The Surprising Relationship Between Cancer and Diabetes:
According to recent research from the Steno Diabetes Center Copenhagen, Rigshospitalet, and the University of Copenhagen, cancer patients are more likely to develop diabetes. The research also found that people with cancer who acquire diabetes die sooner than those who do not.
Cancer is the leading cause of death in Denmark, a country with a population of about 6 million people. Over 45,000 incident cancer cases were diagnosed in 2019 alone. Fortunately, the most recent statistics reveal a significant improvement in cancer survival in Denmark. However, many survivors experience a decline in quality of life due to lingering symptoms and complications.
[...] This risk was increased more by certain cancers than by others. Associate Professor Lykke Sylow of the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen, who is behind the study together with Professor Christoffer Johansen of The National Centre for Cancer Survivorship and General Late Effects (CASTLE) at Rigshospitalet and Professor Christen Lykkegaard Andersen from the CopLab Database at the Center for General Practice, states:
“Our study demonstrates that there is an elevated risk of developing diabetes if a person is affected by lung, pancreatic, breast, brain, urinary tract or uterine cancers.”
[...] “Various cancer therapies may contribute to an increased risk. The cancer itself can affect the rest of the body. We know that cancer cells are able to secrete substances that can affect organs and possibly contribute to an increased incidence of diabetes. This has been suggested in animal studies,” says Lykke Sylow.
[...] “Our results suggest that it might be relevant to consider diabetes screenings in relation to those cancers where we found an elevated risk of the disease. That is to say, for patients with lung cancer, breast cancer, brain cancer, uterine cancer, and urinary tract cancers. We have outstanding opportunities to treat diabetes and early intervention could have an impact on certain cancer patients,” states Professor Christoffer Johansen. Associate Professor Lykke Sylow seconds his assertion:
It should be underscored that the study is one of the first to demonstrate a link between cancer and diabetes. As such, more research is needed before the link between cancer and onset of diabetes is thoroughly established.
Reference: “Incidence of New-Onset Type 2 Diabetes After Cancer: A Danish Cohort Study” by Lykke Sylow, Mia K. Grand, Annika von Heymann, et al., 27 May 2022, Diabetes Care.
DOI: 10.2337/dc22-0232
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Opportunist on Wednesday August 10 2022, @07:12AM (14 children)
It could just as well be that a person who doesn't take care to avoid carcinogens in their diet also doesn't really give two fuck about their diabetes chances. If you're a chain smoker, you probably also consider McD a staple food source.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by maxwell demon on Wednesday August 10 2022, @08:03AM (2 children)
That might explain correlation with lung cancer. But what about the other cancer types where they've found a correlation?
And what about those animal studies? I'm sure the test animals weren't fed McD.
Oh, and the study was done in Denmark, not the US.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Sourcery42 on Wednesday August 10 2022, @05:32PM
That's a good point. I'm over 6 feet tall and reasonably fit, but walking around Copenhagen makes me feel short, fat, and ugly. Frickin' Scandinavians.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday August 11 2022, @12:10AM
Well, if pancreatic cancer damages your pancreas, it might explain the diabetes.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by choose another one on Wednesday August 10 2022, @11:07AM (10 children)
Or it could just be that you are talking bollocks. The reality is that cancer _treatment_ ****s you up, badly, sometimes long before the tumour would have done.
My wife:
- didn't smoke (nor do I)
- was a runner, distance, up to half-marathon, usually 10-20miles per week, plus long walks
- was a gym goer, several classes a week, HIIT and strength
- would often get up, do a class, run six miles to work, and work a full day as a professional clinician
I was the chronically ill one, she was my rock
Our diet is >95% cooked from scratch (I know, because I do the cooking), varied, low salt (for my medical problems), healthy, both of us at stable weights.
Both of us had slightly high BMI (26ish), but she was fit and muscly.
Note the tenses above, that was all six months ago.
My wife _now_:
- chronically fatigued, some days she gets up manages to have a shower then has to go back to bed.
- in constant pain
- restricted arm movement (right arm, she's right handed, and is (or was), a surgeon...)
- unable to work (see all of the above)
- unable to run, at all
- may manage half a gym class some days, but then that kicks the fatigue back in for days afterwards
- gaining weight, constantly, despite me modifying our diet towards loss (and surgical recovery, ie. inc protein), proof I'm doing it right is that I am losing around 1lb per week (or more) on the same diet, yet she is gaining, now borderline obese.
- and we won't even go near all the other fun side effects including the more intimate ones, suffice to say that the "fun" is a distant fond memory
- oh, and only now (yay for informed consent, not) are the doctors telling us that any and all of these effects may actually be permanent
Put all the above together and diabetes (or at least massively increased risk of) is a NSS no-brainer.
So WTF happened?
Six months ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer, tiny, screening-detected, low-risk, slow growing tumour, no detectable spread.
And she was treated (surgery, radio, tamoxifen, no chemo even involved).
"Successfully" (apparently it counts as successful despite the list above).
Watching her decline over the past six months has been heartbreaking, and she is still declining now, we don't know where the bottom is, or if she will ever go back up.
The really gutting thing is that NONE of the above is down to the tumour, which (without screening) would have grown unnoticeable where it was for _years_.
No, ALL of it is due to the treatment. ALL.
One day we'll maybe have a cure or treatment for cancer that keeps that patient alive without destroying their life, but we ain't anywhere near that yet.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 10 2022, @12:27PM (3 children)
Empathizing here.
Prostate. 3 different kinds, got the middling one. 3 different treatments. Opted for the 'wait and watch' treatment. Of course I'm not well, but not falling to pieces from chemo either.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Acabatag on Wednesday August 10 2022, @01:05PM (2 children)
I didn't have a choice with my pancreatic cancer. The tumor interferes with flow in the bile duct which blocks the insulin the pancreas needs to provide, along with critical pancreatic enzymes needed to digest food.
Chemotherapy is a special form of hell but without it the tumor would grow uncontrollably and I almost certainly would be dead by now.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday August 11 2022, @12:15AM (1 child)
I have a blockage in my pancreas; as a result I have to take pancreatic enzymes in pill form (called Creon) so I can digest my food.
But as far as I know, my pancreas is secreting insulin directly into the blood stream, not into the digestive system.
I'm still diabetic, but it's because of insulin resistance rather than insulin shortage.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Thursday August 11 2022, @06:17AM
They put in a few stents to correct for blockage caused by the growing tumor mass. A CT scan shows the growing tumor mass.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday August 10 2022, @01:31PM (3 children)
I've known a few cancer survivors. One of them was a kid. Sure, they survived the cancer, because that's not what killed them. It was the side effects from the chemo.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Informative) by choose another one on Wednesday August 10 2022, @04:21PM (2 children)
I've played with my wifes predicted stats in the tool the doctors use. Chemo shows no benefit until 15years out. I figure that's because while it definitely _does_ kill some of her type of cancer and prevents some recurrence, the death rate from the chemo itself outweighs that for >10 years.
Sobering thought, but not one I am unused to - I am already on one drug with high death rate ("black box" label in USA), but it's the only thing that treats the disease and untreated, the disease death rate is higher. Somewhere way back in a reference I've lost, I recall reading that our (sufferers of the disease) commonest cause of death is brain hemorrhage, sounds odd for a clotting disorder until you realise it's the favourite way for the drug to kill you...
From what I've heard about kids-chemo it's actually even worse than adult. Doctors work on the basis that e.g. it's fine to go for buying an extra 5yrs or so of life for an adult, five more years with their loved ones etc., whereas for a kid they go for "cure", or at least buying the time to grow up and have an adult life, _if_ they survive the treatment.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Thursday August 11 2022, @12:18AM (1 child)
My wife, a hematologist, used to treat patients with coagulation issues. The exact dosage of medications is crucial. A small variation can make the difference between life and death. She used to monitor her patients every few weeks.
(Score: 2) by choose another one on Thursday August 11 2022, @06:57AM
I self-test using my own machine at home, weekly at least, more often if anything changes or feels off.
Comparison / calibration testing with hospital is every six months or more often if anything looks/feels off.
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Thursday August 11 2022, @02:21AM
You're describing catastrophic thyroid decline, which can happen with a systemic insult like cancer treatment. Get full workup, with particular attention to T3 levels. Find a doc willing to treat symptoms, not tests.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Thursday August 11 2022, @09:18AM
Have a read of these experiences.. certain foods may be a useful companion in your wife's anti-cancer journey
https://enconsed.blogspot.com/2022/03/apricot-kernels-for-cancer.html?m=1 [blogspot.com]
(Score: 1) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday August 10 2022, @12:07PM
Some reason they left out prostate and colon cancer? Those organs don't contribute? Or, they aren't connected to the liver? Hmmm . . .
Their findings do kinda make a little sense, in that, the liver spends it's whole life filtering crap out of your system. If you have poison in your system, it's going to wind up in the liver. All the same, I guess I'll take sides with the people above, who point out that correlation isn't causation. Fine, they have some kind of correlation going on. Time to investigate who, what, when, where, and why.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Wednesday August 10 2022, @12:55PM (5 children)
My direct personal experience supports this finding, but in my case it's a no-brainer. I have developed pancreatic cancer. But the pancreas is the organ that produces the insulin the body needs, so the organ failure directly results in diabetes.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 10 2022, @05:28PM (4 children)
Out of curiosity (and concern), are you currently fighting it, or have you gotten through it?
(Score: 1) by Acabatag on Wednesday August 10 2022, @10:26PM (3 children)
Today I received the news that an MRI scan shows the cancer has spread and that chemotherapy has failed.
The last thing you ever want your oncologist say is "I'm sorry".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 11 2022, @01:07AM
I am truly sorry to hear your news. This is outside my area of expertise and I don't have much in the way of wisdom or encouragement to give you that you've probably haven't heard before or that wouldn't sound hollow coming from some rando on the interwebs, but I will note from my unscientific observation of friends, family, and co-workers (admittedly small sample statistics) who have been down similar paths that their general attitudes and outlooks seemed to make a difference for them. I'm not much of a prayers guy, but I'll be thinking of you and pulling for you and wondering how you're doing.
(Score: 2) by sonamchauhan on Thursday August 11 2022, @09:20AM
Hi I am so sorry.
But have a read of these experiences.. certain foods may be a useful companion in your anti-cancer journey
https://enconsed.blogspot.com/2022/03/apricot-kernels-for-cancer.html?m=1 [blogspot.com]
(Score: 2) by Tork on Thursday August 11 2022, @08:30PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩