Breast Cancer – Everything you need to know about the causes, treatments, and prevention

Breast cancer will affect 1 in 8 women during their lifetime — and it is the fourth-leading cause of cancer death in the United States.

But 8 in 8 women are being exploited by those looking to monetize the disease. They tell women to “put your breast foot forward,” to “feel for lumps; save your bumps.”

The reality of breast cancer is not a catchphrase — not even for those who seek to “save second base.” Or those who champion “big or small, let’s save ’em all!” With such pithy advertising ploys, how can we not believe “the breast is yet to come”?

The 5-year relative survival rate for breast cancer ranges from 98.8 percent (Stage 1) to 26.3 (Stage IV). [1]

The chances for breast cancer begin rising at age 40. Women 70 and older are those most likely diagnosed with breast cancer. The median age is 59 for African-American women, compared to 63 for whites. Fewer than 5 percent of women diagnosed with breast cancer in the United States are younger than 40.

In 2017, the estimate among U.S. women is there will be:

• 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer,
• and 40,610 breast cancer deaths.

Forty thousand people — that’s about the population of Hickory, N.C. Or San Gabriel, Calif. Or Hagerstown, Md. Or Crystal Lake, Ill. Or Sherman, Texas.

Imagine all the people in any of those towns vanishing from the earth in one year. … That should be sobering.

Instead, the choice of many is to exploit in the name of raising money for cancer “research.” Among the one-liners we’ve all heard under the guise of fund-raising:

Thanks for the mammories. … Real men wear pink for the cure. … Boobs, sweat, and tears. … We are fighting to keep a breast of the competition. … Yes my boobs are fake, my real ones tried to kill me.

According to its website, up to 75 percent of the net income from a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure stays in the community. The money funds breast cancer health education, screening, and treatment programs.

The remaining 25 percent supports Komen’s national research and training grants program.

Put another way: Sick care is more profitable than health care.

Orthodox medicine most often promotes surgery (lumpectomy, mastectomy, lymph node removal), chemotherapy, or radiation to treat breast cancer. Each of those treatments come with mental and physical side effects which may last a lifetime.

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers and Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, among others, promote natural therapies and Digital Infrared Thermographic Imaging (DITI) — also known as thermography — as a complementary tool for early detection.

1 in 8. … Think about the women in your life. You know more than eight women. There is a 100 percent chance a loved one will experience breast cancer.

You can treat breast cancer. You can prevent breast cancer. There are natural and integrative ways to protect yourself — starting right now, and beginning with your immune system.

Five Tips to Help Prevent Breast Cancer

1. Get regular daily exercise
Studies have shown people who exercise for a total of four hours each week have a significantly lower risk of developing breast cancer. Exercise also helps with weight management, which is widely known to have a positive impact on countless aspects of your health.

2. Limit your alcohol intake
Consuming more than four servings of alcohol each week raises the risk of breast cancer. For those who want to be on the safe side, just say no to alcohol. But for those who don’t want to abstain or who want the benefits afforded by health-promoting antioxidantsProtects cells from damage caused by free radicals (unstable molecules made by the process of oxidation during normal metabolism). Free radicals may play a part in cancer, heart disease, stroke, and other diseases of aging. Antioxidants include beta-carotene, lycopene, Vitamins A, C, and E, and other natural and manufactured substances. in wine, limit yourself to no more than one glass four times per week. Or get those antioxidants without the alcohol by consuming some red grapes or a glass of grape juice instead.

3. Spend at least 20 minutes each day in the sun
This helps increase your levels of Vitamin D. Research shows that postmenopausal women with the highest levels of Vitamin D had a lower risk of developing breast cancer when compared to those with the lowest levels. A simple blood test can tell you if you need more Vitamin D3. If that turns out to be the case, your doctor can suggest appropriate dosage.

4. Take a daily dose of iodine
Supplemental iodine has been shown to eliminate abnormal cells that are destined to become cancerous, as well as early cancer cells. Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy often recommends i-Throid, which should be available in health food stores. Just follow the dosage instructions on the supplements.

5. Eat at least two cups of broccoli each week
Broccoli contains a substance known as indol-3 carbinol (I3C), which supports healthy estrogen balance throughout your body and protects breast cells. Cauliflower and Brussels sprouts also contain significant amounts of I3C.

What is breast cancer?

Cancer can be defined as an uncontrolled growth or reproduction of abnormal cells in the body. Normal cells multiply when the body needs them and die when the body doesn’t need them. This is called apoptosis or programmed death of cells. Cancerous cells seem to divide and grow out of control and forget how to die.

Breast cancer starts when cells in the breast begin to grow out of control. These cells usually form a tumor, often seen on an X-ray or felt as a lump.

Benign tumors are not considered cancerous. The cells are close to normal in appearance, grow, and do not invade nearby tissues or metastasize. Malignant tumors are cancerous. Left unchecked, malignant cells can spread to other parts of the body.

Breast cancer usually begins in cells of the:

• lobules (milk-producing glands),
• or ducts (passages that carry milk from the lobules to the nipple).

Breast cancer also can begin in the stromal tissues. These include the fatty and fibrous connective tissues of the breast.

Breast cancer symptoms

Breast cancer symptoms include:

• Changes in how the breast or nipple feels.
• Changes in the breast or nipple appearance.
• Any nipple discharge — particularly clear or bloody discharge.

If you have any of these symptoms, tell your healthcare provider. The problem should be diagnosed and treated.

OK, so you have felt a lump in your breast. Yes, your mind will begin racing — and you will ask, “Do I have breast cancer?”

But, it is important that if you feel a lump to speak with a medical professional. Discuss any changes in your breasts with a doctor.

As Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy notes, “Hundreds of thousands of women (and some men) who will be diagnosed with breast cancer don’t need harmful, costly, and sometimes disfiguring interventions. Why? Because up to 30 percent of all breast cancer diagnoses are for premalignant conditions. Prime examples are ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) and lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS).

These abnormal cells were undetectable until a few years ago. Today’s technology finds them easily. The problem is that many doctors order a biopsy, as well as treatment and removal, just to be safe. But wait. What are the chances of DCIS becoming cancer at its worst? About 20 percent. And LCIS? It’s also non-malignant and ranked 0 on a 0-to-4 threat scale.”

Cancerous lumps feel firm or solid and often are painless. In a small percentage of women, a painful breast lump turns out to be cancer.

Yet, it is impossible to tell by touch whether a lump is cancer.

According to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, there are two other types of lumps to be aware of [2]:

• Cysts are fluid-filled lumps and are benign. They form when fluid builds up inside breast glands, and tend to be smooth or round. Cysts are most common in women under 40.
• Fibroadenomas are benign tumors made up of glandular and connective breast tissue. These usually are smooth and firm or rubbery to the touch. Fibroadenomas are most common in women in their 20s and 30s.

Breast cancer causes and risk factors

Hormones seem to play a role in many cases of breast cancer, but just how this happens is not fully understood. Normal breast cells become cancerous because of changes (mutations) in DNA. Some DNA mutations are inherited. This means the mutations are in every cell in your body and can dramatically increase the risk of developing certain cancers. But most DNA changes related to breast cancer are acquired in breast cells during a woman’s life rather than having been inherited.

Breast cancer risk factors

Just being a woman is the biggest risk factor for developing breast cancer. Other risk factors include:

• Age
• Family History
• Genetics
• Personal History of Breast Cancer
• Radiation to Chest or Face Before Age 30
• Certain Breast Changes
• Race/Ethnicity
• Being Overweight
• Pregnancy History
• Breastfeeding History
• Menstrual History
• Using HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy)
• Drinking Alcohol
• Having Dense Breasts (women with dense breasts have more dense [supportive] tissue than fatty tissue)
• Lack of Exercise
• Smoking

The link between dental work and breast cancer

The complexity of dealing with breast cancer can be directly caused by dental infections. [3] Routine dental work such as root canals, tooth extractions, etc., can cause massive infections in the mouth. These infections, in turn, lead to very dangerous toxins (which are the waste products of the microbes which cause the infections).

In addition, the infections in the dental area can spread to the liver, which is a large incubator for microbes. Thus, the breasts are getting infectious agents both from the mouth and the liver.

Many breast cancer patients who die do so because of the infections which work their way down from the mouth to the liver and breast(s).

Bill Henderson preached about dental work as a cause of cancer for several years.

Cancer Tutor founder Webster Kehr saw a thermograph that showed a massive red blob in the mouth (a dental infection) and a massive red blob in the right breast or liver (which is also on the right side of the body). This demonstrated how the infection spread from the mouth to the breast and liver.

In fact, a very thin red line led from the mouth to the breast and/or liver via a red arc which could be seen on the thermograph. This red arc was the infection spreading from the mouth via the lymph system. In other words, the infection spread via the lymph system to the right breast.

Because cancer is caused by a nasty microbe, it is possible in many cases that the microbe actually comes from the mouth. A root canal literally creates a “safe haven” for microbes; the blood system, the lymph system, and, most importantly, the immune system cannot reach — and thus cannot kill — microbes living inside a root canal.

In a study of 150 breast cancer patients in Switzerland by Dr. Thomas Rau, 147 had had root canals on the same meridian as the breast cancer. The other three also had dental problems on the same meridian, but they were not caused by root canals; they were infections in the jawbone caused by some other dental procedure.

Root canals create a safe-haven for cancer-causing bacteria. These cancer-causing microbes do not originate in the root canals. Rather, the microbe originates in the body (i.e. most likely the microbe that causes cancer is Helicobacter Pylori which lives in the stomach but can spread anywhere in the body because it is frequently in the bloodstream) and the root canals allow some of them to live the “good life” while hiding in the root canal(s), free from interference of the immune system. Actually, many types of microbes are involved in different aspects of cancer.

The statistics indicate the constant re-infection prevents the body from successfully fighting the breast cancer. Apparently, when a woman (or a man in some cases) gets breast cancer, the body is generally able to fight it off, unless the person also had a root canal on the same meridian. The root canal(s) apparently allow cancer to win the battle.

Essentially what likely happens is this: A woman will have the cancer microbe spreading harmlessly in the bloodstream. Because of a root canal, or other dental procedure, some of the microbes get inside of the jawbone or empty tooth and have a safe haven. They then spread via the lymph to the breast and/or liver and create an infection in the breast, which leads to normal cells having these microbes inside of them. Once these microbes get inside of normal cells, the cells will become cancerous. As these cells divide, both daughter cells will have these bacteria and both cells will be cancerous.

As if this weren’t enough, in the root canal teeth and liver the microbes breed uncontrollably creating massive amounts of toxins. These toxins alone could kill some patients.

This is one reason why the High RF Frequency Generator with Plasma Amplifier (part of the Cellect-Budwig Protocol) also deals with microbes in the body and bloodstream and perhaps inside the root canal teeth.

• Also: Four Women Against Cancer, by Dr. Alan Cantwell, M.D., for even more evidence that microbes cause cancer.

The point is that it is virtually impossible to totally get rid of breast cancer in many cases without removing all root canals, infections in the jawbones, etc.

While soaking your root canal teeth twice a day in 3 percent food grade hydrogen peroxide can kill microbes inside the root canal teeth, most root canal teeth also have a crown which does not allow liquids inside the tooth except at the bottom of the crowns. So be careful about relying on the hydrogen peroxide solution if your root canal teeth have crowns.

(Soaking your root canal teeth: put 3 percent food grade hydrogen peroxide in your mouth so that your root canal teeth are soaking in the solution for 2 or 3 minutes at a time.)

And while the electrical signal of the High RF Frequency Generator with Plasma Amplifier easily penetrates root canal teeth, the microbes must be in enough liquid in order for the signal to vibrate and kill the microbes. Inside of cancer cells, or in the bloodstream, this is easy, but inside of a dry root canal tooth, it may not be totally successful. This is why highly specialized dentists may be needed.

The best solution is to have a highly qualified dentist safely remove the infections from your mouth. While these dentists are usually biological dentists or holistic dentists, most biological dentists and holistic dentists are not qualified to do this procedure. The dentists who can do this procedure are specially trained.

However, the cost of the dental work can be very high. It frequently costs more than $10,000 to have this dental work done. When they do this procedure they also remove mercury, infected tooth extractions, root canals (usually replaced with bridges), etc. All of these are very important things that need to be done.

To determine if you need this procedure, a simple thermograph — taken from the nose to waist — likely will reveal the need for the procedure. If you see red blobs in the mouth and the breast (especially if you see a faint red line between them), it is almost a certainty that you need the dental procedure.

• Read: Dental Issues and Cancer

For those who cannot afford the entire procedure, they may wish to go to a biological dentist and have their mercury removed. However, there are urgent warnings about having your mercury removed.

Breast cancer and bacteria

One in eight women in the U.S. are diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetimes, but its origins remain unknown in most cases. Age, genetic predisposition, and environmental changes often are implicated — and according to a growing body of research, bacteria may be one of those environmental factors. [4]

Researchers from Western University in Ontario, Canada, discovered in 2014 that a variety of bacteria were detected in breast tissue regardless of the location samples — tissue from close to the nipple to as far back as the chest wall.

The scientists discovered that in the women with breast cancer, there were significantly higher levels of Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus, and Bacillus bacteria.

The participants without breast cancer, on the other hand, had higher incidences of Lactococcus and Streptococcus bacteria, which are thought to have strong anticarcinogenic properties.

Breast cancer screening (medical tests and self-exam)

According to bioenergetic chiropractor and breast cancer survivor Dr. Véronique Desaulniers, the advances in early detection of cancer are exciting.

“I think one of the biggest advances has been in the blood work, and our ability to detect cancer at a very, very minute rate,” she says. “So, first of all, the ONCOblot test.”

The ONCOblot is a test that measures the ENOX2 protein that cancer cells produce, according to Dr. V.

“Healthy cells do not produce that, so when you have ENOX2 floating around in your blood, you have cancer in your body,” she explains. “Now, it may be the size of a pinhead, but it’s still producing enough to be detected. So that’s a very, very early detection. Another type of test which is also beneficial is the RGCC test or the Greek test.

“And this is a lab that’s been in business for 10 years, in the country of Greece. It’s a 55,000 square foot facility. And they basically can detect the number of circulating tumor cells that you have, even if after you’ve done traditional medicine and they’ve told you you’re cancer-free. You’re not cancer free if you have circulating tumor cells.”

Thermography is another diagnostic tool that Dr. V feels very strongly about.

“We started using thermography 15 years ago before it was really popular,” she says. “And it’s great to see that more and more women are recognizing early detection is. … I mean, mammograms are not early detection, because by the time they see it on the scan, it’s been there five to 10 years.

“A Canadian study done on 50,000 women, it was a 25-year study on 50,000 women in Canada, and the conclusion was that mammograms did not lower breast cancer mortality, not even by 1 percent, and it was just as effective as a self-breast exam. So things like that, I mean, that’s just exciting to see. To know that there’s proof that these things are actually very effective and beneficial.”

Mammogram

Regarding mammograms, a scientific book talks in great detail about mammograms:

• Book: The Mammogram Myth by Rolf Hefti.

Thermography

• Read: Detection: Is thermography the future for breast cancer?

Self-exam

Breast cancer awareness campaign focuses on lemons

If you surf social media, chances are you have scrolled across #KnowYourLemons promoted by  Worldwide Breast Cancer. … And you probably have asked yourself, “Lemons? Breast cancer? What’s the connection?”

Corrine Ellsworth Beaumont started Worldwide Breast Cancer as a charity that uses the power of design to create images that educate, empower and speak in a way that goes beyond words. The #KnowYourLemons images are a campaign to address WBC’s mission of “unlocking the potential of visuals to tackle problems with breast cancer that overcome the barriers of low literacy, taboo, and fear around the world.”

Beaumont’s personal connection to breast cancer prompted her initial research into the symptoms of breast cancer, Mashable reports. “Both my grandmothers died from breast cancer. And when the second one died, I thought I should know more about cancer than I do,” says Beaumont. But her research left her with more questions than she’d had before she even started.

When Beaumont began delving into her research, she discovered the barriers that exist when communicating with the public about breast cancer. Beaumont found that a fear of talking about breasts, the censorship of breast images, and adult illiteracy are obstacles in the dissemination of information about the visual signs of breast cancer. [5]

In an interview with itv, Beaumont notes, “Breasts and cancer are really difficult to talk about in a public setting. The #KnowYourLemons campaign is able to overcome those issues on a global scale. For the first time ever, we can show what symptoms look like without censorship.

“It doesn’t matter if you have a high literacy level; if you can’t read, you can still look at this image and it can save a life — which is critical in saving lives for breast cancer, which is what this campaign is doing that has not been done before.” [6]

Most breast lumps (90 percent) are not cancerous, but it is always best to have them checked by your doctor. You should see your doctor if you notice any of the following:

• a new lump or area of thickened tissue in either breast that was not there before;
• a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts;
• bloodstained discharge from either of your nipples;
• a lump or swelling in either of your armpits;
• dimpling on the skin of your breasts;
• a rash on or around your nipple;
• a change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into your breast.

Other tests: How much cancer do you have?

Cancer Tutor recommends a blood test to determine how much cancer a patient has. This blood test can be taken every two or three months to determine if the cancer treatment you are using is effective.

If the amount of cancer is going down on consecutive blood tests, then the treatment is working (this does not mean there might not be stronger treatments, however): Blood Test

Types of breast cancer

Breast cancer can be either invasive or noninvasive. Cancer that spreads to other areas is called invasive breast cancer, while noninvasive breast cancer stays within the milk ducts or lobules in the breast. Most breast cancers originate in the milk ducts or lobes and are called ductal carcinoma or lobular carcinoma, respectively.

Ductal carcinoma

The majority of breast cancers are made up of ductal carcinomas. These cancers start in the cells that line the milk ducts.

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

This breast cancer is limited to the milk duct.

Invasive or infiltrating ductal carcinoma.

This breast cancer has spread beyond the milk duct.

Lobular carcinoma

This type of breast cancer starts in the lobules.

Lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS).

LCIS is limited to the lobules. LCIS is technically not considered breast cancer. However, LCIS is considered a risk factor for developing invasive breast cancer in both breasts.

More rare types of breast cancer include:

• Inflammatory breast cancer is fast-growing and accounts for between 1 percent to 5 percent of all breast cancers.
• Medullary
• Metaplastic
• Mucinous
• Papillary breast cancer
• Paget’s disease is a type of cancer that originates in the ducts of the nipple. Generally, it will be in situ, but, on occasion it can also be invasive.
• Tubular

Breast cancer subtypes

Breast cancer can express itself in many different ways, even within the same type of breast cancer. By performing tumor sample testing we can determine what type of breast cancer it is, and what subtypes of breast cancer are relevant to the case. Using the test results, your doctor will be able to determine the best treatment plan for your situation.

Tumor sample tests will provide results for these three main breast cancer subtypes: [7]

Hormone receptor-positive

Breast cancers expressing estrogen receptors (ER) and/or progesterone receptors (PR) are called “hormone receptor-positive.” These receptors are proteins found in and on cells. Tumors that have estrogen receptors are called “ER-positive.” Tumors that have progesterone receptors are called “PR-positive.” Only 1 of these receptors needs to be positive for a cancer to be called hormone receptor-positive. This type of cancer may depend on the hormones estrogen and/or progesterone to grow. Hormone receptor-positive cancers can occur at any age, but may be more frequent in women who have gone through menopause. About 60 to 75 percent of breast cancers have estrogen and/or progesterone receptors. Cancers without these receptors are called “hormone receptor-negative.”

HER2-positive

About 20 to 25 percent of breast cancers depend on the gene called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) to grow. These cancers are called “HER2-positive” and have excessive numbers of HER2 receptors or copies of the HER2 gene. The HER2 gene makes a protein that is found in the cancer cell and is important for tumor cell growth. This type of cancer may grow more quickly. HER2-positive cancers can be either hormone receptor-positive or hormone receptor-negative. Cancers that do not express HER2 are called “HER2-negative.”

Triple-negative

If a tumor does not express ER, PR, and/or HER2, the tumor is called “triple-negative.” Triple-negative breast cancer makes up about 15 percent of invasive breast cancers. Triple-negative breast cancer seems to be more common among younger women, particularly younger black women. Triple-negative cancer is also more common in women with a mutation in the breast cancer genes 1 and 2, commonly called BRCA1 and BRCA2  genes. Experts recommend that all people with triple-negative breast cancer be tested for BRCA gene mutations.

Stages of breast cancer

Once the diagnostic tests are complete, your doctor will base your treatment plan on a combination of the information on the type of breast cancer, the subtype, and also the stage of your cancer. Breast cancer staging is as follows: [8]

Stage 0 (noninvasive, carcinoma in situ) breast cancer

In stage 0, there is no evidence of cancer cells breaking out of the part of the breast in which they started, or of getting through to or invading neighboring normal tissue.

Stage I breast cancer

In stage I, the tumor measures up to two centimeters and no lymph nodes are involved.

Stage II (invasive) breast cancer

In stage II, the tumor measures between two to five centimeters, or the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes under the arm on the same side as the breast cancer.

Stage III (locally advanced) breast cancer

In stage III, the tumor in the breast is more than two inches in diameter across and the cancer is extensive in the underarm lymph nodes, or has spread to other lymph nodes or tissues near the breast.

Stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer

In stage IV, the cancer has spread beyond the breast, underarm and internal mammary lymph nodes to other parts of the body near to or distant from the breast.

Breast cancer statistics/survival rates

Some breast cancer is caused by a genetic abnormality: BRCA1 (Breast Cancer gene one) and BRCA2 (Breast Cancer gene two). However, only 5-10 percent of cancers are due to an abnormality inherited from your mother or father. Instead, 85-90 percent of breast cancers are due to the result of a compromised immune system — the aging process and the “wear and tear” of life in general.

There will be about 190,000 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 60,000 cases of non-invasive breast cancer this year in American women.

Breast cancer prognosis

Approximately 12.3 percent of women will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point during their lifetime, based on 2010-2012 data. In 2013, there were an estimated 3,053,450 women living with female breast cancer in the United States.

The 5-year relative survival rate for breast cancer:

• Stage I — 98.8 percent
• Stage II — 85.2 percent
• Stage III — 52.5  percent
• Stage IV — 26.3 percent

Using statistical models for analysis, the National Cancer Institute’s SEER Stat Fact Sheets show rates for new breast cancer cases have been stable during the past 10 years. Death rates have been falling on average 1.9 percent each year over 2004-2013.

The 7 Essentials

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers contends most women are overwhelmed, confused, and frustrated when they get a breast cancer diagnosis.

“Maybe they want to do traditional treatments and incorporate some evidence-based natural medicine, or maybe they just want to do natural medicine,” she says.

Regardless of whether a woman with breast cancer chooses conventional treatment, evidence-based natural medicine, or a combination of both, there are things you can do to help, according to Dr. V. And this is where her 7 Essentials play a large role in healing.

“If you look at the seven essentials, essential number one is, let food be your medicine. So we advise them about food, and what to eat, what not to eat and monitoring their blood sugar, and changes,” she explains. “Foods that are going to make cancer grow and foods that are going to help heal the body, that’s just one of the topics.” [9]

Essential 1:  Let Food Be Your Medicine

Hippocrates, the Greek physician who lived more than 1500 years ago, made the astounding connection with food and how it could heal the body. However, the wisdom of the “founding father of modern medicine” has been ignored by mainstream medical and governmental agencies. Food is the foundation of our health. Food fuels our cells and organs. If we ingest toxic, dead food, then guess what happens to our bodies? Yes, they become toxic, diseased and die prematurely.

Essential 2: Reduce Your Toxic Exposure

According to the University Of Columbia School Of Public health, “95 percent of all cancer is due to diet and the accumulation of toxins.” There are many simple steps that you can take in order to reduce your daily exposure to environmental toxins in your home and in your body. Detoxification of the liver and colon play a major role in improving your health.

Essential 3: Balance Your Energy

Everything is energy. In fact, according to a Nobel Prize Laureate, Carlo Rubbia, we are only 1 billionth physical matter…the rest is ALL energy. If the foundation of the body is energy and light, then it makes sense that we keep that energy balanced and free of interference. Your Central Nervous System, your Acupuncture Meridian System and your hormones have a huge impact on the body’s energy system. There are also numerous healing arts and practices that balance the body.

Essential 4: Heal Your Emotional Wounds

Have you ever felt stressed out about something and you noticed that your neck muscles or jaw felt really tight? Remember feeling that pit in your stomach or that ache in your solar plexus? That is an example of your “e-motions” or “energy in motion” getting stuck. Scientists have speculated about the emotional connection to dis-ease for years, but now with the study of “psycho-neuro-immunology”, we understand how stress impacts our health. In fact, we now have proof that your DNA contracts and relaxes in response to your mood.

Essential 5: Embrace Biological Dentistry

Your teeth are an intricate part of your body…not a separate entity that can be drilled, poked and stuffed with toxic poisons, without having an impact on the rest of your body. Amalgam fillings do NOT belong in your mouth because of the high mercury content. Mercury is one of the most toxic substances on the planet and the effect on the Immune System and overall health have been well documented. Having worked with Bio-energetic Testing devices for over 20 years, I repeatedly saw the relationship between specific diseased organs and the dental meridians. Women with Breast Cancer invariably had a huge filling or root canal in the tooth corresponding to the breast meridian.

Essential 6: Repair Your Body with Therapeutic Plants

As far back as the Egyptian and Persian dynasties, the use of medicinal plants is well recorded in the journals of history. North American natives also used plants extensively to heal various illnesses. Specific plants and herbs contain special compounds that nourish, stimulate, tone, strengthen, detoxify and speed up the healing process. In fact, there are specific plant compounds that actually kill cancer cells without harming the healthy cells of the body.

Essential 7: Adopt Very Early Detection

Thermography: Are you tired of the “big squeeze”, aka mammograms? Ever wonder if all that compression and radiation to the breast might be causing some harm to your breast and your body? Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging, also known as Thermography, can detect abnormal breast patterns 5-8 years before tumors are visible on a mammogram. How’s that for early detection! Cancer Profiles: There are many blood tests that can detect the development of cancer on a cellular level, before they are detected with conventional tests. Stop cancer before it starts with blood work that detects enzymes and hormones that are produced by cancer cells.

You’ve been diagnosed with breast cancer, now what?

A diagnosis of breast cancer is not an automatic death sentence, according to Dr. Véronique Desaulniers.

“The first thing you need to realize is that cancer is not a death sentence, number one,” says Dr. V. “And it’s not an emergency critical situation, unless it’s obviously blocking an artery, or involved with your heart, or blocking your gut. I think the key is balance and the key is making an informed decision about what’s right for you. It’s not a critical emergency situation, so you have time. So don’t make any rash decisions and think about it, meditate about it, pray about it and go inward and ask for guidance, and the answers will come.

“And you have to do your due diligence. You do have to get on the Internet, you do have to read books. … Look at things that are evidence-based, and in the end it comes down to what is right for you and your family, your immediate family. Because everybody’s gonna have an opinion, but they’re not the ones facing the diagnosis.

“You have to feel good about your decision and you have to feel very optimistic and very powerful in your decision. The most potent medicine to me is your belief system. Because if you believe that chemotherapy is going to heal you and you’re going to have a great life afterwards, chances are you will, if that’s your really, strong belief system. If you really believe that evidence-based natural medicine is the way for you to go, that’s going to affect your healing. Because your mind is a powerful thing.”

Choosing a doctor

Traditional MDs

To research orthodox doctors:

• NBCF: Choosing Your Doctor
• WebMD: Breast Cancer Doctors and Specialists
• Komen: Choosing a Doctor

Natural and Integrative Clinics

To research natural/integrative clinics:

• Cancer Tutor clinics list
• Finding a vomplementary medicine practitioner
• Cancer Cure Foundation: U.S. clinics offering alternative therapies
• Dr. Weil, Treating Cancer: Integrative Medicine

Questions to ask your doctor

Ty Bollinger is an author and documentary filmmaker. His family was ravaged by cancer. His experiences led him to write Cancer: Step Outside the Box and to produce The Truth About Cancer and its sequel, TTAC: A Global Quest.

Bollinger’s journey to shed light on natural cancer treatments and prevention began with discussions with doctors. However, not being able to truly comprehend the doctor will add more stress at a time when you’re already dazed and frightened.

Bollinger offers insight to dealing with the chaos of a cancer diagnosis.

“Whether you’re pursuing conventional or alternative therapies, a cancer patient navigates a maze of different doctors, nurses, specialists, and surgeons from day one,” he says. “Treatment must be organized. Medicine is often prescribed and needs to be administered. Surgeries are sometimes recommended with a long recovery period to follow. What do you need to know about your health insurance coverage and how will you manage time off work?

“Taking the reins of your own health management is paramount to maintaining control over the chaos that is cancer treatment. It all begins during your first talk with your doctor about your diagnosis and his or her thoughts on your prognosis.”

He also notes that communication is the key. “Don’t answer your doctor’s questions with a simple yes or no. Give a full explanation.

“It’s important to offer as much information as possible so a doctor doesn’t have to try to pry all the details out of you or, even worse, assume they understand and make choices based on what could turn out to be wrong information.

“You need to trust those that are providing your care,” says Bollinger. “If you can’t talk to your doctor, you won’t build trust. You need time to ask your questions and have them answered thoroughly. Your concerns should be considered and addressed.”

However, communication is a two-way street.  Some cancer patients need explicit details as well as the pros and cons of each decision to make. Others prefer a more streamlined approach and leave the details to the medical staff. This may be a personal preference or it may be due to confusion or anxiety.

“It’s up to you to determine early on how much information you want to receive,” says Bollinger. “Then inform your doctor or team of your wishes. Every team member needs to know how involved you want to be at every level.

“Once you decide how much you want to know, you may wish to enlist the help of a friend or family member to be with you throughout the process. Someone who can listen and make notes when doctors explain protocol and treatment options. If you are confused or unclear, there is another person who can help understand or ask questions you may have forgotten or didn’t consider.”

Bollinger adds it is a good idea to have assistance when navigating medications, appointments, treatments, and at-home protocols. Having a companion during this process may have a calming effect that enables you to focus on your health.

Before treatment begins, it is normal to ask if you need a second opinion for a cancer diagnosis.

“Doctors who are on your side will understand your concerns and not take this personally,” says Bollinger. “Do your research; it’s your body and your cancer. Trust your instincts and listen to what your inner voice is telling you. Even if the second opinion is identical to the first, you’ve done your due diligence and can confidently begin treatment. If the diagnosis and treatment plan differs, you have cause to seek a third opinion.”

So, what happens if you’ve tried to talk to your doctor and you still don’t believe he or she is listening? Cancer patients sometimes forget doctors are human.

“Sit with your doctor and be specific about how you feel,” says Bollinger. “Explain your concerns and why you’re troubled. If you need more time to discuss something, tell them exactly what you require and offer to schedule another appointment to do so. If you require more details, stop and tell them before they move on or you may forget.

“You may be able to discuss your treatment with a nurse or physician’s assistant. They may act as a third party when you aren’t comfortable going to the doctor.

“Hostility has no place during these discussions, from you or your doctor. Be honest and clear about your needs, not accusatory and argumentative. Your doctor should do the same.”

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers says there are several non-routine tests to consider getting if you’ve received a breast cancer diagnosis, but warns most conventional physicians won’t be aware of these.

“Well there’s a lot of tests that they wouldn’t even have a clue,” she says. “If you ask them, for example, ‘I want to find out if I’m methalating estrogen properly,’ they’re going to look at you with the deer-in-headlights look, because they won’t know what that is. So, an estrogen methylation test, it’s basically a urine test that helps you to detect if you’re breaking down estrogen properly.

“If you’re exposed to a lot of toxins and plastics, environmental toxins, that sort of thing, you’re going to have excessive chemical estrogens in your body, and that’s what’s driving the cancer. And then if your body can’t metabolize or methylate estrogens properly, then you’re adding fuel to the fire. Because it’s not able to excrete the excess of estrogens in the body. And the best way to do that is through a urine test.”

Dr. V notes an iodine test also is recommended. This is best done through a 24-hour loading test, to measure and collect your urine for 24 hours after you take in an iodine supplement.

“I always make sure that people get tested for specific pathogens, because there’s always underlying systemic infections before you actually develop [cancer],” she says. “Or because those infections weaken your immune system. So for example, getting tested for Epstein-Barr Virus. And then CMV, cytomegalovirus. The different forms of herpes viruses, candida and lyme, those are some good things to get tested. Also, your natural killer cells level, to see how active your natural killer cells are.

“Measuring your fasting blood glucose, your 90-day blood glucose, which is the HBA1C, fasting insulin, your IGF, insulin growth factor one,” Dr. V notes. “Because, all those things have an effect on the growth of the cancer and how your immune system is responding. And then another area that people don’t even talk about, which is becoming more and more popular, is the idea of excessive ferritin, which indirectly is excessive iron in the blood, and so checking the serum ferritin, and the serum iron.”

For those who don’t have a doctor who will perform these kinds of tests, Dr. V recommends that you utilize a walk-in lab. “You just basically say, ‘These are the blood tests that I want,’ and you pay them to do the tests, and they ask you, ‘Who do you want the results to go to?’ And it can be as simple as that,” she says.

• Chris Wark: 20 Questions to Ask Your Oncologist
• Dr. Véronique Desaulniers: 7 things your oncologist will never tell you

Second opinions

If you seek a second opinion, breastcancer.org suggests:

• Ask the doctor who diagnosed your breast cancer or is treating you now. You might phrase your request this way: “If you or your loved one were in my situation, whom would you consult about the diagnosis and treatment of the breast cancer? Which specialist(s) would you see?” Ask your doctor to recommend someone at another institution. You also could pose this question to a nurse, social worker, or your own primary care physician. [10]
• Use your network of family and friends. You probably know people who have been affected by breast cancer – either through their own diagnosis or the experience of a family member. Ask around and find out which doctor(s) they saw and whether they were happy with the care they received.
• Post a request to an online forum or support group, such as the discussion boards on cancertutor.com. People in your immediate area or region of the country may have recommendations based on their own experiences and research.
• During the protocols for cancer treatment, you have a right for those in charge of your care to act in your best interest. You are in control.
• If your doctor forces treatment you don’t agree with, won’t answer questions fully, or is essentially bullying you into following their protocol, you need to find another doctor.

You have the right to talk to your doctor with respect and mutual understanding and receive the same in turn. Ultimately, every step to recovery depends upon you.

Breast cancer treatments

Conventional breast cancer treatments

Conventional medicine’s main types of treatment for breast cancer include surgery, radiation therapy, external beam radiotherapy, chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and hormone therapy.

Breast cancer surgeries

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers notes there can be unwanted consequences of breast cancer surgery.

“We know that anesthetics will weaken the immune system temporarily,” she explains. “We also know that any type of surgery creates a huge inflammatory response in the body. … You’re breaking the barrier of the encased tumor, so you’re probably releasing lots of millions of cancer cells into the bloodstream and to the lymphatic system. But there are things you can do to help offset those side effects. For example, modified citrus pectin makes the cancer cells more slippery so they don’t stick and start metastasizing in different areas.”

There are several surgical options for breast cancer.

Lumpectomy

A lumpectomy is the targeted surgical removal of affected or vulnerable cells. This procedure has been proven as effective as mastectomy in preventing the spread of early-stage cancer.

Simple or Total Mastectomy

A mastectomy is a surgical removal or one or both breasts.

There are several types of mastectomies:

Single mastectomy

• The entire breast, including the nipple, is removed except for the lymph nodes and muscle tissues. This procedure is done prophylactically – to prevent cancer from metastasizing (spreading).

Double mastectomy

• Both breasts are removed due to a high risk of the cancer metastasizing.

Skin sparing mastectomy

• The nipple, areola, and breast tissue are removed while the skin on top the breast is left untouched. This type of mastectomy is done for those who intend to have immediate breast reconstructive surgery. This makes reconstruction easier and avoids making any scars on the breast, allowing for better results after breast reconstruction.

Nipple sparing mastectomy

• The nipple and skin on top the breast is left intact, while the breast tissue is removed. In the event cancer is found under the nipple and areola, the nipple must be removed. Reconstruction of the breast is completed at the same time with either an implant or natural tissue. This type of mastectomy is like a skin sparing mastectomy.

Modified radical mastectomy

• Historically, a modified radical mastectomy was the primary method of treatment of breast cancer. A MRM is a variation of the total mastectomy, which removes the entire breast including the lymph nodes under the arm (called an axillary lymph node dissection) while sparing the pectoralis major muscle.

Radical mastectomy

• This breast cancer surgery entails the breast, chest muscles, and all the lymph nodes under the arm being removed. For many years, this was the breast cancer operation used most often, but it is used rarely now. Doctors consider radical mastectomy only when the tumor has spread to the chest muscles.

According to the National Cancer Institute, two kinds of surgery can be performed to reduce the risk of breast cancer in a woman who has never been diagnosed with breast cancer but is known to be at very high risk of the disease.

A woman can be at very high risk of developing breast cancer if she has a strong family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer, a deleterious (disease-causing) mutation in the BRCA1 gene or the BRCA2 gene, or a high-penetrance mutation in one of several other genes associated with breast cancer risk, such as TP53 or PTEN.

The most common risk-reducing surgery is bilateral prophylactic mastectomy (also called bilateral risk-reducing mastectomy). Bilateral prophylactic mastectomy may involve complete removal of both breasts, including the nipples (total mastectomy), or it may involve removal of as much breast tissue as possible while leaving the nipples intact (subcutaneous or nipple-sparing mastectomy). Subcutaneous mastectomies preserve the nipple and allow for more natural-looking breasts if a woman chooses to have breast reconstruction surgery afterward. However, total mastectomy provides the greatest breast cancer risk reduction because more breast tissue is removed in this procedure than in a subcutaneous mastectomy. [11]

Even with total mastectomy, not all breast tissue that may be at risk of becoming cancerous in the future can be removed. The chest wall, which is not typically removed during a mastectomy, may contain some breast tissue, and breast tissue can sometimes be found in the armpit, above the collarbone, and as far down as the abdomen – and it is impossible for a surgeon to remove all this tissue.

The other kind of risk-reducing surgery is bilateral prophylactic salpingo-oophorectomy, which is sometimes called prophylactic oophorectomy. This surgery involves removal of the ovaries and fallopian tubes and may be done alone or along with bilateral prophylactic mastectomy in premenopausal women who are at very high risk of breast cancer. Removing the ovaries in premenopausal women reduces the amount of estrogen that is produced by the body. Because estrogen promotes the growth of some breast cancers, reducing the amount of this hormone in the body by removing the ovaries may slow the growth of those breast cancers.

Hormone therapy

Hormone study: Study gives insight on why some breast cancer drugs fail

About one in five women who have opted for breast cancer surgery see a return of the disease. After surgery, many women are prescribed hormone treatments — tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors — that cut off the supply of estrogen to cancer in the hope the tumor doesn’t return.

However, some women build resistance to the drugs, so researchers at Imperial College London and the European Institute of Oncology in Milan set out to understand why. They found a particular gene, CYP19A1, becomes amplified. This triggers the increased production of aromatase, the enzyme the drugs were trying to block. This enzyme converts hormones in the body into estrogen. This allows the cancer cells to make their own estrogen again, reproduce, and spread.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal, Nature Genetics. [12] Lead author Dr. Luca Magnani noted, “In many cases when an aromatase inhibitor stops working in a patient, doctors will try another type of aromatase inhibitor.

“However, our research suggests that if the patient’s cancer has started to make their own aromatase, this second drug would be useless. This is why we need a test to identify these patients.”

The laboratory study used human cell samples to investigate the mechanism behind how breast cancer tumors develop resistance to treatments, effectively making them powerless. Approximately 70 percent of breast cancers are classified as estrogen receptor-positive — where the cancer is fueled by the hormone estrogen.

Researchers used samples of human breast cancer tumors from a database containing data on 26,495 women who had undergone surgery for first primary breast cancer between 1994 and 2014.

The study analyzed tumor samples from 150 women who had experienced a recurrence of breast cancer with metastatic spread to different parts of the body. Fifty of the women only received aromatase inhibitors after surgery, and 50 only received tamoxifen.

Researchers used various genetic analysis methods to extract DNA and manipulate the hormones to learn more about the exact mechanism behind the resistance to treatment.

Overall, the researchers found the CYP19A1 gene became amplified and triggered the increased production of aromatase in about one in five women prescribed aromatase inhibitors after surgery.

The same mechanism doesn’t seem to be behind tamoxifen resistance. In women taking tamoxifen, almost none of the tumors showed increased amplification of the CYP19A1 gene as seen in those taking aromatase inhibitors, so they weren’t producing their own supply of estrogen in this way.

Natural/Integrative treatments for breast cancer

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers contends there are several major benefits to choosing natural/integrative treatments for breast cancer.

“The benefits are, obviously, that you’re going to be using non-toxic therapy, you’re going to be taking responsibility for your health, you’re going to be getting to the root cause of the cancer,” she explains. “And we know what causes cancer. It’s not a big mystery, they’re spending billions of dollars on trying to find the cure for cancer, when it’s right in front of their nose.

“We know that what we eat, how we feel, the toxins we’re exposed to, the lack of sleep, lack of exercise, the EMF, all those things in our environment, the dental issues, all those things burden the body and weaken the immune system, and they prevent your immune system from being effective against cancer cells. We all have micro clusters of cancer cells in our body, and it’s how can your body handle this group of cells.

“And when the scale is tipped, you’re more toxic and more stressed and you don’t have oxygen in your cells, and that’s when cancer can thrive in your body. So, the benefit is to learn the mechanism, and the difference between healthy cells and cancer cells, and what you can personally do to change your body’s ability to heal.

“So, basically all of this, the seven essentials, everything, it all boils down to one thing; which is healing your immune system and strengthening it. I realize it’s parts, but all of those parts affect, or have one thing in common that they affect, the immune system. Because the immune system is what actually fights the cancer cells.”

There is a large difference between conventional and natural/integrative cancer treatments, according to Dr. V.

“The difference between conventional and integrative (is that) conventional will get rid of the visible tumor, the tip of the iceberg,” she says. “With surgery, chemo and all that. But what they’re not addressing is the root cause, which are the circulating tumor cells that are still floating around in the blood. That even if you’ve had a tumor removed, there’s still lots of cancer cells in your bloodstream, and the cancer stem cells. Which, these are baby cancer cells that continue to reproduce and become more cancer cells.

“And chemotherapy, for example, will create more breast cancer stem cells. The radiation will also do that. But they create a more resistive kind of breast cancer stem cell that will convert into a mature cancer cell that is harder to kill.

“So, natural medicine affects and get to the root of the cause of the cancer. Because when you take curcumin, for example, then that kills breast cancer stem cells, or broccoli sprouts. The sulforaphane in the broccoli sprouts, that kills breast cancer stem cells. When you look at your diet, and you know that sugar feeds cancer. Well, if you eliminate sugar from your diet, then you add healthy fats, then you’re not going to give cancer cells a lot of fuel.”

Nutrition for breast cancer

The ‘Cancer Diet’

Because breast cancer is so involved with microbes, the “Cancer Diet” should be an alkaline diet, meaning you should avoid acidic foods when possible. Too many acidic foods will defeat the alkalinity of the primary protocol. Work with your vendor on setting up a diet.

Supplements

Your diet plays a role in a healthy immune system. The top vitamins your immune system needs to perform include:

• Vitamin C — helps to repair and regenerate tissues and aids in the absorption of iron
• Vitamin E — a powerful antioxidant that helps your body fight off infection
• Vitamin B6 — supports adrenal function and is necessary for key metabolic processes
• Vitamin A — aids immune function and helps provide a barrier against infections
• Vitamin D — modulates cell growth, promotes neuromuscular and immune function, and reduces inflammation
• Folate — key in development of red blood cells (a lack of Folate can make the body susceptible to cancer)
• Iron — helps your body carry oxygen to cells
• Selenium — slows the body’s overactive responses to certain aggressive forms of cancer
• Zinc — slows the immune response and control inflammation in your body

Vitamin D may hold key to longer breast cancer survival

Vitamin D is important for good overall health and strong and healthy bones. It’s also an important factor in making sure your muscles, heart, lungs, and brain work well and that your body can fight infection. It also may hold the key to longer breast cancer survival, according to an analysis published in JAMA Oncology.

Your body can make its own Vitamin D from sunlight. You can also get Vitamin D from supplements and a very small amount comes from a few foods you eat. Vitamin D deficiency affects an estimated 1 billion people worldwide or 90 percent of the world’s population. [13]

Severe Vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. Both of these conditions cause soft, thin, and brittle bones. A lack of Vitamin D has also been linked to cancer, asthma, type-II diabetes, high blood pressure, depression, Alzheimer’s and autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s and type-I diabetes.

Some of the functions of the body that Vitamin D helps with include:

• Immune system, which helps you to fight infection
• Muscle function
• Cardiovascular function, for a healthy heart and circulation
• Respiratory system, for healthy lungs and airways
• Brain development
• Anti-cancer effects

Song Yao, an associate professor at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, N.Y., led a study to determine Vitamin D levels at the time of diagnosis with breast cancer survival. The researchers used data from 1,666 Kaiser Permanante patients, testing their Vitamin D blood levels. Yao’s team followed the women’s health for seven years. [14] The data analysis was performed from Jan. 5, 2014, to March 15, 2015.

Compared with women whose Vitamin D levels were under 17 nanograms per milliliter, women with levels higher than 25 had a 28 percent higher likelihood of surviving during the study, even after adjusting for tumor stage, grade, and type.

The effect was stronger for premenopausal women. Those with the highest Vitamin D levels were 55 percent more likely to survive. Also, they were 42 percent more likely to survive free of invasive disease and 63 percent less likely to die of breast cancer.

“This large prospective observational study provides compelling evidence that higher levels of Vitamin D at the time of breast cancer diagnosis can reduce the risk of breast cancer progression and death,” Yao said.

“The reduced risk was more pronounced in younger women, specifically those diagnosed with breast cancer before menopause. Our study suggests that Vitamin D may extend survival in women diagnosed with breast cancer.”

How Vitamin D works

Vitamin D travels through the bloodstream to the liver, where it’s turned into 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25(OH)D or calcidiol). This is a prohormone or precursor for the Vitamin D hormone.

The Vitamin D prohormone travels through the bloodstream to the kidneys, where it’s turned into the active form, 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol (1,25(OH)2 D3 or calcitriol). 1,25(OH)2 D3 is the active Vitamin D hormone. It is released back into the bloodstream where it then regulates how your body uses calcium and phosphorus.

Because the liver and the kidneys are involved in the production of calcitriol, diseases of these organs may affect your ability to make this hormone.

Active Vitamin D works by entering cells and attaching to a protein called the Vitamin D receptor, located in the nucleus of cells, where the genetic material is located. This combination of calcitriol and its receptor stimulates the cell to make proteins that regulate the way the body works.

Vitamin D receptors also are present in most other tissues, including the brain, heart, skin, ovary and testicle, prostate gland, and breast, as well as the cells of the immune system, including white blood cells and other key immune cells. [15]

Vitamin D deficiency signs:

• Aches and pains
• Low energy
• Brain fog
• Mood fluctuations
• Sleep disturbances

IVC and breast cancer

I.V. Vitamin C has been shown to contribute protective properties against breast cancer. Further, studies show that I.V. Vitamin C has also been shown to improve the quality of life in breast cancer patients both during traditional therapies, and in aftercare.

Gladys Block, Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley reviewed more than 90 studies on the effects of Vitamin C on cancer and concluded, “There is overwhelming evidence of the protective effect of Vitamin C and other antioxidants against cancer of the breast.”

Geoffrey R. Howe of the National Cancer Institute of Canada reviewed 12 case-controlled studies of diet and breast cancer and noted that Vitamin C had the most consistent statistically significant relationship to the reduction of breast cancer risk.

Further, another study in 2011 concludes that “Complementary treatment of breast cancer patients with i.v. vitamin C was shown to be a well-tolerated optimization of standard tumour-destructive therapies, reducing quality of life-related side-effects. ”

• Research: Intravenous Vitamin C administration improves quality of life in breast cancer patients during chemo-/radiotherapy and aftercare

And, in relation to the importance of mineral and vitamin supplements, a New York Times article quoted Dr. Geoffrey P. Oakley Jr., at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, “We, the physicians, were mistaken not to recommend vitamin supplements to our patients for so long. We need just to admit that on this one, we were wrong.”

Detailed information on IVC and what it can do for cancer patients: High Dose Intravenous Vitamin C (IVC)

Immune system boosting

The immune system is not only important in warding off cancer, it is also extremely important when you are fighting cancer.

Says A.J. Lanigan, who has more than 20 years’ experience in various disciplines of immunology: “The immune system figures into whether or not you actually get cancer. Then, if you do indeed get cancer, the immune system is extraordinarily important in fighting the cancer. If you decide to choose a standard recommended treatment, you will need your immune system to be as strong and functional as it can be. Whether surgery, chemotherapy or radiation or combinations thereof are chosen, recognize that all of these are suppressive and depressive of the immune response.

“Generally the doctors will mention that effect, but then they do very little to advise and assist you in maintaining and supporting a good immune response. They are focused on one thing only — removing/killing the cancer. But can killing the cancer also kill the patient, if other supports are not given? That seems to be the question that needs to be addressed.”

Further, the immune system also plays a role in preventing metastasization. Lanigan continued: “Scientists have studied how and why cancer spreads for years. There is now some research being reported in Nature Communications (October 2012) that normal cell stickiness or adhesion properties are affected by certain molecular interactions and scaffolding, and so the malignant cells become unstuck and move through the system and metastasize. If this proves to be true, the immune system’s ability to track and kill the cells will be essential. The race will be on.”

Cost of treatment (funding options)

• Read: How to fund your cancer treatment without a loan

Prevention

No definite risk factors have been found for breast cancer. There are factors may put you at increased risk, including:

• Keep weight in check
• Be physically active
• Eat your fruits and vegetables
• Avoid too much alcohol
• Don’t smoke
• Breastfeed, if possible
• Avoid birth control pills (particularly after age 35 or if you smoke)

Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy notes lifestyle changes can reduce not only your risk of breast cancer but of cancer in general, including limiting alcohol intake, spending at least 20 minutes a day in the sun, and building up your good bacteria with a probiotic supplement.

• Read: Breast Cancer Prevention Tips

Nutrition

According to integrative medical doctor Sunil Pai, nutrition is key to both the prevention and treatment of illnesses, including cancer. Pai went completely plant-based in his own life in 2009 after completing fellowship training with Dr. T. Colin Campbell and reading Campbell’s book The China Study.

“I’m like, ‘Why wouldn’t I do this and why would I not want to prevent, reverse all these diseases?,’ ” Pai asks. “That doesn’t really cost, it’s not a drug. It’s a not a pill. It’s not a procedure. And it’s just don’t put this on your mouth and eat more of this stuff. It’s that simple.”

Paleo, Ketogenic, and Caveman diets

Unfortunately, the media plays a large role in how Americans perceive healthy diets, according to Pai.

“Let’s start off with the Paleo diet concept first,” he says. “That’s kind of just been the re-emergence of the Atkins diet which was really famous, as you remember, probably 25 years ago. Atkins made about 1.3 billion, I believe, in selling this diet concept. Alright, so the concept was eat all the meat you want, right? And like cut down, zero carbs.

“And so what happens after that faded away after 25 years. And, everybody had a short-term gain. I’ll explain what the benefit was on the first month and why everybody loves it and why it wasn’t sustainable. And then why nobody is still on the diet. It faded away, but then it kind of reinserts itself. Every couple of years it comes back. And then they used to call it Paleo, Neanderthal Man diet, Caveman diet. It wasn’t tied with a specific doctor or someone. It was just they’re trying to sell the name, Primal diet or whatever.

“But what happened is this, in the beginning, [same thing with the ketogenic] is that when people – and the biggest problem in America is standard American diet is that people are eating too highly refined carbohydrates,” Pai says. “So that means the highly-refined wheat products, like Pull Aparts, a footlong Subway sandwich, all-you-can-eat breadsticks, that kind of stuff … that’s the highly refined carbohydrates that converts very quickly to glucose and sugar. It causes weight gain and inflammation.

“But what happens is that when they said, ‘Hey, don’t eat any of those things. Restrict a little bit of your caloric intake and then eat an animal protein,’ then people lost weight. And rightfully so — if they’re not eating any carbohydrates people would have this immediate weight loss because they’re no longer eating donuts and Subway sandwiches. And so I can tell everybody if you stop eating donuts you’ll lose weight. I mean, that’s not a magical thing.

“People are like, ‘Wow, I felt so good.’ Well, yeah — because they kind of cut off some of the junk foods. But what they didn’t understand is the four basic principles of nutrition. Everybody thinks that protein is all that you need in your life. And protein [that] comes from animal proteins also comes from plant proteins. But what animal proteins are missing is they’re missing phytonutrients. There are very little to no antioxidants. And there’s no fiber. And they didn’t have all these four categories for optimum health.”

According to Pai, the ketogenic diet, which is very popular right now due to the prevalence of cancer, is simply the Atkins, Paleo, or Caveman diets repackaged. Pai notes cancer patients may see tumor shrinkage within the first three months on the ketogenic diet. However, this is only due to lowering sugar intake.

“[It’s] because eating less highly refined carbohydrates, lowering the sugar intake of the body, generically speaking, would decrease cancer cell growth — because cancer is a metabolic disease,” he explains.

“Cancer has 10 times more insulin receptors than the normal cells. Cancer, therefore, loves sugar,” says Pai. “We know this because we do PET scans every day. A PET scan is taking a radioactive tracer attaching into glucose molecules, starving the person for about 10 to 12 hours, and the cancer cells has 10 times more insulin receptors so it’s hungrier than a normal cell. When we inject the radioactive tracer then the uptake is 10 times preferentially into the cancer cell than a normal cell. So that’s when we can do a PET scan, we’d say, ‘Oh the cancer is not only here but it may have spread.’

“So the ketogenic theory is what happens is they want to look at starving the cancer cell from one of its primary sources of fuel, which is glucose or sugar. And too much glucose from the excess of the diet, highly refined carbohydrates, can cause the increase of growth.

“But the problem is what they were replacing with the removal of the carbohydrates,” he says. “Remember, there is something called a simple and a complex carbohydrate. But again, since most people can only remember one thing, they just blamed all carbs. They didn’t understand that there’s a complex carbohydrate — whole grains, for example.

“Most people don’t eat whole grains in America. But now there’s healthy people who do, but the average person is eating a rainbow bread or some kind of Pull Apart again, or spongy, fluffy pastry kind of foods. Where the rest of the world, you go to Europe and all the breads are hard, you got to break it, you got to crack it, you got to cut it with a knife. There’s seeds and nuts in it. And it’s not as fluffy and all this stuff. So there’s a difference whether you can roll up like we still have sandwich but you can like roll it up into tiny little ball.

“But when you look at the complex carbohydrates,” notes Pai, “most will eat simple carbohydrates. So by removing that, they got a quick gain. I cut down on my sugar if I’m losing some weight I’m starving the cancer cells.”

Food and inflammation

High animal proteins such as bacon, sausage, and beef are all pro-inflammatory foods, according to Pai. And, studies have shown that although many showed a short-term gain in the beginning on a ketogenic, or Paleo, diet after three months increased inflammation occurred in the body.

“And then we saw a difference when the cancer cells started to grow even more,” he says. “Not only did the cancer get worse, but then the patient’s diabetes, hypertension, blood pressure, cholesterol, heart disease, any other kind of inflammatory [condition], whether they had rheumatoid [arthritis] or anything else, would get worse. Because animal protein is pro-inflammatory.

“So the simple thing in learning about protein is that there’s a difference between anti-inflammatory protein and pro-inflammatory proteins. Animal proteins are what they call high omega 6s, which are pro-inflammatory. And so when it comes from plants, plants have more 3s than 6s.”

In Pai’s book Inflammation Nation, he details data where from 1950 to 1960, the average American would have a 1 to 1 to 1 to 2 relationship of omega 6s to omega 3s.

“What that means is that they used to have some beef, pork, chicken, lamb roast,” he says. “It was usually on Sunday, it was after church. It was a special holiday. Grandma came over. And the reason why we didn’t eat it all the time is because it was very expensive. So in America, we were kind of like the Sunday feast or the game day kind of thing. But in the rest of the week, most people in America [were] mostly living in the 1 percenters. We had a lot of vegetables, sometimes some fish, we had a lot of grains, beans, legumes, and stuff like that.

“So what happens is now, the standard American diet after 2012, which is the last data set that we looked at, the average American is consuming around 40 omega 6s to 1 omega 3. I mean, it’s 40 times the amount of omega 6s, meaning [more] pro-inflammatory foods than anti-inflammatory foods. And in fact, some places like, I have this great chart in my book, it shows like what they call the stroke belt: Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama — there was a 70 to 1 ratio, meaning they’re eating 70 omega 6s to 1 omega 3.

“We also get omega 6s from eating highly refined vegetable oils,” Pai says. “So when people eat fried foods, that’s also an omega 6 as part of the top part of the omega 6 pathway, pro-inflammation. Now it wasn’t that one cheeseburger, one French fry that was the doom and gloom. The problem is now we’re eating about 40 times the amount of those foods than people did in 1950. So there’s a change in the diet, now why is it changed? Because the animal protein is super, super cheap due to factory farming.”

According to Pai, misinformation and lack of understanding are rife in the United States when it comes to eating a healthy, balanced diet. The three major components of a diet that will actually help to prevent, treat and reverse disease are amino acids, phytonutrients, and fiber.

The importance of amino acids

“People used to think that plant protein is ‘incomplete,’ ” Pai notes. “That’s also a myth. All foods have all these amino acids in different ratios. There’s only one food that you cannot survive long that is lacking all the amino acids — gelatin. So unfortunately, they give gelatin in the hospital, which is a weird thing. The only that you can’t survive on, what are you doing to me? Why are you giving me Jell-O? That’s a big problem. What about bone broth and collagen? That’s just gelatin, right? So people proclaim these are the best things in the world. Remember, the people who are pushing this also don’t know anything about nutrition. They’re just feeding the old myths of we need to have animal protein.

“There is truth that certain foods will have certain higher amino acid profiles than others. Now most people eat a broad spectrum of foods by the way, they’re not eating one. But even when we look at from a nutritional standpoint, when there are cultures [that] only eat one form of amino acid — they eat predominantly rice for example, or predominantly [a type of grain] like a spelt, or Sorghum or millet, or even corn.

“What happens is the body pools about 90 grams of protein from the muscles. It stores it and it dumps it into the gut. And the gut reabsorbs the amount of amino acids to fill the void. There’s cultures right now that don’t have access to everything. I mean, if you go to some parts of Africa or you go to some parts of India, you can go to some parts of America, you’re not going to have access to all the different combining foods that you want. Yet you have totally balanced amino acid profile.”

The importance of phytonutrients

Phytonutrients are something every body needs in order to be healthy, according to Pai.

“We need to have what they call phytonutrients,” he says. “So phytonutrients do not exist in animal protein. So what are the phytonutrients? Phytonutrients [are] everything else that you take as a dietary supplement or natural medicine that comes from plants.

“So I’ll just give you example, let’s start off with the tomato. Tomatoes have lycopene, right. So they take lycopene supplements for your prostate. What about my blueberries and my bilberry? What about my green tea? What about my resveratrol from grapes? What about my beta-carotene from carrots? What about my I3C, DIM, and sulfuraphanes from my broccoli and cruciferous vegetables?

“What about my curcumin? What about my ginger? Everything that you see that’s a supplement now that’s actually for reducing your diabetes, or natural medicine for reversing your heart disease, or even treatment of the cancer via whatever mechanism that might be out there because of the hundreds of mechanisms that they work on, all come from plants.”

The importance of fiber

The last most important thing that animal protein doesn’t have is fiber, according to Pai.

“So when we talk about colon cancer being the third most common cancer in the United States, and we look at countries like Africa that has like nil to none, [yet] here it’s the third most common cause of death in the United States,” he says. “Fiber is important because fiber does multiple things. Fiber helps feed the prebiotics which helps the probiotics in the gut where 80 percent of the immune system is.

“And more importantly,” he notes, “fiber does two things. It helps move the food, so it improves the transit time. The more the patient is constipated, then the more the toxins the body is trying to get rid of. Remember, cytotoxins from like fast food or cigarettes or chemicals — even good food. If you eat organic, non-GMO food, you still have to produce waste. That’s why you’re having an excretion. The body’s taking the stuff it doesn’t need and getting rid of it.”

The role of enteroheptatic circulation in breast cancer

“There’s something called enterohepatic circulation,” Pai explains. “That means that the person does not have a bowel movement like one, two or even three a day. Then what happens is those chemicals, the xenoestrogens, the hormones, all those, whatever pesticides, herbicides, preservatives, colors and all things, they will reabsorb into the tissue and it recycles.

“So we have the highest of what you call a enterohepatic circulation problem. And so we have a high risk of having more hormonal cancers because we’re not excreting it out. It’s not that we produce more hormones than other people in the world, we don’t excrete it out. So when people have a bowel movement every other day, every three days, every five days, every seven days, every 10 days, every 12 days in certain cities – those people have higher risks. So every time the bowel movement comes later and later, the higher risk of all the cancers.

“Women who have estrogen positive breast cancer for example,” he says, “the women who have the lowest recurrence rate no matter what socioeconomic race, no matter where they live, it’s the woman that has two to three bowel movements a day.

“The woman who has less than that — meaning she’s had one a day — her risk goes up. Every other day, goes up. Every three days, goes up. Every five days even higher risk. Why? It’s because the most hormones, the xenoestrogens then recirculate in the body. So it doesn’t matter how much of the hormone blocker drugs they take, it’s that if they’re not excreting then it’s recirculating. Same thing with men and their testosterone issue with prostate.

“The other thing is that the longer it sits there it causes a contact inflammatory response, so that’s when we get colon polyp problems. And those colon polyp problems over time can turn into colon cancer. We have now the third most common cause of death is colon cancer in the United States. So the key is when people say, “Where you get your protein?” I always turn around and say, ‘What kind of protein are you eating? Pro-inflammatory or anti-inflammatory?’ And then, ‘Where do you get your phytonutrients, your fiber, and your antioxidants?’ That’s the answer.

“So due to factory farming,” Pai says, “there’s very little to no antioxidants now. So some of the conventional grocery markets or conventional food markets, or even any kind of restaurant, that’s all factory farm food. If it comes from a restaurant or car window, it’s all factory farm.

“That’s why everybody in America takes now supplements or take multivitamins. I need my A, my C, my E, my zinc, my magnesium. I need all these things. You don’t get that in the animal protein. I’m talking about 97 percent of America is eating factory-farm food.”

The benefits and science of a whole foods, plant-based diet

According to Pai, eating a whole foods, plant-based diet is what will help prevent, treat and reverse disease in humans — and it is backed up by science.

“Why are we one of the most unhealthy countries on the planet?,” he asks. “It’s because of Standard American Diet. The SAD diet, that’s what they call it. And when you look at people who eat the healthiest diets in the world, where the people are eating the healthiest and the people who live to over 100, they’re eating predominantly plant-based diet.”

According to Pai, in the United States managing disease is what brings in the money. “We like to help people resolve the disease,” he says. “And that’s what the other 46 countries that do better than us do — they resolve disease.

“There’s money in management, right? You’re a diabetic for life. You’re a hypertensive for life. You’re a heart disease patient for life.

“Remember there’s a lot of companies involved in keeping people sick. Insurance companies have now an invested interest in fast food. In fact, the top 17 insurance companies, particularly the top five, own hundreds of millions of dollars of stock in each [of the major] fast food restaurants.

“So they make money when you eat the food and then they make money when you get sick. In any other industry that would be like conflict of interest or unethical. It’s like a pulmonologist selling you cigarettes. Who is keeping us America in this cycle of chronic illness? And it’s not by mistake, it’s by design. Business.”

Supplements

For information on supplements that promote breast health see Dr. V’s videos:

5 Top Supplements for Breast Health

and

Supplements that can Prevent Breast Cancer

The importance of the immune system

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers says the importance of the immune system’s role in cancer treatment and prevention can’t be overstated.

“It’s very, very important,” she says. “If your immune system cannot handle the onslaught of the cancer cells, that’s when the cancer cells win and take over. Your immune system is your first line of defense and everything from your natural killer cells, to your macrophages. I mean all these things are… those are the types of cells that target and actually destroy the cancer cells.

“Interestingly, cancer cells produce an enzyme called nagalase, that puts your immune system to sleep and literally wipes them out. … It’s a vicious circle. How do you break that cycle? Well, things like Vitamin D and making sure that you’re absorbing the protein,  and that you’re absorbing the right amounts and that your levels are good. Basic nutrients like Vitamin C, selenium, zinc, all these things make sure that your immune system is active.

“Beta glucans, medicinal mushrooms, all these things can affect your immune system in a positive way.”

Boosting the immune system

A healthy immune system remains your body’s best defense. Not only is a weak immune system a major reason patients have cancer — and cancer itself can further weaken the immune system.

“There is a natural, documented, science-based support for the immune system,” A.J. Lanigan says. “It is Beta Glucan, a polysaccharide, an immunomodulator with a long history of success.”

Beta Glucan

Beta glucans help regulate the immune system, making it more efficient. They work by allowing the immune system to identify “hidden” cancer cells.

“Much of the research on glucans refer to iC3b and its attachment [opsonization[ to target cells,”  Lanigan notes. “The ‘tagging’ of cancer cells by complement and antibodies are key to the rapid attack and destruction of the cancer cells by immune cells that could not see the cancer. This is a critical point to understand and remember. The use of beta glucan may overcome the ‘blindness’ of the immune system towards cancer cells. More research is being done and proving this fact. Beta glucan could, after 50-plus years of being a laboratory oddity, turn into a who new arm of defense against this horrible disease.”

In addition, beta glucans stimulate white blood cells (lymphocytes) that bind to tumors or viruses and release chemicals to destroy it.

Beta glucan has been approved in Japan, Australia, South Korea, and Taiwan as an immunoadjuvant therapy for cancer. In fact, helping with cancer is just the beginning with Beta Glucan. There have thousands of studies showing the product can protect against infections, lower your cholesterol, lower blood sugar, reduce stress, increase your antibody production, heal wounds, help radiation burns, overcome mercury-induced immunosuppression (like Thimerosal, used as a preservative in vaccines), help with diabetes, and even naturally prevent metastasis (or the spreading of your cancer).

Harvard Medical School suggests following general good-health guidelines is the single best step you can take toward keeping your immune system strong and healthy: [16]

• Don’t smoke.
• Eat a diet high in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, and low in saturated fat.
• Exercise regularly.
• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Control your blood pressure.
• If you drink alcohol, drink only in moderation.
• Get adequate sleep.
• Take steps to avoid infection, such as washing your hands frequently and cooking meats thoroughly.
• Get regular medical screening tests for people in your age group and risk category.

• Read: Building the Immune System

Lifestyle / Exercise

According to many physicians and health practitioners, two of the most important factors in both preventing and healing cancer are lifestyle choices and exercise. In her article Breast Cancer Prevention Tips,  Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy gives sound breast cancer prevention advice ranging from getting quality sleep and adequate sun exposure to the benefits of a good probiotic and ways to avoid common toxins.

The most common advice given by medical professionals emphasizes reducing and managing stress as well as getting enough exercise.

As Chris Wark points out, healing cancer requires a total life change. You have to address all the health-destroying factors in your life:

• A processed food diet loaded with sugar, salt, meat, dairy and artificial ingredients.
• Unhealthy habits like smoking, drinking, legal/illegal drug use, lack of sleep.
• Lack of exercise, and extreme exercises like marathons, triathlons, and even crossfit.
• Chronic stress.
• Negative emotions like guilt and unforgiveness.
• Spiritual sickness.
• Environmental toxic exposure.

Stress and lifestyle

Stress is not a friend to any individual who is on a healing journey with breast cancer, according to Dr. Véronique Desaulniers. In the article 7 ways that stress affects cancer growth, she talks about a study published in September 2015 which presents a fascinating take on the subject.  The joint team, which included both medical and psychological researchers from UCLA, the University of Texas, The University of Iowa and the U.S. National Cancer Institute, analyzed data which explains how the nervous system, and in particular the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), plays a major part in tumor metastasis when the body is under chronic stress.

“That’s a huge part of the healing — getting people to understand the emotional component, and managing your stress and learning to self-love and self-nurture and to forgive themselves, forgive others,” she explains.

Dr. V. emphasizes the vital importance of having a regular, daily stress-reduction protocol, including Chiropractic Care, meditation, EFT, exercise, emotional healing work, and body work (massage).

A positive attitude and healthy emotions

According to Albert Carter, a research journalist and the world’s foremost authority on rebound exercise, cell communication is an amazing idea and directly correlates to an individual’s outlook and attitude.

“Every cell has the ability to communicate with all the cells surrounding it,” he explains. “Any cell that touches another cell is communicating. All cells also have the ability to communicate by sending messages from one group of cells to another group of cells. The cells also understand English.  If a doctor tells a person, ‘You have cancer,’ the person hears the words and accepts the fact they are going to die. All the cells of the body also heard that and will also accept the death sentence.

“Another doctor comes along and gives the patient hope, the cells also respond to that. Changing your attitude has a significant effect on how your lymphatic system performs their duties in fighting cancer.”

Dr. V agrees that the mind and emotions are very powerful when it comes to health and healing. “So you have to feel good about your [treatment] decision and you have to feel very optimistic and very powerful in your decision.

“The most potent medicine to me is your belief system. Because if you believe that chemotherapy is going to heal you, and you’re going to have a great life afterwards, chances are you will — if that’s your really, strong belief system. If you really believe that evidence-based natural medicine is the way for you to go, that’s going to affect your healing.

“Because your mind is a powerful thing,” she says. “Essential number four, heal your emotional wounds. We talk about creating a healing mindset. You Are the Placebo is a great book by Dr. Joe Dispenza, where he’s proven scientifically how placebos work. Every thought you think creates a protein, creates a chain reaction in your body. So you know watch your thoughts, because your thoughts are going to have a big impact on how your journey goes.”

According to Jessica S. Drake, master professional provisional counselor, there are several effective techniques which can help a person deal with overwhelming emotions and stress. One of those techniques is automatic writing.

“When we automatic write we can get all our emotions, what we’re feeling in the moment, and put it down on paper, and it allows us to process our emotions,” Drake says. “You don’t filter, or you don’t stop whatever is coming to mind, even if there’s a lot of anger, resentment, bitterness, cuss words — you want to get all that out. You don’t want to filter it. And so you let all your emotions out and you can symbolically tear it up and throw it in the trash, or you can even burn it with the idea that you are letting it go.”

Incorporating prayer or your higher self or a higher power — whatever that may be — into your life can also be of great benefit in healing and stress reduction, according to Drake. “You can incorporate that into the healing,” she says. “Some other things that you can do are … breathing exercises, just deep breathing. [These are] simple and effective for getting into our bodies and finding calm and peace. Meditation helps as well.”

Finding time to calm down, relax and just be can be a challenge in our modern world. According to Drake, even 5 or 10 minutes for a quiet walk, small deep-breathing break or listening to music can have great benefits on our emotions and stress levels. “Music can be very healing,” she adds. “[Take just] 5 or 10 minutes even, just to do something you enjoy, to take a time to practice deep breathing or a 5-minute meditation. They have tons of 5-minute meditations on YouTube. So, taking like just 5 minutes to listen to one of those would also be helpful.”

Exercise

Dr. Desaulniers says walking and rebounding, combined with moderate cardiovascular exercise once or twice a week, will have great positive effects on both preventing and healing breast cancer.

“Studies have shown that something as simple as walking 30 minutes per day will decrease your breast cancer risk and increase the chances of survival if you have breast cancer,” she says.

“Rebounding is very important, because that keeps that lymphatic system moving. Getting outside in the sunlight, moving your body outside it’s very important. And then maybe once or twice a week, doing what we call high intensity exercise, where you really get your heart rate up for one minute and then you slow it down for two minutes. It’s brisk walking, or running, or jumping in place for a minute, and then slowing it down for two minutes. Using moderate to light weights, depending on your age, that’s going to stimulate some great things in your body if you’re trying to prevent or heal cancer.”

Walking

Research out of the University of Michigan Medical School and the Veterans Administration Ann Arbor Healthcare System says those who exercise regularly in their 50s and 60s are 35 percent less likely to die during the next eight years than their non-walking counterparts. That number shoots up to 45 percent less likely for those who have underlying health conditions.

• Read: Walk to live a healthier life.

Rebound exercise

According to Carter, one of the most amazing benefits of rebound exercise is how it improves lymphatic circulation, thereby strengthening the immune system and making it more effective.

“There are lymph channels throughout the entire body,” he says. “You have three times as much lymph fluid in the body as you do blood. Lymph fluid has to circulate from the bottom of the feet to the top of the head, but it’s not connected up to the heart.

“The way the lymphatic system works is the lymphocytes, the white blood cells, are moved through the body via one-way valves. You’ve got these valves from the bottom of the feet upwards throughout the entire body – and the valves all point upwards. So when you move the body around, the lymph fluid is always moving in one direction, that is up toward the neck.

“By activating the one-way valves  of the lymphatic system, you cause an increase in lymph circulation by 10 times of what the lymphatic system is able to circulate when you are sitting around doing nothing.  So when you bounce on rebounder, or jump on the floor, or use a jump rope, the one-way valves open and close about 100 times a minute, circulating the lymph fluid, removing toxins and getting the white blood cells to areas of the body they need to be.”

Natural News reports bouncing on a rebounder for two minutes every hour is good therapy for preventing or treating cancer. One hour after rebounding, white blood cell count normalizes. Rebounding every hour will keep your immune system in optimum running condition, as rebounding will flush the lymphatic system.

• Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy: Breast Cancer Prevention Tips.

Videos

7 Essential Steps for Breast Cancer Prevention — Dr. Véronique Desaulniers

https://youtu.be/REOqBtPDYoE

3 Signs You’ll Get Breast Cancer — Dr. Russell Blaylock

5 Warning Signs of breast cancer that many women ignore

https://youtu.be/sx84nHzlTa

Breast Cancer | Staging | Nucleus Health

https://youtu.be/l2lRZuEK4Y0

Types of Mastectomies: What is nipple-sparing reconstruction? — Sonia Sugg, MD

Mastectomy procedures

Mammography vs. Thermography for Detecting Breast Cancer — Dr. Véronique Desaulniers

https://youtu.be/h0hZMZBfSis

Mammograms Cause Breast Cancer — Dr. Ben Johnson

https://youtu.be/L6rrUK54lvg

Dr. Ben Johnson – “Thermography and Ultrasound for Cancer Detection”

Chemo Secrets – Tips & Tricks from a Young Breast Cancer Survivor

11 Breast Cancer-Fighting Tips — Dr. Josh Axe

Dr. McDougall: Webinar on Breast Cancer

Dr. Axe – What My Mom Did to Heal Breast Cancer Naturally

Books

Heal Breast Cancer Naturally: 7 Essential Steps to Beating Breast Cancer
by Dr. Veronique Desaulniers

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About(TM): Breast Cancer: How Hormone Balance Can Help Save Your Life
by John R. Lee (author), David Zava (author), Virginia Hopkins (author)

The Whole-Food Guide for Breast Cancer Survivors: A Nutritional Approach to Preventing Recurrence (The new Harbinger Whole-Body Healing Series)
by Edward Bauman MEd Ph.D. (author), Helayne Waldman MS EdD (author)

Patient Pictures Breast Cancer 1st Edition
by Mohammed Keshtgar (author), Rob Stein (author)

Healing Breast Cancer – 2013
by Charlotte Gerson

Waking the Warrior Goddess: Dr. Christine Horner’s Program to Protect Against & Fight Breast Cancer 3rd Edition
by Dr. Christine Horner

Conquering Cancer: Volume One – 50 Pancreatic and Breast Cancer Patients on The Gonzalez Nutritional Protocol
by M.D. Nicholas J. Gonzalez (author), M.D. Hans C. Moolenburgh (foreword), M.D. Colin A. Ross (introduction)

No Ma’amograms!: Radical Rethink on Mammograms
by Dr. Ben Johnson

Documentaries

ANONYMOUS The Cancer Conspiracy Documentary

Cancer is big business — a multi-billion-dollar business — and it continues to grow. The film documents how the seeds of Big Pharma were planted and how it continues to have a stranglehold on modern medicine. As for treatment and prevention, highlighted are natural cancer pioneers, including essiac, Hoxsey, Gerson, laetrile, Simoncini, and many others.
https://youtu.be/TxBVBvZOnNs

The Truth About Breast Cancer Awareness

This documentary explores the ’breast cancer/pink ribbon culture’ surrounding popular breast cancer awareness campaigns and shines a bright light on many very real issues such as common misleading slogans, misconceptions, lack of true education of the general public about breast cancer, inaccurate information, the financial reality of actual dollars going to research, and the big money marketing that is behind such campaigns. Many of the perspectives in this eye-opening and starkly honest documentary come directly from women living with breast cancer, including input from those facing end of life at stage 4.
https://youtu.be/HAxxHgMNl30

I Don’t Have Time For This: Diagnosed With Breast Cancer When You Least Expect It

This video follows five women who chose conventional treatments such as mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiation in their battles against breast cancer. It reveals how both the disease and the treatments impacted their lives, relationships and overall health. This video gives a balanced look into the stark reality of being diagnosed with breast cancer and some of the common success, failures and effects of the conventional treatment path.
https://youtu.be/BeoFoYEvgt0

Breast Cancer Experts

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers

Website: – https://breastcancerconqueror.com/

Articles
What does your spine have to do with breast health?
Could magnesium deficiency raise risk of breast cancer?
Detection: Is thermography the future for breast cancer?
Do You Have Healthy Bacteria in YOUR Breasts?
Vitamin D: An Absolute MUST for Breast Health
Are Your Hormones Balanced?
The New Theory About Cancer – It’s a Metabolic Dis-ease

Videos
Mammography vs. Thermography for Detecting Breast Cancer
7 Essential Steps for Breast Cancer Prevention
Why You Need to Detox Your Body On a Regular Basis
Surprising Cancer Prevention Steps You’ve Never Thought Of!
Dr. Véronique Desaulniers on Healing Breast Cancer Naturally
How Dr. V healed breast cancer naturally in 2005
The Most Important Step in Dealing with Cancer is…

Dr. Ben Johnson

Website: http://www.meetdrben.com/

Videos
Mammograms Cause Breast Cancer
Dr. Ben Johnson – “Thermography and Ultrasound for Cancer Detection”
Ben Johnson, MD on Cancer pt1
Ben Johnson, MD on Cancer pt2

Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D.

Website: https://www.connealymd.com/

Articles
DCIS is a lesion — not breast cancer
Breast cancer? You can avoid unnecessary mastectomies
Breast Cancer Prevention Tips

Videos
How To Prevent Cancer With Diet, Lifestyle, Exercise & Mindset
Reversing the Cancer Epidemic with Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, MD and Jean Swann

Dr. Sunil Pai – Nutrition and Supplements

Website: https://www.sanjevani.net/

Articles
Ginger is an important part of fighting cancer
Black pepper offers wealth of hidden benefits
The role of boswellia (frankincense) for cancer
Curcumin plays a vital role in fighting cancer

Videos
Sunil Pai, MD on the power of plants & nutraceuticals to restore health
Sunil Pai, MD: All Natural Anti Inflammatories for Cancer Presentation
Anti-Cancer & Other Health Benefits of Turmeric
Were the Gifts From the Wise Men These 3 Healing Spices?
Using Indigenous Medicine to Prevent and Heal Cancer and Other Disease
TTAC: Sunil Pai talks about Bosmeric-SR

Dr. Jonathan V. Wright, M.D.

Website: http://tahomaclinic.com/

Articles
FDA Approved “HRT” IS Risky
You’re just 24 hours away from discovering-and reducing-your breast cancer risk
Hormones “Approved” by Nature
Estriol & hot flashes: How the right forms of estrogen may help fight cancer, MS and more

Videos
Breast Thermography & Breast Cancer
Part 1: Natural hormone replacement for women
Part 2: Natural hormone replacement for women
Why Most MDs Don’t Know About Treating Disease With Nutrients
Bill Chams’ “Eggplant Cancer Cure”
The Two Most Basic Vitamins, Part I, Vitamin C
The Two Most Basic Vitamins, Part 2, Vitamin D
Vitamin D Deficiency
Jonathan Wright MD Explains Green Medicine Philosophy (Uncut)

Dr. Gregory Melvin (thermography)

Website:http://totalthermalimaging.com/

Videos
Heat thermography screenings can offer early breast cancer detection

Breast cancer awareness

For an informative article on the truth behind well known breast cancer awareness and fund-raising campaigns see: The Facade of Breast Cancer Awareness, Susan G. Komen and the Pink Ribbon

Survivor Stories

Young Breast Cancer Survivor Shares Her Story – Video
Three Stories of Breast Cancer Survivors – Video
How Carla Healed Stage 4 Breast Cancer in 1 Year *Survivor – Chris Beat Cancer Video
This nurse refused oncology for breast cancer in 2008! *Survivor – Chris Beat Cancer – Video
Jessica Bowen: Stage 3 Breast Cancer Survivor – Video
Breast Cancer Stories

What’s new in breast cancer research?

Bacteria link could lead to new breast cancer treatments

Researchers from Western University in Ontario, Canada, discovered in 2014 that a variety of bacteria were detected in breast tissue regardless of the location samples — tissue from close to the nipple to as far back as the chest wall.

The scientists discovered that in the women with breast cancer, there were significantly higher levels of Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus, and Bacillus bacteria.

The participants without breast cancer, on the other hand, had higher incidences of Lactococcus and Streptococcus bacteria, which are thought to have strong anticarcinogenic properties.

In October 2016 issue of Scientific American, Knvul Sheikh wrote an article titled “The Breast Has Its Own Microbiome — and the Mix of Bacteria Could Prevent or Encourage Cancer.” The article surmises if certain bacteria do instigate cancer, the finding could lead to new screening methods or treatments.

Gregor Reid, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Western University and the study’s senior author, said the results “suggest that microbes in the breast, even in low amounts, may be playing a role in breast cancer — increasing the risk in some cases and decreasing the risk in other cases.”

The motivation for the research was the knowledge that breast cancer decreases with breastfeeding, Reid said in a news release from the American Society for Microbiology. “Since human milk contains beneficial bacteria, we wondered if they might be playing a role in lowering the risk of cancer.

“Or, could other bacterial types influence cancer formation in the mammary gland in women who had never lactated? To even explore the question, we needed first to show that bacteria are indeed present in breast tissue.

“In any case, something keeps bacteria in check on and in the breasts, as it does throughout the rest of the body,” Reid says. “What if that something was other bacteria — in conjunction with the host immune system? We haven’t answered this question, but it behooves experts in the field to now consider the potential.”

• Complete Story

Potential treatment for metaplastic breast cancer?

Metaplastic breast cancer is a rare type of breast cancer accounting for less than 1 percent of breast cancers. It’s invasive cancer, which means it has the potential to spread to surrounding breast tissue and to other parts of the body.

In this type of breast cancer, the cancer cells transform from one cancer cell type into another. Metaplastic breast cancers usually are divided into two main groups — purely epithelial and mixed epithelial.

In a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, a multi-institutional team led by Dr. Jenny C. Chang, director of the Houston Methodist Cancer Center, identified a gene driving the formation of metaplastic breast cancer. [17] The researchers now have advanced a potential treatment for metaplastic breast cancer — the most aggressive subtype of triple-negative breast cancer.

“The results showed elimination of the cancer in nearly all of the mice when combined with standard chemotherapy,” says Chang, also a professor of medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Our goal is to turn metaplastic breast cancer from a debilitating disease into a chronic illness.”

Triple negative is the name given to breast cancer that is:

• estrogen receptor negative (ER-);
• progesterone receptor negative (PR-);
• HER2 negative.

The symptoms of metaplastic breast cancer are similar to those of invasive ductal breast cancer. These can include a change in the size of the breast, a lump or thickening of the skin, breast pain, changes in the nipple and puckering or dimpling of the skin.

The research team found the same gene mutated in 39 of the 40 tumor samples from metaplastic breast patients. The mutation was in the gene RPL39, which like HER2 (a gene overexpressed in 1 out of 5 breast cancers), is considered an oncogene. This means that cells carrying the erroneous form of this gene divide uncontrollably and result in rapid tumor growth. Identifying RPL39 was the first step in determining how to treat this cancer.

RPL39 regulates the expression of an enzyme called inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The Houston Methodist researchers found that patients with high expression of RPL39 and iNOS had lower overall survival. Intuitively, the team investigated effects of an iNOS inhibitor in the treatment of metaplastic breast cancer and found the L-NMMA compound shrunk tumors in mice bearing human metaplastic breast tumors.

“We not only uncovered the biological pathway stimulating cancer growth, but we found a compound that blocked it, increasing the survival of mice carrying human metaplastic breast tumors,” Chang says.

Breast cancer myths

Dr. Véronique Desaulniers believes there are several myths about breast cancer that need addressing.

Myth: Hormones drive ER and PR positive cancers

“The big myth, and this is one of the myths that I like to bust when it comes to breast cancer, is that if you have an ER positive, or PR positive cancer, it’s your hormones that are driving that cancer,” she says. “Well, if our hormones cause cancer, every 20-year-old on the planet would have cancer. So it’s not our hormones but it’s the chemical hormones that work those two, or the things that stimulate hormones in the body, like aluminum and the antiperspirant. Aluminum is classified as a Metalloestrogen. The amalgams in your teeth, the Mercury… Mercury is classified as a Metalloestrogen, it stimulates and mimics estrogen in the body.

Myth: Plant estrogens cause cancer

“There was a study done in the University of Toronto several years ago where women were getting ready to have surgery lumpectomies, or mastectomies. And 30 days prior to the surgery they gave them muffins with five teaspoons of ground flax seeds in them. After 30 days, there was a reduced tumor growth markers from 30 percent to 71 percent.

“Just 30 days on flaxseed. So that’s very, very powerful and traditional oncologists will say, ‘Oh stay away from these foods, or stay away from soy.’ We know that non-GMO, fermented soy, has a place in our diet. It’s very beneficial and it turns on a lot of tumor suppressor genes and increases the good estrogens. And it does a lot of very powerful things.”

Myth: The BRCA gene is a death sentence

If you have the BRCA gene, it is not a death sentence, according to Dr. V.

“Angelina Jolie really created that Hollywood hype about she was BRCA gene positive, and so she cut off her breasts and she had a hysterectomy,” Dr. V says. “But what women don’t realize is that BRCA genes are good genes. They’re tumor suppressor genes that repair DNA damage. But less than 5 percent of them are mutated, but if they are mutated they can actually be reversed. It’s not a death sentence and less than 2 percent of women who have a strong family history of the BRCA gene actually have a serious problem with cancer.

“The rest is all Hollywood hype and there’s no reason to run to have your breasts cut off because we know that we can change the effect of our genes, right? Our genes have little switches on them. We know that our DNA is not our destiny. So what we eat and what we think and how we feel is going to either turn on cancer protective genes or turn off the cancer protective genes.”

Myth: Toxic chemicals can prevent cancer

“So, medical doctors, traditional doctors will recommend five to 10 years of hormone suppressing drugs, like tamoxifen for example,” Dr. V says. “Well, what they don’t tell you is that tamoxifen is classified as a human carcinogen by the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization. So does it make sense to take this poison to stop the production of hormones, which you need your hormones for heart health, for immune health, for brain health, for bone health?

“If you stop the production of your hormones, even if you’re in menopause, you’re setting yourself up for some serious side effects. And these drugs cause secondary cancers which I’ve seen in women quite often, unfortunately. So, toxic drugs don’t prevent cancer.”

Myth: You can eat whatever you want

Dr. V has a problem with the myth that diet doesn’t have an impact on cancer risk or cancer healing.

“And then the idea of, ‘Oh, you can eat whatever you want,’ ” she said. “You hear oncologists say, ‘A diet does not increase your breast cancer risk. Just eat whatever and put on some weight. That’s all you’re concerned about.’ But we know that sugar feeds cancer, right?

“So, obviously staying away from sugar and including better foods that will help to prevent and break down the estrogen. So like cruciferous vegetables, and their sprouts, and matcha tea, and healthy oils, curcumin, medicinal mushrooms, all those things.”

Myth: Clean eating

According to Dr. Sunil Pai, eating ’clean’ in the United States is largely a widely propagated myth.

“Now, traditionally when people ate more sustainable agriculture, like grass-fed finished beef, wild-caught beef, for example fish, it does have some antioxidants,” he explains. “But now, due to factory farming — which is 97 percent of what the standard American eats — only 3 percent of food in America is grass-fed. So everybody is [saying], ‘Oh, I’m eating clean’ and there’s this whole Paleo-clean food movement. That’s a lie.

“That’s not 97 percent of America. Now, a lot of people think they’re eating clean, they’re not. So if they’re eating beef and it’s grass-fed, it needs to be grass-fed finished. Because now grass-fed means they feed it for three months and then they feed them corn [and] the rest. They charge them a super premium [price] thinking that it’s grass-fed, but this is corn-fed beef, right?

“What happens is the cows eat grass … why? Because the grass is all the nutrients the cow needs to survive. So where does the cow get its nutrition? It’s from plants. So hippopotamuses, horses, cows, giraffes, and elephants, and all these big animals what do they survive on? Why do they eat plants? Even the reindeer in the arctic, they just live on lichen. So, where do they get their protein from? Plants — plants have all the proteins.

“That’s one thing that people need to understand,” Pai says. “We all grew up like ‘beef, it’s what’s for dinner’, ‘pork, the other white meat.’ And the perfect protein is the egg. Most people know [these phrases] since childhood. It’s been ingrained in us. ‘It does the body good.’ We know that what they are and what that food group is. But then the strangest thing is there’s no study showing that [milk] does the body good.

“In fact, for example, milk does not increase bone density. Milk actually decreases bone density. All the studies show that. That was just a common catchphrase in marketing.  But milk does not do the body good.”

Frequently Asked Questions

More Research and Studies

• Assessing the Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Breast Cancer Mortality in the United States
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28475137
• Alternative therapies for metastatic breast cancer: multimodal approach targeting tumor cell heterogeneity
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28280388
• MicroRNAs mediate therapeutic and preventive effects of natural agents in breast cancer
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28262114
• Initiators and promoters for the occurrence of screen-detected breast cancer and the progression to clinically-detected interval breast cancer
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28142043
• Targeting of herbal bioactives through folate receptors: a novel concept to enhance intracellular drug delivery in cancer therapy
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28095746
• Co-delivery of doxorubicin and pH-sensitive curcumin prodrug by transferrin-targeted nanoparticles for breast cancer treatment
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28075466
• In Vitro Photodynamic Effect of Phycocyanin against Breast Cancer Cells
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27827890
• Targeted adjuvant therapy in breast cancer
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27741402
• A novel co-drug of aspirin and ursolic acid interrupts adhesion, invasion and migration of cancer cells to vascular endothelium via regulating EMT and EGFR-mediated signaling pathways: multiple targets for cancer metastasisThe spread of cancer cells from the place where they first formed to another part of the body. In metastasis, cancer cells break away from the original (primary) tumor, travel through the blood or lymph system, and form a new tumor in other organs or tissues of the body. The new, metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if breast cancer spreads to the lung, the cancer cells in the lung are breast cancer cells, not lung cancer cells. prevention and treatment
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27683033
• Comparison of photodynamic treatment produced cell damage between human breast cancer cell MCF-7 and its multidrug resistance cell
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27503780
• Tumor suppression effect of Solanum nigrum polysaccharide fraction on Breast cancer via immunomodulation
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27365117
• Association Between Complementary and Alternative Medicine Use and Breast Cancer Chemotherapy Initiation: The Breast Cancer Quality of Care (BQUAL) Study
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27243607
• Comparative study of two kinds of repeated photodynamic therapy strategies in breast cancer by using a sensitizer, sinoporphyrin sodium
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27162175
• Quercetin, a Natural Flavonoid Interacts with DNA, Arrests Cell Cycle and Causes Tumor Regression by Activating Mitochondrial Pathway of Apoptosis
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27068577
• Chemotherapy and Functional Medicine in a Patient With Metastatic Breast Cancer: A Case Report
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27053933
• Anti-cancer effects of traditional Korean wild vegetables in complementary and alternative medicine
  — https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26860801