According to Dr. Joe Mercola, "In the US, breast cancer currently strikes about one out of every eight women. Unfortunately, the current medical paradigm is clueless about what causes breast cancer, and how to effectively treat it. Most conventional cancer treatments actually add insult to injury by doing more harm than good – a fact that up to this point has been swept under the rug by the medical industry."
I think we know what causes breast cancer, I just don't think we want to change the chemical environment that women live in. Nor do we want to change women's clothing. There's evidence that wearing tight bras restricts the flow of lymph in the breast and contributes to breast cancer. But women love to push up their cleavage and men love to look at it. Countries with less cleavage have less breast cancer. There's some evidence that vitamin D will prevent breast cancer and our general population is deficient in vitamin D. Shouldn't we increase our vitamin D intake and eat other foods that we know protect us from cancer?
Better Screening Methods
Thermography is more effective and less dangerous that mammograms yet we keep doing mammograms because the insurance companies pay for them. Thermography can catch the cancer earlier--maybe by as much as 10 years. Mammograms use radiation and can be blamed for at least some percentage of the breast cancers. We don't know how many. It's time to make screening decisions based on women's health and not on the financial advantage of the medical establishment.
Better Treatment Methods
Today, if the cancer has spread to a nearby lymph node, the standard procedure is to remove some other lymph nodes. However, according to the latest study, which involved 991 women, this invasive, painful and debilitating procedure has a slightly negative impact on survival or disease recurrence. In other words, after five years, slightly more women died who had the procedure when compared with those that did not have their other lymph nodes removed. "The evidence is overwhelming that the operation might not be necessary," lead investigator, Dr. Armando Giuliano says diplomatically.
Chemotherapy is a standard recommendation for women whose cancer has spread to the lymph nodes, despite its failure rate and oftentimes lethal side effects. Similarly, six or more weeks of radiation is also part of the standard treatment for most women with breast cancer. However, according to another recent study, just ONE dose of radiation, delivered with precision to the affected site directly after her lumpectomy had the same rate of effectiveness as the extended radiation treatment!
According to the New York Times, "some women undergo a mastectomy instead of more limited breast-conserving surgery because they do not want the weeks of radiation therapy or live too far from a radiation center." Would you choose to have your breasts removed if you only had to have one radation treatment?
If vitamin D is so helpful in preventing cancer, and in treating cancer, shouldn't it be malpractice if a doctor doesn't insure that a patient's serum level of vitamin D is in the therapeutic range?
It's time to take a holistic look at breast health and make decisions based solely on the patient's wellbeing. The status quo is benefiting the medical and insurance industries and their lobbyists.
Please note: The information here is not to be followed as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Please consult with your physician or primary health practitioner for information regarding your own personal health and necessary treatments.
