Fitness On The Go By Molly: Self Breast Exam vs Mammogram

Thursday, October 4, 2018

Self Breast Exam vs Mammogram

Let’s review a self breast exam vs mammogram.

The most common form of breast cancer that is non-invasive is referred to as stage 0 and is known as DCIS. This article will explain why a self breast exam vs a mammogram is so important.

This condition carries an extremely low risk of advancing to breast cancer hence only 1.0%-2.6% of women with DCIS die from invasive breast cancer in 8-10 years.

In as much as the incidence of DCIS has increased 500% since the advent of mammograms, one might want to think twice about getting a mammogram. Furthermore, 10-15% of women receiving mammograms are “diagnosed” with breast cancer who do not have breast cancer.

Tragically, they go on to surgery, chemo, and radiation and now all the new oncological “toys”, called targeting agents, which are just as dangerous as standard chemotherapy. These are all procedures that are responsible for untold pain, suffering and a greatly diminished quality of life.

What most people do not realize is that self-breast exam is equally as effective as mammograms in finding breast cancer. In fact, 43% of women report having detected their breast cancer without diagnostic machinery, at home (18% by accident and 25% by breast self-examination). Since mammograms also have the same success rate, 43% why would anyone want to subject themselves to a painful, dangerous procedure?

A Self Breast Exam Helps with Prevention and can Detect Breast Cancer Early

Obviously, squeezing sensitive breast tissue and producing trauma with its attendant inflammation and pain and then irradiating that inflamed tissue with ionizing radiation known to be extremely carcinogenic (causes cancer), may very likely be responsible for the 500% increase of DCIS and, indeed the initiation of what ultimately becomes invasive breast cancer.

With all of this in mind, it becomes clear that a woman never has to submit herself to a mammogram and that she would be wise to develop the habit of self-breast examination. It is the most effective non-lifestyle change that a woman can do to not only help prevent but to detect breast cancer early…when it is just a small cluster of cells.

Utilizing a strategy of breast ultrasound and thermography along with regular breast self-examinations is not only much, much more effective than mammograms but furthermore, there is no risk of causing the very condition that we are attempting to discover, breast cancer.