Breast Cancer: Beyond the Pink Ribbons
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and breast cancer is one of the major concerns of most women, so this is a great time to talk about breast cancer – how to avoid it, and how to deal with it if you’ve already got it.
How do you know whether you have breast cancer in the first place?
The best known sign of breast cancer is a hard lump, but there are others:
• Redness or darkening of skin
• Change in size or shape of the breast
• Dimpling or puckering of skin, or an orange-peel texture
• Skin that is warm to the touch in one area
• Pain in one area of the breast
• Discharge from the nipple (other than lactation, or milk production), especially without squeezing, with blood in it, and/or from only one breast
• One nipple turning or pulling in if that is a change from normal
• Swelling or lump in the lower part of the armpit
Hormonal fluctuations or aging can cause breast changes, but these normally occur in both breasts, while cancerous changes are typically in only one breast. The best way to know whether there is something different about your breasts is to be familiar with their normal appearance and feel in the first place.
Mammograms – should I or shouldn’t I?
Mammograms are often recommended for breast cancer detection. There is some risk from mammo-grams – including, ironically, breast cancer – so risk and benefit need to be balanced. Mammograms are more likely to be recommended if you are at high risk for breast cancer, such as having a family history of it, or having had it in the other breast.
Don’t deny, don’t delay
It’s common to deny or try to explain away any odd findings – maybe if you don’t look at it again or feel it or think about it, it will go away – but getting a diagnosis and good health care as soon as possible will increase your survival chances immensely. When breast cancer is diagnosed and treated before it has spread beyond the breast, the five-year survival rate is 98%. That’s pretty much everyone, so early detection is vital.
The cause is present, not past
Conventional medicine’s usual attitude towards disease, including breast cancer, is that it doesn’t mat-ter what caused it. They figure that it’s here now, so let’s deal with it from this point. However, cause isn’t a one-time past event, but an ongoing process. Whatever caused your cancer is probably still causing it, so figuring out the cause is an important part of making the cancer go away.
What are carcinogens?
A carcinogen is something, usually chemical, that can cause or contribute to the formation of cancer.
There are many thousands of chemicals that can cause cell mutations that can become cancer. These include pesticides such as DDT (banned in the US but still present in some imported produce), PCBs in plastics, hair dyes, and solvents such as benzene. All of these tend to concentrate in fats, and breasts contain a lot of fat, making them a prime target.
To bra or not to bra
In both genders, there is lymph tissue in the breast area, and toxins are stored in the lymph. Bras, especially underwire bras, constrict the lymph channels and allow toxins to accumulate in that area. So not only do toxins accumulate in breast fat, but they are held there by the bra, a double whammy. This may account in part for the much higher breast cancer rate in women, or at least women in developed countries where all-day bra-wearing is customary.
Many suggest only use a non-underwire bra. Don’t sleep in a bra; yes, some women do, to their possible detriment.
The tooth about breast cancer
Your teeth, or more accurately what is in your teeth, can contribute to breast cancer. Infection from root canals, especially in the lower front teeth, can be a contributing factor in breast cancer. Well-known cancer doctors such as Dr. Josef Issels and Dr. Thomas Rau have found that 98% – almost all – of breast cancer patients had root canalled teeth. The correlation is so strong that both of these doctors and probably others require the extraction of root-canalled teeth before any other breast cancer treatment.
Nickel is a carcinogenic metal; in fact, it is used to reliably cause cancer in laboratory animals. Nickel is found in most metal dental work such as metal crowns or crown backing, braces, bridges, posts, and sometimes even root canals. The nickel drains through the lymph channels into the main collector lymph node in the chest, close to the breasts.
Not for women only
Yes, men have breast tissue, and they can get breast cancer, so if you’re a man, don’t assume you’re immune. Men account for about 1% of breast cancer cases, or about 2000 cases in the US each year.
Eating your way to health
There are some ways to reduce the risk of, or help to heal, breast cancer. Some of these ways are found in your own kitchen.
Women who eat sugary foods more than three times a week have a higher risk of developing premenopausal breast cancer, according to preliminary research from the National Cancer Institute. Animal products, especially those commercial products that are fatty and/or contain added hormones, can increase breast cancer risk; animal fat, like human fat, can concentrate harmful and cancer-causing chemicals which you then eat with your meat, and breast cancers can be made to grow faster with certain hormones.
On the plus side, though, beneficial oils such as olive oil and fish oil can help carry oil-soluble toxins and carcinogens out of the body. Broccoli and cauliflower can slow down the growth of cancer cells.
The detoxification diet recommended at CAM and described in the book Detox or Disease can be of benefit to any chronic illness, including breast cancer, by eliminating foods that are harmful and increasing the foods and nutrients that can help to restore health.
