3 Important Steps to Help You Deal With Recurrence of Mesothelioma Cancer

Cancer recurrence is defined as the return of cancer after treatment and after a period of time during which the cancer cannot be detected. (The length of time is not clearly defined.) The same cancer may come back in the same place where it first started or in another place in the body.

It is important to eat right, exercise, and see your doctor for follow-up visits, but please understand that you cannot prevent a cancer from recurring. Do not blame yourself for missing a doctor visit, not eating right, or postponing a CT scan for a family vacation. Yes, there are times when it is crucial to keep follow-up appointments, especially if you are having symptoms that you have not had before, because these could be signs that your cancer is back. But even if you do everything just right, you cannot totally prevent recurrence if it is to occur in your case.These three steps might be of some help though in delaying recurrence of mesothelioma.

1-Diet modification

After completing cancer treatment, many people decide to eat better and exercise in the hope that these changes will improve their quality of life and their chance for survival. Though current research does not show that nutrition can influence cancer recurrence, it still is wise to eat well and do what you can to be as healthy as possible.

The American Cancer Society recommends that cancer survivors follow the same nutrition guidelines as those recommended for cancer prevention. The same factors that increase cancer risk might also be important in promoting cancer recurrence after treatment.

2- Use of Vitamins and supplements

Sometimes people think taking certain vitamins, herbs, or other dietary supplements will give them an extra edge in preventing recurrence. Available research does not support this belief. In fact, some research has shown that supplements containing high levels of single nutrients (greater than the Dietary Reference Intakes and the tolerable upper intake limits) may have unexpected harmful effects on cancer survivors.

There are supplements that improve your level of certain vitamins which may, over time, lower your risk of developing a cancer. But this evidence is weak at best. Even if it might help, it could take many years of use to alter the chance that cancer will progress or show up again. Talk with your doctor before starting any vitamin or other dietary supplement.



3-Physical activity

There have been a few studies of the effect of physical activity on survival of people with cancer. Researchers have not yet been able to find out whether physical activity can prevent recurrence of cancer or slow the progression of disease. But studies have shown that regular physical activity can reduce anxiety and depression, improve mood, boost self-esteem, and reduce symptoms of fatigue, nausea, pain, and diarrhea. These benefits can be gained through moderate physical activity on most, if not all days of the week.

Moderate activities are those that make you breathe as hard as you would during a brisk walk. Activities like walking, biking, and swimming are considered moderate, and so are activities like yard work and brisk house cleaning. Ideally, you should take part in at least 30 minutes of moderate activity each day. Cancer survivors can find many ways to work physical activity into their daily lives. Parking further away and using stairs instead of elevators are easy ways to be more active throughout the day.

A little bit of physical movement is far better than none. It helps more if you start easier and slowly build up to greater amounts of physical activity. In choosing a level of activity, it is important to keep in mind your physical abilities and your recent levels of activity. It is also important to talk to your doctor before changing your level of physical activity.


Final note

Presently medical science does not have a real weapon to totally and completely cure mesothelioma,there is no known cure, both doctors and patients are hoping that someday a permanent solution will be discovered. At this time there is nothing you can do to be sure the cancer will not come back. Even with our current understanding of how cancer develops and grows, cancer is still a mystery in many ways.