Breast Judgments

My first encounter with the dangers of judgments made on breasts wasn’t my own, but actually my mother’s. When she was a dashing young lady, she had gone to the doctor’s office to have her yearly check-up and breast exam.

Upon taking off her shirt to be examined, the doctor gasped at how large her breasts were (super inappropriate FYI, in this day and age but this was back in the 60s). My mother, being incredibly shy about her sexuality, was immediately embarrassed, turned red as a lobster and searched to get dressed immediately.

 So shocked was she by this judgment that she never had another breast exam again, until it was too late.

Judgments can damage our psyche, we don’t know how our words will fall on the ears receiving them. Judgments serve no purpose either, except pain. After all, no one asks the doctor to comment on how large they are, but rather how healthy they are.

My Mother’s Breast Cancer

Forty years later, my mother waited until blood came out of her nipple and a mass so large it was hard to avoid, came cauli-flowering out of her breast. With two doctors as daughters, we couldn’t believe that she had let the shame of an event that happened so long ago, impact her life now.

The diagnosis – stage 4 breast cancer. Devastating, with little to no time to act.

Because of this experience, I got over my breast bullsh*t and got into owning one of the most beautiful, female, flourishing features of my health.

Importance of Breast Exams

For this reason alone, every single woman in my naturopathic practice gets a yearly breast exam, done by our skilled naturopath assessment hands.

But some of us don’t have access to a doctor who is experienced or willing to do a breast exam, especially since now the recommendation is to avoid breast exams.

In countries where breast cancer is diagnosed at advanced stages, it is valuable to have patients understand breast self-examination as well as to be examined¹.

So this is extremely valuable. My mother was fortunate, even though she was at the extreme case, she survived with a combination of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy as well as naturopathic medicine. Her cancer was so far advanced that it was an impossibility to only do the natural route.

Self-Examination Is Invaluable

The comment I get in clinic time and time again is that most women don’t know what normal feels like. They feel that their breasts are lumpy and bumpy (a sign of estrogen dominance, or low iodine).

But let me tell you, the first time I did a breast exam I thought exactly the same thing! How was I going to identify anything going wrong if I can’t notice anything different?

Do you know what changed it? Practice, my friends, practice is the mother of all skills.

And what if you find lots of lumps and bumps? Make your way to your doctor and get checked out. It never hurts to be extra cautious.

There are many things you can do at home now to support cystic & lumpy breasts

So get to know your boobies! I know I’ve got saggy tits, and sometimes they really do look like sacks! But I love them because they are me 100% and I get to know them regularly so I can keep them a part of me for the long haul. They are my twins after all, and I can’t get another pair just like these (no judgment if you’ve had yours changed, just love!).

Do you know the difference between then and now? Now I love my breasts, I treat them better every single day because I have learned that they are an important part of who I am. They share my story.

I also want to share a quick recipe with castor oil for boob and lymphatic health. Castor oil has a long history of use for breast cancer. In fact, Hippocrates, known as the father of modern medicine was advocating it as a treatment in 460 BCE, as was another medicine man of the time, Galen in 200 BCE¹².

How To Use Castor Oil To Support Breast & Lymphatic Health.

1. Mix organic castor oil from a GLASS bottle with baking soda until it becomes a paste.

2. Add 2-3 drops of organic rosemary essential oil.

3. Rub into your armpits and over your breasts.

4. Leave on for an hour or more then rinse off.

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