Are we wired this way?

Mantra

 At various times in my life I've had surgery for precancerous cervical cells, basal cell, and DCIS.

I can't help but wonder if somehow I am programmed this way and that having three different types of cancer is not a coincidence. I am BRCA 1 & 2 negative.

I don't really have a family history of cancer although my mother did die from lung cancer at age 48 (non smoker). Have you been diagnosed with other types of unrelated cancers in addition to your breast cancer?

TenderIsOurMight

Mantra,

I had a basal cell cancer on my back too, before breast cancer.

There is support that insufficient Vitamin D3 raises the incidence of epithelial cancers. Cervical, basal and breast cancer are all epithelial cancers, a specific histological origin type. 

Have you had your Vitamin D3 level drawn? Are you taking any vitamin D3? Currently I'm taking 3000 IU's per day. Andrew Weill, a preventive physician, just wrote he now recommends at least 2000 IU's per day.

Best to you,

Tender

Mantra

Tender - very interesting. I just checked my copy of my latest blood test results and I don't see anything about D3. There was a test done for 25-Hydroxy Vitamin D. Is that different?

I also just checked my vitamins and calcium supplements. My calcium has 200 IU and I take 2 a day so it's 400 IU in total. My multivitamin doesn't seem to have any D3 (just D). Does D3 come from any other sources or does that mean my total of 400 per day is WAY lower than what I should be taking.

AnnNYC

I've had precancerous cervical lesions removed, and precancerous skin lesions.  Since I was told they were precancerous, I've never thought of myself as having had "three different types of cancer" -- just the one (IDC).

On the one hand, cervical cancer and precancerous changes are so strongly related to human papillomavirus (HPV) -- and skin cancers to sun exposure -- that in my case I consider these diverse environmental insults the separate causes (not sure what to pin the IDC on, though!).

But the possibility of vitamin D deficiency seems to provide a strong ("missing") link -- as a common explanation for different precancers/cancers in one person.

P.S. Actually, squamous cell skin cancers are also linked to HPV -- not so much basal cell skin cancers -- and there are some associations of HPV and breast cancer!  Since I got HPV at a young age, I'm really scratching my head about this now....

Mantra

I did some reading about Vitamin D today and now understand the vitamin D & D3. I checked my last test. My 25 hydroxy Vitamin D level is 110 and the paper says normal is 75-250.

Are there any downsides to starting to take a D3 supplement?  

MariannaLaFrance

I've wondered this myself. I have also had cell dysplasia show up on my paps, so started me thinking about the possibility of a link. I haven't had any cell problems with my skin, though I expect that to change at any time, given that I am fair skinned and live in a sunny climate. 

  I have had another thought recently as well. My internist was watching my calcium levels closely, as I have had several kidney stones. He is keeping my under surveillance for hyperparathyroidism, which affects calcium in the bloodstream and in your bones. Perhaps it goes hand in hand with Vitamin D and Calcium?

Of course, no one at my hospital seems to think of linkages and they all shake their heads and seem to think I am nuts for wanting to know the root cause of all of this. It drives me crazy that there has been no holistic assessment done on me, nor has any blood been drawn. I am happy that they've found the cancer and are going to treat it, but it just astounds me how "in a vaccuum" our treatments are....