Preventing, Diagnosing and Treating Cervical Cancer

HPV has even made its way into popular culture. In the first season of the controversial HBO series Girls, for example, lead character Hannah discovered that she had HPV and confronted her current boyfriend. Said boyfriend declared that she could not have contracted the virus from him because he had been tested and did not have it, and millions of women around the U.S. simultaneously yelled at their televisions. Viewers knew, even if Hannah didn't, that there is no test to diagnose HPV in men.
The HPV Vaccine
Prior to a few years ago, the only protection women had from contracting HPV was to limit their partners and use condomz during every  encounter. Even those precautions only helped a bit, though. Women who did both of those things very effectively still contracted HPV - even while using a condm, and even with their very first partners.
Young women today, though, have a much more reliable alternative: the HPV vaccine. OB/GYNs recommend vaccination for women before they become sxually active, so that they are protected from future cervical cancer risk.
Women Who Already Have HPV
Of course, the vaccine came too late for many women who already had HPV. For those women, the best hope is early detection via regular Pap smears.
OB/GYNs can detect cervical cancer in what's known as the precancerous stage. In other words, cells begin to show abnormal characteristics long before they develop into full-blown cervical cancer. In these cases, women may have the abnormal cells removed via a number of outpatient procedures that create minimal discomfort and very little recovery time.
Of course, removal of the abnormal cells does not treat the virus. Once a woman has HPV, she will always have it, and will need to keep up with her annual OB/GYN visits to watch for a recurrence of the abnormalities.
Cervical Cancer Treatment
If abnormal cells go undiagnosed for too long, they may turn into full-blown cervical cancer. When this happens, treatment becomes much the same as with other forms of cancer. Cancerous cells need to be removed (resulting in the loss of fertility for some women) and if the cancer has reached a more serious level, radiation treatment may be required.
There really is no way to predict the kind of treatment a woman will need for cervical cancer until there is a specific diagnosis and medical tests are performed. As with any cancer, the treatment will depend on how advanced the disease is when it is discovered.
Prevention and Early Detection are the Keys
Waiting for symptoms is a dangerous path, since they generally do not show up until the disease has become very advanced. That's why the HPV vaccine and regular OB/GYN exams offer the best hope for women in combating cervical cancer.
By Patrick T Langley

Cancer, Caused By Bad Food - Can Be Cured By Good Food

We all know that our diet has changed over the last 50 years because most people in developed countries now shop in supermarkets. Our diet in the past was more natural but now day's people are consuming mostly factory food or processed food and this food exists because of profit. While cancer sometime has other contributing factors such as smoking, the food we eat is almost always the main cause.
Most processed foods contain additives; while a few might be from natural sources there are two that need to be avoided and they are sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite. These additives are in bacon, hot dogs, ham, salami and other processed meats, used to help preserve its colour and to make it look more natural. These additives are also used to inhibit botulism which will give these products a longer shelf life, therefore increasing profit. Nitrates and nitrites will increase your risk of cancer.
Cooking food by smoke is cancer causing as it irritates our digestive system and can cause cancer of the stomach and colon. Also pickle foods have been suspected to cause cancer probably because of the high amount of salt used in the process. Research has linked pickle food to a higher risk of stomach cancer.
Cooking meat especially on a barbecue is very high in carcinogens which are known to promote cancer and increase the progression of cancer. Also sugar, the refined stuff has been found to be the natural fuel for growing cancer cells and since our modern diets are laden with it then it's not surprising that there is so much cancer today.
If bad food weakens the immune system which produces a favorable condition for cancer to form then it makes sense that the only treatment worthy of serious consideration lies within the domain of good food. We have all heard that vegetarians and vegans have a much less incidents of the disease and that is because a plant based diet is very effective in both preventing and fighting these foreign invasive cells.
There are many foods in a plant based diet that have been proven to aid in the recovery of a cancer patient. Onions, garlic and ginger along with vegetables from the cruciferous family which are broccoli, cauliflower and brussel sprouts. Vegetables which are rich in colour such as tomatoes, capsicum and carrots. Fruit is the same so choose a variety of different coloured fruit such as pip fruit, stone fruit and berries.
As you can see we have moved away from eating foods such as these to convenient foods or food that has come out of a factory and when something is processed or heated it looses its cancer fighting properties. Cancer cells are really only a symptom of a poor diet and by changing your diet you are removing the reasons why it first appeared. For a cancer patient a change in diet has to be your top priority.
Cancer is mainly a food caused disease and there is no quick and easy cure and certainly no magic pill or treatment to solve the problem. It's only when the cause of the disease is recognised and corrected can true healing take place.
You are the only person that can make you healthy and you do that by choosing the foods you eat wisely. It works for everyone and no one can profit from it.

Alan Wighton