Good evening and welcome to Treasured Health Gems,
This is our February health segment.
We are continuing our discussion about breast cancer.
Breast cancer has become one of the most, if not the most feared diagnosis a woman can receive. Though I was not diagnosed with breast cancer, I was, as I stated during last month’s segment, diagnosed with a rare form of placental cancer, the name of which I do not recall. But after two biopsies, I was given one and a half years to live. The doctors who delivered my death verdict had also suggested I find someone to raise my son as the other had died two months earlier which prompted the call for surgery.
When I did not react to this verdict, the doctors thought I hadn’t heard them. I replied that they had told me I was dying, not deaf and proceeded to let them know that they hadn’t been at my birth and could not tell me when I was going to die. They were not my God and I thanked them for their medicine.
I did not rush to call my family. Instead, I went into the bathroom in my private hospital room at Cedar Sinai inLos Angeles, and took a long, sorrowful shower. I screamed and cried for about 20 minutes and came out of the shower feeling fabulously renewed.
When I climbed back into my hospital bed, I called a dear friend, who has since passed with breast cancer, and swore her to secrecy, before sharing with her what I had been told by my doctors. I told her that I was not going to die and I could not let others know what I had been told or I most certainly was likely to do so. My friend was my confidant. She was no more to hold what I told her than I did. Then, I made up my mind that I was going to raise my child and didn’t need to find anyone else to do so. That was around Christmastime in 1985.
I am sharing this story for two reasons, 1) When many of us are diagnosed with breast cancer, we consider it a death verdict and succumb to whatever treatment protocol is suggested, even if we have surgery and all the cancer is removed. We often don’t investigate what else can benefit us as many doctors turn a deaf ear on complementary measures. But many doctors do not. Many doctors have tired of seeing the trials and struggles of their patients on chemotherapy and radiation alone. Some doctors would like to suggest alternatives but know that if they turn away from the conventional protocol and anything happens to the patient, it would be deemed their fault, even if the patient was not following the guidelines, any guidelines to restoring health.
Our attitude is everything. My Mom used to always tell me that, my Dad did as well. And, now, there’s anAttitudinal Healing Center that has bumper stickers that say the same thing, so it must be true!
The second reason I shared my story is that all diagnosis aren’t true. Mine was or wasn’t. I decided it wasn’t. However, I’m not telling you to do what I did. I’m saying that in at least 15% of breast cancer diagnoses are inaccurate. That’s the number documented. Many doctors misread the mammogram and have even found upon performing surgery that cancer was no where to be found. Or, these women given breast cancer as a diagnosis find a second opinion and find that the original diagnosis was incorrect. Whatever the case, be certain the diagnosis is correct before you proceed.
If you do have breast cancer or want to prevent it, Then, what to do?
Well, here’s where my health motto, “we are responsible for our own health” comes in. The kids of my Son’s generation used to say, “How ya livin’?” Lifestyle is responsible for around 70-80% of deaths in the northernUnited States. Here, we eat primarily fast food, junk food, food on the run, food at all hours, wild food combinations without a vegetable or fruit in sight, or no food at all, and really fast food and junk food is like eating no food at all, except for the ridiculous amount of calories.
Every time you pick up a cheese burger or those messy burgers advertised as dee-e-licious on tv commercials, you’re truly setting yourselves up for danger. If you don’t get a heart attack from high cholesterol, or a stroke from the same, you just may develop cancer, breast, colon, stomach or the like. If we lead a sedentary lifestyle, stay cooped up inside, refuse to exercise, stay glued to computers, keep heavy stress on our shoulders, drink too much, fail to take responsibility for our health, we’re on a downward spiral and cancer won’t be a surprise. Sometimes, we need to be scared into action!
There is so much more to understanding breast cancer than advising people about the importance of eating nutritiously, living in a clean environment, meaning within the home as well, drinking good, clean water in healthy amounts to allow the body to urinate the toxins out of it and to moisten the blood, tissue and cells, having a healthy attitude, including forgiving transgression, not holding grudges which causes the secretion of poisonous chemicals. Certainly all that has been mentioned is paramount to preventing disease, any disease. It’s crucial to speak well to yourself, to forgive yourself for your perceived and real imperfections and to tell yourself the truth about any situation. It’s truly important to live a life with values. However, there’s more to it.
What about clothing? Can clothing actually play a role in the development of breast cancer? The woman who wears underwire bras, in particular, though tight bra would do the same, cuts off the circulation of the lymph system. The lymph system runs through the mamillary glands and flushes wastes out of our bodies. If this vital system is blocked,, where do those toxins go? That was the study of the authors of a fascinating book I had years ago called, “Dressed to Kill: The Link between Breast Cancer and Bras” by Sydney Ross & Soma Grismaijer.
I may have briefly mentioned this book in last month’s health segment, but it’s worthy of repeating. Bras are considered a fashion icon and their value for feminine beauty cannot be understated. However, clothing has been the cause of women’s deaths in the late 19th and early 20th century with the wearing of corsets which basically cut a woman’s breathing short, while making her waistline remarkably tiny which was fashionably desirable. The binding of feet in China left women left women forever disabled. The pictures of the deformities that occurred are heart breaking.
Many women feel the pressure of their bras cutting off their circulation and can’t wait to take them off when they get home. There are women who have been embarrassed by their bra size and have opted to enlarge them. The verdict is out as to what can happen due to that process if leakage occurs, which has in so many cases due to mistakes made by incompetent plastic surgeons. Note the word, incompetent. Surgery is a profession where incompetence should be illegal. But, I digress. Ladies, consider your body and what makes it feel uncomfortable. If you are wearing a bra that is too tight especially beneath your breast, and they feel uncomfortable or later you feel the stress of that clothing. Take it off and vow never to wear it again. I have many patients who have a deep red mark under their breasts from the tightness of their bras. What is that doing to the circulation of the lymph system. I ask them and most of them can’t believe the things I share. There are those who wouldn’t alter bad health habits if you paid them. They’re too vested in them. That’s a problem, but we make our choices and my job is not to change anyone. It’s to offer intelligent information and allow people the room to accept or decline it or find out more about it and educate me. We’re all in this together. And, the young ones are following our lead. And, if we lead them to unhealthy habits, like we have, we have women getting the disease younger. Childhood obesity is a great example of how we’ve failed. It’s also a great opportunity to regain control of ourselves, of our health and adopt good healthy habits.
As I shared with you last month, my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer right before Christmas. We were fortunate that she had it all taken out without losing her breast. However, a couple of weeks ago, her doctor told her she had an aggressive form of the cancer due to her accepting, years ago, an HRT (hormone replacement therapy) during her menopausal years. After my older sister insisted she desist and return those hormones to her doctor, Mom stopped using them. However, it was that therapy, her doctor said that lead to that type of cancer cell. So, the day she found out that chemotherapy would be added to her regime, if she agreed, and had her first dose the next day. It was explained that while she had an 85% chance the cancer would not return, she had a 15% chance it would. The doctor said that since she is a very young 78, it’s quite possible that she would live 15 more years and he’d do it if he were she. She did because her generation believe what the doctors say, and the fear is greater than the poison.
The first dose of chemotherapy was great to her. She was not nauseous and it was wonderful to us as well. None of us wanted her to get it but we all support her decision to what she deems best for her psyche and her body. It’s her choice and we decided we’d offer her information but not demand anything and stress her further. A day or so later, it was awful to hear what she was going through. The surgery had been successful and before the chemo, she was feeling revitalized. She was also given a booster shot to strengthen her immune system. The side effects are pain that will be felt in your bones, the doctor told her. The pain was incredible. My sister called me from LA and told me she can’t understand how I do the work I do because those few hours with Mom were soooo hard for her to bare.
This is why some doctors say they’d rather not have to prescribe these poisons and while they do anyway, they beseech their patients to use complementary medicines, like acupuncture and herbal remedies prescribed by acupuncturists or herbalists. My Mom has agreed to take the herbal formulas I expressed mailed to her. I made certain she got all the information about them I had. It’s important that patients know what they are putting in their bodies. The authors of "Dressed to Kill" studied over 4700 women with breast cancer in the United States around 1993. There isn’t much new information because the cure of breast cancer hasn’t been found by the AMA. It still uses the same protocol though the chemicals and doses may differ. There is still an alarming rate of deaths and we still have an alarming rate of women being diagnosed with this disease yearly.
Last month’s health segment is now on my website: www.treasureyourhealthinstitute.com Please refer to it for the statistics, signs and risks of breast cancer.
What are some of the things you can do for yourself if you have breast cancer or want to prevent it?
As a licensed acupuncturist, I prescribe lifestyle changes, diet, attitude, exercise, rest, fun, laughter, with acupuncture and herbal remedies. Acupuncture is an old medicine that dates back thousands of years and is founded on the precept that the body’s vital energy must be in constant motion. That is the qi must move throughout the body unencumbered as it flows with the blood, it’s nature mate, if you will. If the qi is stagnant, the blood is stagnant. Stagnancy causes formations to occur within the body. Just take a flowing stream as an example. When a stream is flowing, the water is clear and the flow is constant. However, if any water gets trapped between some rocks, it doesn’t take long for that water to thicken and become like mire. The body is no different. The vessels must be clear so the flow of blood or lymph fluids are constant. The energy is what allows the follow to be constant or lethargic. Any obstruction to the flow can result in pathology. Acupuncture is the use of tiny, thin, disposable filament needles that are placed in a point along a meridian, that usually has the name of an organ, like the Stomach meridian. Actually, the Stomach meridian has a powerful point located around the outside of both knees that strengthens the immune system. Another of the great uses of acupuncture, strengthen the immune system, calm the nerves, tonify the digestive system, remove toxins, dissipate mucous, and ease or stop pain. All of these are vital to treating cancer. Each treatment is individualized according to the patient’s symptoms and the patient her or himself. Even though two people may have the same disease, the way the disease moves through their body may be very different. The way each person handles the disease may be very different. That’s why we can’t just prescribe a treatment based on the condition alone. We must make assessments based on taking a patient history, taking pulses, reading the tongue, listening and observing the patient who is in front of us or over the phone. It’s not like giving a person a pain killer for shoulder pain. We’d look at what meridians are in the area of the shoulder and may determine that the patient actually has problems with their colon and it is showing up as shoulder pain.
Remember, that the signs of heart attack could be a pain radiating down the back or in the jaw. So, don’t be surprised that the body carries its signs of disorder or disease in places not close to where the actual disease is. Medicine, real medicine, is fascinating. It takes the entire person in consideration.
It’s important that when you are given the diagnosis of breast cancer that you immediately begin to research the disease. As a matter of fact, why wait for a diagnosis. If it’s true that 1 out of 8 women and 2% of men develop breast cancer, why not research now. Why not start now to embody good healthy habits, and decide on what you’d do if you were given that diagnosis. Start now.
I will be posting more information about breast cancer on my website: www.treasureyourhealthinstitute.comnow that it’s back to being up and running. It will be undergoing some changes in a couple of months, but that will not keep you from accessing the information. In the next week or so, I will create a page on Facebook under the name Treasured Health Gems.
If you have any questions or want to make an appointment, please contact me attreasureyourhealth@sbcglobal.net or 510-451-5100.
Thanks for listening and remember, you’re health is your treasure.
