Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (80 page)

Research shows that those who take iodine in doses ranging from 6 mg to 90 mg per day feel healthier and have a greater sense of well-being. Taking iodine at these levels eliminates breast pain from fibrocystic changes about 70 percent of the time.
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In one recent study of women with breast pain, more than half of those who took 6 mg of iodine daily reported a significant reduction in overall breast pain.
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The iodine decreases the ability of estrogen to adhere to estrogen receptors in the breast.
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Iodine taken in doses 100 times the RDA (which is only 100–150 mcg per day) has important benefits beyond the thyroid, for which it is essential. These include its role as an antioxidant, in preventing and treating fibrocystic disease of the breast, and in preventing and treating cancer.

There is fairly compelling evidence that iodine deficiency is a cause of breast cancer. The ductal cells of the breasts, those most likely to become cancerous, actually have an iodine pump in them, indicating that they have the ability to actively absorb iodine. Iodine helps keep the immune system healthy, and it provides antiseptic mucosal defense in the mouth, stomach, and vagina. After all, it is hands down one of the most powerful antiviral and antibacterial substances known to humankind. (It’s even been used orally to cure malaria.) Most doctors don’t know about all the many uses for this vital supplement.

For years I have prescribed iodine supplements for women with breast pain and seen excellent results, usually within only two weeks. I recommend a minimum of 12.5 mg/day, which you can get from one Iodoral tablet or from kelp supplements or sea vegetables. There are other iodine supplements available, as well, including one called Nascent Iodine drops. Nascent Iodine is based on the work of the psychic Edgar Cayce, who channeled a way to make the iodine work better. The advantage to this one is that it’s very easy to titrate your dose. (For more information, see
www.thyroidnascent iodine.com
; this website also has a fascinating and informative radio interview with acupuncturist Mark Sircus, author of
Transdermal Magnesium Therapy
[Phaelos Books/ Mediawerks, 2007] and an expert on survival medicine, iodine, and also magnesium.)

Another way to get iodine safely into your body is to apply tincture of iodine to your skin. You can paint a quarter-size dot right over the painful spot on the breast or on the nipple once a night for two weeks.

Note: Rarely, a person will get a reaction (usually in the form of a skin rash or bad taste in the mouth) to adding iodine to her diet. The reaction is known as iodism, and it is a result of the iodine releasing excess bromide, fluoride, and other toxins from the system. It’s actually a detox reaction and not an iodine reaction per se. Just decrease your dose of iodine and go more slowly.

If you are on thyroid medication, taking higher amounts of iodine will often decrease your need for thyroid medication. But if you don’t know this, you can end up with heart palpitations from the effect of too much thyroid hormone. So add iodine to your diet very, very slowly, and discuss this with your health care provider. (But please note that most health care providers are not up to speed on the benefits of iodine. So please take a copy of Dr. Miller’s paper with you.) For a very practical approach to using iodine if you’re on thyroid medication, see the Women’s Health Institute of Texas website at
www.1-thyroid.com
.

Consider progesterone.
Make sure you have enough progesterone in your system. Because breast pain is often related to estrogen overstimulation, it can be alleviated by increasing your levels of progesterone. Progesterone down-regulates estrogen receptors in your breast after you’ve been on it about a week or so, which means that your breasts will be protected from the effects of too much estrogen. In fact, studies have shown that when a 2 percent progesterone cream is applied di rectly to the breasts, it decreases the cellular proliferation of breast tissue, whereas applying estradiol (a form of estrogen) to the breast increases cellular proliferation. Uncontrolled proliferation of breast tissue is associated with an increased risk for breast cancer.
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Several studies have strongly suggested that premenopausal women who have breast surgery for suspected or already diagnosed breast cancer during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle (after ovulation and before the onset of menses) have a better prognosis than those who have surgery during another stage of their cycle. In a study of 289 premenopausal women with operable breast cancer who were followed from 1975 to 1992, women with node-positive breast cancer who had serum progesterone levels greater than 4 ng/ml at the time of surgery had a survival rate that was 70 percent higher than those with lower progesterone levels at the time of the surgery. This may be because progesterone decreases blood-clotting effects and also increases the natural killer cells in the immune system. It also decreases breast cell proliferation.

Given these three factors, it is possible that progesterone works by decreasing the chances of tumor cells seeding themselves in remote places when breast surgery is done for cancer.
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I would recommend that any premenopausal woman facing breast cancer surgery make sure that her progesterone levels are optimal before proceeding. This can be done by using 2 percent progesterone cream at the dose recommended on page 133. There is also a substantial body of evidence that women who have adequate progesterone levels during their menstrual and perimenopausal years may be at decreased risk for breast cancer development. (Note: I’m talking about physiologic levels of progesterone, not megadoses. Theoretically, the body can convert high levels of progesterone into estrogen. It’s a question of balance.)

Apply one-quarter teaspoon (about 20 mg) once or twice a day for up to three weeks before menstruation. Give progesterone about one month to work; 2 percent progesterone cream may increase breast tenderness ini tially because it increases estrogen receptors initially, but then they decrease.

Don’t overdose with estrogen.
If your breast pain began when you started taking estrogen replacement therapy (or birth control pills), chances are your dose is too high. Have your dose adjusted accordingly. You can also add progesterone as above. (See
chapter 14
.)

Apply castor oil packs.
Castor oil packs applied to the breasts three times per week for one hour over two or three months often eliminate breast pain, particularly if there is inflammation of breast tissue. A maintenance program of once per week thereafter is recommended.

Change bras.
Stop wearing an underwire bra (or wear it less often). Too often this kind of bra cuts off the circulation of both blood and lymph fluid around the breast, chest wall, and surrounding tissue. Tight bras can also cause chest pain.

Learn about your breasts.
Understand your breasts’ anatomy and keep a calendar, noticing how your breasts change with your menstrual cycle, so that occasional cyclic breast pain doesn’t scare you. Talk to your breasts. Ask them, “What are you trying to tell me?” And watch what you say: “My breasts are killing me” is not a useful slogan. Do the breast massage ritual on pages 328–329.

Avoid certain drugs.
Don’t take any of the following drugs for treatment of breast pain unless you feel you have no other choice. All of these have very significant side effects.

Danazol (Danocrine).
This drug causes a decrease in levels of estrogen and is also used for the treatment of endometriosis. It often has the following side effects: changes in menstrual cycle regularity, weight gain, acne, flushing, breast reduction, hirsut-ism, voice change, and depression.