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Why Don’t Men Take Better Care of Themselves?
When men are young, they think they’re going to live forever – nothing’s going to get in their way. That’s why young guys do stupid things; they think it’s not going to hurt them. Why are teenagers promiscuous in the face of HIV, hepatitis C and all those other diseases? Because they think it will happen to somebody else but it won’t happen to them.
As men get older they get into this pattern of reactive care. They don’t understand about proactive health care. They don’t understand that that’s their body for life, that they have to be in tune with their body and take care of it, and if they do, the quality of their life experience will be dramatically improved. When men do abusive things, when they drink too much, take drugs, are overweight, then that has an impact on them. They don’t realize that that “never happening to me,” changes to “it will happen”, and then it’s just around the corner. By then it’s often too late.
By the time men become aware that it’s too late, they’ve lived through years of abusive behaviors. They’ve eaten the wrong foods, they’ve had too much to drink, they smoke, have hypertension, diabetes, liver disorders, and cholesterol problems. Those are the guys, you read about: people in their 40s and 50s who suddenly get a heart attack and die or have a massive stroke. It doesn’t make sense. Sometimes it’s random bad luck but sometimes it’s things they’ve been doing all these years.
The Men's Health Network (MHN) reports that men die at higher rates than women from the top 10 causes of death - heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, accidents, pneumonia and influenza, diabetes, suicide, kidney disease, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis.
Men also die younger than women. In 1920, women outlived men only by one year. Today, figures show the life expectancy gap has widened: On average, women survive men by over five years.
"Any human being who is not connected to a physician to screen for major health problems is at greater risk (of disease and death).
The biggest problem that men have is not so much a specific disease, says Bonhomme, but the diseases are the result of lack of health care monitoring earlier in life. He cites the progression of heart disease as an example: "If you don't get your cholesterol checked when it's going high when you're 20, and if don't get your blood pressure checked when it's going high when you're 30, maybe your blood sugar's getting a little high when you're 40, what do you think is going to happen when you're 50?"
Bonhomme places part of the blame on society in general, which expects boys to be tough and ignore pain. As people get older, however, the rules change. A little pain can get worse, or signal something more serious going on in the body.
Many of the top 10 causes of death are preventable, and can be treated, if found early. To help men better their health, WebMD examined the risk factors for five of the biggest killers of men: heart disease, stroke, suicide,prostate cancer, and lung cancer. We asked why men were so vulnerable to these ailments and what they could do to reduce their risk of disease and death.
Although heart disease is the leading killer of both men and women, almost twice as many males die of conditions that affect the cardiovascular system.
According to facts, one in four men has some form of heart disease. It is the leading cause of death.
Average annual rates of the first heart disease complication rise from seven per 1,000 men at ages 35-44 to 68 per 1,000 at ages 85-94. For women, similar rates occur but they happen about 10 years later in life. The average age of a person having a first heart attack is 65.8 for men and 70.4 for women.
"For men, heart disease begins to manifest itself about 10 years earlier than women.
This does not mean men have a free pass against heart disease until they're older. Men have a shorter time to prevent the development of the condition so their overall risk is greater.
According to the American Heart Association (AHA), risk factors for heart disease include:
Some things, such as your age and sex, obviously cannot be controlled, but modifying lifestyle to eat right and exercise can reduce your risk of heart disease.
Stroke
Stroke is the third leading killer in the country, after heart disease and all forms of cancer. The incidence rate of stroke is 1.25 times greater in men than in women, although there is really no difference between the sexes as people get older, according to the American Stroke Association.
"We know that a very important risk factor for stroke is hypertension. The control of hypertension is a crucial factor to try to prevent the onset of stroke.
Other risk factors include:
Men are four times more likely to commit suicide compared to women, reports the MHN, which attributes part of the blame on underdiagnosed depression in men.
Men are more prone to suicide because they're less likely to openly show depression and have somebody else recognize it early enough to treat it, or to have themselves recognize that they're in trouble."
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, more than 6 million men have depression each year. The number of males with depression could be even greater since men may show signs of depression in a manner different from many women.
Instead of sadness, depression may play out in the following ways in men:
"Society around the men and the men themselves see (the male symptoms of depression) as 'just being a guy,' or 'having a hard time,'". "The problem is that if they are signs of depression, and they're getting bad enough, then many of these men are starting to form thoughts that life isn't worth living."
To help men with depression and to reduce the risk of suicide, doctors, loved ones, and men themselves need to recognize that society's model of masculinity -- to ignore pain --can work against men. Looking the other way may trigger depression and thoughts of suicide.
Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both men and women, claiming more lives than prostate, colon, and breast cancer combined. In men, there are expected to be about 213, 380 new cases of lung cancer and some 160,390 lung cancer deaths this year.
The good news is that rate of new lung cancer cases has been dropping since the 1980s, and deaths from the cancer have fallen since the 1990s. "That is because of the drop in the prevalence of the use of tobacco products by men that followed the Surgeon General's report in 1964," explains Sener.
Besides smoking, the ACS lists the following as risk factors for lung cancer:
Tobacco products are responsible for 90% of lung cancer, which puts the weight of prevention efforts on smoking cessation.
If you're thinking about kicking the habit, Sener recommends the following resources:
According to the National Institute on Aging, as soon as you stop smoking, your chances of getting cancer from smoking begins to shrink, and you can prevent further damage to your lungs.
Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer is the most common cancer found in men. It is the second leading type of cancer death in men, after lung cancer.
There is not enough known about what causes prostate cancer and how to prevent it. Yet the disease is treatable if found in early stages. This can be a challenge, since prostate cancer can show no symptoms until it has spread to other parts of the body.
This is where a connection to the doctor helps. "I personally know people who are alive today because they got (prostate cancer) screening."
The American Cancer Society (ACS) recommends a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test and digital rectal exam be offered annually for healthy men starting at age 50 or older. Men who are at high risk -- such as those who havefamily history of prostate cancer or who are black -- should begin testing earlier.
According to the ACS, other risk factors include:
Although older age is a risk factor for prostate cancer, younger men should not be complacent. Thirty percent of prostate cancers occur in men under age 65. "The younger a man is, the more aggressive the tumor is.
Sexual Conditions Overview
Sexual conditions, such as STDs and sexual problems, need a medical evaluation and treatment. Frequently, there are no STD symptoms, although there’s sometimes a discharge from the vagina or the penis and burning or pain during urination. Doctors use STD tests to diagnose sexually transmitted diseases such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, and trichomoniasis. Whereas STD treatment can help resolve these sexual conditions, practicing safe sex can prevent STDs.
Hepatitis Overview
Viral hepatitis, including hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C, are distinct diseases that affect the liver. Other causes of hepatitis include drugs and medications. Each type of hepatitis has different hepatitis symptoms and causes. Treatments for hepatitis also depend on the type. Your doctor will run laboratory tests to determine the type of hepatitis.
HIV/AIDS
HIV/AIDS Symptoms
Many people do not develop symptoms after getting infected with HIV. Some people have a flu-like illness within several days to weeks after exposure to the virus. They complain of fever, headache, tiredness, and enlarged lymph glands in the neck. These symptoms usually disappear on their own within a few weeks.
Syphilis
Syphilis is a highly contagious disease spread primarily by sexual activity, including oral and anal sex. Occasionally, the disease can be passed to another person through prolonged kissing or close bodily contact. Although this disease is spread from sores, the vast majority of these sores go unrecognized. The infected person is often unaware of the disease and unknowingly passes it on to their sexual partner.
Pregnant women with the disease can spread it to their baby. This disease, called congenital syphilis, can cause abnormalities or even death to the child.
Syphilis cannot be spread by toilet seats, door knobs, swimming pools, hot tubs, bath tubs, shared clothing, or eating utensils.
What Causes Syphilis?
Syphilis is caused by the bacteria Treponema pallidum.
How Common Is Syphilis?
Syphilis was once a major public health threat, commonly causing serious long-term health problems such as arthritis, brain damage, and blindness. It defied effective treatment until the late 1940s, when the antibiotic penicillin was first developed.
According to the CDC, the rate of new cases of syphilis had plummeted in the 1990's and in the year 2000 it reached an all time low since reporting began in 1941. However, there has been a gradual rise since then with over 36,000 cases being reported in 2006.
How Do I Know If I Have Syphilis?
Syphilis infection occurs in three distinct stages:
Early or primary syphilis. People with primary syphilis will develop one or more sores. The sores resemble large round bug bites and are often hard and painless. They occur on the genitals or in or around the mouth somewhere between 10-90 days (average three weeks) after exposure. Even without treatment they heal without a scar within six weeks. The secondary stage may last one to three months and begins within six weeks to six months after exposure. People with secondary syphilis experience a rosy "copper penny" rash typically on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. However, rashes with a different appearance may occur on other parts of the body, sometimes resembling rashes caused by other diseases. They may also experience moist warts in the groin, white patches on the inside of the mouth, swollen lymph glands, fever, and weight loss. Like primary syphilis, secondary syphilis will resolve without treatment.
Latent syphilis. This is where the infection lies dormant (inactive) without causing symptoms.
Tertiary syphilis. If the infection isn't treated, it may then progress to a stage characterized by severe problems with the heart, brain, and nerves that can result in paralysis, blindness, dementia, deafness, impotence, and even death if it's not treated.
How Is Syphilis Diagnosed?
Syphilis can be easily diagnosed with a quick and inexpensive blood test given at your doctor's office or at a public health clinic.
If you have a sore, your doctor will take a swab or scraping of the sore. It will then be sent to a lab to analyze under a microscope for the characteristic bacteria.
What Is Erectile Dysfunction?
Erectile dysfunction or ED is the inability to achieve or sustain an erection suitable for sexual intercourse. Problems with erections may stem from medications, chronic illnesses, poor blood flow to the penis, drinking too much alcohol, or being too tired. Lifestyle changes, medications, and other treatments are often used to treat ED.
Gonorrhea
Also called the "clap" or "drip," gonorrhea is a contagious disease transmitted most often through sexual contact with an infected person. Gonorrhea may also be spread by contact with infected bodily fluids, so that a mother could pass on the infection to her newborn during childbirth. Both men and women can get gonorrhea. The infection is easily spread and occurs most often in people who have many sex partners.
What Causes Gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in mucus membranes of the body. Gonorrhea bacteria can grow in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix (opening to the womb), uterus (womb), and fallopian tubes (egg canals) in women, and in the urethra (the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body) in women and men. The bacteria can also grow in the mouth, throat, and anus.
How Common Is Gonorrhea?
Gonorrhea is the second most common infectious disease in the U.S. There were almost 337,000 reported cases of gonorrhea in the U.S. in 2008, a slight decline from the previous year. The largest number of reported cases that year was among girls between the ages of 15 and 19.
How Do I Know If I Have Gonorrhea?
Not all people infected with gonorrhea have symptoms, so knowing when to seek treatment can be tricky. When symptoms do occur, they are often within two to 10 days after exposure, but can take up to 30 days and include the following:
Gonorrhea symptoms in women
In some women, symptoms are so mild that they escape unnoticed.
Many women with gonorrhea discharge think they have a yeast infection and self-treat with over-the-counter yeast infection drug. Because vaginal discharge can be a sign of a number of different problems, it is best to always seek the advice of a doctor to ensure proper diagnosis and treatment.
Gonorrhea symptoms in men
In men, symptoms usually appear two to 14 days after infection.
How Is Gonorrhea Diagnosed?
To diagnose gonorrhea, your doctor will use a swab to take a sample of fluid from the urethra in men or from the cervix in women. The specimen will then be sent to a lab to be analyzed. You also may be given a throat or anal culture to see if the infection is in your throat or anus. There are other tests which check a urine sample for the presence of the bacteria. You may need to wait for several days for your tests to come back from the lab.
Gonorrhea and chlamydia, another common sexually transmitted disease, often occur together, so you may be tested and treated for both
Gonorrhea
Can Gonorrhea Be Cured?
Yes. Gonorrhea can be treated and cured.
How Is Gonorrhea Treated?
To cure a gonorrhea infection, your doctor will give you either an oral or injectable antibiotic. Your partner should also be treated at the same time to prevent reinfection and further spread of the disease.
It is important to take all of your antibiotics even if you feel better. Also, never take someone else's medication to treat your illness. By doing so, you may make the infection more difficult to treat. In addition,
What Happens if I Don't Treat Gonorrhea?
Untreated gonorrhea can cause serious and permanent problems in both women and men.
In women, if left untreated, the infection can cause pelvic inflammatory disease, which may damage the fallopian tubes (the tubes connecting the ovaries to the uterus) or even lead to infertility, and untreated gonorrhea infection could increase the risk of ectopic pregnancy (when the fertilized egg implants and develops outside the uterus), a dangerous condition for both the mother and baby.
In men, gonorrhea can cause epididymitis, a painful condition of the testicles that can sometimes lead to infertility if left untreated. Without prompt treatment, gonorrhea can also affect the prostate and can lead to scarring inside the urethra, making urination difficult.
Gonorrhea can spread to the blood or joints. This condition can be life-threatening. Also, people with gonorrhea can more easily contract HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. People with HIV infection and gonorrhea are more likely than people with HIV infection alone to transmit HIV to someone else.
How Does Gonorrhea Affect Pregnancy and Childbirth?
Gonorrhea in a pregnant woman can cause premature delivery or spontaneous abortion. The infected mother may give the infection to her infant as the baby passes through the birth canal during delivery. This can cause blindness, joint infection, or a life-threatening blood infection in the baby. Treatment of gonorrhea as soon as it is detected in pregnant women will lessen the risk of these complications. Pregnant women should consult a doctor for appropriate medications.
How Can I Prevent Gonorrhea Infection?
To reduce your risk of gonorrhea infection:
Any genital symptoms such as discharge or burning during urination or an unusual sore or rash should be a signal to stop having sex and to consult a doctor immediately. If you are told you have gonorrhea or any other STD and receive treatment, you should notify all of your recent sex partners so that they can see a doctor and be treated.
Chlamydia
Chlamydia is one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases in the U.S. This infection is easily spread because it often causes no symptoms and may be unknowingly passed to sexual partners. In fact, about 75% of infections in women and 50% in men are without symptoms.
How Do I Know if I Have Chlamydia?
It is not easy to tell if you are infected with chlamydia since symptoms are not always apparent. But when they do occur, they are usually noticeable within one to three weeks of contact and can include the following:
Chlamydia symptoms in women
Chlamydia symptoms in men
How Is Chlamydia Diagnosed?
There are a few different tests your doctor can use to diagnose chlamydia. He or she will probably use a swab to take a sample from the urethra in men or from the cervix in women and then will send the specimen to a laboratory to be analyzed. There are also other tests which check a urine sample for the presence of the bacteria.
How Is Chlamydia Treated?
If you have chlamydia, your doctor will prescribe oral antibiotics, usually azithromycin (Zithromax) or doxycycline. Your doctor will also recommend your partner(s) be treated as well to prevent reinfection and further spread of the disease.
With treatment, the infection should clear up in about a week or two. It is important to finish all of your antibiotics even if you feel better.
Women with severe chlamydia infection may require hospitalization, intravenous antibiotics (medicine given through a vein), and pain medicine.
After taking antibiotics, people should be re-tested to be sure the infection is cured. This is particularly important if you are unsure that your partner(s) obtained treatment. Do not have sex until you are sure both you and your partner no longer have the disease.
What Happens If I Don't Get My ChalmydiaTreated?
If you do not get treated for chlamydia, you run the risk of several health problems.
How Can I Prevent a Chlamydia Infection?
To reduce your risk of a chlamydia infection:
Any genital symptoms such as discharge or burning during urination or an unusual sore or rash should be a signal to stop having sex and to consult a doctor immediately. If you are told you have chlamydia or any other sexually transmitted disease and receive treatment, you should notify all of your recent sex partners so that they can see a doctor and be treated.
Because chlamydia often occurs without symptoms, people who are infected may unknowingly infect their sex partners. Many doctors recommend that all persons who have more than one sex partner should be tested for chlamydia regularly, even in the absence of symptoms.
No man is invincible, especially when it comes to health. Learn to detect and defend against the cancers most likely to attack men, and you'll be able to take the disease head-on if it strikes--and increase your chances of beating it.
1. Prostate
Early signs: Usually there are none. A digital rectal exam can tell if your prostate is hard or irregular, and cancer is suspected with a high PSA (prostate specific antigen) level.
False alarms: Urination problems--frequency, urgency, slow stream, incomplete emptying--can be related to prostate enlargement or narrowing of the urethra.
The test: A biopsy if the PSA is high or its rate of change is high. But a spiked score can also be a sign of infection, which should be treated with antibiotics for 4 weeks. The cancer grows slowly; waiting isn't dangerous,
2. Lungs
Early signs: Frequently, none. But a cough that won't go away--or one that brings up blood--is often evidence the cancer is there. Also chest pain that's always present and not influenced by movement.
False alarms: Pneumonia. On a chest x-ray, both pneumonia and a tumor look white. The pneumonia will resolve, but you'll need another x-ray 4 to 6 weeks later.
The test: Biopsy.
3. Colorectal
Early signs: Blood in the stool. Never ignore it, even if it's a one-time occurrence. It could be a precancerous polyp leaking blood, and bleeding is the only early warning you'll receive. In more than half of cases, there is no sign.
False alarms: In men under 50, bleeding is probably from hemorrhoids, diverticulosis, colitis, or an abnormal blood vessel. Still, see a doctor.
The test: A colonoscopy allows the doctor to check for large and small problems and remove polyps in the same procedure.
4. Bladder
Early signs: Blood in the urine, which should always be checked, although if you're younger than 60, it's often a sign of kidney stones. Most bladder cancer only affects the lining. If it is caught early, it can be beaten.
False alarms: An overactive bladder or painful urination is more often a sign of an infection.
The tests: A scope through the penis to look at the bladder and a urine test that detects cancer cells.
5. Lymphoma
Early signs: Painless, swollen lymph nodes in your neck, armpit, or groin. Nodes swell with infections, but if they don't subside in a week, have them checked. Also, unexplained weight loss over 1 or 2 months, pain in the node area after drinking alcohol, or generalized itching with swelling (without rash) could be cause for concern.
False alarms: Nodes can swell because of an infection.
The test: A blood test can occasionally pick up something, but a biopsy of the node is more thorough.
During midlife and beyond, men's leading causes of death include familiar standbys: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke, diabetes, respiratory disease, suicide, and Alzheimer's disease.
To lessen your odds of dying from these killers, curb the critical habits that lead to them.
Numerous surveys have shown that married men, especially men in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, are healthier and have lower death rates than those who never married or who are divorced or widowed. Never-married men are three times more likely to die of cardiovascular disease, for example. After 50, divorced men's health deteriorates rapidly compared to married men's, found a RAND Center for the Study of Aging report.
What's the magic in the ring? The social connectedness of marriage may lower stress levels and depression, which lead to chronic illness. (Women tend to have more social ties outside of marriage.)
Unmarried men generally have poorer health habits, too -- they drink more, eat worse, get less medical care, and engage in more risky behaviors (think drugs and promiscuous sex). Exception: It's better to be single than in a strained relationship, probably because of the stress toll, say researchers in Student BMJ.
It's never too late. Men who marry after 25 tend to live longer than those who wed young. And the longer a fellow stays married, the greater the boost to his well-being.
Men over age 40 have the highest exposure to damaging UV rays, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation. Men are twice as likely as women to develop skin cancer and die from it. And 6 in 10 cases of melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer, affect white men over age 50.
More men tend to work and play sports outdoors; having shorter hair and not wearing makeup adds to the gender's exposure. Nor are their malignancies noticed and treated early: Middle-aged and older men are the least likely group to perform self-exams or see a dermatologist, according to a 2001 American Academy of Dermatology study.
Fewer than half of adult men report using sun protection methods (sunscreen, protective clothing, shade), in contrast to 65 percent of adult women.
Doctors tend to detect more early melanomas in men over 65, perhaps because the older you get, the more often you see a doctor for other (nondermatological) reasons.
Poor nutrition is linked with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer -- leading causes of death in men over 40. Younger midlife men often over-rely on red meat, junk food, and fast food to fuel a busy lifestyle, which leads to excess weight, high cholesterol, hypertension, and other risk factors. Older men living alone and alcoholics are vulnerable to malnutrition, because they tend not to prepare healthy food for themselves.
Until around 2000, more women were obese than men -- but guys are catching up. In 2010, 35.5 percent of men were obese, up from 27.5 percent in 2000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Women's fat rates have held steady at around 37 percent.)
The American Dietetic Association recommends a reasonable 2,000 calories a day for men over 50 who are sedentary, up to 2,400 for those who are active. What comprises those calories is up to you
Men generally have more car accidents than women, and men in their 50s and 60s are twice as likely as women to die in car wrecks. Unintentional injuries (of all kinds) are the top cause of death among men ages 40 to 44, the third main cause in men ages 45 to 64, and cause #8 in men 65-plus.
Among middle-aged men, fatalities are more likely to result from falling asleep at the wheel, exceeding the speed limit, getting into an accident at an intersection or on weekends after midnight -- all factors that don't have a significant effect on the injury levels of middle-aged women, according to a 2007 Purdue University study on how age and gender affect driving. Men over age 45 have more accidents on snow and ice, too.
Older men fare better than men under age 45 on dry roads, where younger drivers crash more (perhaps due to overconfidence, the Purdue researchers say).
Although women are three times more likely to attempt suicide than men, men are more successful at it, according to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In 2009, 79 percent of all suicides were men. Suicide rates for men spike after age 65; seven times more men over 65 commit suicide than their female peers.
More than 60 percent of all those who die by suicide have major depression. If you include alcoholics, that number rises to 75 percent. In older adults, social isolation is another key contributing factor -- which is why older suicides are often widowers.
Men often equate depression with "sadness" or other emotions -- and fail to realize that common warning signs of depression include fatigue or excessive sleep, agitation and restlessness, trouble concentrating, irritability, and changes in appetite or sleep.
Depression is treatable at any age, and most cases are responsive to treatment, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Sure, you've heard about the horrific effects of smoking before. But the older you get, the worse they become. Older smokers have sustained greater lung damage over time because they tend to have been smoking longer; they also tend to be heavier smokers.
Men over 65 who smoke are twice as likely to die of stroke. Smoking causes more than 90 percent of all cases of COPD -- the fourth leading cause of death among men -- and 80 to 90 percent of all lung cancer. The risks of all kinds of lung disease rise with age. Smokers develop Alzheimer's disease, the sixth leading cause of death, far more than nonsmokers.
Older smokers are less likely than younger smokers to believe there's a real health risk attached to cigarettes, says the American Lung Association. That means they're less likely to try to quit.
No matter at what age you quit, your risk of added heart damage is halved after one year. The risks of stroke, lung disease, and cancer also drop immediately.
Male breast cancer occurs when malignant cells form in the tissues of the breast. Any man can develop breast cancer, but it is most common among men who are 60–70 years of age. About 1% of all breast cancers occur in men. About 2,000 men are diagnosed with breast cancer annually, with about 450 deaths due to male breast cancer occurring each year.
Many men may be surprised to learn that they can get breast cancer. Men have breast tissue that develops in the same way as breast tissue in women, and is susceptible to cancer cells in the same way. In girls, hormonal changes at puberty cause female breasts to grow. In boys, hormones made by the testicles prevent the breasts from growing. Breast cancer in men is uncommon because male breasts have ducts that are less developed and are not exposed to growth-promoting female hormones.
Just like in women, breast cancer in men can begin in the ducts and spread into surrounding cells. More rarely, men can develop inflammatory breast cancer or Paget’s disease of the nipple, which happens when a tumor that began in a duct beneath the nipple moves to the surface. Male breasts have few if any lobules, and so lobular carcinoma rarely, if ever, occurs in men.
Men should also be aware of gynecomastia, the most common male breast disorder. Gynecomastia is not a form of cancer, but does cause a growth under the nipple or areola that can be felt, and sometimes seen. Gynecomastia is common in teenage boys due to hormonal changes during adolescence, and in older men, due to late-life hormonal shifts. Certain medications can cause gynecomastia, as can some conditions, such as Klinefelter syndrome. Rarely, gynecomastia is due to a tumor. Any such lumps should be examined by your doctor.
Any man can develop male breast cancer. Factors that may increase risk include:
· Age: Male breast cancer is most common among men age 60–70.
Alcohol: Excessive consumption of alcohol may increase risk.
· Exposure to radiation: Men who have undergone radiation treatment to the chest, such as for the treatment of cancer, are more likely to develop breast cancer.
· High estrogen levels: Having a disease connected to increased amounts of estrogen in the body, such as cirrhosis or Klinefelter syndrome (a genetic disorder).
· Family history: Having several female relatives who have had breast cancer, especially those with a mutation of the BRCA2 gene.
· Weight: Men who are obese may be at greater risk for male breast cancer. Fat cells convert the male hormone androgen into the female hormone estrogen, which may lead to an increased amount of estrogen in the body, possibly triggering breast cancer.
If you have several male breast cancer risk factors, talk with your doctor to ensure he or she can monitor your health appropriately.Male Breast Cancer Symptoms
Male breast cancer symptoms can be similar to those experienced by women and may include:
Lumps in the breast, usually painless
Thickening of the breast
· Changes to the nipple or breast skin, such as dimpling, puckering or redness
·Discharge of fluid from the nipples
Male breast cancer is typically found through a clinical breast exam. If your doctor feels any lumps, a mammogram or ultrasound may then be used to look for any abnormalities within the breast. If you have nipple discharge, your doctor can examine the fluid to look for cancerous cells. A biopsy is used to make a definitive diagnosis of breast cancer, including the type and stage.
Male breast cancer is treatable, and usually involves the following:
· Surgery: Most men with breast cancer undergo a modified radical mastectomy. In this procedure, all of the breast tissue and some underarm lymph nodes are removed. Your doctor may also recommend a sentinel lymph node biopsy to determine if cancer has spread to the lymph nodes.
· Radiation Therapy: Following surgery, radiation may be used to destroy any remaining cancer cells in the body.
· Chemotherapy: Your doctor may recommend chemotherapy after surgery. Like radiation, chemotherapy may kill any cancer cells that have spread outside the breast. Chemotherapy is also a treatment option for men who are diagnosed with advanced breast cancer that has spread beyond the breast.
· Hormone Therapy: Most men with breast cancer have tumors that are hormone-dependent; that is, the cancer cells are supported by hormones in the body. Hormone-dependent cancer may be treated with hormonal therapy medications such as tamoxifen.
· Targeted Therapy: In targeted therapies, the drug attacks a specific abnormality or process within cancer cells.
· Anti-HER2 Therapy: Some breast cancer is fueled by an excess of HER2, a protein that helps cancer cells grow and survive. When cancer cells contain HER2, they may be treated with anti-HER2 drugs such as trastuzumab and lapatinib.
Understanding a stressed man can be difficult because he doesn't express his issues as easily and openly as a woman does. Many women don't even realize that a man is stressed because he hides it so well or expresses it in ways that aren't necessarily telling of his stress.
· It's a sign of weakness
Stress is a weakness and many men will refuse to show that they can't handle something. Many men don't want people to think they are being challenged or feel overwhelmed. This is why whenever you ask a man if he needs help with something; he will decline even if he could benefit from some assistance.
From another perspective, some men thrive on stress. It's what fuels them to be productive and solve problems. Some men crave it and seek it out if life is going too smoothly for them.
Men deal with stress in many different ways, but one thing is for sure, they do it in a way that doesn't openly tell others they are having trouble. The following are some ways that men handle their stress:
Some men will stay away from others as much as possible so they don't have to deal with any other problems and no one will know they are stressed.
Avoiding particular situations so that they aren't stressed is another way that a man deals with stress.
He may start to exercise more, play sports or do another type of physical activity to release some of the built-up tension he feels.
He may anger easily and disrespect the people around him. This anger could lead to bigger issues such as physical or verbal attack.
Now that you understand a stressed man, you may wonder how to help him. While you may know what you would like when you are stressed, assisting a man with his stress is much different. Remember, men don't want you to know they are stressed and they surely don't want you to think they need help, which means you have to work around that.
If you can identify what stresses out the man, attempt to help the problem without him knowing. For example, your husband becomes angry when he can't find important paperwork so you buy him a file cabinet and organize his papers for him. Or, if you know he doesn't have time for lunch because he is busy working all day, help him beat stress by either delivering him a lunch or packing one that he can eat while working.
Some men won't voluntarily talk about what is bothering them because they would rather not think about it but sometimes they will talk about it if asked. Try to bring up the subject in an unthreatening way such as while you are having dinner or taking a leisurely walk one evening. You can say, "I've noticed that you've seemed preoccupied lately, is there anything out of the ordinary happening at work?"
Without tell him that he is stressed so he needs to do this or that, offer suggestions of things he can do that would reduce stress. You can discuss planning a vacation, encourage him to play a sport, exercise, or plan to meet for lunch sometimes as a nice break from the office.
If you know he isn't having an easy time at work or other area in his life, don't add to it by placing more demands on him. Wait until he seems as though he not so overwhelmed, and then approach him with the issues you would like to address with him.
Remember that understanding a stressed man means taking a different perspective than your own. You must see stress through the eyes of a man and know what he feels and thinks about it. Once you do this, you will finally understand why he does and says the things he does when he's stressed out.
Seeing your man stressed may bring out your mothering instincts, which may not help. Men and women respond differently to stress. Men typically respond to stressors by categorizing them as "fight" or "flight." To fight is to solve a problem immediately or implement a process that will solve the problem over time e.g., "flat tire, fix it. Water bill overdue, pay it tomorrow. Wife's birthday is next week, pick out present." Flight, on the other hand, is a process of avoidance. Time, money, or people may delay the ability to achieve a solution. Men do not deny the problem; they simply compartmentalize it: "Water bill is overdue, but I have to pay for a new tire first. Maybe wife will take a rain check or smaller present." The best way to help your man with stress is by not forcing your coping methods into his ways of addressing stress.
Stress is somewhat a word everybody hears in every facet of life but seldom knows to identify the stressors and its way of eliminating it. Talking about stress and being stressed is never easy to deal with.
Stress comes in many variations to every approach in human's life. Some of us are stressed at work, at home, in social lives, in relationships or for any personal reason. A single stressor may not be the same to another person's stressed life, thus I am telling you how broad its topic as it can be. Stress also can be detrimental to health if not given enough time to solve it. Hard as it seems, you can never grow out of it unless you have to learn to identify what have caused you to be stressed.
What are stressors? As being explained in the medical term, it is something or any stimulus/stimuli that have caused you to feel something uncomfortable or that is what we called stress.
So to be healthy, let us know some things that cause stress.
1. Child/Children: Our God-given blessing is such a wonderful thing to have ever since. They brought us joy, affection, love, guidance and determination towards life. But in other sense, they also cause stress, too. It is for the reason that since from their time of infancy till the time they settle their own life on their own, we as parents, always think of the good things for them. We provide the best both for physiological and psychological needs in order for them to grow responsible citizens and we do give them the good education for them to acquire a greener pasture in time they reach the level of building their own family. These things are quite inevitable stressful for us because our children are the reasons on why we are striving to work in everyday living.
2. Money: This is basically the reason why people are always working. Money is definitely important to us and so stressful, too. To think of the monthly bills, food allowances, personal needs and wants, money is at the top of all and it is a no question why money could be one of the top reasons of stress. Especially nowadays, prices of commodities are always getting higher and this keeps us on bothering to budget our income.
3. Health problems: As an old adage goes "Health is wealth", health is very important to us. Thus, if you know that you have an illness no matter how small it may be, you will feel so uncomfortable and worry too much about it. Others may think about it already as a huge problem, thus releasing stress to their lives.
4. Threat: Threat is one of the stressors. If you think you are being threatened- be it social, financial, personal, or physical, your sense of anxiety will increase and this could be the reason of any physical ailments you will likely suffer due to the result of stress.
5. Cognitive Dissonance: Dissonance occurs when you have a logical inconsistency of your beliefs, principles or any frame of ideas. Like for instance, you can tell to others that you are an honest person, but time came when you lied for an important purpose and by this circumstance, you already have dissonance. Cognitive dissonance often leads to guilt, frustration, anger, or disappointments which could definitely be so stressful to anyone's space.
6. Fear: Any forms of fear can be a stressor. It is merely because when you are fear of something or to someone, the tendency is you keep on worrying what will go to happen, then by doing so; you do not know you are already on the verge of a stressed life.
So? For you to eliminate stress, try to relax once in a while. Go out yourself to beach walk or simply lay down inside your cozy room while thinking of the good things you achieved. Learn to relax your mind and body as well. Moreover, you really need to recognize every stressor that cause you stressed because there is no other way to get things in remedy than by knowing causes of your stress. And most importantly, pray. This might be the lost dimension in your life. Prayer works wonders!
