If you have already been diagnosed with breast cancer, your risk of developing it again is higher than if you had never had the disease. The risk is about 1% per year, so that over a 10-year period, your risk would be about 10%.
Despite this risk, establishing a healthy lifestyle, including the following practices, can help fortify you against recurrence of breast cancer:
• Achieve and maintain a healthy body mass index (BMI), which is the ratio of weight to height
• Follow a more enlightened diet, including eating more fruits and vegetables
• Avoid smoking
• Exercise regularly
• Join a support group of breast cancer survivors
• Participate in a healing wheel in your community
• Practice stress control through meditation
In addition, many women with a past history of breast cancer can use medications like tamoxifen to help reduce the risk of recurrence. Several clinical studies have shown that tamoxifen helps reduce the recurrence of breast cancer. |