Mammograms

I decided a few years ago that I would never undergo a mammogram.

I had heard and read negative stories, here and there, which activated my 'be wary' instincts.

When I mentioned it to my Dr, whom I haven't seen for a consultation for almost five years, he suggested that I have an ultrasound instead, which I agreed to consider - but I won't be having one of those either.

The results of a recent study were published in the British Medical Journal and also in the New York Times in mid February ...

"One of the largest and most meticulous studies of mammography ever done, involving 90,000 women and lasting a quarter of a century, has added powerful new doubts about the value of the screening test for women of any age.

It found that the death rates from breast cancer and from all causes were the same in women who got mammograms and those who did not. And the screening had harms: one in five cancers found with mammography and treated was not a threat to the woman's health and did not need treatment such as chemotherapy, surgery or radiation."

Unfortunately, breast cancer is big business, and mammography is one of its primary profit centers. This is why the industry is fighting tooth and nail to keep it, even if it means ignoring the truth.

Several studies over the past few years have concluded that mammograms do not save lives, and may actually harm more women than they help, courtesy of false positives, over treatment, and radiation-induced cancers.

Besides the harm caused by over treatment, the wisdom of radiating your breasts year after year, for decades, is questionable at best, considering the fact that ionising radiation can cause cancer.

I believe that cancer prevention begins with lifestyle choices.

• Avoid sugar and processed foods
• Optimise your Vitamin D levels - with sunshine, not supplements.
• Avoid unfermented soy products.
• Exercise - you don't have to be a gym junky, walking or rebounding is excellent.
• Maintain a healthy body weight - which is easy when you cut out sugar and processed foods.
• Drink vegetable smoothies/juices (organic)
• Avoid, or at least limit your alcohol intake.
• Avoid synthetic hormone replacement therapy.  Breast cancer is an estrogen related cancer, and according to a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, breast cancer rates for women dropped in tandem with decreased use of hormone replacement therapy. (There are similar risks for younger women who use oral contraceptives. Birth control pills, which are also comprised of synthetic hormones, have been linked to cervical and breast cancers.)

Of course, if you want to be pedantic, there are many, many more things that you can do to reduce your risk of breast cancer, but this is a good start.

A couple of photos from today and yesterday.

I've had such a lazy day today .. and have enjoyed every slothful minute of it!

Nite all.

Announcement

As of next week, I'll be studying part time 15 hours per week.

I'll be studying the Advanced Diploma in Nutritional Medicine and I'm very excited about it!

It's Friday night - I had 3 glasses of wine at the club tonight, then came home and made pumpkin soup and honey garlic chicken wings and banana/walnut muffins.

Lastly I watched one of my favourite movies "PS I Love You"

Now I am exhausted .. it's time to sleeeeeeeeep.

Nite all.

Monty Morning

It was a quiet morning at the Seat of Knowledge today, but that was a good thing because there was a little first time visitor who was happy to pose for a few shots.  Here is one of them ...

This Carpet Python was less than two feet long, and hung around for about an hour.

I think he came from the rocks that line the banks of the river, because it was a very high tide this morning and after the tide turned and began to go out, he found his way back to the rocks.

It was a beautiful morning and you can see in the background of this shot, how blue the water was.

When it was time for everybody to go home and have some breakfast, I came home and put my chicken bone broth on to simmer.

I had a hair appointment at 11am and had three inches cut from the length of my hair!  It looks and feels a lot better .. it's been almost 3 months since I've had a trim and I was beginning to look a bit bedraggled.

I arrived home in time to put the lamb shanks into the slow cooker so that they would be cooked early enough that Adoring Husband could eat before his SES meeting.

The highlight of my day was after I had chased the dogs away from the back fence (they were barking at our new neighbourly dog, George) and I came back inside to discover Helen, the solo chicken, INSIDE the house and she had done a nice big fat birdie 'do-do' in the middle of the floor!

Lucky we have a tiled floor because it was the size of a saucer!!  UGH!!

That was not pleasant!

But this is ...

I took this photo on our road trip in January.  It was a very misty and sometimes rainy day, which helped create this lovely soft light.

And THIS is the end of my day.

Nite all.

Questions you should ask.

When you visit your doctor, do you sit and wait for him/her to ask you a barrage of questions?

Or do you do all the asking?

Do you write down questions before your visit, so that you don't forget anything?

Or do you have complete faith in the fact that your doctor knows exactly what he is doing and will indeed do the right thing by you?

Considering that your doctor sees approximately 40 patients each day, for a maximum of 15 minutes (I'm being generous) each, and considering that he has approximately 500 patients on his books (am I being conservative?) - do you really believe that he can know your body well enough to make an informed, educated decision about what you really need?
These are the sorts of questions that you should ask your doctor:

• "When was the last time that you refreshed your skills?"  Doctors who graduated more than 20 yrs ago are 48% less likely to stay up-to-date on developments and are equally unaware of current treatment guidelines.  They will continue to prescribe medication that has been proven ineffective or dangerous.
• "What is that?"  Poor handwriting is responsible for 61% of medication errors and more than a million patient injuries each year.  If you can't read the prescription, chances are the pharmacist can't either.
• "Do I really need this test?"  Doctors often adhere to the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy and order tests to protect themselves in case of law suits.  Harvard researchers found that 16% of all prostate cancer screenings are unnecessary.  80% of PSA are false positives and thousands of men undergo needless biopsies each year.  Also, British researchers say that the radiation from CT scans causes an estimated 5695 cases of cancer each year.
• "What is the name of this drug and how will this drug help me?" 
• "How long before I should expect to see results?"
• "What are the primary short term side effects?"
• "Does it have any long term side effects?"
• "Do you monitor this medication?  Are there any specific tests that you run to help monitor it?"
• "How will I know when to either stop taking this medication or change the dose?"
• "Why have you chosen this particular medication over others?"

They're just a few questions to ask.  You can bet your bottom dollar that the doctor won't know the answer to some of those questions and will have to check his computer screen a number of times.

Recently, a friend of mine discovered that he was given a dangerous medication for his condition, and was rushed to hospital in the middle of the night, because his Dr had forgotten that he was treating him for a specific cancer and gave him something that reacted badly with his cancer medication.

It's up to you to take control of your own health.  Ask the right questions and try to educate yourself about your condition.

There is so much information on line and if you're not sure if you can trust that information, then write it down and ask your doctor or a nutritionist or naturopathic practitioner.  Trust your instincts.

*If you type into google 'medicines safety update Australia' it gives you pages and pages of information about all the different drugs and their updates.*

For example - a common diabetic drug has been linked to heart failure, oedema and bladder cancer.  This information is not provided to you, but is provided to your doctor, who has been advised to 'administer with care'.

And this shows how much more dangerous paracetamol is and the warnings that had to be corrected on their labels.

Proton Pump Inhibitors, which are taken for GERD and stomach ulcers, are one of the most widely used classes of drugs in Australia.  130 million prescriptions have been issued since 1992, yet these drugs reduce bone density and patients are experiencing fractures in the spine, wrists, ankles and hips.  They also cause chronic magnesium deficiencies (which explains reduced bone density).  PPIs are only supposed to be taken for a period of weeks, yet Drs are not monitoring and most people are on them for 6 months to a year, before Drs take any action, if at all.

You know that I could go on and on, but I think you get the drift.

Something else that you should consider is that when a generic brand is available for your issued prescription, generics do not have to be tested for safety.  Once a drug has been passed by the Australian authority, any changes to that drug and any generic brands that are produced, flow straight to the consumer without the requirements of testing.  (I know right?  Who knew?)

Generic brands may also have different information about side effects on their information sheet.

You can read all about it here.  In particular, the last paragraph under the section 'prescription drug regulation'.

To finish on a lighter note, a photo from my favourite cactus plant which burst into flower after the recent rains ..

.. and something for a giggle ..

Nite all.

Gut Feeling.

Do you eat well and take good care of yourself, but you still struggle with weight gain, sluggishness and various unexplained health issues?

It all has to do with the types of bacteria in your gut.

Most people think of bacteria as dirty or dangerous to your health, and bad bugs can actually make us sick, however, it's vitally important that we carry good bacteria in our gut to maintain good health and to heal us from illness and disease.

There is strong research suggesting that the gut is the key curing most illnesses and diseases, including mental illnesses and autoimmune diseases.

Humans harbour over 100 trillion bacteria, in and on, our body.  We contain ten times more bacteria than we have human cells!

Most of this bacteria lives in our gut.  Your gut is one of the most complex eco systems on the planet and if you don't look after it, you risk harming the health of your entire body.

Our digestive tract houses both good and bad bacteria, and in a healthy gut, the bad bacteria are limited and well controlled by the good bacteria.  If the good bacteria are weakened, the bad bacteria take control and your health is compromised.

What kinds of things lead to bad bacteria taking control?

• Sugar: It promotes the growth of bad bacteria in the gut and therefore hampers the good bacteria. Diets high in sugar, refined carbohydrates and processed foods basically provide an all-you-can-eat buffet for the bad bacteria to thrive. 
• Antibiotics: They are prescribed to kill bacteria but unfortunately they kill the good AND the bad guys. When the good bacteria die off,  bad bacteria take off, and can outnumber the good in no time. While antibiotics can be lifesaving, we need to be much more prudent in our use of them, in both medicine and agriculture.
• Stress: Stress can also greatly impact our gut bacteria. 
• Obsession with cleanliness: Our overenthusiastic use of antibacterial soaps, lotions, wipes and sprays weakens our good bacteria.

The good news is that there are simple steps that you can take that can help create a healthier balance of bacteria in your gut and improve your overall health.

Some simple things to help correct your gut.  

• Cut out sugar, refined carbohydrates and processed foods: This should be your number one priority because the gut can't restore itself while you continue to eat these highly inflammatory foods.
• Introduce fermented foods to your diet. Fermented foods such as sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir are rich in beneficial probiotic bacteria so they help inoculate the gut with more good bugs.  This is a great place to find information about making your own fermented food.
• Eat plenty of prebiotic foods (i.e. foods rich in soluble fibre): Prebiotic foods are like fertiliser for the good bacteria in your gut. Sweet potato, raw onions, garlic, asparagus, Brussels sprouts and avocado are some of the best prebiotic foods to add to your diet.  Raw, unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (like Braggs) is also fantastic.

So that's my advice on the subject.  Take it or leave it.

While BGWLBH and I were on our road trip in January, we stopped at a lookout at Wollomombi, east of Armidale, which overlooked the Wollomombi Gorge.

It was a massive gorge - not as massive as the Grand Canyon of course - but while we were standing there, on the lookout, a Wedge Tailed Eagle loomed from below us!  It just appeared from nowhere and there I was with my camera, panicking and shaking and trying to aim and focus and fire in the ten seconds that the beautiful raptor was in my line of sight.

I missed my opportunity.  I could have kicked myself because I dream of the perfect Wedge Tailed Eagle shot.

You can see by this shot, that he was very very close and if I had been on the ball, the perfect shot was to be had. *sigh*

Ah well ... next time.

Nite all.

Dog of a NIght

Yesterday, while working in the kitchen, one of my dogs (Colli - a Shihtzu/Maltese), shrieked as she walked out of the kitchen.

I wondered if I had inadvertently stepped on her tail or something, so I gave her a pat and thought nothing more of it.

Later that evening before we went to bed, she gave another shriek, so I checked her feet and all over her body to see if she might have a thorn or prickle embedded somewhere, but I couldn't find anything.

I put her to bed (she sleeps in the laundry) at around midnight and went to bed myself.

I couldn't settle at all and even got out of bed at 2am to have a shower, hoping that would relax me into sleep.

At about 3.30am, just as I was dozing off for the first time, we woke to the sound of her shrieking.

At first I thought it was OB (the lorikeet) because she shrieks like that all the time!

But then I heard Adoring Husband's very distressed voice calling my name, so out of bed I climbed, and found Colli cowering on the floor with her back hunched and looking very unhappy indeed.

Once again, I felt all over her body and checked her feet.  Her tummy wasn't distended and she didn't flinch when I squeezed any part of her body.  I had no clue.

Meanwhile, AH was searching online, for 'all night' vets.

I decided to bring her into our bed for the rest of the night and then we would take her to the vets first thing in the morning.

She found a comfy spot snuggling into me and fell asleep for about 30 minutes before she squirmed and whined and then found a more comfortable position.  This went on all night, until I fell asleep just after 6am.

As I tried to move into a more comfortable position, a bit over an hour later, she woke with more shrieking.  Sigh.

So, much to AH's horror, I began to fill the laundry tub to give her a bath.  I thought that if I could wet her fur down, I could feel her skin much better and I might find the problem.

Then I went back into the bedroom to get her and found her frantically licking one of her feet.  I checked to discover that the dewclaw on her right front foot had grown into a complete circle and had pierced her leg!

So I took her into the laundry and performed some delicate surgery to cut and remove the offending claw, gave her a bath, clipped her claws and gave her a bit of a hair cut .. moments later she was running around the backyard having a wonderful time!

What an ordeal!  Poor Adoring Husband came close to having a nervous breakdown!  He's not good with situations that he can't control and is especially fragile when it comes to his canine babies.

Here she is catching up on some much needed sleep ...

So I'm issuing AH an invoice for services rendered, with a family discount of course!!  I think $240 should cover it + a bit extra for the fuel that I saved him!  Maybe I should add a bit more, for the fact that he didn't have to miss out on his morning at the SES shed!

All's well that ends well.

Nite all.

Kitchen Success!

I woke with much more energy and motivation this morning!

We had a Sunday morning sleep in until about 8.30am - which is very unusual for both of us.

I spent the entire day in the kitchen and made:

• Seedy Bread
• Tangy Mayonnaise
• Key Lime Pie
• Four Cheese Spinach Tart
• Moroccan Lamb and Rice
• Nut Seed Spheres
• Coconuted Cream

I did stop for lunch, which was a slice of spinach tart, with fresh prawns and some of my mayo with lime zest.

Delicious.

Tomorrow, if I have the same level of energy and motivation, I want to make some feta cheese and some Greek yoghurt.  I definitely need to make something chocolatey too.  Oh and some ice cream!

It's well after midnight.  I need sleep.

Nite all.