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Are your nipples leaking?  Have you been told that nipple discharge is a sign of breast cancer?  Not to fear, more often than not this happens for benign (not cancerous) reasons.

Still, anytime you notice any kind change in one or both of your breasts, pay attention, ask questions, call your physician.

Discharge comes through the same openings breast milk does and may do so spontaneously or only when you squeeze your nipple(s).  Nipple discharge comes in many colors: milky, clear, brownish, yellow, green, or bloody.  The consistency can be thin, watery, thick and sticky.

 Suspicious leaking comes with strict guidelines:

• Discharge comes from only one nipple
• Discharge is associated with a lump
• Discharge consists of blood

Take a look at how many causes there are for nipple discharge:

Abscess

Breast cancer

Breast infection

Excessive breast stimulation

Fibroadenoma

Fibrocystic breasts

Ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

Galactorrhea

Hormone imbalance

Injury or trauma to the breast

Intraductal papilloma

Mammary duct ectasia

Medication use

Paget’s disease of the breast

Pregnancy

Prolactinoma

Breast cancer is not only a hot topic for women over 40.  The younger generation is very aware of the increasing prevalence of breast cancer in younger women.

I received a text from a healthy young woman.  She is 18 and has just gone off to college.  Here is how our texts read:

“I can feel a lump in my left breast.  What should I do?”

“How long have you felt it? Does it hurt?”

“Just a couple of days and yes”

“Where are you in your cycle?”

“I just finished my period a little over a week ago”

“Women with a certain type of breast tissue may start to feel painful lumps during certain times in their cycle.  It is most likely a cyst that will come and go.  It sounds like this may happen when you ovulate”

“What should I do about it?”

“Learn your cycle.  Decrease your caffeine intake especially when you are going to ovulate. You can also get some evening primrose oil (looks like Vit E capsules) and take 1 everyday.  When you think you are close to ovulating take 2 – 4 a day.”

“So it’s not cancer?”

“In early stages, cancer won’t typically cause pain.  Keep an eye on it to make sure it comes and goes, this should make you feel confident it is a cyst.”

“When should I be worried it is cancer?”

“Watch for other symptoms such as a painless hard lump, nipple discharge, puckering of your skin or just a difference in one breast when compared to the other.”

“Well I have none of those so I am GOOD! Thank you!”

This conversation alerted me to the fact that young women are in tune with their bodies but could use more education on the particulars.  Click For more info on fibrocystic breast tissue.

Please share any information regarding your experience with fibrocystic breasts!  In doing so you can help ease the minds of many.

The medical system of today truly is in desperate need of help. In fact one could say that it is working against us.  There are the women who work for a company that provides medical insurance for its employees.  Those companies are becoming harder to find because of the enormous costs of health care coverage.  Those few who are wealthy can pick and choose their insurance provider and individual plan without blinking.  Those that are in midst of difficult times and do not have a job and cannot afford premiums are covered by government programs.  That leaves the majority of women who fall into the category of employed without insurance but do not make enough money to afford medical insurance premiums.  If they cannot afford insurance, you can be sure they cannot afford preventative health care. These women are forced to forgo screening tests such as mammograms, pap smears, and blood tests.  Therefore, ailments that could be caught early are not diagnosed.

Screening mammograms have reduced mortality in women due to breast cancer by 63%.  Pap smears have reduced mortality in women due to cervical cancer by 75% .  Not to mention the HPV vaccines that teens may not be able to get because their parents can’t afford them without adequate medical insurance coverage.  Diagnosing both breast and cervical cancer early not only saves lives, but they also save the medical system.  Early diagnosis decreases costs of excessive follow up diagnostic tests, surgeries, therapies, and rehabilitation.  Not to mention the quality of life that would result.

These are just two extreme examples of female ailments.  There are many, many more that are not life threatening but do threaten the quality of life for a woman.  Acne, Adrenal Exhaustion,  Asthma, Candida, Fibrocystic Breasts, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, High Cholesterol, Hypertension, Insomnia, Kidney Stones, Menopause,Varicose Veins, and Vaginal Yeast Infections are only some of the “ailments” that eat away at our quality of life.

What if we were healthy from within?

What if we could prevent, or naturally cope, with common female ailments, on our own?

No one knows how and when our health care system will be “cured”.  But, until then, we adult women can be healthy.  We can help our teens learn how the take care of themselves from an early age.  It takes work, it takes time, it takes commitment, but it can be done.

WE CAN do it……together.