sedentary lifestyle is condusive to overall health. Saying that so and so used to exercise and got cancer anyway is in no way indicative of anything. If we look at large numbers of people, those who eat healthier and exercise are usually Healthier, kinda makes sense to me.

My concern in all of this is the fact that, for a significant percentage of people, all of those who replied to my comment included, exercise did nothing for them as far as preventing them from getting cancer. So, for them,( you) this information is not helpful. There was something else that caused them to have cancer and I think we need to be researching that.

I would like to see the stats on quadriplegics and see what their cancer rate is. I had a friend who had been in a wheelchair for 30 years unable to even give himself a drink who died at 50 from an accident. Never had cancer.

I have seen articles in the past year or so that indicate too much exercise is harmful as well, causing heart problems, etc. I have seen this over and over in my lifetime where something is proposed as a cure-all for everything and it ultimately proves to be not true. I think exercise is another example in that long list. I have deep concerns that we are going to rely too much on exercise as the prevention when it is actually something else causing this significant rise in colon cancer among the young.

BrownBagger wrote:

Laurettas wrote:I have seen far too many exceptions to the rule about exercise and cancer risk on this site alone to think it means anything. I think all of this talk about exercise is just another way to keep people busy so that the facts about the horrible state of cancer treatment goes ignored. There is another reason why so many younger people are getting colon cancer and someone needs to find out the true reason rather than distracting people with the exercise hype.

Obviously I don't consider it hype, but I am one of those people who exercised a lot before being diagnosed, but got CRC anyway. And I've been exercising a lot post-dx, and that didn't stop me from getting a couple of recurrences. So it's obviously not blanket protection from this disease. But I don't think it's just a distraction, either. Exercise promotes good health (mental and physical), and in my view, the healthier you are, other than the CRC, the better you'll be able to tolerate surgery, chemo, etc. While you might argue that exercise hasn't helped me fight this disease, I think it has contributed to keeping me alive longer than I otherwise would have.

I view this article as just another way of promoting a healthy lifestyle through exercise. The CRC angle is just that--an angle. But I don't see anything wrong with that.

As to any connection to sexual activity, my only observation is that it's a lot harder to get laid when you have cancer, so probably best to get as much as you can before you get dx. Similar in that respect to exercise, in fact.

Totally agree with you Brownbagger. Heck, when I was diagnosed I was in the middle of training for a Half Ironman and feeling pretty good. Just got lucky that a pain on my left side bothered me more than normal and yada, yada, yada... I'm in good health today (knock on wood) after two chemo sessions. Exercise is a big part of it for me and it's helped me focus on day to day life instead of worrying about anything else.

Laurettas wrote:I have seen far too many exceptions to the rule about exercise and cancer risk on this site alone to think it means anything. I think all of this talk about exercise is just another way to keep people busy so that the facts about the horrible state of cancer treatment goes ignored. There is another reason why so many younger people are getting colon cancer and someone needs to find out the true reason rather than distracting people with the exercise hype.

Amen, Sister!! We see way too any people on here that were exercising regularly and eating right when they were diagnosed. I know, from what BB has said, that exercise has helped him deal with some of the side effects of chemo and also give him a feeling of control over at least some of his disease. So I can see that exercise is beneficial. I'm just not convinced it will help prevent colon cancer.

Green Monkey may be on to something though. LOL It makes as much sense as anything else. I have rectal and colon cancer so it was a double whammy. Haven't slept with a Jew on Good Friday so I guess that theory's out for me.

Guinevere

Exercise must be at he very least as effective as prayer. No?

Laurettas wrote:There was something else that caused them to have cancer and I think we need to be researching that.

Both my maternal grandparents died of this disease. Pretty clear genetic connection, in my view.

I believe that if I didn't exercise, eat right, watch my general health and try to maintain a positive attitude, I'd be dead. So, exercise is an important part of my survival strategy. Not everyone's cup 'o tea, but it's been working for me.