Breast cancer is the commonest form of cancer in women. Overall mortality remains about 50 per cent at five years. It appears to run in families and strikes hard unmarried women or married women who have no children, those who do not nurse their babies, or who are infertile and have no child before thirty. Eight out of ten chest lumps are benign.

BREAST CANCER SYMPTOMS

A small lump comes to light while washing, a discharge from the nipple, change in nipple size and colour, irregular contour of the breast surface. Though tissue change is likely to be a cyst, speedy diagnosis and treatment are necessary. Some hospital physicians and surgeons are known to view favourably supportive herbal aids, and do not always think in terms of radical mastectomy. Dr Finaly Ellingwood, Chicago physician (1916) cured a case by injection of one dram Echinacea root extract twice a week into the surrounding tissues.

The condition is believed to be due to a number of causes including suppression of ovulation and oestrogen secretion in pregnant and lactating women. A high fat diet is suspected of interference with the production of oestrogen. Some women are constitutionally disposed to the condition which may be triggered by trauma or emotional shock. Increase in incidence in older women has been linked with excessive sugar consumption.

SUGAR CONSUMPTION LINKS TO BREAST CANCER

Sugar “consumption overwhelms the pancreas which has to push it out to all parts of the body (when broken down by the digestive process) whether they need it or not. The vital organs are rationed according to their requirements of nutrients from the diet. What is left over had to go into store elsewhere. And the breast is forced to take its share and store it. If it gets too much, for too long, it may rebel!” (Stephen Seely, Department of Bacteriology and Virology, Manchester).

BREAST-FEEDING LINKS TO BREAST CANCER

“Women who nurse their babies less than one month are at an increased risk for breast cancer. The longer a woman breast-feeds – no matter what her age – the more the risk decreases” (Marion Tompson, co-founder, The La Leche League, in the American Journal of Epidemiology).

Lactation reduces the risk of pre-menopausal breast cancer. (Newcomb P.A. et al New England Journal of Medicine, 330 1994).

BREAST CANCER TREATMENT

There is currently no treatment to cure metastatic breast cancer. In spite of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy survival rate has not diminished. Herbs not only have a palliative effect but, through their action on hormone function offer a positive contribution towards overcoming the condition. Their activity has been widely recorded in medical literature. Unlike cytotoxic drugs, few have been known to cause alopecia, nausea, vomiting or inflammation of the stomach.

Treatment has to be done by a general medical practitioner or oncologist. Some special investigations are low radiation X-ray mammography to confirm diagnosis and test fo detection of oestrogen receptor protein.

BREAST CANCER HERBAL TREATMENT

Surgery may be necessary, but some patients may opt out from strong personal conviction, choosing a rigid self-disciplined approach – the Gentle Way. Every effort is made to build up the body’s natural defences (immune system).

An older generation of herbalists believed tissue change could follow a bruise on the breast, which should not be neglected but immediately painted with Tincture Arnica or Tincture Bellis perennis. Vincristine, an alkaloid from Vinca rosea (Catharanthus roseus) is used by the medical profession as an anti-neoplastic and anti-mitotic agent to inhibit cell division.

OTHER NATURAL HEALING FOR BREAST CANCER

Blue Flag Root, Burdock root, Chaparral, Clivers, Comfrey root, Echinacea, Figwort, Gotu Kola, Marshmallow root, Mistletoe, Myrrh, Prickly Ash bark, Red Clover, Thuja, Wild Violet, Yellow Dock.

Tea

Equal parts: Red clover, Clivers, Gotu Kola, Wild Violet. 1 heaped teaspoon to each cup boiling water; infuse 5-15 minutes. 3 or more cups daily.

Decoctions

Echinacea, Blue flag root, Queen’s delight, Yellow dock.

Tablets/capsules

Blue flag root, Echinacea, Poke root, Mistletoe.

Formula

Echinacea 2; Gotu Kola 1; Poke root 1; Mistletoe 1; Vinca Rosea 1.

Mix. Dose: Powders: 500mg (two 00 capsules or one-third teaspoon). Liquid extracts: 1 teaspoon. Tinctures: 2 teaspoons. Thrice daily and at bedtime. According to progress of the disease, increase dosage as tolerated.

Maria Treben’s Tea

Parts: Marigold 3, Yarrow 1, Nettles 1.

Mix. 2 teaspoons to each cup boiling water. 1 cup as many times daily as tolerated.

William Boericke, M.D. recommends Houseleek, E.H. Ruddock M.D. favours figwort.

BREAST CANCER TOPICAL TREATMENT

Here are some treatments believed to be of therapeutic value or for use as a soothing application.

1. Cold poultice: Comfrey root.
2. Poultice of fresh Marshmallow root pulped in juicer.
3. Injection of extract Greater Celandine (Chelidonium). locally, gained a reputation in the Eclectic school.
4. The action of Blood root (Sanguinaria) is well known as a paint or injection.
5. Ragwort poultice: 2oz Ragwort boiled in half a pint potato water for 15 minutes.
6. Popular Russian traditional remedy: Badiaga (Spongilla fluviatilis), fresh water sponge gathered in the autumn; dried plant rubbed to a powder. Poultice.
7. Maria Treben’s Poultice: Carefully washed fresh Plantain leaves, pulped, and applied direct to the lesion.
8. If lymph glands are affected, apply Plantain poultice to glands.
9. Dr Brandini’s treatment. Dr Brandini, Florence, used 4 grains Citric Acid (prepared from lemons) in 1oz (30ml) water for ulcerated cancer of the breast considered incurable. “The woman’s torments were so distressing that neither she nor other patients could get any rest. Applying lint soaked in the solution, relief was instantaneous. Repeated, is was successful“.
10. Circuta leaves. Simmered till soft and mixed with slippery Elm bark powder as a poultice morning and night.
11. Decoction. Simmer gently Yellow Dock roots, fine cut or powdered, 1oz to 1 pint, 20 minutes. Saturate lint or suitable material and apply.
12. Yellow Dock ointment. Half ounce Lobelia seed, half ounce Yellow Dock root powder. Baste into an ointment base.
13. Infusion, for a use as a wash. Equal parts: Horsetail, Red Clover, Raspberry leaves. 1oz to 1 pint boiling water infuse 15 minutes.
14. Dr Christopher’s ointment. Half an ounce White Oak, half an ounce Garden Sage, half an ounce Tormentil, half an ounce Horsetail, half an ounce Lemon Balm. Method: Boil gently  half an hour in quart water, strain. Reduce to half a pint by simmering. Add half a pound honey. Bring to boil. Skim off scum. Aloow cool. Apply: twice daily on sores.
15. Dr Finlay Ellingwood. Poke root juice. “Fresh juice from the stems, leaves and roots applied directly to diseased tissue.  Exercises a selective action; induces liquefaction and promotes removal, sometimes healing the open wound and encouraging  scar formation. Masses of such tissue have been known to be destroyed in a few weeks with only a scar, with no other application but the fresh juice. Produces pain at first, but is otherwise harmless“.
16. Lesion painted with Mandrake resin (American podophyllum).
17. Dust affected parts with Confrey powder. Mucilage from Comfrey powder or crushed root wuth the aid of a little milk.
18. Dr Samuel Thomson’s Cancer Plaster. “Take heads of Red Clover and fill a kettle. Boil in water for one hour. Remove and fill kettle with fresh flower heads.Boil as before in the same liquor. Strain and press heads to express all the liquor. Simmer over a low fire till the consistency of tar. It must not burn. Spread over a piece of suitable material“.
19. Wipe affected area with cut Houseleek (Dr Wm Boericke).
20. Chinese Herbalism. Take 1-2 Liang pulverised liao-ko-wang (Wickstroemia indica), mix with cold boiled water of rice wine for local compress. Also good for mastitis.
21. Italian women once used a old traditional remedy – Fenugreek tea.
22. A clinical trial of vitamin D provided encouraging results. Patients with locally andvanced breast cancer were given an highly active vitamin D analogue cream to rub on their tumors. “It was effective in one third of the tumours”, said Professor Charles Coombes, clinical oncologist, Charing Cross Hospital, London.

Source: Bartram’s encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine – Robinson

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