Breast Cancer Prevention

Do you feel frustrated with the cost of breast cancer screening?  Sick of all the false positives that require further screening or biopsies, and spending thousands of dollars just to have them tell you that it's nothing.  Tired of the helpless feeling that it may just be a matter of time before you get it, and the only thing you can do is just keep checking to make sure to catch it early enough to save your life?  Do you cringe at the thought of that painful annual test, but feel like it is all you can do?  Do you feel like with all the money going towards breast cancer research, they should have better answers as to how you can prevent this disease by now?  You are not alone.

With my personal family history, with my maternal grandmother and mother both being survivors, I have been very vigilant to keep on top of this with my own health.  The more I read and learned about natural health options, the more I am disturbed with how society treats this disease and the lack of valid information being shared by many physicians.  There is much more information out there than what most doctors will tell you, since they typically only tell you what the official statements and recommendations are from the American Cancer Society and the American Medical Association.  So many doctors are afraid to step outside those recommendations for fear of malpractice or judgement by their peers.  Fortunately, today, there are more and more doctors who have begun asking more questions to see what else has been found in various medical studies, in addition to just settling for the typical canned answer they are used to hearing.

Both my mother and grandmother were diagnosed with Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) resulting in mastectomies.  This is the most commonly diagnosed type of breast cancer.  My grandmother also went through radiation therapy.  My mother was first told to also go through radiation therapy with chemotherapy.  Thankfully, before doing so, she asked for a second opinion.  A very wise doctor told her that based on the type of cancer she had, if it was his wife, he would not recommend either radiation or chemo.  He felt that since her cancer had not spread to the lymph nodes and so much tissue had been surgically removed, she should just opt out of both therapies due to the radical negative side-effects on the healthy tissues and the immune system.  My mother has now been a survivor for over 20 years with no recurrences.  Thank goodness she followed this doctor's advise and did not do any further unnecessary damage to her body with these commonly over prescribed treatments for this type of diagnosis.

After what I have learned through person experience, research, and speaking with my OB/GYN, I truly believe that my family's risk for breast cancer has been elevated for generations simply due to hereditary hormone imbalances causing estrogen dominance.  Hormone imbalance and estrogen dominance is much more common than most women realize.  Low testosterone and/or progesterone symptoms parade around in a majority of women's lives every day, but are simply excused as a symptom of stress, lack of sleep, lack of motivation, depression, etc.  Most women are misdiagnosed, told it is all in their head, or prescribed medications that don't work and cause other side effects.  I plan to do another blog post about my story.  You will likely be surprised at how many symptoms I had, that you also share.

Please read these two articles below.  They will open your eyes to alternative screening options for breast cancer and preventative changes you can make in your daily lives with diet and exercise. 

How to Starve Cancer Out of Your Body - Avoid These Top 4 Cancer-Feeding Foods

This "Life Saving" Tool May Lead You Straight to Invasive Breast Cancer 

Almost 68% of Women over 40 Have Fallen for This Trap

Encouragement of Friends to Get Started

For years numerous friends, family members, co-workers, and acquaintances have urged me to write a book, start a web page, or somehow find a way to share all my little tips and tricks that have been gathering in my brain for many years now.  I have to laugh when my friends introduce me to others as, "This is Lisa, the one I was telling you about that knows everything."  I don't claim to know everything, by any means.  Not even close.  But, I do seem to have a knack for remembering various helpful bits of information on a wide variety of subjects and find innovative ways to incorporate them into everyday life to save money, work smarter rather than harder, finding healthier options, and figuring out easy practical solutions to many of life's annoying problems. I am quite the DIYer (Do It Yourselfer) on many levels.  If I find something interesting, I want to find out about it or how to do it myself.  If I find something annoying, I try to find a solution.  Many times it turns out to be a money saver and quite a simple fix.  I believe knowledge is power.  Especially now with the availability of so many free resources on the internet and many other places, there is no excuse not to enlighten yourself.

I also have some strong opinions on healthy living, the many wrongs in the healthcare system, and sometimes what many may consider alternative solutions to health problems.  I am not a doctor, nurse, or anything like that.  Just a regular mom who has found many solutions to her own health problems and those of friends and family.  I will share many of my findings as part of this blog, but for legal reasons, I can't make any official medical claims.  These are just some things I have found worked for me or people I know.  If you choose to try them yourself, I claim no liability for your individual results.  Many of these things I will share I have learned from a variety of sources you may also be familiar with such as Dr. Memet Oz, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Joseph Mercola, and many other experts I have seen on well know shows such as Oprah.  Some are things I have stumbled upon in my research of various subjects of alternative health from all over the world.  As you can see, most of these things didn't just come to me in a dream or something, many are based on time tested practices, but may not be common knowledge.  Especially here in the U.S., where it seems many people believe if it doesn't come in pill form or has been advertised extensively on television, how can it really work?  I have also found that many doctors are not very familiar with some of these solutions, either.  Either that, or they will not make claims on them one way or another since they live constantly with the fear of a malpractice suit, since it may not be officially endorsed by the American Medical Association or the FDA.  It seems many alternative health practices and nutritional facts are not taught extensively or not at all in medical school here in the U.S., so many doctors may be unfamiliar with them.  Again, it doesn't mean that it doesn't work.  Many of these practices have been in existences in other countries for hundreds, maybe even thousands of years in other countries.  Why would people still be using them if they didn't work?  Many times getting back to the basics is far better than running a battery of expensive tests and ultimately taking a handful of expensive pharmaceutical drugs with a list of ugly side-effects that one may wonder if they are truly worth taking in the first place.

I hope you find my random ramblings interesting, informative, and maybe even find a suggestion or two you plan to incorporate into your everyday life.  Thanks for reading and I hope you share what you have learned with someone else to help improve their life, too.  I am always open to learning more.  If you get inspired by my posts or have some additional ideas you would like to share, please post your comments for others to see.  I'd love to hear from you!

Lisa