I was posting in another thread about this and thought I'd do some web searching and see what I could find.

Essentially, Dr. Susan Love has created a technique (called ductal lavage) in which the milk ducts are flushed with a sterile saline solution and the resulting cells are examined for changes that could lead to seriously early breast cancer detection. According to Dr. Love, a cancer has to develop for 8-10 years before it can be felt in a self exam (or even seen in an X-ray, if I remember correctly). Generally, by the time you can feel it, your fate is set - ie, if you are going to die from it, chances are that by the time you find it, it's too late, and if you're not, then finding it is just a step on the way through the journey.) Anyway, here is her website address:

This technique is only recommended for those with strong family histories of breast cancer or for those with the gene and a history. Eventually, though, it may be available for all, much like a Pap Smear.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), January 13, 2001

Answers

Okay, that's not quite the way I wanted that link to look (duh) but it works, I checked. Good luck.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), January 13, 2001.

Soni, just how are your milk ducts flushed, I mean we have thousands of them, is something injected or what?

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), January 13, 2001.

Oh o.k. nevermind I went to the sight and it answered all my Q's

-- Carol in Tx (cwaldrop@peoplescom.net), January 13, 2001.

I expect this will tee some people off, but I feel the need to speak here.

This is the kind of thing that makes me kinda nuts. More technology trying to treat something they help to create.

Lets see....mammograms: we detect cancer by exposing ourselves to radiation, which causes cancer...

Doctors 'treat' cancer by giving radiation, which causes cancer, and by megadoses of toxic chemicals which usually end up making the patient feel so sick they're not sure they even WANT to live!

"Researchers" claim they have discovered yet another gene! Now you too can know if you are likely to get whatever horrible disease, so they can 'cure' it for you by megadoses of immeasurably profitable side-effects laden chemicals! Not to mention, that if they plant the idea in your thought processes that you are genetically predisposed to whatever, you can almost be assured that you will get whatever!

Sorry for the sarcasm, but modern medicine has an abysmal record with cancer 'cures'. Their stats are skewed to favor the drugs they push, studies are funded by the companies financially benefitting from their positive outcomes,and people die by the millions because of the importance of the economic impact of the cancer industry.

Someone mentioned on another thread that she was considering having a mastectomy to prevent her getting breast cancer........I have to say, IMHO, this is the epitome of the nightmare medicine has created. Sweet woman, cancer is a disease of the whole body, and most assuredly primarily of the mind and spirit. Having your breast removed will do nothing to prevent the whole rest of your body from acquiring something you are convinced you will get. Cancer is about hidden resentments, longstanding hurts,and especially with breast cancer, its about nurturing everyone else at the expense of yourself.

There are many natural cures for cancer; real cures, not the 'five year survival rate' that the government uses. Unfortunately, because the pharmaceutical companies wield such power in this country, we are hard pressed to find them. Now it is easier, because of the internet. They are out there, they are non-toxic, they have next to no side- effects,and many have hundreds of years of use to prove their efficacy. No FDA approval can even come close to their testimonials. I work with cancer patients every day of my life, and I have heard all the nightmares, all the pain and suffering unnecessarily caused by the ignorance and arrogance of the medical establishment. I have also been witness to hundreds of real cures; and even when it was too late to save their life, they were made comfortable and content in their last days, as opposed to suffering unimaginable indignities and agony.

Everyone must of course follow their own heart,and hopefully their intuition, (which I believe is the voice of God) and not their fear. Fear feeds the economy, but I for one will choose to not participate in a cultural black hole that insults the Great Spirit, Mother Nature,and the unmatchable intelligence of the human body.

I know there are people on this forum who think that those who do not identify as christian do not pray. Well I do; every night I go through my prayer list and spend time on each one. And I will in my seeming arrogance add tonight to that list those who have come to view their bodies as potential vessels of disease, rather than the miraculous harbingers of light and beauty and health that I believe they truly are.

-- Earthmama (earthmama48@yahoo.com), January 14, 2001.

Also , there are more and more studies coming out that suggest that aborting a first pregnancy or the use of the birth control pill can lead to breast cancer...

-- Christina W. (introibo2000@yahoo.com), January 14, 2001.

Earthmama -- I can appreciate what you're trying to say -- but the fact of the matter is that a lot of the things we are exposed to we AREN'T exposed to by choice -- my mother being a case in point. NOTHING in her lifestyle predisposed her -- she was one of three sisters in a family of five children who fell to this disgusting disease. She endured chemotherapy and it's effects for over two years -- and the original diagnosis was she had four months to live. Am I going to question the effect of the chemo? No. I know what it cost her in pain and suffering -- but I also know that she had 20 months more than she would have had without it to spend with her grandchildren, touch life, and get her affairs in order. One of the things she managed to do was make an afghan for every one of her grandchildren -- and she told me daily that she loved me, as she did all my brothers and sisters.

Do certain "modern technologies" and lifestyles cause cancer? Indisputably. Is chemotherapy a bad thing? Ask that of my 36 year old brother with colon/bowel cancer (who has also lived cleanly his entire life). I think he might tell you that the extra days he's being given with his 9 month old daughter are worth it.

Until you have lived with the fear of this disease descending on you as a very real possibility -- even as a PROBABILITY -- with no hope against that fear than what modern medicine can do for you, please do not tell me that what the medical field can do to give you the extra time with your family, and POSSIBLY a cure (nothing in life is a sure thing, no matter how cleanly we live)is not worth ANYTHING. I will treasure the last days with my mother -- I watched her die and I would HAPPILY trade just about anything to have saved her going through what she did at the end -- but at least she had the comfort of knowing that she had had enough time to make sure the people who mattered to her knew it -- she saw and loved a granddaughter she wouldn't have known without the treatments.

I thank modern medicine, good or bad, for that.

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), January 19, 2001.

Christina W.- Can you tell me where you read about aborting first pregnancies causing cancer? I was wondering because I have read that the average woman has about 12 early miscarriages that she never even knows about. It seems our bodies could abort the first several pregnancies and we'd never know.

-- debra in ks (solid-dkn@msn.com), January 23, 2001.

RE: miscarriages the pill, I think that this may have to do with the link between estrogen levels and breast cancer. It is said the risk of breast cancer diminishes with each pregnancy and breastfeeding and that's because the production of estrogen is decreased at these times in your life. Also, the later a girl starts her period, the lower the risk of breast cancer.

I'm trying to theorize why being on the pill or having a miscarriage can increase breast cancer risk, and I suppose it's because 1) the pill, especially older types, contain estrogenic chemicals; 2) miscarriage messes with the estrogen cycle (not sure I see the link with this one). The thing about all these risk factors is you need to put it all together. Each person is different, with a different genetic make-up and different lifestyle/health habits. These risks are only meant to be looked at from a general standpoint. They don't have much meaning in isolation.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), January 23, 2001.

Amy, that's very interesting. My mom is one of 5 sisters and 3 have died from cancer, with 2 being younger than her. Her mother also died of cancer at the age of 52. My mom had 10 children and breast fed every one of us. She is in her 70's now, and has never had any signs of any cancer. The estrogen theory seems to make sense. Wonder how much research they are doing on this? By the way, she had absolutely NO problems when going through menopause, while her other sisters did. hmmm......

-- Annie (mistletoe@earthlink.net), January 23, 2001.

Debra in KS - look at www.abortionbreastcancer.com. To summarize in my nonmedical way (i.e. clumsy), in early pregnancy, the breast cells start differentiating themselves, getting ready to develop into mammary glands( or at least completing the process). When you cut short the pregnancy, the cells are thrown into a state of havoc, are undifferentiated, and are much more susceptible to toxins and other factor leaving them thus susceptible to becoming cancerous. They explain it much better on the website.

-- Christina W. (introibo2000@yahoo.com), February 01, 2001.