Breast Cancer Social Media

The #BCSM team is pleased to share this guest post from Diane Mapes, @double_whammied: When I was diagnosed with breast cancer in early 2011, I was clueless. I’d had regular mamms, like everybody else, but the type of cancer I had – lobular or invasive lobular carcinoma or ILC — was sneaky, my BC surgeon told me. breast cancer peeps like Dr. Nancy Cappello of AreYouDense.org; and some extremely patient biostatisticians, radiologists, pathologists, epidemiologists and clinical researchers at Fred Hutch, I’m no longer clueless about lobular BC (or dense breast tissue or the efficacy of mammograms). * Link patients with ILC research opportunities as patient advocate partners and research participants; * Build partnerships with breast cancer organizations and institutions to better address the needs of ILC patients and educate key audiences about ILC and ILC metastatic disease.

This movement does not sell software or a product, but rather provides free tools and evidence-based resources to support clinicians and health care systems in sharing notes with patients. The evidence is building steadily: Reading notes can have an important role in helping patients and their care partners manage their health and health care. The more connected you are to your health care team, the more actively you can manage your health. UC Davis Health is not a notes-sharing health system, so patients like me must submit a special request to get our notes.

Just One Alcoholic Drink per Day Increases Breast Cancer Risk, Exercise Lowers Risk November: The value of shared information among the patient/physician community on #SoMe! T2: Biggest lesson from #bcsm 2017? Just keep keeping on #bcsm T2: 📌 #bcsm = excellent peer-to-peer source of support, camaraderie, & information 📌Early detection doesn’t mean cure 📌More funding needed for metastatic disease 📌Including #patients & #carepartners at conferences is essential T3:

Increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with risk – the risk of breast cancer is 30% higher in patients with a BMI greater than 31 kg/m2 compared to a BMI of 20 kg/m2. She noted that there is a linear relationship between alcohol intake and cancer risk, noting a 10% increase in risk for each 10 gm/day (for wine this is a little over 3 oz) increment in alcohol consumption. The risk is most associated with post-menopausal breast cancer, although in the study she quoted, only alcohol intake during age 50s was associated with an increased risk of postmenopausal breast cancer. She is involved in a research initiative evaluating the association between African ancestry and high risk breast cancer in white American women, African American women, and women in Ghana, including studying novel aspects of tumor biology and breast cancer stem cells –