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Cervical
Cancer
an article by Susun S. Weed
How
many ways of being are there, sweet friend?
asks Grandmother Growth in her warm way. You sense
this is a serious question, and you fear you dont
know the right answer.
Between the yin and the yang, between the
dark and the light, between normal and abnormal,
there are infinite shades and numberless ways of
being. Without lines, they arise and change, drift
away or settle in, some promoting your well-being,
some eroding it. An erosive change is almost upon
us daughter. How will we meet it?
Cells are changing in your cervix. They are
going fast, faster, growing fast, faster, too fast
to be tidy, too fast to be symmetrical, too fast
to be orderly. How do we dance to this rhythm? Does
it tear you loose from your moorings? Does it set
you adrift? Is it freedom?
Cells are changing too fast for the guardians
to cope; they are overwhelmed. Where shall you find
more help dearest granddaughter? Who will you invoke
to aid you? Can the guardians prevail and change
the rhythm if they are given reinforcements? Or
must you kill the guardians along with the cancer
to stop the beat and still the music?
Your story is unique my precious child. Your
choices will arise from the well of your own deep
inner wisdom. Trust yourself. Trust me. Ill
hold you hand as we dance, Ill follow or lead,
fast or slow, as you will. Lets go!
Do you actually have cervical cancer, or one of
its precursors? This is an important distinction.
Current practice tends to over-treat women with
abnormal cells, dysplasia, hyperplasia, and in situ
carcinomas. In nine out of ten cases, if carcinoma
in situ of the cervix is left untreated, it will
never progress to cervical cancer.[1]
Physicians could confidently monitor patients
for [amount and types of HPV] virus with currently
available tests for several months before deciding
to treat
more aggressively.[2]
Cervical cancer in situ is generally very slow-growing;
untreated, half will regress and half will, over
a period of 10-30 years progress to invasive cancer.[3]
About 10% of women have a fast-growing type - whose
incidence may be increasing - which becomes invasive
within a year.[4] Cervical cancer is most common
in women 40-60 years of age, but it occurs frequently
in women under 35 years old.
In the USA, about five million Pap smears yearly
reveal dysplasia; of those, 45,000 will be new cases
of cervical carcinoma in situ and 10,000 will be
invasive cervical cancer.[5] Cervical cancer kills
more than 4,000 American women each year.
Black women in America are twice as likely to be
diagnosed with cervical cancer and almost three
times as likely to die of it as white women. They
are older at the time of diagnosis and their disease
is further advanced, but they are less likely to
receive aggressive treatments.[6]
Cervical cancer, it is now known, is caused by infection
with certain strains of HPV. A healthy immune system
can prevent this; a weak one cant. Thats
why cervical cancer is strongly related to lack
of good sanitary facilities, lack of vitamin C in
the diet (less than 30mg a day increases risk seven-fold),
lack of carotenes in the diet (under 5000 IU daily
triples risk), smoking tobacco (triples risk), first
intercourse before the age of 18 (triples risk;
the cervix is immature and more easily damaged and
infected), long-term use of oral contraceptives
(over 8 years quadruples risk), multiple sexual
partners (more than 5 quadruples risk), and a monogamous
relationship with a man who is uncircumsized and
who has had more than 25 partners. [7], [8], [9]
Is cervical cancer connected to inflammation? Women
whose cervical tissues are infected with HPV and
also inflamed - by herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia,
[spermicides, and violent penetration] - are twice
as likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer as
women who have HPV but no inflammatory events.[10]
Some procedures sound like diagnostic tests. A cone
biopsy, despite its name, is real surgery. See Step
6.
Feelings of being used or raped are associated
with chronic vaginitis, chronic vulvar pain, recurrent
wart, herpes, cervical cancer, and associated abnormal
Pap smears (cervical dysplasia).[11]
Take back your power! Claim your cervix and your
genitals as your own. Possess your cervix. Accept
it; love it; cherish it. When we reject a part of
ourselves, we can find ourselves losing
that part to surgery.
Compared to women with other types of cancer, women
with cervical cancer are more likely to be sexually
unhappy. They may dislike intercourse, but feel
that they must do it, and are often non-orgasmic
in the presence of a man. They are more likely to
be divorced, separated, deserted, or stuck
in a relationship with a man who is unfaithful,
undependable, or alcoholic.[12],[13]
Women with cervical cancer have been found to be
low or deficient in a number of nutrients, including
vitamins A, B6 (pyridoxine), C, folate (folic acid),
and selenium.[14] Increasing your consumption of
orange and green vegetables, whole grains, sauerkraut,
selenium-rich foods - like garlic, seaweeds, and
mushrooms - and pyridoxine-rich foods - like lentils,
broccoli, and potatoes wont cure
cancer. High-quality nutrition does, however, provide
the basis for normal healthy cells to replace the
cancerous ones, and primes the immune system to
eliminate aberrant cells.
Extract of common privet berry (ligustrum vulgare,
L. lucidum) has been shown to inhibit cervical cancers
in mice.[15] Even if it doesn't directly eliminate
cervical cancer, privet is happy to help reduce
inflammation, enhance white blood cells, and nourish
the immune system.
Milk thistle seed tincture is a fantastic complementary
medicine for anyone choosing chemotherapy. And this
large, striking plant may be anticancer, too. Two
alkaloids, silymarin and silibinin, reduce the growth
of cervical, breast, and prostrate cancer cells.[16]
Castor oil is Edgar Cayces classic cancer
treatment. In the case of cervical cancer, Cayce
recommended daily castor oil packs over the uterine
area, as well as five drops of castor oil orally
at bedtime. In severe cases, he added Atomidine
and Glyco-Thymol to the regime.
Low levels of folic acid are associated with the
development of cervical cancer, perhaps because
folate is needed for DNA repair. But no study has
shown that supplements, even in very high doses,
can reverse it.[17]
Likewise, low levels of carotenoids in the diet
and blood increase the risk of invasive cervical
cancer, but supplements are not a cure, and may
even prolong the presence of precancerous cells,
helping them mature into cancers.[18] Studies have
repeatedly found that beta-carotene supplements
decrease spontaneous healing. Women
with CIN II who took beta-carotene were more than
twice as likely to progress as the controls were.[19],[20]
High doses of vitamin C wont help either;
and may harm.[21]
Smoking tobacco causes a tumor suppresser gene to
lose its ability to kill cancer cells according
to UCLA cervical-cancer researcher Dr. Christine
Holschneider. Perhaps thats why women who
smoke are more likely to get cervical cancer and
more likely to die of it, too. Isnt it time
to switch to an herbal smoke? Make your own with
coltsfoot, mullein, mint, and a touch of tobacco.
From the 1938 until 1971, more than six million
unborn children in the USA were exposed to the potent
estrogen-like hormone diethylstilbestrol (DES or
desPLEX) when it was prescribed to their mothers
in the mistaken belief that it could prevent miscarriage
and create bigger, stronger babies. Although studies
from 1954 on found the opposite to be true - women
who took DES were more likely to miscarry - this
dangerous drug continued to be given to pregnant
women for 15 more years.[22]
DES daughters and sons have malformed reproductive
systems, malfunctioning immune systems, and a heightened
sensitivity to carcinogens. DES-daughters and granddaughters
are especially likely to be diagnosed with fast-growing
clear cell adenocarcinoma or cervical intraepithelial
neoplasia of the cervix or vagina.[23] Though many
DES-daughters are diagnosed when young, the is no
age at which the danger disappears.[24]
The DES daughters and granddaughters that I know
have remained cancer-free by attention to healthy
living and regular use of red clover blossom infusion
(1-3 quarts a week) and burdock root tincture (a
dropperful a day, more when stressed).
certain cancers, such as early-stage
breast, cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer
and low grade lymphomas, respond very well to herbal
treatments, yet seem to be aggravated and sometimes
worsened by surgical procedures or other conventional
treatments.[25]
The rates of cervical cancer are four times less
among women whose partners have had a vasectomy.[26]
Of course, once you already have cervical cancer,
this intervention is too late.
Women who douche four or more times a month are
nearly four times more likely to be diagnosed with
cervical cancer.[27] Isnt douching a way to
cleanse the vagina? Absolutely not. The vagina harbors
beneficial organisms (mostly bacteria) that prevent
infection and may forestall cancer; douching washes
them away, leaving the cervix and vagina vulnerable.
A cone biopsy is real surgery, not just a biopsy.
It was originally conceived of as a uterus-sparing
procedure for women with cervical cancer who, usually
from a desire to have children, were reluctant to
undergo hysterectomy. A cone biopsy requires anesthesia
and is designed not just to sample cells to test
for cancer, as a biopsy would, but to remove all
possible cancerous tissues from the cervix along
with a clean margin of unaffected tissue.
Over-treatment of cervical carcinoma in situ is
common. Except in the rare case of fast-growing
microinvasive cancer, it is considered safe to explore
alternative treatments for 3-12 months before consenting
to surgery. A high percentage of in situ cervical
cancers can be reversed.
[1]
JAMA, Feb. 1989, cited in Ovarian Cysts,
HealthFacts, XVI (146), July 1991
[2] Amount of virus sets cancer risk,
L Seachrist, Science News,Vol 148, September 23,
1995
[3] One Way to Avoid Unnecessary Testing After
Ambiguous Pap Results, HealthFacts, May 2001
[4] Screening for Cervical Cancer, HealthFacts,
XV (136), Sept 1990
[5] Special Report: Gynecologic Cancers,
Weill Medical College Womens Health Advisor,
June 2006
[6] Differences in cervical cancer mortality
among black and white women, EA Howell, Obstet
Gynecol, 94(509-15), Oct 1999
[7] Does His Circumcision Lower Her Risk for
Cervical Cancer?, Andrew Kaunitz MD, Journal
Watch, 7(6):41
[8] Screening for Cervical Cancer, HealthFacts,
Sept 1990
[9] Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, M. Murray
ND & J. Pizzorno ND, Prima Publishing, 1991
[10] Co-conspirator? Genital herpes linked
to cervical cancer, N. Sepa, Science New,
162:292?3, November 9, 2002
[11] Womens Bodies, Womens Wisdom, Christiane
Northrup MD, Bantam, 1991
[12] Personality patterns in patients with
malignant tumors of the breast and cervix,"
Tarlau & Smalheiser, Psychosomatic Medicine,
vol 13(117), 1951
[13] Psychological setting of uterine cervical
cancer, LG Koss, Annals of the New York Academy
of Sciences, vol 125(807-13), 1966
[14] Encycl. of Natural Medicine, Murray & Pizzorno,
Prima, 1991; also, study by CE Butterworth, MD at
U of Alabama Med School
[15] Desk Reference to Natures Medicine, Steven
Foster and Rebecca Johnson, National Geographic,
2006
[16] Ibid
[17] Nutrients and Cervical Cancer Prevention,
C Massion MD, Alternative Therapies in Womens
Health, 2(8):57?60, Aug 2000
[18] Physicians Perspective: Alternative
Cancer Therapies Can Be Dangerous, Carolyn
Runowicz MD, Health News (NEJM), Feb 2003
[19] The effect of beta-carotene and the regression
and progression of cervical dysplasia, Jrnal
of Clinical Epidemiology, 44(273-283), 1991
[20] Effects of beta carotene and other factors
on the outcome of cervical dysplasia, Gynecology
Oncology, 65(483-492), 1997
[21] Randomized double-blind trial of beta carotene
and vitamin C in women with minor cervical abnormalities,
British Journal of Cancer, 79(1448-1453), 1999
[22] DES - Forgotten by many but still an
important womens health issue, Ann Mulligan,
The Network News, Nov /Dec 1998
[23] DES: New Concerns, Susan Ince,
Womens Health and Fitness News, Dec 1988
[24] Ibid note 24
[25] Herbal Medicine, Healing & Cancer, Donald
Yance Jr., Keats, 1999
[26] The Complete Womans Herbal, Anne McIntyre,
Henry Holt, 1994
[27] Douching: New Dangers Identified,
Cynthia Pearson, The Network News, March 1991; study
in Am. J. of Epid, Feb 15, 1991
Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock,
NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081
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Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com
For permission to reprint this article, contact
: susunweed@herbshealing.com
Vibrant, passionate,
and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international
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Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic
lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.
Susun is one
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and well-known physicians and are used and cherished
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at www.susunweed.com
This
article is © copyright Susun
S. Weed 2007 - Republished here with kind permission.
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