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First and foremost, we must avoid all forms of medical radiation. They are damaging to our health. Prevention is also very important and must be thought of. Research has found that something as simple as supplementing with Vitamin D can slash the risk of cancers by 77%. Vitamin D can be attained by natural exposure to sunshine (don’t use sunscreens) as well as cod liver oil. Another product that helps in the fight against developing breast cancer is flax oil, flax lignans and flax meal. Your lifestyle must be closely monitored. If you are diagnosed with cancer, a change in lifestyle is the only factor that has been scientifically proven to extend the average life span of women with breast cancer. That positive change in lifestyle helps to boost the immune system and stops feeding cancer cells. You must stop feeding those cancer cells what they thrive on, including all dairy products (even fat-free), beef, pork, lamb, veal, all sugars, all processed foods, flour, alcohol and tobacco. Of course, it’s best to avoid these foods prior to being diagnosed with the disease. This subject of prevention maintenance alone consists of enough information for another article.

In regards to methods of testing for early detection, there are several alternative options to mammography. Unfortunately, our medical institutions and the large organizations dedicated to fighting breast cancer are not doing their part to educate the general public on these safer, more effective alternatives.

Aside from self-examination techniques and physical exams by a doctor, one such excellent alternative is breast thermography. Thermography is a non invasive method that does not require radiation, any painful compression, or intravenous injection. Thermography uses digital infrared imaging to measure the temperature differences within the breast. Not only is Thermography safer, but it appears to be much more accurate than mammograms. Although Thermograpy has been around since the 60’s, it wasn’t until 1982 when the FDA had approved them and they became more reliable. For more information about Thermogrophy, visit BreastThermogrophy.com and International Academy of Thermology.

Another better alternative to mammograms are MRI’s (Magnetic resonance imaging). This method is far more superior to mammograms in the early detection of breast cancer. But I find it rather strange that something so superior and safer is considered to be useful only after undergoing a dangerous mammogram or biopsy. Even The American Cancer Society admits that MRI’s are superior yet they choose to reserve if for higher risk scenarios. They claim that it’s more expensive thus not as readily covered by most insurance plans. Hmm, with all that money being raised for research and free mammograms, wouldn’t you think that a big chunk of that would be better spent on safer alternatives such as MRI’s and Thermography?

Always remember that information is power and that you must do all that you can to seek out that information so that you can be intelligently informed before making a decision that may negatively affect your health. We should never accept that one person or a major organization has the final say in how we should be diagnosed or treated. Settling on the status quo and accepting procedures and medicines that are doing more harm than good is unacceptable and we must do what we can to encourage the healthcare industry to research better methods and accept the safer alternatives that currently exist!

This is part two in a two part series of articles on mammograms. The complete article can be found at www.anthonynunes.net/monthly_article/mammograms.html.

After encountering issues with his own health and curing them via natural means, Anthony Nunes created Healthy For Life to share what he has learned and used. Moreover, he provides SEO consulting for the search engine optimization of your website. Visit his seo proposal page.

Do you know how long we should consume tamoxifen for breast cancer treatment? This is a question that almost all the breast cancer patients will ask. It is closely related to the response of the patient to the treatment as well as other factors When used as adjuvant therapy for early stage breast cancer, tamoxifen is generally prescribed for five years. However, the ideal length of treatment with tamoxifen is not known.

Another question is, how often shall we consume the tamoxifen? 2 studies have confirmed the benefit of taking adjuvant tamoxifen daily for 5 years. These studies compared 5 years of treatment with tamoxifen with 10 years of treatment. When taken for 5 years, the drug reduces the risk of recurrence of the original breast cancer and also reduces the risk of developing a second primary cancer in the other breast. Taking tamoxifen for longer than 5 years is not more effective than 5 years of therapy.

What is Tamoxifen? Tamoxifen is an oral selective estrogen receptor modulator which is used in breast cancer treatment, and is currently the world’s largest selling breast cancer therapy. It is used for the treatment of early and advanced breast cancer in pre- and post-menopausal women. It is also approved by the FDA for the reduction of the incidence of breast cancer in women at high risk of developing the disease. It has been further approved for the reduction of contralateral (in the opposite breast) breast cancer.

Tamoxifen is used to reduce the risk of breast cancer for women who:

• Are at high risk of breast cancer but have no personal history of the disease
• iHave non-invasive, hormone-receptor-positive breast cancer, or DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ)
• Have hormone-receptor-positive invasive breast cancer at any stage

Furthermore, Tamoxifen is sometimes used to treat gynecomastia in men. Tamoxifen is also used by bodybuilders in a steroid cycle to try and prevent or reduce drug-induced gynecomastia caused by steroids that are used in the same cycle.

Moreover, Tamoxifen is used to treat infertility in women with anovulatory disorders. A dose of 10-40 mg per day is administered in days 3-7 of a woman’s cycle.

Summing up, we can use tamoxifen as an effective breast cancer treatment drug. Yet, it should not be over used. The side effects of this drug are terrible. Therefore, we should only use it under the guidance of a specialist.

If you want to know more about breast cancer, you may read Fighting With Breast Cancer and What Is Breast Cancer for details.

Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book, supposedly the best book to use on breast cancer, is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I am not saying that one should not read it. However, you need to at least be aware of its shortcomings.

The first problem of the book is easy to spot. That is, too much of the book covers basic anatomy of breast tissue and development instead of the information that women who read the book need the most. The fact is, no one wants to wade through a bunch of non-essential material in order to find the answers to their most pressing questions. Particularly when one’s life hangs in the balance.

The next difficulty lies in the fact that the book was published only as recently as 2005. Surely the survival and mortality statistics the author quotes are outdated by now. The speed of medical advances in areas such as chemotherapy, antibodies, and hormonal therapy is usually a lot more swift than can be measured in five year increments. Consequently, the statistics on ten-year survival rates are especially suspect.

To make matters worse, Dr. Love takes a measly paragraph to guide women on reading and interpreting the statistics! How can they possibly move forward in their fight when they are ill-prepared and fearful?

Another flaw with the book is that there is much too much detail about rare complications of surgery and recurrence. Instead of focusing on the facts on which to base decisions, Dr Love agonizes over the number of lives lost as well as medical inadequacy. Once again, superfluous discussion is found where answers are most desperatley needed.

Even when Dr. Love does have some good information for the reader about how dangerous chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery can be, she still recommends it wholeheartedly. Even though she says herself that 2-9% of non-metastatic women experience benefits from chemotherapy and that these three treatment options carry devastating and often permanent side effects!

Not the kind of person I want giving me advice on matters that directly affect my health and ultimate quality of life. Let’s not forget that she is a doctor, after all, and may have a detached manner of assessing treatment plans.

Again, I am not saying that no one should read the book. Dr Susan Love’s Breast Book contains a respectable amount of material on breast cancer. However, I would not put all of my time into reading it, especially if I wanted to be able to take any kind of action right away in order to save my own life.

Looking for practical information about preventing breast cancer in yourself and the women you love? Visit the preventing breast cancer page on Holistic-Medicine-MD. Better yet, check out the book Breast Cancer: Reduce Your Risk With Foods You Love by Dr. Robert Pendergrast.