

I’ve never had a mammogram, and today I’m going to tell you why I intend to keep it that way. As much as Western medicine considers mammograms “life saving” and perpetuates that you would have to be “dumb” or “stupid” not to get one, I disagree. I’m going to challenge that with realistic downsides and questionable cancer paradigms. Just like YOU, I’ve had close family diagnosed and die of breast cancer, and I’m still not cheering for the mammogram.

Disclaimer: This is my personal opinion, and I am not suggesting anyone follow suit. I’m simply sharing what is right for me and why.

1) The research

Research suggests that mammograms help to detect early stage breast cancers, thus saving lives, however, the trend of late stage diagnosed breast cancers remains unchanged. “But importantly, the number of cancers diagnosed at the advanced stage was essentially unchanged. If mammograms were really finding deadly cancers sooner (as suggested by the rise in early detection), then cases of advanced cancer should have been reduced in kind. But that didn’t happen. In other words, the researchers concluded, mammograms didn’t work.” –New York Times

2) Mammograms have downsides, whether or not Western medicine wants you to know. Including:

False positive results: This means you’re told the “dreaded” results, scared out of your mind, subject to more tests, and ongoing investigation, just to find out you DON’T actually have breast cancer. This can result in a huge scare, undue stress, emotional trauma, and unnecessary medical bills.

This means you’re told the “dreaded” results, scared out of your mind, subject to more tests, and ongoing investigation, just to find out you DON’T actually have breast cancer. This can result in a huge scare, undue stress, emotional trauma, and unnecessary medical bills. False negative results: False negatives readings are common too, up to 15% of breast cancer cases are missed by a mammogram (source).

False negatives readings are common too, up to 15% of breast cancer cases are missed by a mammogram (source). Over diagnosis and overtreatment: The New England Journal of Medicine noted that breast cancer was over diagnosed in 31% of breast cancer cases. Dr. Ray Peat agrees that over diagnosis is a great concern, “The extensive use of mammograms has increased the diagnosis of “ductal carcinoma in situ” {DCIS} by more than 1000% (a 16- or 18-fold increase in some hospitals, and expected to double in the next decade), increasing the number of mastectomies and other treatments, but the increased treatments and early diagnosis haven’t produced any visible change in the death rate.” The national cancer institute says that DCIS cases are often over treated since they do not know whether or not the tumor will become cancerous. “Because doctors often cannot distinguish cancers and cases of DCIS that need to be treated from those that do not, they are all treated.” (source)

The New England Journal of Medicine noted that breast cancer was over diagnosed in 31% of breast cancer cases. Dr. Ray Peat agrees that over diagnosis is a great concern, “The extensive use of mammograms has increased the diagnosis of “ductal carcinoma in situ” {DCIS} by more than 1000% (a 16- or 18-fold increase in some hospitals, and expected to double in the next decade), increasing the number of mastectomies and other treatments, but the increased treatments and early diagnosis haven’t produced any visible change in the death rate.” The national cancer institute says that DCIS cases are often over treated since they do not know whether or not the tumor will become cancerous. “Because doctors often cannot distinguish cancers and cases of DCIS that need to be treated from those that do not, they are all treated.” (source) Radiation exposure : Radiation exposure from mammograms is actually a known CAUSE of breast cancer! According to Dr. Ray Peat, PhD, “Estrogen and ionizing radiation are the most clearly documented causes of breast cancer. Their excitatory effects lead to inflammation, edema, fibrosis, and interruption of intercellular regulatory processes.”

: Radiation exposure from mammograms is actually a known CAUSE of breast cancer! According to Dr. Ray Peat, PhD, “Estrogen and ionizing radiation are the most clearly documented causes of breast cancer. Their excitatory effects lead to inflammation, edema, fibrosis, and interruption of intercellular regulatory processes.” Curing people that don’t need to be cured: According to Dr. Otis Brawley, medical officer at the American Cancer Society told NBC News, “Some of those pea-sized lesions are not going to kill. Some of those pea-sized lesions are going to regress over time. We are curing people that don’t need curing.”

3) I don’t agree with Western medicine’s breast cancer treatment plans.

Medical treatment of breast cancer includes “cutting, poisoning and burning” according to my grandfather, who watched his wife die of breast cancer after being strung along by Western medicine for 7 years. I really don’t think leaving the patient worse off than they were prior to toxic treatments and defeminizing procedures are the only acceptable way to treat cancer. What ever happened to “first do no harm?”

In the process of diagnosing a cancer, and during the course of treating it, the patient is usually subjected to multiple x-ray examinations, sometimes given radioactive drugs that supposedly concentrate in hidden tumors to emit positrons, and often has toxic contrast agents injected even for MRI examinations. These procedures, even before the destructive “therapies” begin, are adding to the body’s inflammatory burden, interfering with the body’s ability to complete a healing process. Decisions about pain control usually disregard the effects of the drugs on tumor growth and general vitality–for example, the opiates stimulate histamine release, which increases inflammation and tumor growth.” Dr. Ray Peat, PhD

4) Breast Cancer is still seen by mainstream medicine as an “isolated problem” vs. a systemic one

I see cancer as the outcome of a systematic problem in the body, meaning there are underlying problems with energy metabolism, nutrient deficiencies, an excess of estrogen and chronic inflammation that produce cancer growth. Why does it make sense to just “cut out” the problem in order to “cure” or treat it? Shouldn’t treatment include building up the body and supporting the bodily environment that caused the cancer?

As long as the lump is defined as an alien material, killing it by any means seems reasonable, but if it is seen as the body’s attempt to repair itself, then killing it is no more reasonable than it would be to cut the spots out of someone with smallpox.” Dr. Ray Peat, PhD

5) What if everyone has cancer in some form? Is it always a PROBLEM or could it just be mechanism of survival, and a part of the healing process when supported with proper diet and lifestyle?

What if everyone “has” cancer in some form? What if it’s merely a sign of aging that is accelerated with stress, hormonal imbalances, excess estrogen, and malnutrition?

Many years ago, Harry Rubin was impressed by hearing from a pathologist that he had been able to find diagnosable cancer somewhere in the body of every person over the age of 50 that he had autopsied. If everyone has cancer by the age of 50, that means that cancer is harmless for most people, and that small cancers might frequently appear, and be spontaneously removed as part of the body’s regular house-cleaning. One of the reasons that spontaneous regression of tumors seems so rare is undoubtedly that most tumors are quickly cut out by surgeons.” Dr. Ray Peat, PhD

6) Prevention starts with reducing the known dietary and lifestyle contributors.

According to Dr. Ray Peat, an excess of estrogen, polyunsaturated fats (PUFA), and radiation are known contributors to cancer, particularly breast cancer. All of these are things that CAN be directly influenced by diet and avoiding radiation! “Polyunsaturated fats are another clearly identified cause of cancer, especially breast cancer. These fats synergize with estrogen, and sensitize to radiation. Their effects on the mother can be seen in the offspring, as an increased tendency to develop breast or prostate cancer.” Dr. Ray Peat, PhD

7) I support PREVENTION vs. CURE

In the end, raising awareness of regular mammograms further shifts the focus to diagnosing the illness of cancer, NOT preventing the illness itself! As a nutritional therapist, I’d prefer to focus on prevention, which for me includes a nourishing diet, using data on my body to eat and supplement right, listening to my body and reducing cancer risk factors (including mammograms), as well as looking into alternatives to mammograms like breast thermography.

When cells are fully nourished, supplied with protective hormones, and properly illuminated, their ability to communicate should be able to govern their movements, preventing–and possibly reversing–metastatic migration.” Dr. Ray Peat, PhD.

Time to share your thoughts, and I’m curious—what do you think?

*To those of you who aren’t familiar with the business of cancer, I recommend this article about the business of cancer and also the chronicles of a young woman who lost her life to breast cancer, and in the few years of her fight, her insurance company was billed over 1.26 million dollars.

PIN IT:



References:

Bloomberg. The shaky foundations for the new mammogram economy. 2012. Retrieved on October 6, 2013 from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-01/shaky-foundations-for-the-new-mammogram-economy.html

Forbes. The financial side of cancer- what it really costs. 2013. Retrieved on October 6, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/learnvest/2013/10/04/the-financial-side-of-cancer-what-it-really-costs/2/

National Cancer Institute. Mammograms Factsheet. 2012. Retrieved on October 4, 2013 from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/detection/mammograms

New England Journal of Medicine. 2012. Retrieved on October 6, 2013 from http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1206809

New York Times. Ignoring the science on mammograms. 2012 Retrieved on October 6, 2013 from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/28/ignoring-the-science-on-mammograms/?_r=0

Peat, Ray. Breast Cancer. Retrieved on October 4, 2013 from http://raypeat.com/articles/aging/breastcancer.shtml

Peat, Ray, Cancer: Disorder and Energy. 2013. Retrieved on October 4, 2013 from http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/cancer-disorder-energy.shtml

Peat, Ray. Leakiness, aging & cancer. 2006. Retrieved on October 4, 2013 from http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/leakiness.shtml

Time to Rethink Mammograms, American Cancer Society Top Doc Says. 2017. Retrieved January 10, 2017 http://www.nbcnews.com/health/cancer/one-three-women-diagnosed-breast-cancer-wrongly-study-n704941