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If you have breast cancer, always research your options before rushing in and making rash treatment decisions. Ask your doctor, specialists, and people who have had the disease, as many questions as you think relevant and seek a second opinion at a major cancer treatment centre. Always work with people that you trust, and don't rush your decision.
The options for treating breast cancer depend on how the cancer itself, your age, and how healthy you are. If possible, breast cancer is treated surgically, followed usually by some combination of radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or hormone therapy.
A total mastectomy used to be the only considered treatment for breast cancer. This operation removes the breast, surrounding fat, muscle and lymph nodes.
For many women whose breast cancer is detected early and is still localised, there is another option - the removal of the cancerous lump and the lymph nodes under the arm only. Followed by appropriate radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and hormone therapy, this is proving to be just as and is much less disfiguring.
For breast cancer that is recurrent or has metastasised, radiation therapy and chemotherapy are the usual treatments.
Check your breasts once a month, have your doctor check your breasts once a year, and have mammograms annually if you are age 50 or older. Start mammograms earlier if you have a family history of breast cancer.
Make fruits, vegetables, grains, and fish the mainstays of your diet.
If you practice contraception, ask your doctor about the pros and cons of oestrogen-based birth-control pills.
When to seek further professional advice:
one or both breasts develop an abnormal lump or persistent pain, or look or feel abnormal or your lymph glands are swollen.