You might suffer from aches and pains in your breasts, especially around the time of your period, and wonder what is causing it. Usually characterized by lumpiness and discomfort in one or both breasts, fibrocystic breast changes are due to small cysts or masses in the breast. In some women it can be very mild and only cause pain during the premenstrual period while in others there can be constant pain and tenderness. Although fibrocystic breasts become less of a problem after menopause, it is common in 60% of women and most common between the ages of 30 and 50.

So what causes this pain and tenderness in the breast? It's a response of the breast tissue to the natural hormones produced by the ovaries. The lumps felt are either fluid filled sacs (cysts) or swelling of the milk producing glands. Although these changes are benign and not dangerous, they can cause routine breast exams and mammograms to be very painful.

Fibrocystic breasts make it more difficult to palpate and identify a new lump among the existing ones and can also make it more difficult for doctors to identify breast cancer with a mammogram. Since some of the cysts can look or feel like cancerous lumps, a biopsy is usually performed to rule out cancer.

According to the Breast Cancer Coalition, "as early as 1928, physicians were warned to 'handle cancerous breasts with care – for fear of accidentally disseminating cells' and spreading cancer."

Today, all of the probing, squishing, x-rays, and routine biopsies may result in more trauma and increase the risk of developing and/or spreading cancerous cells.

Thermography is ideal for breast screening in women with fibrocystic breasts. It is radiation free and compression free. It can detect changes in the breast tissue as many as 8 years before a tumor can be seen on mammogram. 

Dr. Christiane Northrup, a leading surgeon and medical consultant in the area of breast cancer suggests, "instead of just screening for breast cancer, a thermogram can tell you how healthy your breasts are." Using thermography as part of an annual breast health screening can help make prevention of breast cancer a reality.

There's a website called "AreYouDense.org" that was created by Dr. Nancy Cappello. It's not talking about intelligence or common sense. It's talking about breast density. Statistics show that 2/3 of premenstrual women and 1/4 of post-menopausal women have dense breast tissue. Dr. Cappello calls dense breast tissue the best-kept secret! While it can be detected during a routine mammogram, the medical community isn't sharing the information with us. Do you know if you have dense breast tissue?

Dr. Thomas Kolb, a radiologist who specializes in breast cancer detection, studied thousands of women with dense breast tissue that showed mammography missed 60% of cancers that were subsequently found on ultrasound. Breast tumors can be hidden from view in dense breast tissue because they both show up as white on mammography.

There is legislation going on in many states to ensure that all women are informed of this important breast health information. Fortunately for us, Tennessee is one of those states! Being told we have dense breast tissue gives us the option of adding other breast health screenings to our yearly routine.

Thermography is an important screening that should be added to annual wellness checkups for women of all ages. It can identify and assess the status of our breast health by detecting abnormal changes in the breast tissue. As a society, we are so focused on breast cancer awareness. Instead, let's focus on keeping our breasts healthy and preventing cancer in the first place. This can be accomplished by adding breast thermography to your yearly health screenings. 

To learn more, call 901-249-8642 or visit our breast health page.

We're already half way through the month of October, designated as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We are all aware of breast cancer. I'm sure that each one of you has been touched by a woman in your life suffering from this disease. Everyone is concentrating on the cure! I wonder why there isn't a larger campaign to start from the beginning and look for ways to prevent breast cancer before it starts.

There is a quote by Dr. Susan Love, Founder of the Breast Cancer Research Organization, that says: 

It's disheartening to hear year after year that the numbers really haven't changed. There aren't less cases of breast cancer among women of any age group. To quote Dr. Love again:

Whatever is being done now is not working. Something is missing from the equation. That's why it is sad when some doctors don't support and encourage women to add breast thermography to their yearly breast health screenings. Why wouldn't we want to have the full picture and all available resources on our side? I understand that some doctors might not be familiar with thermography. Since thermography shows abnormalities years before it shows up on mammography, maybe they feel that there is no treatment available to offer women.

Thermography can detect abnormal heat patterns when breast cancer cells first begin to divide. It can detect the beginning of new blood vessel growth that the body produces to supply nutrition to a tumor. It can show that the lymph system is congested and needs to be draining more efficiently. 

Thermography looks for changes in heat patterns of the breast tissue that have developed over time. Caught early enough, these changes can indicate an abnormality that can often be remedied with lifestyle changes.

Eating healthier, exercising our bodies more, practicing lymphatic massage, and making sure our vitamins and minerals are at their optimum levels are some of the lifestyle changes that can "move awareness into action" in the prevention of breast disease. We must take charge of our own health!

It is with a very sad and heavy heart that I dedicate this blog to my cousin, Sherry Lee Goldberg, who passed away on Saturday, August 3rd, 2013. Following a bout with breast cancer many years ago, Sherry lost her difficult battle with uterine cancer at the age of 67. She will be remembered for her beautiful smile, her fun loving attitude, her dedication to her family and many friends, and helping others. She was described as "the sweetest person you would ever know."

The effects of Cancer on our society are so widespread; I don't think there is a single person that has not been touched by its cruelness. It seems we hear on a daily bases that there is another family member, friend, or acquaintance that has been touched by this dreadful disease. 

There is treatment available that prolongs life; but what quality of life are we offered? We are all hoping for a cure! Meanwhile, we must do our best to prevent cancer from stealing our lives and the lives of our loved ones. As individuals, we must become aware of our surroundings and learn all that we can about how to maintain optimum health. 

There is so much controversy in the news today that it gets confusing and overwhelming for us to identify the things that are truly important in keeping us healthy. One thing that we all have an abundance of in our lives that can truly affect the body is STRESS. We need to slow down a little, take deep breaths, and live our lives more consciously and with purpose.

My cousin Sherry wrote her own important rules to live by: 

I'm sure that following these suggestions will lead us to a more fulfilled, stress free, and healthy life.

It seems that iodine deficiency in the U.S. has become near epidemic. Most foods we eat contain very little iodine so our major source is in the salt we eat. Recent FDA findings have shown that many table salt manufacturers are failing to add enough iodine to support good health.

Iodine is a crucial ingredient in the balance of the endocrine system and is essential to life. It plays a central role in thyroid function and brain development in children. Deficiencies have been linked to obesity, polycystic ovarian disease (PCOS), heart disease, psychiatric disorders, and certain types of cancer. Normal levels of iodine have been found to help prevent breast cancer and fibrocystic breast disease.

Healthy breast tissue has a concentrated amount of iodine, but if there is a deficiency, the thyroid gland and the breast tissue compete for the iodine. A chronic deficiency can lead to increased cell growth which can result in fibrocystic breast disease. If the deficiency persists, estrogen production increases.

A decreased level of iodine creates increased sensitivity to estrogen in the breast tissue. Women with a high exposure to estrogen are at a higher risk for breast cancer. Optimum levels of iodine make the estrogen receptors in the breast tissue less sensitive which leads to decreased cell growth and causes an anti-tumor effect by causing the death of malignant cells. 

There are many things we can do to help prevent breast disease. Making sure our iodine levels are within normal limits is just one more thing we can do to stay as healthy as possible.

Visit www.iodineresearch.com for more information.