Everything You Need to Know About Fibrocystic Breasts
An explanation of how this appears in your body and the many ways I plan on healing holistically
I just wanted bigger boobs but I guess my manifestation got lost in translation by the universe. Perhaps this was my lesson that it is always listening.
Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself.
My Personal Story
I discovered a lump in my breast after feeling a slight pain when I was reaching over to get something from my bedside table. Naturally, it was frightening, because in mainstream media you are really only told one thing when that happens.
That’s why I felt compelled to tell more women about this particular condition that affects almost 60% of women nationally. I also wanted to write about this to explain how it can sometimes be difficult to practice what you preach, however if you get down the tools correctly, they will always be there when you are ready to come back to them.
Life has a funny way of slowing me down at points when I am truly going too fast. I started feeling pressures from this business, pressure from social media, pressures to be somebody for everybody and although I am such a nutrition, healing nut, my decade of veganism and obsession with health could not prevent even me, from obtaining the effect of too much stress.
I had lost parts of myself along the way, my meditations were shorter to give myself more time to do other things, I got lazy with meal prepping, and most importantly I stopped making time for myself.
My planner was filled with hour-by-hour things that I had to accomplish for others. My whole business, blog, and lifestyle I feel like is driven by the desire to serve others. I had written in my planner 3 times to stop and paint the sunset again one afternoon and never got around to it. Even my manifestations tended to lean towards what I wanted for others, how I want their pain to stop.
When I found this lump, and went to the doctor who consequently found more, I was faced with an illness of my breasts, most likely, fibrocystic breasts.
Before I would return to my inner knowing and healing, I was enraged for days to even have something wrong with me. My selfishness and ego flared in the face of danger and I started reviewing all the things in my life that could’ve been the cause only to come to the selfish conclusion that I could not have possibly done anything wrong because I am so vigilant about so many things concerning my health and wellness.
Today, a week since my discovery, I feel more at peace and filled with gratitude than I ever have before. I believed so wholeheartedly that I was such an anomaly from any disease that my ego blocked me from acknowledging the way stress and anxiety can really penetrate the different layers of our being when they are not all properly nourished and regulated; no amount of green juice can feed your soul.
After wallowing for 4 days about this bump in my road, literally lying in bed, barely eating, and stressed beyond belief I learned valuable lessons about myself and the people I intend to help along their healing journeys.
For one, once I got outside of myself, I sank back into the gratitude that something I have can be so easily healed from, and causes very little symptoms other then occasional pain and discomfort. Also, wallowing is sometimes necessary to do, it is what your body has been asking you to do, which is to stop and rest.
Once you stop, you can more easily see what is around you. You can acknowledge the aspects of yourself you have let down and prepare yourself for healing. This experience brought me back to my book You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay. She wrote affirmations and spiritual connections to every form of disease and discomfort and her explanation to problems of the breasts was accurate.
“BREAST: Feeling unloved, refusal to nourish oneself. Putting everyone else first."
Affirmation: "I am loved and nourished by all around me"- You Can Heal Your Life
Like I had mentioned, I stopped paying attention to serving myself. I was still doing all of the things that gave me wholeness like meditation, yoga, affirmations, etc, but I had gotten lazy; most importantly however, I stopped doing things that were just fun and nourishing to me on a different energetic level. Which means to combat this, I need to make some changes.
What Are Fibrocystic Breasts:
Fibrocystic breasts is a state by which a woman feels lumpy or small breast masses (cysts). It is common for women of all ages more predominantly in women ages 20-50. Most importantly to note, these masses are noncancerous and does not increase your risk of breast cancer at all. Sometimes, the masses can mimic or mask breast cancer which is why it is always suggested for you to go to the doctor and get the masses examined and potentially biopsied as a precaution. The masses can appear as really small or quite large and throughout one or both breasts. The cysts can be incredibly tender and cause breast swelling (thus my thinking that I was just finally getting breasts).
What is the cause?
The exact cause according to recent studies, is apparently still unknown. However experts suspect that reproductive hormones, primarily estrogen, may play a role in the cysts development. Women experience extreme fluctuations of hormones during puberty, menopause, or extremely stressful situations. When estrogen levels are highest fibrous tissue may also form, if the stressor persists, the tissue continues to build upon each other creating masses of fibrous tissue. When the hormones are out of balance and these cells build up, it causes inflammation and cystic breast tissue.
That is the clear cause for Western medicine however, I took a deep dive into my world of holistic medicine to determine what Traditional Chinese Medicine has to say about breast cysts.
TCM believes it has to do with liver stagnation and an imbalance in the movement of our Qi through the lymphatic system. An overload of poor diet, toxins, frequent or strong emotional upsets, and stress can create Liver QI stagnation. In other words, it requires the restoration of balance.
Holistic Ways To Heal
As we now understand, it is entirely possible to heal from this ailment and restore the natural flow of Qi, energy, in our bodies. Personally, I plan on implementing several of these natural remedies into my life and bring my body back into its homeostatic realm where my mind, body, and spirit can thrive.
1. Diet and Nutrition:
Studies have been inconclusive on the role of caffeine and alcohol elimination for helping with breast cyst discomfort however, many women have suggested that it has helped them greatly. Elimination coffee and alcohol is a good cleanse for the liver, and one that I will also be actively taking part in as a part of my healing journey. Removal of all caffeine is suggested including coffee, tea, sodas, and chocolate.
Reducing your intake of sodium, salty foods, any processed foods is a sure fire way to reduce the fluid intake of the cysts and promotes overall healthy results for your entire body.
Avoiding saturated fat intake specifically from meat, eggs, and all dairy products. If you are not already plant-based, I would highly suggest switching for a minimal of 6 months to assist your body with the detoxing processes.
Include more flaxseeds in your diet. They are a rich source of omega 3 fatty acids and helps in reducing inflammation.
Include more cruciferous vegetables in the diet because they contain the indole-3-carbinol compound which help in excretion of estrogens hormone from the liver and prohibits tumor growth. Read more on the benefits of cruciferous vegetables here.
Increase Vitamin E rich foods including sunflower seeds, peanuts, almonds, avocados, spinach, grapeseed oil, butternut squash, and beets. Vitamin E provides great support for the immune system.
Drink hot lemon water every morning
Supplements including primrose oil, red raspberry leaf, and iodine have been studied to contain powerful benefits that can reduce symptoms related to fibrocystic breasts. It was found that a lot of women with breast tenderness had an iodine deficiency. Always check your vitamin and mineral levels first through a comprehensive blood panel to ensure supplementation is necessary. Primrose oil is a natural painkiller and red raspberry leaf has been found to detox excess estrogen and balance hormones.
Add any additional herbs including dandelion, milk thistle, and turmeric.
2. Get Moving!
Energy often becomes stagnant due to an increase in sedentarism. I know that I have become lazy when it comes to getting my steps in so I have made it a priority to start taking walks again and enjoy nature. If you do not already have a yoga practice, I suggest beginning one to really open the areas of your body that are storing energy that needs to be released. Restorative or yin practices are best for this, click here to follow my YouTube channel that provides restorative and yin flows for you to do at home.
It is imperative as well to find a balance between balance and rest. I can acknowledge the ways I was over working and straining myself and will develop a regime that involves at least two days or rest or just passive walking.
3. Bentonite Clay Packs For Detoxification:
Something I found interesting scouring the internet for more holistic remedies was I came across a woman who healed her cysts and one of her remedies was a bentonite clay or zeolite clay pack. She made them herself at home using one of these clays and adding coconut oil to make a consistency thick like toothpaste. Pack the paste on top of the breast lumps every night wrapping the clay onto her body with a cloth/plastic bandage and medical tape. Proceed to rinse off in the morning.
Bentonite clay is a very old clay that has antibacterial and detoxification effects. I am not certain I will do this every night but I am intrigued to try.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: I will not be using these clay packs because I feel like I am unable to source clean bentonite clay that I trust, however if you have access by all means you can try it.)
4. Breast Lymph Massage
The worst thing I did after discovering my lumps was become fearful of my breasts. I felt like I did not want to touch them or look at them in the mirror. I felt removed from a part of my body and did not care to know what was going on with them at all. Part of my healing was grabbing both of breasts and holding them in my hands while repeating loving affirmations. I also found this breast massage online that I plan on doing daily to get the lymph moving and drain the toxins in the cysts. It also helps reduce the pain and can be paired with a frankincense, lavender, and lemon carrier oil with coconut or jojoba.
Video of lymph breast massage : https://breasthealthproject.com/breast-health-101/lymphatic-breast-massage/
5. Affirmations and Meditation
The number one thing I find with discovering disease is looking at the problem through the scope of yogic anatomy. Our bodies have meridians, known as the chakras, and koshas, known as our layers of being. Everything is connected physically, emotionally, and spiritually. What we develop emotionally can therefore manifest into a physical ailment. Encourage greater introspection in your life through journaling, self-talk, or meditation. I suggest reading You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay and You Are The Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza to encourage all the different ways that healing can be accomplished through the mental perspective. Tune into your emotional cause and feed it with positive, healing affirmations and self-love. I had recently fallen out of my Dispenza meditations but I am fully back into them now aiming to do 2 a day to really raise my energetic vibration and promote healing in my body.
Dr. Dispenza Meditations:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuSE3sQa3wk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YcNUjFUXwM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jnZViUUC9I
Anyone who is suffering from any disease can use these tips to help with your healing journey and I hope you always remember you are never alone in anything you suffer from.