Would you have a double mastectomy to reduce your risk of breast cancer?

Answer 1

I don't think any woman would unless she had an extremely high risk of breast ca.

Answer 2

Yes, YES, YES, i am a breast cancer survivor. My mother, sister, grandmother, aunts and 2 uncles have had breast cancer, my sis and i are the only ones alive. We both had double mastectomies to reduce the chance of the other breast having the cancer as our family members had happen. We do not carry the BRAK1 or 2 gene, but were at a high risk of losing the other breast so became pro active in fighting this disease. I had mine 2 yrs ago my sis had hers 8 yrs ago. BEST thing we ever did, takes the worry away and get 2 brand new pert breasts, works for me, lol.

Answer 3

It depends on the context. If you are a healthy woman with no history of Breast cancer in your family, and your mammogram is normal, then I think bilateral mastectomies are extreme.

However, if you are BRCA1 or 2 positive (genetic test offered at many institutions) consideration of bilateral mastectomies is a reasonable thing. There was a study from Mayo Clinic looking at this. Women with BRCA 1 or 2 mutations that received bilateral mastectomies cut their risk of breast cancer by 90%. Fortunately most women are not BRCA positive.

It's also a reasonable consideration if you have been diagnosed with breast cancer, especially at a young age. I have a 38 yo friend with recently diagnosed DCIS (pre-invasive cancer). She was offered lumpectomy followed by radiotherapy which will cure her 96% of the time. She opted for bilateral mastectomy. Why? Because she's young, has 3 beautiful children, and didn't want to live in fear from mammogram to mammogram. She's already proven to herself she's capable of having a cancer in her breast, and she was more attached to the idea of living without bi-yearly anxiety than she was with having her natural breasts.

Answer 4

I am a 3 year breast cancer survivor and would not have had a double mastectomy to reduce my risk of it, even if I had tested positive for the gene, and yes, breast cancer runs in my family, as do other cancers, including colon,cancer.

I don't live in fear for my bi-annual mammograms. Having been through it once, I feel that if I have to do more surgery, chemo and radiation again sometime down the road, so be it. I live my life celebrating each day with the same outlook as Elizabeth Edwards in her response to Katie Couric when Katie asked her about fear of death. Elizabeth's responded that we are all going to die sometime.

Answer 5

That's a very hard question to answer. I have thought about it allot, I am a breast cancer survivor and I have always said no way. I would never elect to remove a breast if I didn't have to. But, now knowing what I had to go through with the breast cancer I don't wish that on anyone. It would have to be high risk and I mean a very high risk before I would even consider it.
It's not for me to tell you what to do, it's how would you feel about yourself if you did this. They are doing wonderful things now with reconstruction surgery it's great. You can't even tell the difference.

Answer 6

I don't know if I would have the courage, but my cousin did. Both her mother and her sister (age 29 at the time of her death) died of breast cancer. So my cousin had a double elective mastectomy. She's always been a tough girl - she's had to be - and I'm in awe of her bravery.

Answer 7

Do you mean before you've even been diagnosed?! NO! Absolutely not! I wouldn't even have one if I had been diagnosed! Mastectomies are the male society's unsympathetic answer to cancer in women. Just cut it off. What do they care? There is no man or doctor on this planet that would cut off a man's penis to save him from cancer. If chemotherapy and radiation didn't work, the man would rather die. I feel the same way.

Answer 8

My heart goes out to scotswif above, but you don't need to be as concerned about it IF you know how to avoid cancer. I'm sending this along, hope you find it helpful--

Five hundred years ago, people said the world was flat. Today, people say that if the FDA and AMA haven't blessed something, it can't be real good. Well, here's something I know to be real AND good. It's a little different take on cancer treatment--

In 1990, I had Hodgkin's Lymphoma, stage 3-B, but I've survived. My doctors were great people, but they were limited to surgery, chemo and radiation by profitable AMA treatment policy. During the year in treatment, I started learning about alternative medicine. I'm a retired engineer, and this is what I've pieced together--our IMMUNE SYSTEMS become weakened by poor nutrition, lack of exercise and reduced oxygen. Once that happens, our body becomes vulnerable to common STRESSORS. Stressors can be environmental, like viruses, heavy metals, pesticides, food additives, electromagnetic waves or pollution. They can be internal things like emotional or job stress, or poisonous people in our lives. Aging is also a contributing factor. So this means:

WEAK IMMUNE SYSTEM + STRESSORS = DISEASE (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, etc.)

Our bodies have 60 trillion--yes, trillion--cells, and there are always some mutating into cancer cells, but a healthy immune system kills them before they have a chance to get a foothold in the body.

It takes a LONG time, usually, or a high level of stressors, to weaken the immune system to the point where it won't do its job, but once cancer has formed, it will generally spread rapidly.

THIS IS IMPORTANT! There are ways to BEAT cancer that are currently being used in Europe and around the world, and there are some great books on the subject. I know because I've read about 50 of them from cover to cover. Here's a list of the best ones. Some are out of print and getting hard to find--

"The Cure for All Cancers", ISBN 0963632825
"The Cure for All Advanced Cancers", ISBN 1890035165
"A Cancer Therapy", ISBN 0882681052
"Oxygen Therapies", ISBN 0962052701
"Hydrogen Peroxide--Medical Miracle", ISBN 1885236077
"The Natural Cure for Cancer--Germanium", ISBN 0533071410
"Killing Cancer", ISBN 0705000966
"Natural Cures 'They' Don't Want You to Know About", ISBN 0975599518

I know of people whose cancer has 'spontaneously remitted' (WENT AWAY for no known reason) AFTER they went on programs of herbs and nutrition to restart their immune systems.

You and your family must look out for yourselves to stand a chance of being healthy. This is not a joke, and I'm not selling anything--just trying to help.
I am using the things I learned in those books right now to fight off a second infestation of cancer. I've been at it for over a year now, and think I'm going to make it. Use what works for you, and pass on your success. Best of luck.

AMA AND FDA--
The American Medical Association (AMA) and the pharmaceutical companies control medical law and the FDA in this country with heavy lobbying and a revolving door policy. WHY would they want to do this? It's about the money. In 2006, medicine (doctors, hospitals, researchers and pharmaceutical firms) received 2.1 TRILLION dollars--15% of the total earnings (GNP 13.7 trillion) in the U.S. This is astounding! It means MILLIONS of people worked the whole year just to pay the nation's medical expenses!! That's totally astounding, and just too big to care about individuals.

Watch the film at this website--
http://www.altcancer.com/vidgal.htm#hoxsey

Answer 9

It is funny that you ask this question because there was just a segment on Oprah today about a woman who did just that. I think I would do it. I still have too much that I want to accomplish in my life to have that constant worry hanging over my head.

Answer 10

Hi, regarding your question, please visit "www.smile.org.au". There is a huge database of cancers including the symptoms of cancers, the cause and effect, prevention of cancers, as well as a wide range of cancer treatments.