Mammograms or Mammoscams?

Greetings everyone,

Changing gears again this week, every year we hear about the increase incidence of breast cancer & how many lives are being saved by mammograms. But is this really true? Are mammograms really increasing the cases of breast cancer because radiation is being directed at a small, ver sensitive area? What are thermograms & are they more effective at catching breast cancer before they are seen on mammograms?

When I first started hearing about mammograms, they recommended women start getting them at the age of 30. But as I got closer to that age, then the age was backed up to 35, then 40. Now I think the age is 45 or 50. Last summer, my general practitioner wanted me to get a mammogram but I suggested a thermogram instead. Neither her or her nurse had heard of it. They did a series of phone calls & couldn't find a facility in Iowa that did those. I did a search online & found one in Des Moines. Unfortunately, my insurance company wouldn't cover the cost anyway even tho the cost of a thermogram is a fraction of the cost of a mammogram.

Does that make any sense to anyone?

How much radiation is in a mammogram? Some reports are that a mammogram emits 20 times more radiation than a chest x-ray. Radiation exposure is cumulative. Take that amount of radiation & then mutiply it times the number of mammograms a woman gets during her lifetime. No wonder breast cancer is on its way up!

Are mammograms really effective at preventing breast cancer? For as many years that mammograms have been done on women, you would expect a really high number of breast cancer deaths prevented. BUT, in actuality this number is only 10%. 10% is really low considering how the widespread use of this screening.

Where is the medical system failing women? Good question & only by a bit of research will you find the answer.

Mammogram or mammoscam? A doctor friend of mine in a burb of Chicago says mammoscam. I snicker everytime he says that.

So, what is an alternative to mammograms? How about a Thermogram? This is a fairly new procedure with just a few facilities around the country. Screening to start watching for breast cancer starts at the age of 20. The biggest plus about Thermograms is there is no radiation involved. It uses heat to look for changes in the breast & chest tissue to detect cancer. Thermograms catch the cancer 10 years SOONER than mammograms.

Here is a link to more info on this procedure -

http://www.breastthermography.com/mammography_thermography.htm

http://www.thermographyofiowa.com/questions.html

Why are mammograms preferred to thermograms? Good question, money, thermograms are a fairly new procedure so it could be the fear of the unknown? Hopefully as time goes on, thermograms will be more common place & mammograms will be only used if thermograms are unclear.

We always hear about breast cancer awareness month but what about breast cancer prevention? Can breast cancer be prevented? One way to prevent breast cancer is to have a high level of Vitamin D3 in your body as shown by this chart.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd52/mopar28m/vitd10.jpg?t=1303629069

What about environmental factors? We hear this quit a bit when it comes causes of autism & other diseases. But what about breast cancer? What do we put on that is close to the breast tissue that might be harmful to the breast tissue & lymph nodes? Many women are either afraid or ashamed to sweat so they put on an antipersperant. This blocks the sweat glands & makes its way into your lymph nodes. Have you looked at the ingredients in this? Usually aluminum is the #1 ingredients & in rather large amounts. There are conflicting studies as to whether or not there is a correlation but why risk it. There have been studies that possibly link the use of antipersperants to Alzheimers. Since anything you put on your skin is abosbed into the body in just a few minutes, the aluminum quickly makes its way into your system fairly quickly. The aluminum accumulates in the lymph nodes from under arm use & in the brain.

You have to some looking but there are deodorants out there that do NOT have aluminum in them. Wal-Greens has a variety in stock. I use this, I get it from my local Hy-Vee grocery store.

http://www.21stcenturyvitamin.com/

Tom's of Maine has several non-aluminum containing products. A word of caution, if you have sensitive skin, you may want to avoid this one. My daughter & I both had problems with skin irritation.

Am I saying avoiding aluminum & having a high D3 level alone will prevent breast cancer? No, I'm just saying these are 2 things you need to look at & maybe try to implement into a persons life.

I hope this blog entry has been very informative for you. This is another one of my things I like to educate others about.

Have a GREAT week!

Lori

Sources -

http://www.preventcancer.com/patients/mammography/ijhs_mammography.htm

http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20100922/mammograms-less-effective-than-believed

http://www.marshallindependent.com/page/content.detail/id/527282.html

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2011/04/american-physicians-speak-voice.html

http://www.ratical.org/radiation/CNR/PBC/mammography.html

http://www.preventcancer.com/patients/mammography/dangers.htm

http://www.breastcancer.org/risk/ask_expert/2005_08/question_03.jsp