Tiease's Advice to Fashionistas After-Mammography

Tiease's Advice to Fashionistas After Your Mammography

By now any cognitive Fashionista is all too aware of the importance of early breast cancer detection, although a mammogram is the leading method for early detection, not all cancers are revealed through this procedure. In order to serve your best interest you must become a Pro-Self-Health Advocate and utilize all of the following interventions in your stay-alive arsenal: Annual physical exam, professional breast palpitation exam performed by your health care provider, self-breast examination, then mammography. A yearly and/or bi-yearly Mammography should be performed after age 40 or earlier if you have a family history of breast cancer. Be your own hero and train yourself to perform a self-breast exams as part of your overall breast screening game plan.


My mission is to educate Fashionistas to Self-Health Advocacy & encourage active participant in your own preventative breast health care and quality of life!


                          Pictorial on Self-Breast Assessment

The first thing you need to do is familiarize yourself with how your breasts normally looks and feels. Examine yourself several days after your period ends, when your breasts are least likely to be swollen and tender. If you are no longer having periods, Select a day that you can remember.

BFF Self-Breast Exam Video

Starting a journal to record your  findings from your monthly or bi-monthly self-breast-exams is prudent since accurate total memory recall is unreliable. You can also prepare a simple breast map in which you record when and where you feel lumps or irregularities. This helps you keep an accurate account of what's going on physically with your breast so that you can refer back to your notes when ever you desire. It's common  for lumps to appear during hormonal phases of the month and then go away (if you're still menstruating). Changes lasting beyond one full cycle, or when lump seems to get larger and/or more prominent require professional assessment. Contact your medical provider stat (immediately). On a more personal note, I believe laughter and having fun have a healing effect and so does prayer.


  What Happens after you've completed your Mammography


After your mammography procedure you may experience some discomfort from the breast compression during your exam. You shouldn't be alarmed if as a result of the compression, there is some temporary skin discoloration involving one or both breast. Occasionally there will be some aching for a few days afterwards. Unless contraindicated by your health care provider you can use an over-the-counter pain reliever of your choice. I've had two different types of Mammography breast exams one in which my breast was compressed (A most uncomfortable experience and depending on the skill and gentleness of the technician administering the exam has caused me pain) the other mammogram exam I had didn't require compressed and personally I prefer the ladder. Both ways produce results and I prefer not having my breast squeezed to a pulp, however there are some benefits of the breast compression technique during a mammography. By compressing the breast supposedly better images are achieved and the specialist contend that less radiation is used during the compression method.


In most situations your results should be ready in two weeks or a little less. Often your health care provider may request the results of recent mammograms you've had in the past to compare the results simultaneously. When this is done it takes a little longer before you receive the results from your exam. In any case it's important to relax, laugh and enjoy yourself rather than biting your finger nails down to a nub in dreaded anticipation. Remember you generate powerful signals out into your own universe and make your own reality in so many ways, so why not think positive thoughts and anticipate only good things.


                  Breast & Self Heath Advocacy


What Lumpiness really means?


It's fairly easy to say,"Don’t panic if you feel a lump."but you're human and alarm to a possible life-threatening situation is normal. Take comfort in the fact that the majority of women have some lumps and/or bumpy areas in their breasts normally. Be comforted in the fact that here at home in the USA approximately 20% of women who detect a suspicious lump are biopsied as benign (meaning free of cancer).


When it comes to lumps every woman can empathize with the terror and the anxiety which engulfs one who detects a lump in your breast. Fortunately every lump does not automatically equal breast cancer in fact more often than not a lump is benign. Lumps are caused by any number of changes in the female body.  After all the female body is a complex living work of art and spectacular accomplishment in anatomy and physiology. Small wonder there are so many ways to screw-up the system and/or alter body homeostasis.  Educating yourself to the facts can help reduce your anxiety should you detect a suspicious breast mound.


Hormones the feminine body causes all types of weird and unexpected changes to occur without any forewarning. Take comfort in the fact that no one knows your body like you do, so if you feel that something is one-off then your intuition warrants action. You may be surprised to learn that some lumps are perfectly normal within the breasts. The process of menstrual cycles affects the body dramatically and in various ways depending upon the individual. P=re-menstrual lumps and  tenderness are par for the course during child bearing years. Ordinarily a woman's upper area near your armpits tends to have the most prominent lumps. The lower portion of the breast can feel like a bean bag. Underneath your nipple may feel like a small seed there are many possible sizes of lumps.


There are a few things which may help reduce the possibility developing these benign lumps, such as:  Avoiding caffeine and caffeine rich products if it causes lumps.  If you don't know if by consuming caffeine more lumps develop for you  you can perform a simple assessment to find out if caffeine is increasing the lumpiness of your breast. Be forewarned this activity involves eliminating caffeine and caffeine rich products from your diet completely for a couple of months to test whether or not lumps decrease in size and development. I know for coffee lovers out there this will take will-power but when you consider the benefits and the positive data you will gleam from this data it's well worth refraining from temporarily caffeine.


Pre-period lumps are usually symmetrical in both of your upfront girls. Cystic breast disorder is a common disorder causing cyst and/or lumps to occur in the breast, which is not fatal in itself but does increase the risk of developing breast cancer further down the line. If you notice any dramatic changes in the lumps of your breast don't panic, but do take action. Have your health care provider examine your breast to assess for any alarming changes and tell your provider if you have noticed any unusual nipple discharge, discoloration or unusual mole development. If your health care provider decides it is necessary a biopsy of the breast affected area will be performed. In the mean-time continue to perform your monthly self breast examines, always avoid trauma to your delicate breast tissue, because injuries to the breast cells does increased potential for breast cancer. For ladies over 40 years you must decide on a yearly or bi-yearly exam. You and your health care provider can sit down and discuss how frequently you should have a mammogram depending on your past medical history and risk factors.


Personally I feel that a free Mammography exam should made available for every US woman. There are so many poor women who die from breast cancer due to the fact they don't have access to health care and by the time they are so sick that symptoms force them to an emergency room the cancer has progressed to advanced stages and is terminal. Put your hands together in support of this never happening to another woman again. This is why social health care for every American citizen was such a good idea, unfortunately our country still Denys this basic human necessity to its women and shamefully boast of being one of the riches countries on earth.


 MEASURE YOUR OWN BREAST SIZE 



                              Breast Health Tips:


Keep your salt intake under 1,500 milligrams daily because excess salt makes it difficult for your body to manage the infamous water weight gain and puffiness brought on by hormonal changes which occur 12 to 14 days premenstrual phase.


A healthy diet full of calcium, vitamin C, magnesium and B-complex vitamins are helpful in relieving breast tenderness.


Vitamin E 200-400 units daily may also help ease discomfort associated with tender breast.




I believe in making self-health advocacy easy for the everyday woman facing a fast paced complicated world.






                        Copyright 7/10/2011 by T. D. Deutsch R.N./Writer/Artist