weight loss this past year and new DCIS dx?

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Julie--MA
Julie--MA Member Posts: 33
edited March 2018 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)

Thank you for all of your help on my previous (and first) post.

Now that I know that I have DCIS, I am starting to put pieces together and/or wonder more things.  One of these is that I inexplicably lost 20 lbs in about 6 mos last summer into fall.  (I was not overweight, so it was pretty noticeable.) I have chronic Lyme disease, was in treatment, and imagined that might be why (I had to adjust my diet, etc).  It didn't really explain it to me, because my changes were not all that dramatic, but it seemed to perhaps make sense.

Now that I have been diagnosed with DCIS (grade 2), I can't help but wonder:  Could the weight loss be related?  I feel as if weight loss is probably more common in late stages of cancer, but any thoughts?  

Thank you!

Julie  

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  • Anniet
    Anniet Member Posts: 6
    edited July 2012

    I was wondering the same thing.  I lost 10 pounds last year and currently am 5'10" and 115 pounds, the lowest in my adult life.  The doctor's have been watching a calcification for the past 18 months and saw a change leading to a biopsy and a diagosis of DCIS, grade 3 with Comedo necrosis. I haven't read any material linking breast cancer to weight loss but I have wondered if there could be a relationship between the two.

    Thanks,

    Annie

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  • akinto
    akinto Member Posts: 97
    edited July 2012

    I can only wish my DCIs had caused weight loss.

    Instead, I fear my weight gain caused DCIS.

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  • LAstar
    LAstar Member Posts: 1,574
    edited July 2012

    I wonder if the reason my breasts never got any smaller after breast feeding was because of the DCIS & associated hormone stuff.  I have no real scientific basis for this but just wonder.

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  • BLinthedesert
    BLinthedesert Member Posts: 678
    edited July 2012

    I also lost weight in the months before diagnosis.  I am a competitive runner, and thought something "wasn't right" -- I had blood tests and tried many supplements trying to figure out what was wrong.  Weird.  

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  • Julie--MA
    Julie--MA Member Posts: 33
    edited July 2012

    Thank you for responding.  

    As I lost the weight, I felt "lucky" and almost guilty when people would comment on it, because I knew it was through no effort of my own that I was doing it.  I too asked my PCP and my Lyme dr.; neither was worried about it (and my thyroid checked out).  

    I still can't help but feel as if there is a connection, so it is interesting to hear from two of you for whom the same thing happened.  

    Julie 

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  • SheChirple
    SheChirple Member Posts: 954
    edited July 2012

    Hmmm...can weight loss cause cancer?  Make it more prominent to be diagnosed?  Did the cancer cause the weight loss?

    I lost 127 lbs in the 2 yrs before my cancer was diagnosed.  I know what caused my very intentional weight loss, though, and it was not the cancer.  However,  I had a gut / knee jerk reaction that all the weight loss triggered the cancer.  I had horrible thoughts for weeks. 

    I finally convinced myself that the two were not related.  Having lost all that weight I was, and am, the healthiest I have ever been in my adult life.  I decided to beleive that the weight loss simply prepared me to be healthy enough to 'handle' the cancer. 

    I understand the feeling that there is a connection somehow.

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  • sandraboyd
    sandraboyd Member Posts: 37
    edited July 2012

    Hello,

    I also noticed a weight loss before being diagnosed.  I made no connection between having cancer and weight loss even though it is one of the things you should tell your doctor when it happens.  I thought I was doing great without dieting!

    Agada

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  • cailindearg
    cailindearg Member Posts: 101
    edited July 2012

    I did not lose of gain weight in the last few yrs, my weight has pretty much stayed the same, I would guess it would have to be related to late stage cancer...

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  • Ulightup
    Ulightup Member Posts: 57
    edited July 2012

    I had 8 lb weight loss with my 1st breast cancer DCIS in 2005, but not with my recurrence this year. I did have extreme fatigue prior to both diagnosis.

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  • Julie--MA
    Julie--MA Member Posts: 33
    edited July 2012

    SO nice to log on and see more responses to this.  It is interesting that there are some of you out there who had a similar experience.  I agree that weight loss seems more likely with late stage cancer, but I still can't help but wonder if it takes effort for our bodies to produce these cancer cells, resulting in weight loss.  

    I am so glad to have this discussion board...

    Julie  

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  • lisagwa
    lisagwa Member Posts: 232
    edited August 2012

    No weight loss here.

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  • stride
    stride Member Posts: 470
    edited January 2013

    Julie, I think you could be right. I went from a size 12 to a size 8 in the year before my diagnosis with IDC, and I was eating normally.  The cancer likely started as DCIS and was fast-growing, so I think I could have been losing weight before it became invasive. I have no other health problems. We are all conditioned to think thin means healthy, but sometimes maybe it doesn't. Every body is different.

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  • Anne888
    Anne888 Member Posts: 58
    edited January 2013

    No, I had no unexplained weight loss prior to the DCIS diagnosis.  I was feeling just great when I had my annual mammo.  So I was totally shocked to be told that I had cancer.

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  • CTMOM1234
    CTMOM1234 Member Posts: 633
    edited January 2013

    Exactly the same as Anne888. No weight loss prior to the DCIS diagnosis or for years before that.  Was feeling great when I had my annual mammo at 43 years old and was totally shocked to be told that I had bc.

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  • cinnamonsmiles
    cinnamonsmiles Member Posts: 779
    edited January 2013

    I was gaining weight gradually at the time my DCIS was discovered in 2010. However, I had a green discharge from the later cancerous breast back in 2007 that was ignored by my family doctor and a breast surgeon. I was gaining weight back then too.

    The only thing I have read from reputable website regarding weight and cancer is that obesity can put you at risk.

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  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 3,257
    edited January 2013

    I have recently lost over 80 lbs (on purpose - joined WW) and overall, in the last decade, have lost over 160 lbs! Am 20 lbs from my goal weight and have not been diagnosed (am waiting for biopsy results) but have not lost weight without major effort! Not sure this is a symptom unless later stage cancer but who knows?

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  • mariettamom
    mariettamom Member Posts: 3
    edited February 2018

    I know this is an old discussion, but I was looking for answers and found it, so figured I’d leave my answer for others.

    I had a five-pound weight loss before my diagnosis, along with some other weird symptoms, such as my nose turning red as Rudolph’s when I drank wine. I do lead a healthy lifestyle, but it was so strange that I went to my primary care physician. She found nothing.

    I was diagnosed with DCIS about two months later. I had a lumpectomy three weeks ago, haven’t been exercising, and have been comforting myself with chocolate and all the food my friends bring by. I have lost another few pounds (maybe one of which was the lump). They didn’t get all the cancer, so o have a double mastectomy in three days.

    I would guess it is due to cancer. There is so little information available on this but connection though

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  • LostGirl
    LostGirl Member Posts: 4
    edited March 2018

    I lost 30 lbs in the second half of 2016 and gained back 10 lbs during 2017. Just diagnosed with DCIS in January 2018. I suspect there is a relationship between weight loss/gain and breast cancer. Could weight loss (or gain) trigger hormone changes and immune system? However, I've talked with my doctors about it and they didn't agree with me.

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  • TrmTab
    TrmTab Member Posts: 832
    edited March 2018

    I had gained a lot of weight with the stress of live-in dying parents...and then got the DCIS DX. I have since lost 50 lbs and hope that means my remaining R breast can be saved...was told my excess weight was a risk factor for the DCIS.

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