Archive: Jan 2020

1. What Are Fibrocystic Breasts?

   January 29, 2020 4:54 pm Leave a Comment

   

   As a clinical breast thermographer, I see more and more fibrocystic breast cases than any other abnormality of the breast.

   Fibrocystic breast syndrome or disease is a common condition. It is also called cystic breasts or mammary dysplasia.

   Breasts can feel swollen or have a different texture, or even feel lumpier than they did yesterday. Lumps, be it of any kind, in the breast, triggers fears of cancer. Both benign and malignant lumps are very different in texture and density.

   Most breast lumps that women feel – eight out of ten – aren’t cancer.

   It’s more common for them to be a cyst (a sac) or a fibroadenoma (an abnormal growth that’s not cancer). Some lumps come and go during a woman’s menstrual cycle.

   Mammograms are often performed on women with fibrocystic breasts. Despite a great deal of evidence citing no benefit and much harm from mammograms women are recommended to have them annually.

   There is disagreement as to the age women should commence this procedure.

   Characteristics of Fibrocystic Breasts

   Fibrocystic changes are characterized by breasts that are lumpy with many irregularities in the breast tissue itself. Fibrocystic breasts seem to occur when a woman’s breasts are overly sensitive to fluctuating hormone levels. Women with fibrocystic changes may have pain and/or lumps.

   Over half of all women will experience fibrocystic breasts at some time in their lives, but are fibrocystic breasts really a “disease”?

   Many in the medical community say referring to it as a disease is a “misnomer.”

   Fibrocystic disease or syndrome is highly prevalent in today’s industrialized nations. This may be common, but it doesn’t make it normal. It is important to note that the symptoms of fibrocystic breasts are different from those of breast cancer.

   When you have fibrocystic breasts, you should not experience:

   • Any type of irregular nipple discharge
   • Bleeding from the nipples
   • A growth or firming of specific lumps over time
   • Changes in breast skin, such as the development of a rash, redness, or the formation of dimpling of the skin
   • A thickening of the skin
   • Changes in nipple angle (pointing more down, sideways or up than normal)
   • The inversion of the nipple into the body
   • Discoloration of the nipple or areola
   • Changing in shape of the areola

   If you experience any of the above symptoms, contact your medical professional immediately for a thorough examination.

   Fibrocystic breast is associated with estrogen dominance. It can occur due to changes in a woman’s hormonal levels and is more common in women of child-bearing age.

   However, this is not limited to women of childbearing age. As seen in thermographic imaging, it can show up in women of all ages.

   This is not just limited to women either as estrogen dominance is also seen in men. Please note as the thermogram can see estrogen dominance, not all experience will experience physical changes in their breast tissue.

   This is not a time to panic, but to become proactive.

   Thermography For Fibrocystic Breasts

   The good news is that thermal imaging/thermography and ultrasound can distinguish between fibrocystic breasts (an almost universally experienced condition) and breast cancer (a significantly less common disease).

   Thermography has the ability to show the heat associated with the backup of estrogens and xenoestrogens in the body, because synthetic estrogens and hormones affect breast and fatty tissue with distinct heat patterns that can only be seen on Infrared Thermal Imaging.

   These estrogens show up classically as leopard spots or mottling in thermographic images reflecting inflammation. It is one way you are able to assess the severity of this syndrome and response to lifestyle changes that you will be making. With thermography you can get a real live time image of the toxic load your breast may be carrying.

   

    

   There is much you can do to reverse fibrocystic breasts and lessen your risk factors, as these can increase your risk of having breast cancer anywhere from two-fold to six-fold.

   The Risk Of Environmental Estrogens

   When it comes to breast cancer, and breast health, one of the greatest concerns is exposure to environmental estrogens.

   There are many kinds of estrogens that are not tested in routine hormone profiles. Environmental contaminants known as xenoestrogens and Bisphenol-A(S) attach to receptor sites and mimic biological estrogens, disrupting your entire endocrine system.

   Studies have shown that chronic endocrine dysfunction can lead to cancer, birth defects, infertility, depression, mood disorders, blood abnormalities, frequent illnesses, chronic fatigue, and severe immune suppression.

   Our constant exposure to environmental toxins may be partially attributed to the alarming increase in cancers. Estrogen dominance is evident in the weight gain around the midsection.

   In thermography it is very common to see the leopard spots, or mottling from the estrogens on fatty tissue, especially belly fat. Fat has been called the third estrogen. The more adipose or fatty tissue there is on a person, the more mottling and estrogen dominance can show up in the thermographic image. That alerts me to suggest to the patient a metabolic detox and balancing of the hormones.

   This woman needs a metabolic detox:

   

    

   Estrogen Dominance

   Estrogen dominance is a condition that occurs when there are abnormally high levels of estrogen in the body and reduced levels of progesterone, which has been linked not only to the development of fibrocystic breasts but also to the development of breast cancer.

   According to the late Dr. John Lee, “We believe estrogen dominance is an unrecognized risk factor for breast cancer, and in this context, it makes sense that chronically lumpy and painful breast would also be a risk factor.”

   To quote Dr. Patrick Fratellone, “Whenever you find these estrogens on a woman’s breast in thermography get rid of it as soon as possible. These are toxins. You wouldn’t leave toxins lying on your kitchen table, so why would you leave them on your breast?”

   Most doctors know about estrogen deficiency but not estrogen dominance. If you would like more information on how to detox these toxins from your body, contact me for a consultation on recommended lifestyle changes with supplementations that decrease estrogen.

   A Six-Month Comprehensive Protocol for Women to Detox and Reduce Harmful Environmental Estrogens While Optimizing and Restoring Breast Health

   Prior exam:

   

   Six-month follow up after detox:

   

    

   Yours in Radiant Health,
   Patricia Luccardi

   Offering Breast, Upper Body and Full Body Exams

   PS: Stay on top of your thermographic follow up. Refer a friend and get $50 off your next follow up. Contact me today to schedule.

   Thermography is radiation-free, painless, safe, preventive screening regardless of age, size, density or nursing.

2. How Gratitude is a Great Attitude for Health and Happiness

   January 6, 2020 7:26 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Gratitude may be one of the most overlooked tools that we all have access to every day. Cultivating gratitude doesn’t cost any money and it certainly doesn’t take much time, but the benefits are enormous.

   This article written by Ocean Robbins for the Food Revolution Network talks about the neuroscience behind gratitude. I am grateful for the piece and want to share it with you. Enjoy!

   Practicing Gratitude is A Powerful Action for Health and Happiness

   Gratitude, it turns out, makes you happier and healthier. If you invest in a way of seeing the world that is mean and frustrated, you’re going to get a world that is more mean and frustrating and it actually lowers your immune functions. But if you can find any authentic reason to give thanks… anything at all that you’re grateful for in your life or in the world and put your attention there, an overwhelming body of research indicates you’re going to experience more joy, vitality, and inner peace.

   Gratitude doesn’t just make things feel better – it also makes them get better. According to recent research, gratitude is good for your physical, emotional, and mental health. People who express more gratitude have fewer aches and pains, better sleep, and stronger mental clarity.

   If Thankfulness Were A Drug… 

   “If [thankfulness] were a drug,” Dr. P. Murali Doraiswamy, head of the division of biologic psychology at Duke University Medical Center, tells us: “it would be the world’s best-selling product with a health maintenance indication for every major organ system.”

   As Dr. Doraiswamy explains, studies have shown how the expression of gratitude leads to measurable effects on multiple body and brain systems.

   These include:

   • Mood neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine)
   • Reproductive hormones (testosterone)
   • Social bonding hormones (oxytocin)
   • Cognitive and pleasure related neurotransmitters (dopamine)
   • Inflammatory and immune systems (cytokines)
   • Stress hormones (cortisol)
   • Cardiac and EEG rhythms
   • Blood pressure, and
   • Blood sugar

   Does Gratitude Really Cause Good Fortune?

   What if people who are fortunate, or who are particularly healthy, just feel more grateful? Does gratitude really cause good fortune, or is it just a byproduct?

   The answer surprised me, and it may surprise you, too.

   In a study conducted by Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., at the University of California at Davis and his colleague Mike McCullough at the University of Miami, randomly assigned participants were given one of three tasks. Each week, participants kept a short journal. One group briefly described five things they were grateful for that had occurred in the past week, another five recorded daily hassles from the previous week that displeased them, and the neutral group was asked to list five events or circumstances that affected them, but they were not told whether to focus on the positive or on the negative.

   Keep in mind that these groups were randomly assigned and that nothing about their lives was inherently different, other than the journaling they were doing.

   The types of things people listed in the grateful group included: “Sunset through the clouds;” “the chance to be alive;” and “the generosity of friends.”

   And in the hassles group, people listed familiar things like: “Taxes;” “hard to find parking;” and “burned my dinner.”

   After ten weeks, participants in the gratitude group reported feeling better about their lives as a whole and were a full 25 percent happier than the hassled group. They reported fewer health complaints, and they were now exercising an average of 1.5 hours more per week.

   In a later study by Emmons, people were asked to write every day about things for which they were grateful. Not surprisingly, this daily practice led to greater increases in gratitude than did the weekly journaling in the first study. But the results showed another benefit: Participants in the gratitude group also reported offering others more emotional support or help with a personal problem, indicating that the gratitude exercise increased their goodwill towards others, or more technically, their “pro-social” motivation.

   What’s The Brain Science Behind All This?

   Neuropsychologist Rick Hanson puts it this way: “The neurons that fire together, wire together… The longer the neurons [brain cells] fire, the more of them that fire, and the more intensely they fire, the more they’re going to wire that inner strength –- that happiness, gratitude, feeling confident, feeling successful, feeling loved and lovable.”

   And what’s going on in the brain leads to changes in behavior. Grateful people tend to take better care of themselves and to engage in more protective health behaviors, like regular exercise and a healthy diet. They’re also found to have lower levels of stress. And lowered levels of stress are linked to increased immune function and to decreased rates of cancer and heart disease.

   So it seems, you take better care of what you appreciate. And that extends to your body, and also to the people around you.

   Good For Your Relationships

   Not only does saying “thank you” constitute good manners but showing appreciation can also help you win new friends, according to a 2014 study published in Emotion.

   The study found that thanking a new acquaintance makes them more likely to seek an ongoing relationship. So whether you thank a stranger for holding the door or you send a quick thank-you note to that co-worker who helped you with a project, acknowledging other people’s contributions can lead to new opportunities.

   In a 2012 study conducted by the University of Kentucky, study participants who ranked higher on gratitude scales were found to have more sensitivity and empathy toward other people and a decreased desire to seek revenge.

   But What About Tough Times?

   As I was learning about this research, I was still a bit skeptical. Life can at times be brutal. Sometimes just surviving can feel like an accomplishment. Can you really feel grateful in times of loss?

   Yes, you can.

   In fact, findings s show that adversity can actually boost gratitude. In a Web-based survey tracking the personal strengths of more than 3,000 American respondents, researchers noted an immediate surge in feelings of gratitude after Sept. 11, 2001.

   Tough times can actually deepen gratefulness if we allow them to show us not to take things for granted. Dr. Emmons reminds us that the first Thanksgiving took place after nearly half the pilgrims died from a rough winter and year. It became a national holiday in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War and was moved to its current date in the 1930s following the Depression.

   Why would a tragic event provoke gratitude? When times are good, we tend to take for granted the very things that deserve our gratitude. In times of uncertainty, though, we often realize that the people and circumstances we’ve come to take for granted are actually of immense value to our lives.

   Robert Emmons, Ph.D., writes:” In the face of demoralization, gratitude has the power to energize. In the face of brokenness, gratitude has the power to heal. In the face of despair, gratitude has the power to bring hope. In other words, gratitude can help us cope with hard times.”

   In good times, and in tough times, gratitude turns out to be one of the most powerful choices you can make.

   Putting Gratitude To Work For You

   If you want to put all this into practice, here are some simple things you can do to build positive momentum:

   1) Say Grace:  Anytime you sit down to a meal with loved ones, take a moment to go around and invite everyone to say one thing they are grateful for. Even if you eat a meal alone, you can take a moment to give thanks.

   2) Keep A Daily Gratitude Journal: This really does work. And yes, there is an app for that.

   3) Share The Love: Make it a practice to tell a spouse, partner or friend something you appreciate about them every day.

   4) Remember Mortality: You never know how long you, or anyone you love, will be alive. How would you treat your loved ones if you kept in mind that this could be the last time you’d ever see them?

   Thank You

   Thank you for reading this. Thank you for being grateful for the blessings and even for the challenges that come your way. When you express gratitude, you make your world, and our whole world, better and brighter. Turn off the bad news and focus on being part of the change. We are all in this together!

   Thank you and may you all continue to make health your number one priority and please stay on top of your thermographic follow ups! Happy New Year.

   Yours in radiate health,
   Patricia