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New Choices in Natural Healing: Fibrocystic Breast Disease

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Fibrocystic Breast Disease

You find a lump on your breast. That’s all you need to know. After all, every woman realizes what that means, right?

Not necessarily. While any lump is cause for concern—and a trip to the doctor—it’s not necessarily cancer. The term fibrocystic breast disease has been used to describe problems including mammary dysplasia, fibrocystic masto pathy, chronic cystic mastitis and other conditions that leave breasts painful, lumpy, swollen or tender. The natural remedies in this chapter—in conjunction with medical care and used with the approval of your doctor—may help prevent or relieve fibrocystic breast disease and its symptoms, according to some health professionals.

See Your Medical Doctor When...

You find unusual lumps, swelling, bulging or dimpling in one or both breasts.
Your breast pain is severe or lasts for more than two months.
Your breasts are tender while you undergo hormone replacement therapy.

Ayurveda

At night, apply a paste made from 1¼2 teaspoon of yellow turmeric and 1 teaspoon of warm castor oil to the area of the breast where the cysts are, says Vasant Lad, B.A.M.S., M.A.Sc., director of the Ayurvedic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He adds this caution: Turmeric can stain skin and clothes, so cover the paste with something that you won’t mind staining. Any discoloration should wash off your skin in about two weeks, he adds.

Food Therapy

Food may not alleviate the pain of fibrocystic breast disease, but it can certainly intensify it. “Coffee is especially bad, not only because of the caffeine but also because of the oils in it,” says Julian Whitaker, M.D., founder and president of the Whitaker Wellness Center in Newport Beach, California.

Cutting dietary fat can also reduce pain and inflammation, according to Dr. Whitaker. He points out that some women see improvement after switching to a very lean diet that gets no more than 20 percent of its calories from fat. He says the best way to lower fat is to reduce or eliminate fatty meats, oils and dairy products.

Herbal Therapy

In Herbal Healing for Women, Barre, Vermont, herbalist Rosemary Gladstar, author of several other herb books, offers this recipe for Immune Cleanser tea, which she recommends as part of an overall health care program to treat fibrocystic breasts. You can find all of the ingredients—freshly dried herbs and powders—in most health food stores or by mail order (refer to the resource list on page 635).

Gladstar says to mix the ingredients in these proportions: one part yellow dock root, three parts dandelion root, two parts burdock root, one part ginger powder, one part dong quai, one part astragalus, one part licorice root, one part chaste berry and four parts pau d’arco. To make the tea, says Gladstar, use four to six tablespoons of this combination per quart of water. Simmer over low heat in a tightly covered pot for 20 minutes, then turn off the heat and let the herbs sit in the covered pot for another 20 minutes. Strain the tea so that no dried herb remains and let the tea cool to a drinkable temperature.

Gladstar suggests drinking three to four cups of the tea daily for five days, then going off it for two days. Continue this treatment for a maximum of three months, she says.

Hydrotherapy

Frequent water treatments can soothe tender, lumpy breasts, says Agatha Thrash, M.D., a medical pathologist and co-founder and co-director of Uchee Pines Institute, a natural healing center in Seale, Alabama. She suggests applying a hot, moist compress to each breast for three to five minutes every time you shower. Follow each hot application with a cool sponging, she says.

Vitamin and Mineral Therapy

“Some studies show that taking 800 international units of vitamin E each day might be helpful for some women,” says JulianWhitaker, M.D., founder and president of the Whitaker Wellness Center in Newport Beach, California. Other nutrients that have been found to help reduce breast tenderness, according to Dr. Whitaker, include vitamin A, the B-complex vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B₆, vitamin B₁₂ and pantothenic acid), iodine and selenium. He says to look for a multivitamin/mineral supplement containing all of these nutrients.

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