Posts Tagged ‘elderly care’

Muhammad Ali – The Boxing Legend of the 19th Century

February 5th, 2012 by Owen Jones

Muhammad Ali was 70 on January 17th, 2012. He was the most feared opponent in the boxing ring in his long and dynamic career and with very good cause. He won the world heavy weight boxing championship three times after winning a gold medal at the Olympics and was named sportsman of the century by the BBC and Sports Illustrated.

Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville, Kentucky on January 17th, 1942 and was named after his father Cassius Marcellus Clay. They added the handle Junior, to distinguish him from his father who was a billboard painter. In 1967, Cassius changed his name to Muhammad Ali and became a Muslim.

A local white Louisville police officer named Joe E. Martin was the first person to see that the young Clay had something extraordinary when he watched him scrapping over a stolen bicycle as a twelve tear old. Martin encouraged Clay to go to the boxing ring with him. Martin and Clay trained together at Stoner’s Gym.

Martin and Ali used to perform a display together called ‘Tomorrow’s Champions’. Stone was a useful coach for Ali and he stayed his tutor for nearly all his amateur career (the last four years he was with Chuck Bodak).

As an amateur Ali won six Kentucky Golden Gloves, two National Golden Gloves, an Amateur Athletic Union title and the Gold Medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics for light-heavyweight boxing.

His history as an amateur was 100 wins and five losses. Ali was both hero-worshipped and vilified in his mother country. After Ali changed his name he refused to accept the name Clay, saying that his family had been given it by slave-owners.

He was also accused of changing his name to dodge the call-up, but his famous reply to that accusation was: “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong… No Viet Cong ever called me nigger”. In 1966 he was barred from fighting in the USA. Ali was stripped of his boxing titles and his boxing license was suspended. So he fought abroad, often in the United Kingdom.

Ali’s first title fight was against Sonny Liston on February 25 1964, but it was nearly cancelled, because it became known that Ali had joined Malcolm X’s Nation of Islam. The promoter, Bill Faversham. was worried that that may ruin the attendance figures, because Ali was not thought likely to win anyway (7:1 against).

Ali agreed not to authenticate that he had associations with Malcolm X until after the bout and it went ahead. At the weigh in, Ali’s pulse was 120 as opposed to his norm of 54 and his opponent’s team misinterpretted this as nerves. This was when Ali, the Louisville Lip, first said that he was going to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee”.

Ali saw his first professional defeat in 1971 against Joe Frazier, although he won the title back from George Foreman in 1974. This was the well-known ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ which was given political overtones.

It was ranked seventh in ‘The 100 Greatest Sporting Moments’. Ali’s fight against Chuck Wepner in 1975 inspired the film ‘Rocky’, which won the Academy Award.

Ali declared his retirement on June 27th 1979, but made a comeback 18 months later in October 1980. He finally retired in 1981, but before that the aldermen of Louisville renamed Walnut Street ‘Muhammad Ali Boulevard’. A dozen of the seventy street signs were stolen within a week.

In 1984, Ali was diagnosed as having Altzeimer’s, which people who have head trauma are more liable to get. Despite his illness, Ali has worked untiringly for peace and equality and has represented America at a number of international peace negotiations.

He has won more prizes than anyone can possibly remember and established a $60 million not for profit centre in Louisville which houses his awards, but is there to promote peace, social responsibility, respect and personal growth.

On average, Ali travels over 200 days a year to raise money for and awareness of poverty and hunger. It has been estimated that he has helped supply over 22,000,000 meals.

Angelo Dundee, Ali’s cornerman and trainer from 1960-1981 passed away on February 1st 2012 at the age of 90,

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with Quotes On Mixed Martial Arts. If you would like to know more, go to our website at Mixed Martial Arts Quotes

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How Knowledge Of Prostate Cancer May Benefit You

January 28th, 2012 by Owen Jones

Information is power, isn’t it? knowledge empowers you to be able to do something. Having information on prostate cancer at your finger tips will enable you to have more opportunity of diagnosing yourself or helping your family and friends. One of the issues with prostate cancer is that it grows slowly and by the time you notice it, it could be well advanced.

The information that you will find in this piece is stuff that I have discovered for my own information and benefit. It is not definitive medical advice. For that depth of knowledge you will have to talk to a physician.

I am not a medical doctor, but my father and a good friend passed away of prostate cancer and as a man, I have a fairly high risk – one in six – of contracting the problem myself, hence my interest.

It seems that there are things that a man can do to lower the likelihood of acquiring prostate cancer and these include eating healthily and doing manly things like sport and manual labour. One of the worst things you can do is sit on your prostate gland all day long – desk jobs and watching TV is not good for the prostate.

If you are not able to help but have a sedentary lifestyle, then you need to be aware of the early signs of prostate cancer so that it can be treated before it becomes life-threatening. The main thing to be on the look out for is problems urinating.

Most older men have issues with their bladder, but once it starts happening to you, go to your physician and have it checked out. It might be nothing except age, but on the other hand …

The bigger the problems, such as pain or bleeding, the more reason that you ought to go to the GP. Frequent urination can be the earliest sign of prostate cancer but it could just mean that you are getting older as well.

I was once told by my Thai optician that the reason why I was losing my sight was because I was ‘prematurely senile’. it can happen, but I asked him to check the wording and he returned with ‘premature senile cataracts’. We had a good laugh about that.

Prostate cancer is curable. About 90% of people are cured (some surveys say 85% others say 95%), however, it very much depends on catching the disease in its infancy. All men more than around 40 should have a check up at least one time annually, maybe two times. The test is unpleasant but quick, painless and simple – a finger up the bum.

Dying of prostate cancer is the result of negligence nowadays, because it grows slowly in its initial stages, but when it gets a hold, it goes like a train and moves to other areas of the body, giving the patient far less opportunity of recovery. If the worst comes to the worst you can do without your prostate gland anyway – after all, women don’t need one.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on a variety of subjects, but is now involved with prostate cancer and radiation treatment. If you want to know more go to What is the Treatment for Prostate Cancer?

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Suggestions For Preventing Prostrate Cancer

January 17th, 2012 by Owen Jones

Make no mistake about it, prostate cancer is a life-threatening disease. Not just that, but it will kill all men that it touches unless they do something to prevent it. The number of deaths per annum is falling, but it still stands at a little under 30,000 men a year in the USA alone.

Successful therapy relies a lot on the early diagnosis of the disease and when caught early, the success rate of survival is as high as almost 90%. Prostate cancer can afflict men of all ages, but the older the man, the more chance he has of acquiring it. The age when the risk starts to rise is 50 years of age.

The incidence of prostate cancer before 50 years of age is fairly to very rare and is thought to be associated to DNA or hereditary factors. Therefore, if there is a history of prostate problems among the men in your family, begin planning regular check-ups when you are 40 or even 35, just to make certain.

Numerous people think that there is a robust connection between cancer and smoking, because they contend that smoking can distort the DNA allowing cancers to grow more freely. If you accept this, then it makes sense to quit smoking or never take it up.

Diet is a means to maintaining a healthy body and an effective immune system. The standard advice is to eat a balanced, low-fat diet which is rich in fresh fruit and vegetables, low in fat and high in fibre. To this you can add high in lycopene and quercetin, both of which occur naturally in fruit and vegetables.

Lycopene is the red dye seen in numerous fruits such as tomatoes, dragon fruit, red cabbage, carrots, water melons, peanuts and many others and quercetin is found in numerous leaves that are used to make tea, both green and black teas. Some have higher concentrations than others.

Drinking water and exercising is an excellent way of massaging the internal organs and flushing out the excess toxins that your body creates just by being alive. Exercise is also said to amplify the immune system and will help you tackle not just prostate cancer but other illnesses as well.

Frequent testing for (prostate) cancer remains the best course of action for the prevention of a life-threatening situation. A PSA test will reveal the amount of antigens that the prostate is releasing into the blood.

This is one of the first symptoms that there might be a problem on the horizon. Regular testing will provide a benchmark to see whether the amount is rising, which it might do due to no other reason than your advancing age.

As with all cancers, it is vital to diagnose prostate cancer early. Once your GP is certain that there is a malignant growth there are quite a few methods of tackling it. Which method is selected depends on you and the state your body is in.

You can prepare for the eventuality by keeping your body in passable shape; doing some research and being conscious of the options, which you will need to discuss with your medical doctor.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now involved with proton prostate cancer treatment. If you want to know more go to What is the Treatment for Prostate Cancer?

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What Is A Lasik Eye Examination For?

September 2nd, 2011 by Owen Jones

The first thing that will occur before any surgery is an examination of the eye in question. An assessment is crucial, because not everyone is a perfect candidate for Lasik surgery. This is because not all eyes are the same shape and not everybody is suffering bad eyesight for the same reason. So, during the assessment, the Lasik surgeon will ascertain the cause of your failing eyesight and map an exact picture of your eye.

The assessment of your eye will also reveal the thickness of the cornea and the ability of your eye to create tears. In order to do this, the surgeon will drip a liquid into your eye in order to dilate it. This makes it easier to find any irregularities including the refractive error, which is a term used to describe why your eyesight is not 20/20.

The Lasik surgeon will then discuss the results of the examination with the patient. This is to uncover any previous surgery or damage the eye has undergone. There will also be questions about the patient’s other illnesses, the patient’s family history of eye problems and concerning any medicine that the patient is currently taking. Immanent pregnancy is a reason for waiting and the patient will be asked what his or her expectations of the surgery are.

The surgery usually produces excellent results with massive improvements in eyesight, but a surgeon would prefer that you do not expect quite as much. They prefer you to be surprised at how excellent the results are than disappointed. Most individuals are very happy with the results, it should be said.

Before going for the examination, it is a good idea not to get your hopes up. Some individuals are considered unsuitable for Lasik eye surgery. Some might be recommended other surgery techniques like total lens replacement. With lens replacement, the old, human lens is extracted from within the eye and a plastic one is put in.

This lens replacement surgery is invasive, but does not hurt and just takes about 40 minutes. Lasik surgery takes less time and is also painless. If the surgeon rejects Lasik surgery, enquire about alternative techniques including the replacement of your lens.

There are also different techniques of Lasik, so if you are refused one sort, ask if there are other sorts of laser surgery on hand.

Assuming that you are accepted for laser surgery, your surgeon will give you a couple of directions which you should follow as if your eyesight depended upon it. These directions can vary from surgeon to surgeon, from patient to patient and from technique to technique, but may be similar to those below.

Frequently, they will recommend that you do not wear contact lenses for a while (days or weeks) before the operation. This is because contact lenses can distort the shape of the eye or cornea. It also depends on which type of contact lenses you use – hard or soft, so be certain your surgeon knows and make certain that you know what you use so that you can give accurate information.

General advice is to get careful with eye make-up for 48 hours before the operation and get someone to pick you up from the surgery.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with wet macular degeneration treatment. If you want to know more, please visit our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

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The State Of In Home Senior Care

August 16th, 2011 by William Jattin

The baby boomers are coming of age, and for the first time in the history of our country, there will be very a large percentage of the population over 50. This dynamic is already having an impact on the way we address the needs of the elderly. We are coming up with new ideas about long term care. The state of in home senior care is now on the front lines.

Traditionally as people aged discussions about nursing homes or assisted living facilities come up. Attitudes about those types of plans are shifting rapidly. Technology has made tremendous strides in health care. People are now able to live fuller and healthier lives. This is creating a shift in the dynamic of the elderly. More of them are opting to stay in their own homes.

The older population of our society is no longer looking to retire and stop working; they are taking on second careers. Therefore, as the thinking about senior lifestyles is changing, it seems only natural that the attitude toward senior care should also change. We can this fact because the age of retirement has changed and the older worker is remaining a viable part of the workforce.

Nursing homes and assisted living facilities are no longer the first line of senior care. New programs are on the horizon. Seniors are continuing to do the things they enjoy doing and actually continue to contribute to the next generation. Their expertise is touching those coming behind them. It makes sense that they would want to remain a contributing part of society.

We all know that even with good health there are still issues, as one grows older. A simple trip to the supermarket could become a little more challenging as they begin to age. It does not mean that they are unable to do; it just means that they could use a little assistance.

The same activities that seniors enjoyed in their younger year, they still enjoy today. Many of them are still physically active. They like running, swimming, painting, and yes even hanging out with their friends. The in home care industry can bridge the gap between active social lives and isolation in the life of a senior. We must be careful not to overlook a very vital segment of our society in this area.

This is where the in home services are extremely helpful. Programs do well to remember that growing older does not mean inability to function. They just need a little help. The services provided by in home assistance programs can fill that void and keep seniors functioning and interacting with society. In home services can lift the burden by driving an older person to the market, helping them to dress, providing meals, or bathing. As long as there are no medical issues, in home care is an excellent choice.

Programs that address these issues bring hope and a sense of freedom to seniors. The population will continue to age, and as it does the overall effect on the elderly and their care will increase. Technology is rapidly changing medicine and its ability to add quality of life to seniors. Therefore, in the days ahead we will be taking a closer look at the state of in home senior care.

If you need to ensure that an elderly loved one has necessary in-home services, Leesport Home Care is the best contact point. Elder care services make it possible for seniors to remain independent longer, without sacrificing safety.

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Diabetic Eye Problems

August 4th, 2011 by Owen Jones

Diabetics have problems with sugar and starch, both of which the body processes into glucose which it uses for energy. The difficulty with diabetics is that this glucose is not processed properly, it enters into the blood stream and is not dealt with by insulin as it ought to be.

The presence of glucose in the blood is normal and is called glaecemia but when the blood is over saturated, it is called hyperglaecemia. For this reason, diabetics have to be aware of their blood/sugar levels at all times, which means that they have to be wary of what they eat.

Many diabetics learn tell-tale indications that their bodies give to warn them of their high or low blood/sugar level, but most diabetics also use blood tests by a medical doctor or even home blood/sugar monitors, which have become cheap enough to buy for personal use.

Not having enough glucose (sugar) in the blood is known as hypoglaecemia and leaves the brain starved of energy, which leads to temporary dizziness, confusion, blackout or a convulsion. Restoring the glucose level to standard returns full consciousness, Most diabetics learn to successfully circumvent this condition. More difficult is hyperglaecemia.

Hyperglaecemia is the opposite of hypoglaecemia and brings with it its own problems but they tend to cause long term issues. Protracted periods of hyperglaecemia lead to cardiovascular problems, kidney issues and concerns with eyesight and even teeth.

These complications take a long time to develop and the diabetic may not realize that there is a problem until it is rather late. Therefore the need to monitor blood/glucose levels often. One of the first areas to show problems from hyperglaecemia is the retina because it is so sensitive.

Hyperglaecemic blood in the blood vessels in the retina causes them to swell developing high pressures on the sensitive eye constituent parts. Eyesight is soon impaired. The biggest worry for most diabetics is going blind or suffering macular degeneration, which impairs vision pretty severely but does not lead to complete blindness.

It is very important for diabetics to have an eye examination at least once a year and twice is better. The opthamologist will be on the look out for a condition known as diabetic retinopathy. If you are a diabetic you should be on your guard.

If you experience blurred vision, sudden dark spots or flashing lights before your eyes or feel pressure (not simple), you ought to get to the opthamologist as soon as you can.

There are medicines, especially in the early stages, but the longer you leave it the worse it gets and the more difficult to put right, if that is at all possible.

Prevention is always better that cure, so diabetics ought to maintain their blood glucose level within standard boundaries and maintain a proper body weight. To do this, you will have to learn how much sugar is in various foodstuffs and take regular exercise. In other words: diet and exercise.

Other concerns that a diabetic may experience with their eyes is glaucoma and cataracts. Cataracts can be cut away quite easily, but glaucoma is very serious and leads to blindness.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with wet macular degeneration treatment. If you want to know more, please go to our site at Macular Degenerative Disease

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Omega 3 Fish Oils – Fatty Acids

July 27th, 2011 by Owen Jones

Omega 3 essential fatty acids, often merely referred to as omega 3 fish oils are called essential, because they are very important to our well-being, but our bodies cannot create them in the quantity that we require them. Therefore, we have to eat them. These omega 3 fish oils are mainly discovered in oily fish like salmon, herring and mackerel.

Omega 3 contains two fatty acids that are very beneficial for human beings. These fatty acids are called DHA and EPA. So, the solution is to eat more fish, right? Well, yes and no. For decades, dietitians and doctors recommended eating at least two portions of oily fish per week. However, these days fish is polluted with heavy metals especially mercury.

Mercury is extremely toxic to human beings, so that is the dilemma. We should eat more fish, but numerous people believe that fish is now too toxic for us to eat. Scientists have stepped up to the breach and extracted fish oils from fish and then extracted the heavy metals from those oils.

This puts us back on an even keel. Now you can have your essential fatty acids DHA and EPA without poisoning yourself in the process . These omega 3 fish oils are normally put into capsules and sold as supplements.

Omega 3 fatty acids have been linked with the prevention and reduction of several very serious human diseases like cancer, diabetes, macular degeneration, high blood pressure, high levels of cholesterol and atherosclerosis. DHA in particular is very important to the brain where it acts to reduce the rate of memory loss and decrease the likelihood of Alzheimer’s

A low amount of DHA has also been associated with depression and schizophrenia. It is fairly clear to doctors and dietitians that these omega 3 fish oils really are essential to our well-being.

Despite being able to derive omega 3 from fish oil, fish do not make it themselves either. Rather these fatty acids are present in the foodstuff that they eat such as algae and krill. Krill oil is a relatively recently uncovered source of omega 3. It contains less of the oils, about 63% of that in fish, but the advantageous effects are comparable.

Green-lipped mussels from New Zealand are another bountiful source of these fish oils. In fact they contain a somewhat different blend of omega 3 which looks as if it will hugely help neutralize inflammation. Inflammation is a major contributing factor in arthritis.

Other, land-based sources of omega 3, do not contain DHA or EPA, but they are useful anyway. Some of these sources are walnuts, pecan nuts, butternuts and some seeds particularly flax and hemp.

Grass-fed meat and free-range chickens and their eggs also contain omega 3, but again, not the vital DHA and EPA acids.

How much omega 3 should you take? Well, there is no ‘recommended daily amount’ (RDA) as with vitamins, but the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends 1.6 grammes/day for men and 1.1 grammes/day for women, but the total calorific value should be between 0.6 and 1.2% of your daily total.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several topics, and is now concerned with pure omega 3. If you want to know more, please visit our site at Omega 6 9

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Guide Dogs And Aging

July 26th, 2011 by Owen Jones

Aging has its advantages, like having more experience, having family and frequently having fewer financial problems, but it also brings other problems with it as well, normally health worries. One of the health concerns that older people worry about is their eyesight.

Most people like to be independent, but blindness causes you to be dependent, particularly if you go blind whilst you are older. At least whilst you are younger, you have a long time to learn how to deal with it.

There are several ways that you can lose your sight while you become older but one that effects 10% of those over 65 and 30% of those over 75 years is macular degeneration. It is often referred to as age-related macular degeneration, ARMD or just AMD because it tends to affect those people who are over 50 years of age.

However, macular degeneration only affects the centre 2.1% of your field of vision, so it is very rare for ARMD to become the cause of complete blindness. The problem is that that 2.1%, centre field of vision is extremely important for recognizing people and for reading.

So what can you do about it, if you develop ARMD? One choice would be to buy a guide dog, a ‘blind dog’, as they say in the UK or a ’seeing eye dog’ as they say in America. A guide dog will help prevent you from bumping into objects, which you may well do if you lose your middle field of vision.

Most registered blind individuals are not totally blind. Some are worse off than others but sufferers of ARMD normally retain 97.9% of their field of vision, which is the peripheral vision. A guide dog would cover the remainder for you.

Guide dogs are taught as puppies so they will stay with their blind friends for seven or eight years or more This allows the dog and the owner to build up a wonderful relationship, as all people do with their dogs. However, the rapport of a blind person with a guide dog though is extra-ordinary. The dog knows that it is being relied upon for its master’ safety.

If you make a decision to go down the road of getting a guide dog, the best place to start is your national association for the blind, the address of which you can find either at your physician’s, in Yellow Pages or on the Internet. Some countries’ organizations will charge you for providing a guide dog and others will subsidize your getting a guide dog and its training.

It would be a good idea to arrange a guide dog as soon as you are diagnosed with a disease that threatens your eyesight because that will give you more time to get to know and choose a puppy as your future companion.

If you are lucky and your physician saves your eyesight, you have lost nothing and you have acquired a wonderful, intelligent friend, but if the worst comes to the worst, you will have an invaluable, seeing, protective, wonderful, intelligent friend. You cannot lose.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a variety of topics, but is now concerned with wet macular degeneration treatment. If you would like to know more, please visit our website at Macular Degenerative Disease

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The Signs Of Ovarian Cancer

July 21st, 2011 by Owen Jones

The uncontrolled growth of cells is a disease called cancer. Other malignant characteristics of cancer are an invasion that destroys adjacent tissues and metastasis i.e. the spreading to other areas of the body by means of the blood or the lymph glands. Benign tumors are unlike cancer in that they do not invade or metastasize.

Either environmental or hereditary reasons can be the cause of cancer. Primarily, it is an environmental disease with enhanced risk from genetic influences. The main environmental factors behind the cause of cancer are obesity, smoking, pollution, disease and radiation etc..

Ovarian cancer is one of the most common kinds of cancer. It takes place in the ovaries of women which is why it is called ovarian cancer. There are two ovaries in females, one on either side of the uterus. Both eggs and hormones i.e. estrogen, testosterone and progesterone are produced by the ovaries.

Usually, it affects those women who have reached their menopause. Mostly an ovarian cancer is a sort of epithelial cancer i.e. cancer in the outer cells of an ovary. Most common types of epithelial cancer of the ovaries are serous. Less commonly known kinds are clear cell and endometrioid ovarian cancers

Almost 85% of the women treated for ovarian cancer are over the age of 50, although there are possibilities of its occurrence in younger females as well. Multiple genetic mutations are the cause of this cancer. The danger of the disease is greater in those women who have never had a baby.

The danger is higher for those whose menstrual cycle starts at an early age and whose menopause happens late. Infertility is the biggest danger factor behind this disease. Personal or family history of breast cancer increases the risk of ovarian cancer too.

The symptoms of the disease are not specific to it and it usually starts stealthily. Some of the indications of ovarian cancer are pelvic pain, abdominal pressure, indigestion or wind, constipation, lower back pain, the frequent requirement to urinate, loss of appetite, pain with intercourse, changes in the menstrual cycle and a deficiency of energy.

The indications of ovarian cancer tend to be persistent and they worsen with time. An appointment with a GP must be made if any of the above mentioned symptoms happen every day for two to three weeks. If someone has a family history of this cancer, she must make contact with her physician for further diagnosis of the worries.

The most common diagnostic procedures and check ups are pelvic examination, ultrasound, CA 125 blood test and surgery for removing samples to test (biopsy). Four stages of ovarian cancer are recognized according to the intensity of the disease.

The treatment of ovarian cancer is possible. Researchers are working on developing methods of identifying it at earlier stages because it is very problematic to cure it at later stages. The most common form of treatment for ovarian cancer is a blend of chemotherapy and surgery.

Healthy habits like eating a balanced diet, exercising and getting enough sleep can be useful to control your symptoms of the disease. Although there is no sure way to protect you from this illness, the danger of getting ovarian cancer can be reduced by thinking about the risks and benefits of using birth control pills and discussing issues with your doctor.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on quite a few topics, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

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The Symptoms Of Ovarian Cancer

July 9th, 2011 by Owen Jones

The symptoms of ovarian cancer are fairly problematic to recognize regrettably. This is because they are similar to the indications of regular menstruation or menopause that many (or most) women experience frequently anyway. The chance that women who still menstruate have, is if they notice that some of the regular feelings are not quite right.

Menopausal women have a bigger problem because they are new to their condition and it is so erratic anyway. The indications of ovarian cancer include: abdominal pain, a feeling of being bloated, twinges and tiredness.

That is why it is so difficult to use these symptoms as predictors or ovarian cancer. However, if you have these indications at a time when you would not normally do so, or if they last longer than usual, then it would be worth checking with a doctor or your gynecologist.

If you are concerned, naturally, you will need to get a check up, but if you are ‘umming and ahhing’, try to find out whether someone in your family has had ovarian cancer before. There is a tendency for it to run in families, but that is a fact or most forms of cancer really.

However, if you are looking into your family’s history of cancer, bear in mind that cancer can out itself in different ways. for example, a man obviously cannot get ovarian cancer, but if your dad died of cancer you have an increased likelihood as well, albeit it in possibly another kind.

Age is another issue in the likelihood of someone having this kind of cancer – the older the more likely to be expected. There is also another strange twist here. Women who have had a number of children are least at risk, women who have chosen not to have children are more at risk, and women who have always been incapable of having children are most at risk.

The fact is that this is such a difficult form of cancer to home-diagnose that it is hardly worth the trouble. You have to listen to your body and trust your gut feelings. If all is not the same as you are used to, go and have a check up as soon as you can.

Apart from that, go for a ordinary check up anyway. Different countries have different recommendations, but whatever advice that your doctor or gynecologist gives you, you should follow. Ovarian cancer can be treated successfully and not only that but if it is caught early enough in young women, treatment does not necessarily mean loss of fertility.

So, the byword is do not miss your check ups. Almost 75% of women who are diagnosed early can expect a complete recovery. Young women have an even higher chance than older women, which means that older women should go for check ups more often than younger women.

Do not be apathetic about this form of cancer even though the symptoms of ovarian cancer are not simple to recognize, in fact that is a very good reason for you to let an expert check you out. The tests are not invasive and consist of merely a blood test and an ultra sound scan.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on a number of subjects, but is now involved with the stages of ovarian cancer. If you want to know more, please visit our web site at Signs and Symptoms of Ovarian Cancer

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