Stress can trigger cancer?

mkinoly · July 2015

I was watching an interview on the blog chrisbeatcancer.com and the woman being interviewed talked about how she'd been told if a person with cancer looks back about 5 years there is usually a big stressful/traumatic life event that happened. The idea is that the event somehow triggered the cancer (which was likely already growing but being kept in check by your immune system) to grow until diagnosed. Stress does suppress our immune system and stressed people usually aren't able to take the best care of themselves with food, water, sleep, nutrition, etc.

When I look back 5 years I see that I was in a miserable relationship, having come from an even worse relationship before that (I make better choices now!). I also had mega constant stress from my abusive mother and judgmental siblings. I started drinking hard liquor most every evening for over a year to avoid my relationship and to fall asleep (I had never drank before). Before those 5 years I had a whole lifetime of parental abuse, depression, anxiety, and PTSD-inducing trauma from my daughter being born with 2 rare, life-threatening diseases and everything I went through keeping her alive and growing up (she's 20 now!).

Does anyone want to share their thoughts on this idea?

inks · July 2015

I believe stress affects our immune system. And there was a study where they followed the caretakers for Alzheimer patients and their immune systems were not working very well (probably due to stress). Although I am BRCA1+ I had a lot of stress due the birth of my daughter and all that followed prior to cancer DX.

obsolete · July 2015

Ladies, so very sorry to hear about your past painful trauma. By being brave in sharing your past personal pain, you are giving other ladies, like me, the insight & strength to explore more deeply our own past traumatic events. I'm getting goose-bumps. I never really connected my BC dx to losing 2 immediate family members in a fatal accident exactly 5 yrs, 3 mo before finding my malignancy. Maybe it was too difficult to think about. Those 5 yrs were full of hard grief, remorse, guilt and depression.

There's supposedly an excellent book by David Servan-Schreiber called Anti-Cancer: A New Way of Life. I just heard about it earlier today and I'll be ordering it. And I send hugs to you ladies. Thank you for sharing.

p.s. I also recently noticed this thread:

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/7...

[ Jul 18, 2010 01:43AM chrissyb wrote:

When I was looking to have recon surgery, I visited a few different PS's. One, a woman, asked me if I had had a very traumatic or life changing event in my life 3 - 5 years prior to dx. I asked why she needed to know and she answered that some research was showing that women who had high levels of stress in one humungous burst were turning up 3 - 5 years later with BC. My event was 4 yrs prior and it was when my 23yr old son died. I think that would qualify as a humungous stress. Love n hugs. chrissyb

lifelover · July 2015

I think stress can trigger cancer. I was in a hateful, abusive, miserable marriage that I left, finally, but was diagnosed with BC four months later. 20 years prior I was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma - I had been working from early morning to 11pm and hardly sleeping for an entire month - then 2 months later HL was found.

My oncologist says even positive stress can have an impact.

Tresjoli2 · July 2015

i was having fertility issues,and suffered consecutive miscarriages. I'm convinced the constant wash of pregnancy hormones stopping and starting and stopping and starting, plus my actual successful pregnancy, had something to do with my highly hormone sensitive bc.

Jazzi · July 2015

... I was diagnosed with bc in 2006 and from the years 1999 - 2005 I had a lot of losses... my mom, grandmother, best friend of 30 years, favorite cousin, lovely next door neighbor who had metastatic bc to the brain, she helped me through the grief of losing my mom... long time family friend, family dentist (20+ years) died of massive heart attack at 43 just 2 weeks after seeing him for an appointment... and others..

More recently, on December 14, 2014, I lost my fur baby of 15 years, a constant companion through grieving my mom, my breast cancer treatments and every thing in between. My health has taken a hit from this... massive weight gain, high cholesterol/LDL levels, etc... It's just been so hard. I am looking for another puppy, but I have a CT scan next Friday and want to make sure that I am healthy enough to even get another pet.

It's so strange because I know people who have had a great deal of stress/loss as well and never developed cancer... unfortunately I was not one of them.

Jazzi · July 2015

... True. And stress is unavoidable, but I am trying to find better ways of handling it.

exbrnxgrl · July 2015

I think kayb's comment is important in stating that it (stress) is not singularity causative.
If it were, virtually everyone would have breast cancer. Additionally, if it was the singular cause, how could we avoid it? It would make the idea of prevention or cure moot. Stress is not a good thing for ones health, overall, but it is an unavoidable part of life.

Jazzi · July 2015

Yep... My oncologist told me to just continue eating healthy, exercising, etc., and just do the best that I can.

jcfree · July 2015

I believe that crushing, chronic stress can contribute to cancer thriving. The past five years up to my diagnosis last year, have been extremely stressful in my case. Just several life changing events happened and never any reprieve from the constant stress. I have been told by my my cancer team at the hospital that I must cut the stress as much as possible in my life. Trying to. I was told that chronic stress causes stress hormones to wreak havoc with your immune system which you need a strong immune system when going through cancer treatments. My Mom just passed away on June 22, after five weeks in the hospital watching her go downhill. That was a ten on the stress scale. But am trying to cut stress and avoid people who cause me stress, or situations that I know will cause undo stress.

Jazzi · July 2015

I am so sorry jcfree. It's hard losing your mom... I still miss mine and I lost her in 1999.

I am learning about meditation, my primary care physician suggested it to me. A few of my co-workers are also into meditation and suggested this website if you are interested in trying it: Guided Meditation

... I like this site because they have sessions as short as a little over a minute.. great for beginners. I am going to meditate in my living room with my plants around me and some candles burning.

I wish you the best and hope that you can find that balance. And, yes, let go of toxic people, places and things. Unfortunately I had to to this with a person I thought was my friend of over 20 years. But as painful as it was, it was also "freeing" and I feel like a weight has actually been lifted off of my shoulders.

Congrats on being NED!!!! Dec. 16 was my mom's birthday... she would have been 88.

Warrior_Woman · July 2015

I'm of the opinion that stress is a factor in much of our mental and physical well being. I become more symptomatic when I'm under a lot of stress. Everything from colds to aches and pains to perhaps my cancer are tied to stress. However, I have never in my life had a 5 year period that was stress free. It reminds me of the PT Barnum Effect used by psychics. When asked a cancer patient will acknowledge experiencing a lot of stress within a 5 year period prior to the diagnosis as will a non cancer patient. Yes, I had a lot of stress in my life a few years before diagnosis. But, I've had loads of stress in my life at various times without a cancer diagnosis. What does concern me is the amount I stress caused by my cancer diagnosis. As stress contributes to cancer, the last couple of years have not served me well.

Jazzi · July 2015

... I agree. Well said!

jcfree · July 2015

Thanks Jazzi I will check out the guided meditation link, sounds like I would benefit from it. I do deep breathing exercises every day, and that so calms me down that sometimes I fall asleep doing them (lol)! It sure is a different existence isn't it when you lose your Mom? There is this void there, like an emptiness. I know time will help. But like you said you still miss your Mom even after all these years. My masectomy was 11 days after her burial, when I got home the first thought was I wanted to call Mom, then remembered she is gone.

Jazzi · July 2015

I hope it helps, I am looking forward to trying... I just found out about this site last month. Deep breathing is great, I need to start doing that as well.

My Mom was my best friend. We used to look at the soaps together... shop for clothes, play board games, slumber parties of 2 when dad was at work at night!.. so much we did together and like right now, I have to have this CT scan next Friday and the first person I thought of for comfort was her but she is not here. Yes, it will get better. The first year after her death, I turned every photo of her down... but now I can look at old photos of her and smile, in fact, I am glad that I have them.

mkinoly · July 2015

It sure does seem to be impossible to live any length of time without stress. But I think the idea was referring to a huge out-of-the-ordinary traumatic stress, like some have mentioned about losing a loved one. I'm so sorry to anyone who has lost someone close. My mom died 1.5 years ago and since she was the biggest cause of my stress, depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem, my life got so much better. Sounds awful, I know, but it's true. But right after that I lost my beloved 11 year old dog and I was devastated (she had a type of cancer that can't be treated and was in her heart and pancreas...she died within 3 weeks of diagnosis). I still cry over the loss of her.

Those weren't that long ago, but I wanted to share that since that happened my life in general has been the best it has ever been. I quit my job, I got married for the first time (just in May at the age of 48!) to my soul mate, have the sweetest little rescue dog, am studying nutrition and wellness in college to get the BA I never got. I have been so happy, content, and generally stress/anxiety/depression free for the past 1.5 years, I thought maybe I'd dodged the major health crisis I figured my previous life had set me up for. Guess I was wrong...

The guided meditation sounds like a great way to reduce stress and try to keep ourselves at optimum health. I'm thinking about starting in a gentle yoga class.

dlb823 · July 2015

Although several scholarly websites question the stress-cancer connection, I personally believe that the stress of a flood that just about destroyed our home, displacing us for 5 months while we argued with our insurance company over various aspects of our claim and dealt with contractors, loss, etc., absolutely triggered my recurrence.

Here's some 2013 research that addresses a specific connection between stress and a master gene. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265254.ph...

I also believe the new research finding of a scientific mind-body connection helps to explain this. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/07/08071...

beergirl · July 2015

At the end of November, 2007, my oldest son who is deaf, fell and broke his ankle. Four days later he had surgery to repair the ankle with a metal plate. I stayed with him that night because the hospital refused to get an interpreter for him. He only speaks American Sign Language. My husband went home and was found dead the next morning by his mother who was living with us due to dementia. Eight weeks later, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. The doctor said it had been there about two years. Two years before was when my husband retired, his mother moved into our home and then I quit my job. Yes, I think stress had something to do with my cancer.

shoppygirl · July 2015

I too think stress had something to do with my cancer. One of my sons, who is 16 now, has Aspergers and ADHD. Although he is doing well now the earlier years with him were very hard and extremely stressful. This along with the sad reality that we have no family support and my DH travels all the time for work and I work full time lead to a very stressful environment. Now I try to not care too much about anything that is not important and try to take time to rest and not allow guilt take over when I think I should be doing other things.

I look at people that get so bent out of shape over silly things and think " Really, is that your biggest problem, aren't your fortune!!!"

mkinoly · July 2015

beergirl, so sorry for the blows you've been dealt.

dlb823, thanks for the links. Interesting stuff.

39andhip · July 2015

This is a fascinating topic. Interesting links, dlb823. I agree with the others who have emphasized that cancer is multifaceted, without a single cause. Cancerous cells result from mutations in our DNA, and we are constantly being exposed to carcinogens/mutagens. However, we do have the ability to fight cancer through our immune system; we have immune cells that are constantly on the lookout for shady looking characters (e.g., cancerous cells). And as everyone knows, stress reduces our immune function. I think stress also messes with our hormones in ways that are less well understood. Stress also has bad effects on other aspects of our health, so I am definitely going to try to reduce my stress levels. But that's sort of a cruel challenge to give us cancer patients: You have this potentially life-threatening condition, but hey, try not to stress about it!

kittysister · July 2015

I often wonder if stress is going to cause mine come back.

shorfi · July 2015

I believe stress caused mine as well, both times. Terrible 1st marriage for many years and he would not give me a divorce. Finally got divorce in 2004 after much tension and stress over it...diagnosed with breast cancer.

Son was going through "growing pangs" at the age of 19 and I put him out 3 years later. Absolutely horrific time for me emotionally. He was smoking drugs during that time and I would not tolerate it. He got a girl pregnant. Six years later in 2013 hear comes cancer AGAIN.

But in between those times I remarried the man of my dreams who was also my best friend at the time. We never had romantic thoughts about each other, just friends and hang out buddies. We married in 2008. I am happy, but still wanted my son to get his act together. He couldn't find employment, but I would help him financially without my husband knowing, and I wasn't comfortable with that.

During the past 3 years my son has made a complete turn-around. I "like" him again and he has matured so much. He has a good paying job and no longer smokes drugs. He was a good boy growing up, but his drug use and bad attitude almost destroyed me. So I think between the ex-husband and my son...so much stress made me physicially sick.

cmbluvmjb · October 2015

Five years ago I was widowed at 36 with 3 boys. I fought hard to save my house from foreclosure and find a way to support my family and raise my boys. I bought into a franchise with no success and luckily was able to sell and break even. It's been a rough road. Now I am in a new relationship pregnant and have cancer. Maybe there's sone truth to it.

cmbluvmjb · October 2015

Five years ago I was widowed at 36 with 3 boys. I fought hard to save my house from foreclosure and find a way to support my family and raise my boys. I bought into a franchise with no success and luckily was able to sell and break even. It's been a rough road. Now I am in a new relationship pregnant and have cancer. Maybe there's some truth to it.

27heart · October 2015

I do believe so too. I had serious relationship issues and was working at a very stressful job for the past 5 years. I wasn't happy and was under a lot of stress. I don't believe stress "made" the cancer, but I believe that our brains can control more than we know/feel, and being under stress could've made our bodies a "better" warming bed for cancer to develop. Just my thoughts though.

Unbreakable01 · December 2015

I believe stress played a factor. Its a long soap opera of a story, but 2 years ago my dad reconnected with his first wife, had an affair, sent money off to her brother to save for their new life and was planning on leaving my mom and us. I was 33 at the time and followed up on my mother's intuition and did my own investigation.

I read things that ill never share with either parent. I carried a large weight trying to protect my mom and to make sure everything wasn't wiped out.

My parents ended up staying together, but just last night I had a bad dream about that other lady. Can't tell my mom because it gets her upset.

A month before my diagnosis my friend who was 18 died tragically trying to save a friend wwhen they went cliff diving.

I need to sit one day and work through all these events in life.

Obxflygirl1 · December 2015

My brother was diagnosed with an auto immune disease that left him paralyzed, unable to speak or eat. I became a part time caregiver to help my mom out with him, then retired from a job I loved..flight attendant..so I could stay with her once a month to give her a break and be there any other time she needs me. she lives 600 miles away. Five years later, I was diagnosed. I am sure stres

Stress can trigger cancer?

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