by Marjolein Brugman on Tuesday, September 28, 2010

At 37, when my first child, Sky, was three I discovered a lump in my breast.
Off to the doctor who immediately prescribed my first “base line” mammogram. I was horrified to experience this humiliating and painful process. It brought up many emotional memories causing me to get angry at the archaic and thoughtless way in which, another woman, none the less, shoved my breasts around, squished them into a 1/4 inch space between two heavy plates without even so much as a smile or reassurance that I had made a good decision…… After all these were the breasts that I proudly grew at 14, had nurtured for over 20 years, loved when they made me feel feminine and nursed my new born from for a year.

I since learned that while breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death among women there is actually no evidence to support that having regular mammograms actually saves lives. Also Dr. Mercola states, on his website, that the compression of the breast tissue during a mammogram may dangerously hasten the growth of any existing malignant cells and that sensitive breast tissue is exposed to harmful radiation almost 1,000 times greater than that from a chest x-ray, which may further increase the risk of radiation-induced cancer.

What is a responsible woman who cares about preventative health supposed to do?

Most of us opt for regular monthly self examinations and a diet rich in cancer fighting anti oxidants until now. Finally there is an FDA approved radiation free, diagnostic tool that creates a digital map of your body temperature, illustrating heat patterns that suggest abnormality or inflammation.   

Thermal Imagery or “thermography”is able to detect asymmetries in breast tissue, notice unusual blood flow patterns which suggest inflammation and screen for other precursory conditions far before a cancer tissue has actually developed. A regular mammogram simply detects the anatomical mass often way too late.

And the good news is that “thermography” may actually also screen for other imbalanced conditions in the body that may lead to heart disease, arthritis, immune dysfunction, bowel disease and other forms of cancer.

I recently met Jackie Bell, the breast health angel, who has committed her life to the prevention of breast cancer. As a thermographic practitioner, her patients also learn exercises and dietary changes that may prevent breast cancer. Together with her teacher and mentor, Dr. Daniel Beilin O.M.D.*, L.Ac. they have begun to educate the medical community about the non invasive benefits of thermography and have finally won the support of the FDA.

Article Source: http://www.lighterliving.com/blog/hot-topics-article.asp?id=58