Thursday, July 12, 2012

Safer Breast Cancer Screening !

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among women between the ages of 40-55, and the high prevalence has spawned a very lucrative industry; from mammography and other dangerous or invasive testing methods, to "preventative" double mastectomies and cancer drugs.

Much effort is placed on trying to detect cancer at an earlier stage. Unfortunately, the conventional recommendation to get regular mammograms has shown to be more harmful than helpful, as research shows ten times as many women are harmed in some way compared to those whose lives are spared by annual mammograms. Lately, the Australian Breast Cancer Council is advising women to have mammography every other year. They are being cautious with this new information.

For years there has been a better way, but ignored by the medical profession and even more by he radiology profession... it's THERMOGRAPHY.  Thermographic breast screening is brilliantly simple and completely harmless. It's as safe as having your photograph taken. It employs a special camera that measures the infrared heat emitted by your body and translated this information into thermal images. The primary benefits are that Thermography does not require mechanical compression of delicate breast tissue or ionizing radiation on that delicate tissue. The fantastic feature of this examination approach is that it can detect signs of physiological changes due to inflammation and/or increased tumor related blood flow approximately 8-10 years before mammography or a physical exam can detect a mass.! I repeat...changes are seen 8-10 years before traditional exams spot anything!

Gaea Powell, who was previously a radiologist, became a Board Certified Medical Thermographer in California after she lost her mother to breast cancer  at 49, and being told she was at high risk of getting breast cancer herself and needed to have mammograms early. "But I was determined to help myself prevent breast cancer in the first place," says Gaea. " I soon realized that a mammogram would just let me know I already had cancer. I was also concerned about the repeated radiation year after year and then the compression of the breasts. Luckily, in 1995, I discovered thermography and it empowered me to be alerted to physiological changes, so I could try to make changes in an effort to help myself prevent disease."

As mentioned earlier, thermography can indicate the presence of potential cancer nearly 10 years before it would ever show up on a mammogram. Essentially, it detects areas of high inflammation, which can be viewed as a "hot-spot" with cancerous potential. It does not diagnose cancer but it allows you to track your unique temperature data over time. Higher readings indicate higher levels of inflammation, which can lead to cancer and can let you know you need to address that inflammation to avoid deterioration and give that area further evaluation.

The Way I See It....thermography can offer you up to a decade's worth of time to take control of and address your health. This can be profoundly empowering, as opposed to getting a cancer diagnosis when it's already too late to expect a few lifestyle changes to fully address your situation.

By working with a sympathetic integrative practitioner, you can be guided to make the most appropriate changes, depending on your situation. For example, I can give you the following strategies that may be helpful for clearing inflammation out of your body so it will benefit systemically. Here's a few options to employ:
     1) Balancing your hormone levels
     2) Optimizing your vitamin D levels
     3) Lymphatic drainage
     4) Lymphatic massage

Last but not least, Breast Thermography Health Assessment Imaging benefits are proven effective for women of all ages and for all breast densities. It is particularly helpful for women with dense breasts, as they are at a higher risk of both false positives and false negatives due to the limitations mammograms have in imaging dense breast tissue.  Now it is Up to You!



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