Lymphedema More Common Than You Think After Breast Cancer Treatment

The mainstream cancer treatment machine once again pulls the wool over your eyes when they minimize the side effects of the "sentinel lymph node biopsy" which often results in lymphedema in the arm where they remove the lymph nodes to check them. This is why I rejected that way of checking for cancer in my lymph nodes. I am of the belief that they are there for a reason and removing them to check them for cancer is ridiculous. Several doctors I saw during my ordeal touted this as a great improvement since they only take a "few" lymph nodes from the armpit area. Apparently in the past they used to remove way more - and I'm supposed to be delighted by this "improvement"?

For me, it would have been my right arm and if lymphedema had struck me, it would have severely limited by use of my right arm and I am right handed, active and athletic. I like to garden and do my own yard work. I play volleyball (although not lately) and this would have surely meant I could not continue to do these things.

I discovered there is a MUCH safer alternative to this barbaric procedure to CHECK the lymph nodes. It is called PEM or Positron Emmission Mammography. This is actually a PET scan of just the breasts and usually also includes the lymph node area as well. It can tell whether there is cancer activity in the lymph nodes nearest the breast WITHOUT removing them. A PEM scan is much less inflammatory to the breasts than a regular mammogram, although you are injected with radioactive sugar - so it's not something you want to use for regular screening for breast cancer. However, upon first suspicion that there is a lump that potentially could be breast cancer, it should be what is chosen to investigate further.

Women also have the alternative now of using Breast Thermography which I believe is the way to go for regular screening for breast cancer. The mainstream cancer doctors won't agree with me but in the end - do you really care what they think when they promote such unhealthy tests and treatments for cancer? I am a firm believer in "first do no harm" which apparently most in the medical profession today have forgotten.

The following article shows that most women are NOT fully informed of the risk of lymphedema by their doctors and that they DO in fact DOWNPLAY the risk because most breast surgeons are SO intent on surgery as the solution - even for "probable" ductal carcinoma - as in my case. They are SO eager to cut you - make no mistake about it. Funny how most breast surgeons are men isn't it? Would they be so eager to cut if it were their penis? They seem to think the breasts are expendable and many women choose to have both breasts removed so that they don't have to worry about breast cancer. Instead of heralding this I am shocked and saddened that women feel such animosity toward their breasts and such lack of confidence in their own immune system. I feel that this "preventative" strategy shows cowardice - not bravery. It is sad to see women buying into the fear machine of the cancer industry to the point that they would proactively remove their breasts to avoid it.

Trying to prevent lymphedema after breast cancer

By LAURAN NEERGAARD – Dec 30 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hospitals in about a dozen states are testing whether some simple steps, such as arm-strengthening exercises, could reduce the risk of one of breast cancer's troubling legacies — the painful and sometimes severe arm swelling called lymphedema. Lymphedema has long been a neglected side effect of cancer surgery and radiation: Many women say they never were warned, even though spotting this problem early improves outcomes.

And while less invasive surgical techniques mean fewer breast cancer patients today than just a few years ago should face lymphedema, it's a lingering threat for tens of thousands of survivors because it can strike two decades after their tumor was treated.

"I have ladies tell me the lymphedema is much worse than their cancer because the cancer's cured," says Dr. Electra Paskett, an epidemiologist at Ohio State University who is leading the first-of-its-kind research into possible protective steps.

Among them: Wearing elastic sleeves to counter temporary swelling during things like airplane flight or heavy lifting, and doing special exercises with light weights designed to help keep open the lymph channels that allow fluid to drain through the body.

"The theory is building up muscles in your arm acts as a natural pneumatic pump to move the fluid," explains Paskett, herself a breast cancer survivor who developed lymphedema.

When lymph nodes under a breast cancer patient's arm are removed or damaged by biopsy, surgery or radiation, lymph fluid can build up and cause anything from mild swelling to a ballooning of the arm.

...

But lymphedema among breast cancer survivors may be most common. It's been estimated to affect between 20 percent and 30 percent of patients who have 10 or more under-the-arm nodes examined, called an "axillary lymph node dissection."

...

Today, some women have far fewer nodes examined in a "sentinel node biopsy," and separate research suggests those women are far less likely to get later lymphedema — possibly as low as 5 percent, Paskett notes — although many don't qualify for the smaller surgery because of large tumors or other factors

But perhaps most concerning from the Iowa data, only 40 percent of the women with swollen arms but no diagnosis had heard of lymphedema and less than 2 percent had sought care for their arm symptoms.

So, you decide - do you want to potentially live with lymphedema or do you want to take steps to check them WITHOUT surgery? I have always thought it ridiculous that, the first doctor you are sent to when they think you have breast cancer is a BREAST SURGEON. How about sending women to an oncologist first hmm? I think it shows that mainstream medicine is still dominated by male thinking because of that.