DR. CHRISTINE NORTHRUP, DR. SINATRA ON HEART HEALTH-SYMPTOMS- RISKS--- MAMOGRAPHY- WOMANS HEALTH- MENOPAUSE


DR. CHRISTINE NORTHRUP, IN CONJUNCTION WITH DR. STEPHEN SINATRA, MD, FACC..... ABOUT HEART SUPPLEMENTS, SYMPTOMS, RISKS, LIFESTYLE, AND MORE.....


BREAST HEALTH

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Imagine this. You go in for a mammography, and the technician finds a mass that looks suspicious. The mass is biopsied, and it’s cancer. Your doctor, who’s been sympathetic and encouraging, sits you down to talk with you about your prognosis and says, “There’s a good chance your breast cancer will disappear.” If you’re like most women, you would be stunned and confused.
A study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in November 2008 suggests that some breast cancers will go into remission without any treatment. Zahl¹  Like the study’s title, this just may be “The Natural History of Invasive Breast Cancers Detected by Screening Mammography.” The study was headed by one of Dr. Northrup’s favorite researchers, H. Gilbert Welch, M.D., along with Perh-Henrik Zahl, M.D., Ph.D., and Jan Mehlen, M.D., Ph.D.
This study followed a group of more than 200,000 Norwegian women ages 50–64 over two consecutive six-year periods. Half received regular, periodic breast exams or regular mammograms; the other half had no regular breast cancer screenings. Researchers found that the women who received regular routine screenings had 22 percent more incidents of breast cancer than the other women.
Dr. Welch and his colleagues concluded that the most likely explanation for their findings was: The women in the second cohort (those who didn’t have regular breast cancer screenings) actually had the same number of occurrences of breast cancer, but these abnormalities were resolved by the body naturally and without intervention. Other doctors unrelated to the study analyzed the data and concurred that this conclusion makes sense.
Dr. Northrup was intrigued by the study and found it heartening. “My colleague H. Gilbert Welch, M.D., has written numerous articles about the pros and cons of today’s mammography, which can pick up anomalies smaller than a pencil point. (He also wrote a wonderful book that I highly recommend called Should I Get Tested For Cancer?: Maybe Not and Here’s Why [University of California Press, 2004]). Dr. Welch believes we owe it to our patients to explain that too much testing can lead to excessive, invasive procedures.
“For example, studies show that if you get a mammogram 10 years in a row, you have a 100 percent chance of being told you need a breast biopsy. The emotional and financial repercussions of believing you may have cancer when you don’t are staggering. And the experience can drain a person so much that it weakens their natural immunity. This is why I suggest that you make judicious decisions about medical testing and approach it with a bit of skepticism.”
When asked how this spontaneous regression can occur, Dr. Northrup said, “People believe that it takes a miracle for cancers to disappear, but it happens more often than you think. Although doctors can’t say why and when, I think the hypothesis of spontaneous regression brought to light by this study is plausible. After all, one of the body’s natural functions is apoptosis—scourging cancer cells and encouraging the growth of healthy cells.
“Scientific studies document this, as in the example of Coenzyme Q10. Coenzyme Q10 is a naturally occurring substance in the body (and is widely available in supplement form). It has been shown to play a significant role in causing cancer cells to self-destruct without killing healthy cells or harming their DNA.”
“I hope that, as a result of learning about this study, my readers will put more faith in the body’s ability to heal itself and see that excessive medical testing doesn’t really provide them with better health.”

References

  1. Zahl, P., Maehlen, J., Welch, H. G., 2008. The natural history of invasive breast cancers detected by screening mammography, Arch Intern Med. 2008;168 (21):2311-2316.


Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Christiane Northrup, M.D.

Christiane Northrup, M.D., is a visionary pioneer and a leading authority in the field of women’s health and wellness. Recognizing the unity of body, mind, and spirit, she empowers women to trust their inner wisdom, their connection with Source, and their ability to truly flourish.



Heart Failure in Women
A serious and insidious condition
BY STEPHEN T. SINATRA, MD, FACC
We often fall short when it comes to caring for ourselves.

Stephen Sinatra, M.D., has been one of my medical heroes for many, many years. His work on coenzyme Q10 for prevention and/or treatment of heart disease has highly influenced my thinking and my behavior. (I take about 100 mg of this supplement every day!) In this informative article, Dr. Sinatra illuminates some critical matters of the female heart—and what to do to love and protect yours!
Please read this and pass it on. All women need to know this stuff! – C.N.
Heart Failure in Women
A serious and insidious condition
By Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, FACC

Men are from Mars, and women are from Venus, right? This old book title has been used to describe the differences between the sexes in almost every way you can imagine. You might even be tempted to say it holds true when it comes to cardiovascular disease, too—and to some extent you’d be right. Heart attack symptoms often manifest in dramatically different ways for men and women. But many other forms of heart disease, like heart failure (HF), have relatively few differences.
HF is a serious, chronic condition in which the heart loses its ability to pump blood. It’s most often caused by coronary artery disease that chokes off oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle. Even with considerable progress in conventional treatments—medication, pacemakers, and defibrillators—HF remains one of cardiology’s toughest challenges. It severely erodes quality of life, and, sadly, up to 40 percent of patients die within a year of diagnosis. Seventy percent die within a decade.
About 2.5 million American women have HF, and they account for about half of HF-related hospital admissions. Other HF facts specific to women include:
Women tend to develop HF later in life.
Women with the disease tend to live longer than men with the disease.
The condition is under-diagnosed and under-treated in women; the tendency of women to minimize symptoms may be a contributing factor.
Clinical research is another area of difference. Despite the fact that women make up nearly half of HF patients, they represent only one-quarter of patients studied by researchers. Consequently, most HF treatment protocols are developed according to how men respond to them—pretty much the same as with heart disease in general. Given this, it’s imperative that women be proactive about their heart health: learn about HF and its causes, be able to identify the symptoms, and know their treatment options.
Types and Risks for Heart Failure
There are two main types of HF: systolic and diastolic, depending on which phase of the cardiac cycle is affected. It’s important for women to understand the differences between these types. The systolic phase refers to when the heart contracts, pushing out blood. The diastolic phase occurs when the heart relaxes and fills with blood (believe it or not, the diastolic phase requires the most energy).
If you have systolic HF, your heart has difficulty contracting forcefully enough to pump out blood. The risk factors for this type of HF are similar for both men and women. They include a history of coronary artery disease (with or without high blood pressure) and a previous heart attack. These ailments cause changes to the structure of the left ventricle (LV)— the largest of the four cardiac chambers, and the one responsible for generating the pressure that opens the aortic valve. After a heart attack, scar tissue forms on the LV where blood and oxygen were cut off during the attack. Because this tissue lacks the pliability of healthy cardiac muscle fibers, it reduces the heart’s ability to expand and contract. If enough tissue is involved, the stiffened heart muscle becomes so weak that it may begin to fail.
If you have diastolic HF, your left ventricle has become stiff as the result of diastolic dysfunction (DD). This is the primary cause of HF in women, making up about half of cases. DD may be related to women’s smaller blood vessels and a state of low energy in the heart. Without adequate energy stores, the heart’s muscle fibers stiffen. DD is grossly under-diagnosed, and women who are unaware they have it fail to receive early, optimal treatment. As a result, damage progresses unnoticed.
During my years of clinical practice, I have identified two conditions that seem to contribute to DD: mitral valve prolapse (MVP) and high blood pressure. As women age and develop more hypertension, they also tend to develop more DD and unfortunately, more complications then men.
Another kind of heart failure, broken heart syndrome (BHS) or “stress cardiomyopathy,” is an acute condition that affects women far more than men. Heartbreak is a real component in “matters of the heart,” from hypertension and arrhythmia to heart attacks and HF.
BHS is abrupt-onset heart failure that is precipitated by emotional trauma—such as an unexpected death, a close brush with death, or domestic abuse or violence. Symptoms are almost identical to those of a heart attack: chest discomfort, shortness of breath, and a feeling of impending doom. However, the person’s EKG reading will be normal, as will the level of cardiac muscle enzymes in the blood and the function of the coronary arteries on angiography. The only problem is an echocardiogram pattern that shows the apex of the heart—the part that sits on the diaphragm—is ballooning outward. The underlying physiology of BHS is unclear. But if there’s anything positive to be said about it, it would be that the symptoms are so intense that lifesaving medical attention is almost always sought immediately.
In my book, Heartbreak and Heart Disease (Keats, 1996), I wrote about what can happen to the vulnerable heart after the sudden, unexpected loss of a vital connection. Acute activation of catecholamines, or “stress hormones” can literally cause necrosis (death) of heart cells.
Cardiomyopathy Causes HF
Cardiomyopathy is another cause of heart failure, and a small number of women can be vulnerable at younger ages than men.
Postpartum cardiomyopathy can strike women of childbearing age, although, thankfully, it rarely does. Cardiomyopathy, a form of HF with elusive causation, occurs when the heart muscle becomes increasingly enlarged as it struggles to pump blood. Postpartum cardiomyopathy can occur during the last month of pregnancy or during the first five to six months after delivery. The cause is still unclear. However, I believe that nutritional deficiencies play a key role. One of my patients, a 29-year-old woman, developed sudden heart failure following the birth of her son. Her cardiomyopathy was so severe that she was placed on the transplant list in the state of Virgina. However, after I treated her with CoQ10, she had a remarkable recovery. She is indeed my poster child of metabolic cardiology and the messenger for hundreds of cases I've treated over the years. Almost three decades later, she is still taking CoQ10 daily and enjoying a good quality of life.
General cardiomyopathy may also be related to the poisoning of the heart muscle by toxic metals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead. Excessive alcohol intake and viruses can also be contributing factors.
Be a “Squeaky Hinge”
My wife and former cardiac nurse, Jan, has co-authored numerous articles with me about women’s heart health. During her research on HF, she learned that women tend to under-report their symptoms. It didn’t surprise her. She said, “My own experience as a woman, and those of female friends, family, and colleagues, provide countless examples of us ‘toughing it out’ when needed, especially if a loved one needs care. As women, this nurturing instinct is one of our greatest strengths; however, as the saying goes, your greatest strength can also be your greatest weakness. We often fall short when it comes to caring for ourselves.”
Jan’s mom survived a cardiac arrest over 30 years ago. One of her mom’s favorite expressions is, “Remember, it’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil!” And she’s right. Women need to squeak louder and more often.

Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra is a board-certified cardiologist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine in Farmington, Connecticut. Certified as a bioenergetic psychotherapist, and nutrition and anti-aging specialist, Dr. Sinatra integrates psychological, nutraceutical and electroceutical therapies in the matrix of healing. He is the founder of heartmdinstitute.com, an informational website dedicated to promoting public awareness of integrative medicine, and the author of a monthly written newsletter entitled, Heart, Health & Nutrition. Dr. Sinatra is a fellow in the American College of Cardiology and the American College of Nutrition. His latest books are The Sinatra Solution/Metabolic Cardiology and Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever.
LEARN MORE | RECOMMENDED READING
Heartbreak and Heart Disease: A Mind/Body Prescription for Healing the Heart, by Stephen Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C.
LEARN MORE | RECOMMENDED RESOURCES
Dr. Sinatra’s Web site is Heartmdinstitute.com
Last updated: August 26, 2010
As a physician, author, mother, inspirational speaker, and pioneer in women’s health, I’ve dedicated my life to teaching women how to flourish.
Health isn’t just the absence of disease. It’s being physically and emotionally able to live joyfully and in alignment with your deepest self. You have the ability to build health every day. Just be open to new ideas and to adopting new habits.
I designed this Web site to help you enjoy vibrant health. Read my blog, the hundreds of articles in Health Wisdom A-Z, the Health Centers and my newsletter archives. Listen to recordings of my Internet radio show, or download podcasts and video clips, prepared just for this site.
Flourishingly yours,
CHRISTIANE NORTHRUP, M.D.
p.s. Stay connected by signing up for my newsletter and joining my Facebook community.*******************

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Protect Your Breasts With Vitamin D RELATED CATEGORIES BREAST CANCER BREAST HEALTH VITAMIN D

There’s a paradigm shift going on in medicine as new research reveals a far greater role for vitamin D. Vitamin D is not just for kids—or the prevention of rickets. Optimal levels of vitamin D (40–80 ng/ml) enhance the creation and functioning of healthy cells throughout the body.1 In addition to protecting the bones and boosting the immune system, studies show that vitamin D helps prevent certain cancers, including breast, ovarian, prostate, and colorectal.2345 Exciting new research shows that in the U.S. alone, thousands of new cases of breast cancer could be prevented every year if more women had optimal levels of vitamin D.6 A study conducted by Cedric Garland and other prominent vitamin D researchers determined that women with vitamin D levels above 52 ng/ml have half the risk of developing breast cancer as those with 13 ng/ml!7 Garland (et al) estimates that 58,000 new cases of breast cancer in the U.S. could be prevented per year by raising vitamin D levels to 52 ng/ml. Imagine what the global impact could be! A simple blood test is all that’s needed to find out your vitamin D level. Five years ago, a range of 20–100 ng/ml was considered normal. Just recently, this range was raised to 32–100 ng/ml. Make sure to ask your healthcare provider what your actual vitamin D level is. Too often women are told that their levels are normal, which is not the same as optimal. If you’re deficient, the best way to boost your vitamin D quickly is to supplement with vitamin D-3. Initially, you may need to take 5,000 IUs per day. After establishing a healthy level, I recommend supplementing with1,000–2,000 IUs per day—it’s hard to get all you need from food. Some healthy fish provides 300–700 IUs, but milk only provides 100 IUs per glass. You may be surprised to learn that the sun is actually the best source of vitamin D. The sun’s UVB rays enable our bodies to manufacture vitamin D in the fat layer under the skin, as long as we don’t use sunscreen. The body can make enough vitamin D from sun exposure to last the entire year! And it will never create toxic levels, regardless of how long you expose your skin. Although we are taught to fear the sun, sunbathing in moderation—exposing but never burning the skin—is good for us. This may explain why the incidence of breast cancer is higher in northern latitudes than at the equator. I encourage every woman to check her vitamin D level regularly and keep it in the optimal range. This is easily done by supplementing with about 2,000 IUs of vitamin D-3 per day and getting regular, safe sun exposure. (You can even visit a tanning salon that offers UVB tanning rays.) Your breasts and your entire body will benefit. This is preventive medicine at its finest. REFERENCES Staud, R., 2005. Vitamin D: more than just affecting calcium and bone. Curr Rheumatol Rep, Oct;7(5):356-64. Staud, R., 2005. Vitamin D: more than just affecting calcium and bone. Curr Rheumatol Rep, Oct;7(5):356-64. Cannell, J.J., Hollis, B.W. 2008. Use of vitamin D in clinical practice, Altern Med Rev, Mar;13(1):6-20. Cannell, J.J., et al. 2008. On the epidemiology of influenza, Virol J, Feb 25;5:29. Holick, M.F., 2003. Vitamin D deficiency: what a pain it is. Mayo Clin. Proc., Dec;78(12):1457-9. Garland, C.F., et al. 2009 Vitamin D for cancer prevention: global perspective, Ann Epidemiol. Jul;19(7):468-83. Garland, C.F., et al. 2007. Vitamin D and prevention of breast cancer: pooled analysis., J Steroid Biochem Mol BiolMar;103(3-5):708-11. Last updated: August 25, 2009**************************************************** From Dr. Weil.....* Exercise Cuts Breast Cancer RiskWe've long known that regular exercise - specifically aerobic exercise - reduces the risk of breast cancer, but until now, we haven't known how physical activity confers its benefits. A team of researchers at the University of Minnesota in Saint Paul may have solved the mystery. They have confirmed that exercise influences the way women's bodies break down (metabolize) estrogen - more activity yields more "good" metabolites that lower breast cancer risk. For their study the researchers recruited 391 sedentary but healthy, young premenopausal women and randomly assigned them to a control group or an exercise group. The women in the exercise group worked out at moderate to vigorous intensity five times a week for 16 weeks. On three consecutive days before and after the study, the researchers collected 24-hour urine samples from all the women. Analysis of these samples showed a favorable increase in the estrogen metabolites that lower breast cancer risk in the women who exercised, and no change during the 16 weeks in the women who didn't. Some forms of estrogen stimulate the growth of many types of breast cancer cells. The study was published in the May 2013 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers &Prevention. My take? Over the years, a number of studies have shown that exercise can lower the risk of breast cancer and can also boost survival rates for women who have been diagnosed with the disease. In the past, we have assumed that regular physical activity helps limit exposure to estrogen by reducing fat stores in which estrogen is produced. While defining the mechanisms that drive cancer or help prevent it increases our understanding of the disease, the bottom line remains clear: exercise can lower breast cancer risk as well promoting fitness and reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease. It's the Journey Not the DestinationMake each day count, with an outlook that is both serene and inspired. Dr. Weil's new website, SpontaneousHappiness.com, has everything you need to get on the path to emotional well-being. From articles and checklists to exclusive videos featuring Dr. Weil, we can help you make each day a little brighter. Learn more - take the tour today!

Surprising Way to Cut Health Insurance CostsWhat would you do to reduce your health insurance premiums? How about walking at least 5,000 steps a day? That worked for a group of 6,548 adults who chose stepping up to the challenge rather than seeing their health insurance costs shoot up by 20 percent. Researchers from the University of Michigan Health System and Stanford University reported that only three percent of the participants in this study failed to meet the goal of 5,000 steps a day or 450,000 steps per quarter to hold down their insurance costs. The financial incentive program came from the Blue Care Network, which required policyholders who were obese and were enrolled in the Healthy Blue Living Program to participate in a fitness plan to defer an increase in their premiums.One of the programs involves use of a digital pedometer and uploads daily steps walked to a tracking web site. The researchers reported that one-third of the participants characterized the financial incentives as coercive, but all the rest liked the program. Helpful Videos from Dr. WeilThe written word is wonderful, but sometimes, the best way to learn about healthy living is to see it in action! From delicious recipes to walking to breathing, Dr. Weil has you covered with great information. Join Dr. Weil on Vimeo today.  
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