Cancer question ?

My dad had pancreatic cancer, colin cancer, and another type that I cannot recall. My mom has skin cancer. My sister has Hodgkin's lymphoma, or Hodgkin's disease. She went into remission, but it came back recently. My entire family has a history of drinking and smoking, on both sides. For eight years, I lived in a house that had HEAVY cigarette smoke in it.. Now, I get chronic headaches and migraines, and I smell cigarettte smoke, even though no one has ever smoked a cigarette in or around my house. I'll smell it at random points in the day, and it'll smell like it's right beneath my nose. I don't hang out with people who smoke, so that is not a possibility. What's happening to me ? And what's the possibility that I'll have cancer in the future ?

I'm only fourteen, and have never smoked firsthand. I perform breast checks on myself at the beginning and end of my periods, like I'm supposed to, and I've yet to find a lump anywhere on my body. I don't think I have cancer ?

The smell is from memory. I would suggest you talk to your doctor and get a prescription for inderal(propanolol). I is a beta blocker and is used quite often for young people who have headaches. I had a friend who's son had really bad headaches(age 11) and he used this drug and was cured.

Your fear is worse than than the probability of cancer. If you suffer your whole life out of fear of cancer you will never have fun in your life. Just because family members had cancer does not mean, ipso facto, you will. Although there are some genetic factors with cancer, there is also the possibility from what you said that your family's cancer history could have more to do with lifestyle than genetics.

Relax. Continue checking for cancer periodically, but seriously your worry may be out of place with the reality. See a cancer specialist (oncologist) who works in a research setting (like Cedars Sinai Hospital in LA, etc.) and ask your questions and get whatever testing will make you feel better that YOU DON'T HAVE CANCER!

I wish you health for your whole life.

I am truly sorry to tell you this but second hand smoke is worse than smoking itself. When people smoke, there is usually a filter. In second hand smoke, there is no filter. With your family history, if I were you , I would get checked out for all of the cancers that have occurred in your family and I would do this every year. I know this because my husband, who recently passed away, had a long history if cancer in his family. He never got a check up and when he did it was WAY too late to do anything about preventing or stopping the cancers that he had.
The reason that you smell smoke all of the time could be just the fact that your sinuses are clogged up and the smell stays with you. I am not sure about that but this sometimes happens to me and that is the only explanation that I can come up with. Some one who is smarter than me should answer that part of your question.
Please, if not for you, then for someone who has lost a dear man, get a check up on a regular basis. I hope that everything turns out okay for you. My best wishes and peace out and keep on truckin'!

First of all, you must understand how cancer develops and then you will realize why passive smoking is worst with regards to getting cancer. Cancer develops with accumulation of DNA damage due to stress. I'm not just talking about work stress or mental stress but rather any substance or phenomena that can potentially cause DNA damage. Smoke, Radiation, toxic chemicals are just some examples. The human cell on the other hand has preprogrammed mechanisms to combat DNA damage and allow the cells to repair the damage or if that is not possible, have the cell undergo program cell death (apoptosis), thus preventing the cell from becoming cancerous, although this is not full-proof which is why people do get cancer after prolong exposure to DNA damage throughout their entire lives. However, in order to have the cell turn from a normal cell to a cancer cell, the cell has to acquire minor mutations over a period of time. That is, changes (mutation) to the DNA has to be little and gradual. If the changes are too drastic, that is, if it affects essential cell function, then the cell will die. This is in fact why cancer patients undergo radiation therapy, in hope that they do more damage to the cancer cell's DNA to kill off the cancer cells. Therefore, one is more likely to die from heart diseases, organ failure, stroke, etc if one is a HEAVY cigarette smoker. On the other hand, one is more likely to get lung cancer if one either smokes passively, or is a moderate smoker. Either way, smoke induced lung-cancer or diseases is considered a "late-onset" disease and a young person like you is most unlikely to contract any of these diseases. There are also genetic factors that predisposes one to getting cancer. From your family history, there might be a germ-line mutation(s) inherited from your ancestors that predisposes your family in contracting cancer. There are cases of inherited mutations in the p53 gene (Li-Fraumeni), BRCA1 or BRCA2 that are known to give an substantial increased risk in contracting cancer.