MY FIBROCYSTIC BREAST CONDITION STORY
Ilyse August with Gizmo
Tender or lumpy breasts are one of the most common reasons why women consult their gynecologic health practitioner for assessment, examination and treatment.
When I realized that fibrocystic tissue causing breast pain is not really a disease, I then discovered ways to ease the pain and symptoms. This website has been created so you can put your energy and effort toward relieving symptoms safely and naturally while optimizing your breast health.
I sincerely hope that you will use the information provided in this website to lead you to a life free of fibrocystic tissue causing breast pain.
MY HISTORY OF FIBROCYSTIC BREASTS
The rocky road of dealing with the pain of fibrocystic breasts (also called cystic mastitis) began at the start of my first menstrual cycle, at 13 years young.
Since then, for 35 years, I have tried to reduce the pain many ways, including:
Because this disease is impossible to tell from cancer, I even had a few surgeries. Eventually I made huge changes in my diet, but still found myself every month battling such tenderness in my lymph nodes under my arm pits on the sides of my breasts that at times the pain was nearly unbearable. It wasn’t until I discovered the power of a full functional nutrition program, powered by ancient foods, that I really began to be free of the constant pain of my breast disease.
No Relief
Some women find relief after pregnancy and nursing, but for many of us, it can be excruciating. Even after giving birth and nursing 3 children I still had dense breasts and chronic pain. I breast fed my first child for 18 months, having trouble with cystic mastitis the entire time. This is an extremely painful condition where the breast becomes highly inflamed and tender. I was able to breastfeed my second child only 7 ½ months due to my breast issues. I then breastfed my third child 15 months—altogether, over three and half years. During the entire time I battled mastitis, but with the firstborn it was beyond painful. I was sick all of the time.
First, my lymph nodes were tender, and my milk ducts were continually clogging causing more pain and inflammation. I got some relief from castor oil packs, hot water bottles, and by getting on my hands and knees and combing my breasts and lymph nodes to encourage drainage. It wasn’t comfortable; it was only helpful for a brief time, and I knew something wasn’t “right”.
With my first born, I began to produce abundant milk after my initial hardship learning how to effectively breastfeed. Because I didn’t realize I needed antibiotics I broke down into a full blown infection, with high fever, chills and weakness. I couldn’t lift my head up off of the pillow let alone take care of my newborn. I was sick. The antibiotic treatment began much to my chagrin & real reluctance because I didn’t want to be breastfeeding and transferring all of these horrible drugs and synthetics to my baby. My breast was still tender, just not as hot and red and swollen, but it was still tender. I was lucky enough to find out about using castor oil packs and the special flannel pad/cloth and the combing method down in breastfeeding doggie style. I still joke about it to my son to this day. “I breastfed you doggie style so much!”
I had my first breast cyst surgery in May of 2004 where I was officially diagnosed with Fibrocystic Breasts with Fat Necrosis. Apparently this condition, where fat can literally rot in an oily cyst in the breast tissue, is usually caused by ‘trauma’ such as a car accident. However, there was no car accident for me; just the ‘trauma’ of breastfeeding 3 babies 3 ½ years in a row prior to this necessary surgical breast procedure.
My second surgery came a few years later with the initial screenings showing ‘dense nodular parenchyma bilaterally limiting the sensitivity of the examination.” This mouthful basically means the docs were unable to accurately view my breasts, so wanted to cut in and see what was going on. Two different doctors felt a cyst and both insisted I needed it removed…so I did as directed.
Over the years, I always got a diagnosis of “Dense Nodular Breasts” with a script for yet another series of bilateral mammograms and ultra sound diagnostic screenings.
One exam the lump would be there, the next exam the lump was somewhere else or even gone. Surgery was scheduled preemptively, and then during the breast biopsy prior to the scheduled date of surgery, the surgeon couldn’t find the exact location of the lump because apparently it had moved in between tissue and so the biopsy took a lot longer than anticipated. Every single biannual breast and gynecological exam resulted in yet another diagnostic mammogram. Today, doctors realize that mammograms are actually ineffectual with this “dense breast diagnosis”. For me, it led to countless radiation-filled X-rays, ultrasound appointments and even surgeries. They all proved (thankfully!) benign…but this created ongoing stress and fear.
And they created extra stress and fear for me, because my mother died of ovarian cancer 4 days away from turning 69. So the situation was this: I was given twice yearly mammograms, year in and out, on doctor orders due to my breast disease; yet knowing that the extra radiation can cause an increased risk for breast cancer. Because my mom died from ovarian cancer (and having had cysts on my ovaries too!) this caused me untold anxiety over ongoing radiation exposure. Getting transabdominal ultrasounds in addition to transvaginal sonograms was also not only time consuming, they were painful and even more added stress. It got to the point where I just couldn’t do this test physically anymore!
On top of what I now know was unnecessary radiation, I was under incredible pressure to submit to unnecessary surgeries. I was strongly advised, after my mom’s passing from ovarian cancer in 2006 to have a surgery called Bilateral Salpingo Oophorectomy—a surgery to remove all female parts. I opted to NOT listen to my mother’s cancer doctors on this advice, because I felt their research into the long-term health side effects was not detailed enough. For example, one side effect would have been a need to go on synthetic hormones which would greatly increase the risk for stroke and osteoporosis as I was putting my body into an early menopause stage. The purpose for this elective surgery was to cut down my risk for ovarian cancer by 90-95%. I just felt from the research I did that this was not the smartest option I could or should take. NOTE: I AM NOT saying no one should choose this option. I am only speaking from my opinion and point of view. Understand: my mom was tested prior to dying and she was not BRCA1 or BRCA2.
My doctor was upfront and told me my risk for heart disease would increase as would my risk for osteoporosis. I just read up as much as I could, did my research and chose to keep my body whole—a decision I am happy with to this day.
SUMMARY OF MY LIFE BEFORE I FOUND A SOLUTION
I spent three plus decades worrying about my breasts. I woke up several days a month prior to my menstrual cycles in absolute pain from the tenderness. Ongoing, monthly fear zapped my energy and overall well being because I was constantly thinking, “am I going to die next?” I can’t even begin to document all the insurance and hospital bills and headaches from having to discern ahead of time all the ins and outs of insurance approvals, along with the financial stress and strain on my entire family.
Being an avid researcher of studies over a 20-year time frame on cancer prevention, I eventually was fortunate to break free of this sick ‘treatment based’ world and blessed to be introduced to what ultimately was going to be a radical game changer for me: Functional Nutrition and REAL ANCIENT WILD SUPER WHOLE FOODS.
THE NATURAL SOLUTION
I have come to realize that NOTHING MIMICS THE TOTAL BALANCE OF NATURE BETTER THAN NATURE ITSELF. Once I was introduced to a full functional nutrition program focused on WHOLE, ANCIENT, WILD SUPER FOODS, as well as gut health—my life changed forever.
I am so glad to finally see mainstream medicine is being forced to recognize the power of ‘alternative’ (i.e., natural!) health options. Even the huge cancer surgical center, Sloan Kettering, has a tab on their website about Integrative Medicine. Physicians are fighting back for our nation’s health too. More and more former surgeons and all kinds of doctors are aligning in this movement towards functional based (instead of symptom and drug based) medicine.
IT IS WHOLE FOODS WE NEED TO LEARN ABOUT AND PAY ATTENTION TO. Getting back to our earth and whole super foods nutrition is where we are finding the healing is taking place. Our bodies are the miracles. For me, finding a line of powerful nutritional food supplements to support my diet worked the best.
Even though we try to eat healthy, the fruits and vegetables we often buy are picked weeks before their essential nutrients have developed. These fruits and vegetables have been further depleted of their essential nutrients by depleted soils, pesticides, herbicides, pollution & just environmental toxins in general.
The biggest blessing has been my discovery of a program that utilizes micro AND macro nutrients allowing the body (animal and human alike!!) to heal.
MY LIFE TODAY
Now I’m finally at a point where all the cysts are at least taking a hiatus because of the super foods I’ve added to my nutritional profile (on top of good exercise habits and an overall healthy mind set). Adding these foods has been a game changer for me.
I created this website to help all women suffering from fibrocystic breasts, who have believed for so long a big lie, about their intelligent bodies and who have accepted or been trying to accept, that a life filled with miserable qualities of health challenges is their destiny. Your body can become its own ultimate healer. It knows what to do.
My goal is to inspire, empower and support every single woman, suffering from fibrocystic breasts, to have access to the kind of success and positive results that I have experienced by using a natural and holistic approach. Suffering from fibrocystic breasts and their negative symptoms is not your inescapable destiny. This website will teach you how to use a natural diet and a whole food supplement program to heal naturally. So, let the journey begin….and I sincerely hope that you will use the information provided in this website to lead you to a life free of fibrocystic breasts and their negative symptoms.
When I realized that fibrocystic tissue causing breast pain is not really a disease, I then discovered ways to ease the pain and symptoms. This website has been created so you can put your energy and effort toward relieving symptoms safely and naturally while optimizing your breast health.
I sincerely hope that you will use the information provided in this website to lead you to a life free of fibrocystic tissue causing breast pain.
MY HISTORY OF FIBROCYSTIC BREASTS
The rocky road of dealing with the pain of fibrocystic breasts (also called cystic mastitis) began at the start of my first menstrual cycle, at 13 years young.
Since then, for 35 years, I have tried to reduce the pain many ways, including:
- Using OTC pain medications (very limited benefits)
- Using a hot water bottle compress with Castor oil (which brought me tremendous relief when breastfeeding so I continued with it later on with this frustrating painful breast issue.)
- Acupuncture (which has worked on a shoulder injury, but not so much on the breast issue every month.)
- Other holistic treatments, including vitamin E and other herbs. Now I realize that natural healing is not based in mega doses of synthetic vitamins, nor in use of medicinal herbs.
Because this disease is impossible to tell from cancer, I even had a few surgeries. Eventually I made huge changes in my diet, but still found myself every month battling such tenderness in my lymph nodes under my arm pits on the sides of my breasts that at times the pain was nearly unbearable. It wasn’t until I discovered the power of a full functional nutrition program, powered by ancient foods, that I really began to be free of the constant pain of my breast disease.
No Relief
Some women find relief after pregnancy and nursing, but for many of us, it can be excruciating. Even after giving birth and nursing 3 children I still had dense breasts and chronic pain. I breast fed my first child for 18 months, having trouble with cystic mastitis the entire time. This is an extremely painful condition where the breast becomes highly inflamed and tender. I was able to breastfeed my second child only 7 ½ months due to my breast issues. I then breastfed my third child 15 months—altogether, over three and half years. During the entire time I battled mastitis, but with the firstborn it was beyond painful. I was sick all of the time.
First, my lymph nodes were tender, and my milk ducts were continually clogging causing more pain and inflammation. I got some relief from castor oil packs, hot water bottles, and by getting on my hands and knees and combing my breasts and lymph nodes to encourage drainage. It wasn’t comfortable; it was only helpful for a brief time, and I knew something wasn’t “right”.
With my first born, I began to produce abundant milk after my initial hardship learning how to effectively breastfeed. Because I didn’t realize I needed antibiotics I broke down into a full blown infection, with high fever, chills and weakness. I couldn’t lift my head up off of the pillow let alone take care of my newborn. I was sick. The antibiotic treatment began much to my chagrin & real reluctance because I didn’t want to be breastfeeding and transferring all of these horrible drugs and synthetics to my baby. My breast was still tender, just not as hot and red and swollen, but it was still tender. I was lucky enough to find out about using castor oil packs and the special flannel pad/cloth and the combing method down in breastfeeding doggie style. I still joke about it to my son to this day. “I breastfed you doggie style so much!”
I had my first breast cyst surgery in May of 2004 where I was officially diagnosed with Fibrocystic Breasts with Fat Necrosis. Apparently this condition, where fat can literally rot in an oily cyst in the breast tissue, is usually caused by ‘trauma’ such as a car accident. However, there was no car accident for me; just the ‘trauma’ of breastfeeding 3 babies 3 ½ years in a row prior to this necessary surgical breast procedure.
My second surgery came a few years later with the initial screenings showing ‘dense nodular parenchyma bilaterally limiting the sensitivity of the examination.” This mouthful basically means the docs were unable to accurately view my breasts, so wanted to cut in and see what was going on. Two different doctors felt a cyst and both insisted I needed it removed…so I did as directed.
Over the years, I always got a diagnosis of “Dense Nodular Breasts” with a script for yet another series of bilateral mammograms and ultra sound diagnostic screenings.
One exam the lump would be there, the next exam the lump was somewhere else or even gone. Surgery was scheduled preemptively, and then during the breast biopsy prior to the scheduled date of surgery, the surgeon couldn’t find the exact location of the lump because apparently it had moved in between tissue and so the biopsy took a lot longer than anticipated. Every single biannual breast and gynecological exam resulted in yet another diagnostic mammogram. Today, doctors realize that mammograms are actually ineffectual with this “dense breast diagnosis”. For me, it led to countless radiation-filled X-rays, ultrasound appointments and even surgeries. They all proved (thankfully!) benign…but this created ongoing stress and fear.
And they created extra stress and fear for me, because my mother died of ovarian cancer 4 days away from turning 69. So the situation was this: I was given twice yearly mammograms, year in and out, on doctor orders due to my breast disease; yet knowing that the extra radiation can cause an increased risk for breast cancer. Because my mom died from ovarian cancer (and having had cysts on my ovaries too!) this caused me untold anxiety over ongoing radiation exposure. Getting transabdominal ultrasounds in addition to transvaginal sonograms was also not only time consuming, they were painful and even more added stress. It got to the point where I just couldn’t do this test physically anymore!
On top of what I now know was unnecessary radiation, I was under incredible pressure to submit to unnecessary surgeries. I was strongly advised, after my mom’s passing from ovarian cancer in 2006 to have a surgery called Bilateral Salpingo Oophorectomy—a surgery to remove all female parts. I opted to NOT listen to my mother’s cancer doctors on this advice, because I felt their research into the long-term health side effects was not detailed enough. For example, one side effect would have been a need to go on synthetic hormones which would greatly increase the risk for stroke and osteoporosis as I was putting my body into an early menopause stage. The purpose for this elective surgery was to cut down my risk for ovarian cancer by 90-95%. I just felt from the research I did that this was not the smartest option I could or should take. NOTE: I AM NOT saying no one should choose this option. I am only speaking from my opinion and point of view. Understand: my mom was tested prior to dying and she was not BRCA1 or BRCA2.
My doctor was upfront and told me my risk for heart disease would increase as would my risk for osteoporosis. I just read up as much as I could, did my research and chose to keep my body whole—a decision I am happy with to this day.
SUMMARY OF MY LIFE BEFORE I FOUND A SOLUTION
I spent three plus decades worrying about my breasts. I woke up several days a month prior to my menstrual cycles in absolute pain from the tenderness. Ongoing, monthly fear zapped my energy and overall well being because I was constantly thinking, “am I going to die next?” I can’t even begin to document all the insurance and hospital bills and headaches from having to discern ahead of time all the ins and outs of insurance approvals, along with the financial stress and strain on my entire family.
Being an avid researcher of studies over a 20-year time frame on cancer prevention, I eventually was fortunate to break free of this sick ‘treatment based’ world and blessed to be introduced to what ultimately was going to be a radical game changer for me: Functional Nutrition and REAL ANCIENT WILD SUPER WHOLE FOODS.
THE NATURAL SOLUTION
I have come to realize that NOTHING MIMICS THE TOTAL BALANCE OF NATURE BETTER THAN NATURE ITSELF. Once I was introduced to a full functional nutrition program focused on WHOLE, ANCIENT, WILD SUPER FOODS, as well as gut health—my life changed forever.
I am so glad to finally see mainstream medicine is being forced to recognize the power of ‘alternative’ (i.e., natural!) health options. Even the huge cancer surgical center, Sloan Kettering, has a tab on their website about Integrative Medicine. Physicians are fighting back for our nation’s health too. More and more former surgeons and all kinds of doctors are aligning in this movement towards functional based (instead of symptom and drug based) medicine.
IT IS WHOLE FOODS WE NEED TO LEARN ABOUT AND PAY ATTENTION TO. Getting back to our earth and whole super foods nutrition is where we are finding the healing is taking place. Our bodies are the miracles. For me, finding a line of powerful nutritional food supplements to support my diet worked the best.
Even though we try to eat healthy, the fruits and vegetables we often buy are picked weeks before their essential nutrients have developed. These fruits and vegetables have been further depleted of their essential nutrients by depleted soils, pesticides, herbicides, pollution & just environmental toxins in general.
The biggest blessing has been my discovery of a program that utilizes micro AND macro nutrients allowing the body (animal and human alike!!) to heal.
MY LIFE TODAY
Now I’m finally at a point where all the cysts are at least taking a hiatus because of the super foods I’ve added to my nutritional profile (on top of good exercise habits and an overall healthy mind set). Adding these foods has been a game changer for me.
I created this website to help all women suffering from fibrocystic breasts, who have believed for so long a big lie, about their intelligent bodies and who have accepted or been trying to accept, that a life filled with miserable qualities of health challenges is their destiny. Your body can become its own ultimate healer. It knows what to do.
My goal is to inspire, empower and support every single woman, suffering from fibrocystic breasts, to have access to the kind of success and positive results that I have experienced by using a natural and holistic approach. Suffering from fibrocystic breasts and their negative symptoms is not your inescapable destiny. This website will teach you how to use a natural diet and a whole food supplement program to heal naturally. So, let the journey begin….and I sincerely hope that you will use the information provided in this website to lead you to a life free of fibrocystic breasts and their negative symptoms.