A friend of mine emailed me this YOUTUBE video. She mentioned that when the video got a million hits the hospital would offer free mammograms (an X-Ray picture of the breast). I replied, “Great, more women can have ‘the irradiation equal to standing within a mile of the epicenter of the Hiroshima bomb explosion.’” (Samuel Epstein, M.D.)”
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade and I know that “free mammograms” sounds generous. But the truth is that free mammograms are about as nice as a gift basket of plutonium rods.
For years I’ve questioned the use of mammograms as a way to detect breast cancer. It seemed counterintuitive to smash our delicate tissue between cold metal plates and then beam our gorgeous body parts with radiation. Like most women, I love my boobs and I don’t want to lose them. That is the single reason way the mammogram industry has flourished and why this industry is making billions of dollars every year.
When I completely swore off mammograms I turned to thermography (medical infrared imaging), which is a safe and effective way of early detection. But thermography is not available to all women and is not paid for by insurance. (More about this shortly.)
On November 16 I was taught a lesson that will stay with me for a long time. I was actually was pressured into having a mammogram against all of my education and all of my better judgment. I was scheduled to leave on three back-to-back trips that would take me away from home for six weeks when I found a lump in my breast while taking a shower. I’ve lived in Boston now for two years but I had no idea where to go. A good friend of mine found me “the breast guy” and so I was able to go in to see him. In the course of the consultation he convinced me that I needed a mammogram.
My choice would have been to fly back to LA where I know I can have thermography done. But because of my travel schedule, and the fact that I knew that I couldn’t attend the Wilderness First Responder Course and keep my wits about me while worrying about breast cancer, I succumbed.
The technician took a couple of films. All the while I felt a welling of rebellion. I asked, “So how many are you planning on taking?” She answered “Nine more.” That did it for me. “I’ll let you finish this side but then I’m done.”
As it turned out, the lump was a benign cyst that could have been detected with ultra sound. So I was put through all that smashing and radiation just so the clinic could collect the fee from my insurance company.
The very next day, ironically the media was on fire with the report that The United States Preventative Services Task Force (an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care that are appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services) had issued a recommendation that women have fewer mammograms.
The proclamation set off a hailstorm of protests from women around the country who have been browbeaten and terrified into believing that mammograms someone offer protection from dying of breast cancer.
I had even more reason to be annoyed.
After that experience I understood that even though I’ve been an alternative health writer for 13 years, I’m educated about the very significant risks of mammograms, and I am also educated about the alternative to mammograms, I still got sucked into, pressured, and bullied into mammography. Me, of all people! Then I really understood that those who do not have access to what I know about mammograms and the alternatives are never, ever going to let go of this dangerous and cancer causing procedure. Unless of course women become educated. And if you have heard me speak then you know my mantra is “get educated.”
But I am educated! That is what was so mindboggling. The reason I was susceptible to being pressured into a mammogram is that in Boston—land of the very, very, very mainstream medicine—you cannot find thermography.
So let me just educate you, and reeducate myself so this doesn’t happen again to me, and so that you’ll have something to ponder the next time you contemplate letting some rubber gloved technician cram your breasts onto that cold metal plate.
The key to surviving breast cancer is early detection. If a tumor is discovered early 95 percent of women will survive. This commonsensical fact is used diabolically by the mammography industry to make billions every year. The horrible truth is that mammograms have contributed to the epidemic rise in breast cancer because radiation is carcinogenic. If the FDA would admit to this, this industry would be inundated with class action lawsuits, and if your don’t understand that those with the deepest pockets own the FDA then you have been living on Mars.
I first started questioning mammograms intuitively, and then began to read about studies done here in the US, in Canada, Scotland, and Sweden that concluded that mammograms did not reduce breast cancer deaths. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that women were dying of breast cancer, but with the advent of mammograms women knew they were going to die sooner rather than later, but died anyway.
Meanwhile, women’s breasts were being irradiated, which damages DNA and cells, and exposes benign tumors to radiation. More cancer tumors are developing as a result. With each mammogram your risk of developing cancer increases 1-3 percent and this risk is accumulative. And mammograms have a 90 percent false positive rate and so have resulted in unnecessary biopsies, breast surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy. To add insult to injury, mammograms smash existing tumors and exacerbate metastases.
If you want to read more about why to have a mammogram you can pick up the scary propaganda in your doctor’s office courtesy of the billion-dollar mammogram industry. If you’re interested in further education, here are a few more alternative articles.
You do have recourse to mammograms. One is an MRI scan—which gives a clear picture of the breast but is expensive and is not paid for by insurance. (Let me just say that if insurance companies paid for medical modalities that actually helped people stay well rather than modalities that contributed to disease they would ultimately save money, but the insurance industry is just another industry that is in the pocket of big drug and big medical corporations.)
Thermography, a noninvasive, pain-free, infared image of the breasts is based on the premise that before the growth of abnormal cells can occur, the body must produce an increased blood supply to the growth area. Thermography measures the heat generated by the microcirculation near any abnormal growth. For that reason, thermography can detect abnormal occurrences in the breasts before the actual tumor develops. My thermography doctor in Los Angeles charges $175.
The next time your doctor suggests a mammogram do what I (usually) do, say “When men smash and irradiate their testicles, I’ll have a mammogram,” then go out and find a reputable thermography clinic.
Come back tomorrow for some do’s and don’ts to prevent breast cancer.
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My blog is dedicated to my Life Mission: Living a happy and fulfilled life, caring about my body and spirit, women’s issues, and the planet. I hope you come back and read how you can define, explore, and live your Life Mission.
LET’S SMASH AND IRRADIATE MEN’S TESTICLES!
A friend of mine emailed me this YOUTUBE video. She mentioned that when the video got a million hits the hospital would offer free mammograms (an X-Ray picture of the breast). I replied, “Great, more women can have ‘the irradiation equal to standing within a mile of the epicenter of the Hiroshima bomb explosion.’” (Samuel Epstein, M.D.)”
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade and I know that “free mammograms” sounds generous. But the truth is that free mammograms are about as nice as a gift basket of plutonium rods.
For years I’ve questioned the use of mammograms as a way to detect breast cancer. It seemed counterintuitive to smash our delicate tissue between cold metal plates and then beam our gorgeous body parts with radiation. Like most women, I love my boobs and I don’t want to lose them. That is the single reason way the mammogram industry has flourished and why this industry is making billions of dollars every year.
When I completely swore off mammograms I turned to thermography (medical infrared imaging), which is a safe and effective way of early detection. But thermography is not available to all women and is not paid for by insurance. (More about this shortly.)
On November 16 I was taught a lesson that will stay with me for a long time. I was actually was pressured into having a mammogram against all of my education and all of my better judgment. I was scheduled to leave on three back-to-back trips that would take me away from home for six weeks when I found a lump in my breast while taking a shower. I’ve lived in Boston now for two years but I had no idea where to go. A good friend of mine found me “the breast guy” and so I was able to go in to see him. In the course of the consultation he convinced me that I needed a mammogram.
My choice would have been to fly back to LA where I know I can have thermography done. But because of my travel schedule, and the fact that I knew that I couldn’t attend the Wilderness First Responder Course and keep my wits about me while worrying about breast cancer, I succumbed.
The technician took a couple of films. All the while I felt a welling of rebellion. I asked, “So how many are you planning on taking?” She answered “Nine more.” That did it for me. “I’ll let you finish this side but then I’m done.”
As it turned out, the lump was a benign cyst that could have been detected with ultra sound. So I was put through all that smashing and radiation just so the clinic could collect the fee from my insurance company.
The very next day, ironically the media was on fire with the report that The United States Preventative Services Task Force (an independent panel of experts in prevention and primary care that are appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services) had issued a recommendation that women have fewer mammograms.
The proclamation set off a hailstorm of protests from women around the country who have been browbeaten and terrified into believing that mammograms someone offer protection from dying of breast cancer.
I had even more reason to be annoyed.
After that experience I understood that even though I’ve been an alternative health writer for 13 years, I’m educated about the very significant risks of mammograms, and I am also educated about the alternative to mammograms, I still got sucked into, pressured, and bullied into mammography. Me, of all people! Then I really understood that those who do not have access to what I know about mammograms and the alternatives are never, ever going to let go of this dangerous and cancer causing procedure. Unless of course women become educated. And if you have heard me speak then you know my mantra is “get educated.”
But I am educated! That is what was so mindboggling. The reason I was susceptible to being pressured into a mammogram is that in Boston—land of the very, very, very mainstream medicine—you cannot find thermography.
So let me just educate you, and reeducate myself so this doesn’t happen again to me, and so that you’ll have something to ponder the next time you contemplate letting some rubber gloved technician cram your breasts onto that cold metal plate.
The key to surviving breast cancer is early detection. If a tumor is discovered early 95 percent of women will survive. This commonsensical fact is used diabolically by the mammography industry to make billions every year. The horrible truth is that mammograms have contributed to the epidemic rise in breast cancer because radiation is carcinogenic. If the FDA would admit to this, this industry would be inundated with class action lawsuits, and if your don’t understand that those with the deepest pockets own the FDA then you have been living on Mars.
I first started questioning mammograms intuitively, and then began to read about studies done here in the US, in Canada, Scotland, and Sweden that concluded that mammograms did not reduce breast cancer deaths. What does that mean exactly? Well, it means that women were dying of breast cancer, but with the advent of mammograms women knew they were going to die sooner rather than later, but died anyway.
Meanwhile, women’s breasts were being irradiated, which damages DNA and cells, and exposes benign tumors to radiation. More cancer tumors are developing as a result. With each mammogram your risk of developing cancer increases 1-3 percent and this risk is accumulative. And mammograms have a 90 percent false positive rate and so have resulted in unnecessary biopsies, breast surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy. To add insult to injury, mammograms smash existing tumors and exacerbate metastases.
If you want to read more about why to have a mammogram you can pick up the scary propaganda in your doctor’s office courtesy of the billion-dollar mammogram industry. If you’re interested in further education, here are a few more alternative articles.
ARE MAMMOGRAMS WORTH IT? By John R. Lee, M.D.
TRUTH SQUAD—MEDICAL REPORTING ON MAMMOGRAMS By Maggie Mahar
MAMMOGRAM CONTROVERSY – FOLLOW THE MONEY By Virginia Hopkins
You do have recourse to mammograms. One is an MRI scan—which gives a clear picture of the breast but is expensive and is not paid for by insurance. (Let me just say that if insurance companies paid for medical modalities that actually helped people stay well rather than modalities that contributed to disease they would ultimately save money, but the insurance industry is just another industry that is in the pocket of big drug and big medical corporations.)
Thermography, a noninvasive, pain-free, infared image of the breasts is based on the premise that before the growth of abnormal cells can occur, the body must produce an increased blood supply to the growth area. Thermography measures the heat generated by the microcirculation near any abnormal growth. For that reason, thermography can detect abnormal occurrences in the breasts before the actual tumor develops. My thermography doctor in Los Angeles charges $175.
The next time your doctor suggests a mammogram do what I (usually) do, say “When men smash and irradiate their testicles, I’ll have a mammogram,” then go out and find a reputable thermography clinic.
Come back tomorrow for some do’s and don’ts to prevent breast cancer.