The FDA has recently approved a new vaccine manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline called Cervarix™ to accomplish just that. The vaccine, similar to it’s predecessor and competitor Gardasil™ manufactured by MERCK, is effective against 70% of pre-cancerous lesions caused by the human papillomavirus.

HPV, with over a hundred strains, has been known to infected up to 80% of women by the end of their lives. The vaccine protects women against two of the most prevalent cancer causing types (16 & 18). Many strains of the virus show no signs or symptoms in both men and women yet can be extremely dangerous which is why vaccines such as Cervarix™ and Gardasil™ are shing lights in yet otherwise dark clouds.

“It has the potential to save lives from cervical cancer as well as reduce the need for biopsies and invasive procedures associated with the necessary follow-up from abnormal Pap tests.” said Dr. Karen Midthun, acting director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

The vaccine is approved for girls and women between the ages of 10 and 25. It comes in three injections over the span of months and with annual paps can drastically reduce your chance of developing cancerous cells.

Cervarix Side Effects

• Pain, redness or swelling at the injection site.
• Headache.
• Muscle pain (myalgia).
• Fatigue.
• Disturbances of the gut, such as nausea and vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain.
• Skin reactions such as rash, itching or hives.
• Fever.
• Joint pain (arthralgia).
• Dizziness.
• Infection of the nose, throat or windpipe.
• Hard lump or tingling sensation at the injection site.

While there is controversy about the moral obligations of the vaccine it is suggested that all women get this life saving series of shots. It shouldn’t be used to replace proper sex education or the use of protection and only prevents cancerous types of HPV no other STDs or even the strains of the virus that cause genital warts.

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According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), women should start giving themselves breast exams (BSEs) as early as their 20s. Getting to know how they feel early on can heighten your sense about them helping you hone in on changes that may be happening creating a situation where the cancer could be found early on and reduce chances of spreading.

There are two easy ways to give yourself a breast exam and should be done at least twice a year. It’s quick simple and could save your life.

The Stand Up Breast Exam

1. Look at your breasts in the mirror, shoulders straight and your arms on your hips. Look for changes in your breasts: dimpling, puckering, or bulging of the skin; a nipple that looks different (possibly inverted); redness, soreness, rash, or swelling; fluid draining from the nipples.
2. Raise your arms and look for the same changes.
3. Feel for lumps in the right breast by making overlapping, coin-sized circular motions with the pads of your three middle fingers on your left hand.
4. Use three different pressure levels, one at a time: light pressure to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs.

The Lying Down Breast Exam

1. Choose a day of the month when your breasts are not tender or swollen.
2. Lie down (so your breast tissue spreads evenly over your chest wall and is as thin as possible). Place your right arm behind your head.
3. Feel for lumps in the right breast by making overlapping, coin-sized circular motions with the pads of your three middle fingers on your left hand.
4. Use three different pressure levels, one at a time: light pressure to feel the tissue closest to the skin; medium pressure to feel a little deeper; and firm pressure to feel the tissue closest to the chest and ribs.
5. Cover the entire breast by moving in an up-and-down pattern that starts at your side from the underarm and across the breast to the middle of the chest and bone.
6. Use the finger pads on your right hand to repeat these steps on your left breast.
7. Then stand in front of a mirror with your hands pressing down firmly on your hips and observe whether there are any changes in size, shape, contour, or dimpling, redness or scaliness of the nipple or breast skin.
8. Raise each arm slightly to examine each underarm for lumps.

It’s also necessary to get a professional mammogram (A safe, low-dose x-ray exam of the breasts to look for changes that are not normal. The results are recorded on x-ray film or directly into a computer for a doctor called a radiologist to examine) if your over 40 once two twice a year.

Self Breast Exam Video

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In the study more than 50,000 African-American women, researchers found that the women that had a more nutritiously prudent diet lowered their risk for developing breast cancer by a whopping one third.

Eating whole grains, fruits, vegetables and fish as part of a regular diet and staying away from processed and red meats seems to be the diet of health according to the study. Out of the 50,778 black women from across the U.S. Between 1995 and 2007, 1,094 of those women were diagnosed with breast cancer. The study showed that the overweight women were more likely to develop breast cancer but also showed that overweight women sticking to this diet didn’t lower their chances for developing breast cancer.

The younger thinner women that stuck to the diet were 20% less likely to develop breast cancer then there thin counterparts that ate a more western world diet filled with red meat, sugars, and less fruits and vegetables. The reasons are unknown, but taken together, the researchers write, these studies suggest that the protective effect of a prudent diet may be “largely among thinner women.”

Whatever the effects on breast cancer, though, the prudent diet is one that is recommended for better overall health — including a lower risk of heart disease, the number-one killer of U.S. women.

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