Because October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I have mixed feelings. It should be Breast Health Awareness month. This pink ribbon movement was started by a big pharma company and unfortunately, has done nothing to prevent breast cancer. I like the sisterhood and support of women that comes out of the pink ribbon campaign, but I hate the pressure to go out and get mammograms because I believe them to cause more harm than good. If I could go back in time, I would have skipped 15 years of mammograms and only done self exams, thermography and ultrasound methods. In the end, I found my tumor with a self exam. I had no history of breast cancer in my family, no BRCA gene mutation, and my cancer was not receptive to hormonal blockers as 85% of breast cancers are, so something in my environment that I was exposed to is a likely risk factor. Also internally I recognize I needed more of a balance for stress. Knowing what to do and actually taking the time to be able to do it are two different things, and as a busy mom it is always a challenge.
So I venture into October feeling like I want to share with women that I have learned about other risk factors. We need to be diligent with self exams more than anything else, as well as taking a close look at stress factors and other things we may be doing to contribute to this risk. Everything we put on our skin, face, hair, must be considered because the breasts are a storage toxin dumping ground. The cleaning products we use and things we eat can contribute to a build up of non-natural estrogens that are a huge factor in high estrogen levels for women. Stress and lack of sleep affects all aspects of health, taxing our adrenals and immunity. And most importantly as women we do so much for others before ourselves, we need to remember to nurture ourselves in this hectic world and make time daily to do something we love and that brings us joy and fulfilment. There is one site women may want to check out to see some of the risk factors for breast cancer: www.breastcancerconqueror.com The site is managed by Dr. Veronique Desaulineres, a survivor who did not take the conventional approach, and although she is a chiropractor, her data and updates are very thought provoking and she has a lot of interesting perspectives. I have read her book, "Heal Breast Cancer Naturally", and I decided to take an integrated approach in my case, but I found her to offer some interesting points to consider as to why we have this pandemic today.