BREAST CANCER PREVENTION AND SCREENING

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Breast cancers are one of the most common cancers today, affecting millions of women around the world. We believe this need not be the case.

The best solution is to prevent cancer. Following a development program is an excellent way to help do this, providing one follows the diet and does not just take nutritional supplements.

If a breast cancer arises, natural therapies can work in many cases, even in some advanced cases. This article discusses prevention, assessment and correction of breast cancer.

PRIMARY PREVENTION

Prevention means how to avoid the problem altogether. Often doctors call methods such as breast exams “prevention”. This is really early detection, not prevention.

Real prevention means taking steps to keep cancer away. For this, we suggest a complete development program. While there are no guarantees, in our experience this is the best way we know of to avoid cancer. Other nutritional programs, in our experience, are not as good.

The program includes a diet for one’s oxidation type, about 8 or 9 targeted supplements based on a hair mineral analysis, the proper amount and type of drinking water, and about 5 detoxification and healing procedures. For more on this topic, read Introduction To Development Programs or go to How To Begin A Development Program.

EARLY DETECTION - SCREENING FOR BREAST CANCER

Even if you do your best to prevent breast cancer, it is still wise to use simple screening methods to help find possible breast lumps easily and early. This is especially the case if you are not careful enough with your diet and lifestyle as explained above, or if you know that you are at a higher risk of cancer for any reason. Let us discuss the most common and most important screening methods.

MONTHLY BREAST SELF-EXAMS

This is one of the best, or perhaps the best method of screening for breast lumps. It is simple, has no cost, and requires no doctor’s appointments, x-rays or other tests. It is also quite effective if a woman follows the directions that are on many websites as to how to do a breast self-exam.

Basically, once a month or so, lie in bed and begin by pressing firmly on the outer part of each breast. Slowly move in circles inward toward the nipple. You must press firmly and sense any changes in the texture or even the temperature of the tissue.

Also, when you are dressing, look in the mirror with both breasts uncovered to see if the shape or way the breasts sit has changed in any way. This is all there is to it.

The only drawbacks are 1) some women forget to do it, and 2) it is a little harder to do well if you have larger breasts, or very lumpy breasts. However, it can be done by anyone. Doing it the first thing in the morning on the first of every month is a very good schedule.

Breast exams at a clinic or doctor’s office are fine. However, they rarely occur more than once a year, which is not enough.

ULTRASOUND TESTS

This is a non-invasive screening method used by some doctors as an office procedure. The way it works is that a sound beam or vibration is sent into the breast and it bounces back, where the vibration is picked up by a detector in the unit. It is like sonar used by submarines.

While it will detect some types of abnormalities, it is not considered very good. It also requires an expert to properly read the sonogram, as it is called. However, it is non-invasive, non-toxic and does not damage a woman’s breasts, as can mammograms.

MAMMOGRAMS

This is the standard test used for breast screening. We do not recommend mammograms. The reasons are:

1. We believe you can do as well or better with a combination of breast self-examination once a month and perhaps the use of thermography.

2. Mammograms expose one to too much radiation if done on a regular basis.

3. Mammograms have many false positive results. This causes stress on many women, leads to more invasive surgeries that may not be needed, and is costly.

4. Damage to the breasts. Mammograms require that the breasts be pressed hard against the x-ray unit. This actually damages the breasts. In some women, their breasts are literally tender for days after a mammogram.

THERMOGRAPHY

This is a newer method of screening for breast cancer. It is a heat picture of the breasts that detects changes in the heat density of the breasts with a fair degree of accuracy. The procedure is simple and much less painful and involved than mammography.

A woman is placed in a room with only her top uncovered. The temperature in the room is allowed to stabilize in the room at about 66 degrees F. When this has occurred, several heat photographs are taken of the breasts with a special infrared camera. These show a color range from red for hot, to blue for cold. Although the heat picture is only of the surface, often abnormalities will be revealed that go deeper.

This technique has been around for many years. It is slowly gaining in popularity. We are not sure why it is not used more. It is as good as mammography in many ways, without the x-rays and without damaging the breasts. Some authorities maintain that thermography is actually much better than mammography and can detect changes in the breast years before cancer even develops.

BREAST BIOPSIES

A breast biopsy consists of inserting a needle into a breast lump and removing some tissue. Then a technician or doctor looks at the tissue under a microscope to see if it looks cancerous. At times, an incision or cut is made in the breast and the lump is removed completely, especially if it is near the surface and easily accessible.

Biopsies usually follow after detection of a breast lump. The problem with breast biopsies is that they can cause cancer cells to be moved into the bloodstream, and this can spread the cancer.

Another problem with breast biopsies is they can produce false negative and false positive results. A false negative means that the pathologist or doctor who views the tissue sample misses the cancer cells for some reason. He or she may just have looked at the wrong piece of tissue, and this is common. A false positive means that the doctor reports that you have cancer, when you do not. This also occurs, at times, and can lead to unnecessary surgery, drug treatments and more.

OTHER METHODS OF BREAST SCREENING

Blood tests for some types of cancers can be helpful. We recommend the blood tests done by American Metabolic Laboratories for any woman who is very concerned about cancer of any kind. While it costs about $500.00, you do not need a doctor’s prescription for this. The contact information for this test is found in the article on this site entitled Cancer And Alternative Therapies.

Genetic tests are becoming more popular. However, we do not recommend having your breasts removed due to a genetic test! For details about problem with these tests, read Genetic Testing.

WHAT TO DO IF YOU FIND A BREAST LUMP

Breast lumps can be benign or cancerous. The most common type of benign breast lump is called fibrocystic breast disease. The breasts develop little fibrous cysts. If many occur, the breasts tend to feel somewhat lumpy. This is related to a copper and zinc imbalance, and in most cases is not dangerous, in itself, and does not require further testing.

One could also have a larger breast cyst, infection or inflammation, or even a calcified benign tumor that won√ït cause much problems. Conditions like this can be watched by using repeated breast self-exams to try to notice if the lump is growing. If it is stable, it is probably not a problem. If a lump is growing, then pay more attention to it.

Doctors also say if you can move the lump around it is better than if it seems fixed to the breast and cannot be moved around by your finger. However, this is not always true. If you detect a lump, we suggest going to a competent doctor for further testing. This might include a breast exam, and a breast biopsy.

CONVENTIONAL BREAST CANCER THERAPY

If the tests confirm or suggest a cancer, then most doctors will recommend immediate conventional treatment such as surgery, radiation or chemotherapy.

The success rate with conventional therapies varies with the type and stage of cancer. If you are researching it, you must always ask about the chances of success, side effects of treatment, cost, and other things, perhaps, such as if you will lose your hair or have other nasty effects of treatment.

Beware that doctors use a five-year survival rate to rate their success. This means that if they tell you that your chances of recovery are 80%, for example, it only means that after five years, 80% of the people are still alive. If a patient dies one day after 5 years, the person is counted as “cured”, even though the person died.

We think this system of rating the outcome of cancer therapy is totally outrageous. We would use a 20-year survival rate. If this were done, the real and dismal failure of conventional cancer therapies would become more obvious, and people would turn to natural approaches much sooner.

We would definitely use caution with conventional cancer therapies. They are quite toxic, costly, have side effects, and are not needed. They do not nourish and rebuild the body. Instead, they make the body more toxic and more ill, even if they appear to stop the cancer temporarily or permanently.

Natural approaches. We usually suggest this. At this time, we suggest a complete development program with certain modifications and perhaps a remedy with it, as well. For details, read Cancer And Alternative Therapies.

Other natural cancer therapies. We do not recommend intravenous vitamin C, IPT, cesium, medicinal mushrooms, various herbs, chelation, natural hormones and hormone blockers, and others. They may work for a while, but we do not think they are nearly as effective as the two methods mentioned in the paragraph above.

Also, be very careful whom you work with. Most doctors, naturopaths, chiropractors, and nutritionists are not sufficiently experienced with cancer and this can be fatal. Many change the therapies based on insufficient research and this, too, can be fatal.

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