Thermography

Hey ladies, this post is for you!  Not the usual farm post but nonetheless it is worth reading.  Please remember these views are strictly mine.  With this post, I hope to give information to those who are unaware or to give more info to those who might have heard of thermography but have yet to try it. It is not my intention to upset anyone who is a practioner in the traditional medical workforce, I just feel that this testing is worth my time.

Today I received breast thermography.  No, it is not a mammogram or anything like it which is why I prefer this method for the time being.  Breast thermography is a clinical diagnostic procedure which uses highly specialized infra red cameras to measure the heat coming from the body, in this case, the breast.  Alternative med docs will most likely be able to administer this type of testing for you.  It takes several years for a cancerous growth to become a real danger beginning with the inflamed cells and finally reaching the tumor stage.  Studies are pointing with more frequency that inflammation is the precursor to cancers and all sorts of diseases.  Regarding breast issues, once you find a lump, your stage may be advanced or it could be nothing at all.  If your thermographic reading detects inflammation, then you have a chance to seek a more detailed examine thru mammography or ultrasound before the lump has developed to a size that is easy to detect.  I prefer ultrasound, though the standard medical rule is get a mammogram, receive a nice dose of radiation and if the results are positive then go get an ultrasound. 

I prefer to avoid the painful compression, the numerous false positives that so many of my friends have received, the emotional roller coaster, the incomplete results for those with dense tissue and fibroids, etc, and go right to the ultrasound.  However, since they are more expensive perhaps that is the reason the insurance companies require the mammogram first?  Maybe because medical community makes more money with all of the testing?  I am not sure...but I do know a nurse practitioner who works for an oncologist who privately told me that the ultrasound does a better job at cancer detection.  If I could afford the ultrasound or if the insurance company would agree to pay with no mammogram then I would alternate both ultrasound and thermography every couple of years just to be sure.  Okay back to thermography.

Breast thermography is cheap compared to mammography and ultrasound.  I paid $150 out of pocket since insurance companies will not pay for such procedures.  It is not painful.  No tissue is compressed.  No radiation is received.  This will be my third such procedure and my results will be compared with the past two.  The video link below offers an excellent view of the entire procedure and the explanations are superior.

For those of you who are interested, I linked several articles for further reading.  The last link is from the LA Times, about the FDA threatening a medical doctor to stop making claims about thermography.  Just this week the article was reported....Now how many times has the FDA disappointed us?  Hmmmm, first they tell us a drug is safe then five years later after the human population have been their test monkeys, they determine that the drug is no longer safe and causing all sorts of problems....thanks FDA, there are times when I do not trust you.  I rather be safe than sorry.  If thermography has the ability to give me a head's up before anything has a chance to grow into a tumor or can be manually discovered, then I am all for it. 

CBS NEWS Breast Thermography...See Exactly How it Works
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaS3VIyltJQ

YALE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE....Inflammation long been associated with the development of cancer...read ABSTRACT and click on articles on RIGHT COLUMN for further info.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1994795/

NEW LINK BETWEEN INFLAMATION AND PANCREATIC CANCER
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/04/110411121529.htm

BREAST CANCER WARNING SIGNS
http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/cancer/articles/2010/10/04/breast-cancer-warning-signs

FDA SCOLDS DOCTOR
http://www.latimes.com/health/ct-met-fda-warns-mercola-20110425,0,4080491.story