I receive e-mails and phone calls every day asking if there's a "connection" between new medical conditions that crop up and an established diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. Some questioners assume the new disorder is a side effect from treatment. Others wonder about a link between certain diseases and breast cancer.
Though breast cancer treatment certainly produces side effects like joint pain from chemo or hormonal therapy, it doesn't make sense to assume that everything going wrong with our bodies is related to this treatment.
One woman wrote that she had a gallbladder attack and was sure that her gallstones were caused by hormonal therapy. However, there is no link between hormonal therapy and gallstone development. Another woman in treatment said her vision had gotten worse in the last five years, since she turned 68 years old. Well, most people's vision changes as they age.
The bottom line is this: Despite the fact that we have been diagnosed with breast cancer, and have been treated for it, we still can develop other diseases and disorders like the rest of the world's population does.
Unfortunately, filling in the "cancer" square on our life scorecard doesn't render us immune to other illnesses in the future. Some scientists actually think that perhaps we are even more susceptible to getting other medical conditions because our immune systems are not in tip-top shape.
Before you point the finger at your breast cancer treatment as the cause of a new medical problem, meet with your oncologist and see if your suspicion is based on reason. Sometimes a medical problem will be related, but oftentimes it is not.
source : health.yahoo.com
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