Words: Dr Pankaj AGGARWAL
Although our urban lifestyle, more so for women, is often hectic and demanding, it is, indeed, heartening to find that women are excelling in all fields — be it at home, taking care of their family, or work. A woman dons the role of a daughter, wife and mother, at home, with ease, just as much as she performs the role of a teacher, doctor, manager, etc., at work.
Put simply, there is no field where she is not in the picture. The most important thing, however, for a woman to be able to maintain balance is to be healthy and well. One of the most common concerns for any woman during her child-bearing years [under 30] is the presence of lumps in breast — this is because breast cancer is the most common type of cancer prevalent in the world today.
However, one must understand that not all lumps are always cancerous. Lumps often appear during menstruation, or while taking oral contraceptive pills. Hence, they appear for a while and disappear later. One must act quickly when the lump begins to enlarge and stays put for a period of time.
Non-cancerous lumps in the breast are medically referred to as fibroadenoma. The prevalence of fibroadenoma is on the rise.
Fibroadenomas occur in about 10 per cent of all women. It typically has a firm, rubbery consistency with well-defined margins and moves freely under the skin, though there may be more than a few of them that are too small to be felt.
Fibroadenoma can be easily diagnosed by clinical examination, ultrasound, or mammography. The incidence of fibroadenoma decreases with age. Besides, though the chances of fibroadenoma being transformed into breast cancer are rare, one needs to be cautious — even when regression is frequent.
It is commonly seen that patients are advised surgical removal of the lump, yet the chances of recurrence are quite likely post-operatively. Is there a way, a safe, effective therapy, which can cure — in other words dissolve the lump and its recurrence by medicine alone, without any surgical intervention?
Yes, there is. You guessed it right — homeopathy.
Treatment With Homeopathy
Homeopathy, as a branch of medicine, has earned worldwide respect [forget what the sceptics say], in terms of its efficacy, clinical finesse, in general, and, particularly, in the treatment of several functional and chronic diseases. Whatever the name of the disease, the fact of the matter is homeopathy offers a holistic, also useful, mode of treatment. It understands each disease from three angles [mind-body-spirit] and ‘tailors’ the treatment to ‘suit’ each individual, having the disease, or illness, and not just the disease, or illness, in isolation.
In other words, homeopathy treats the patient with the disease, and not merely the disease.
Homeopathy takes into account the general and unique symptoms of the patient and also what actually may have caused one to develop a particular kind of disease. Besides, it takes into consideration one’s family history and the effect of emotional stress in life that could play a role in the development of — in this article, in point — fibroadenoma.
Stress occurs in everyone’s life, be it stress at homework for a school-going child, stress to achieve highest percentages for a college student, stress for an employee, or stress of disease for the elderly. No one is exempt from stress. Yet, the reaction of each individual to stress is different. It is this reaction, or how a person reacts to stress, is what homeopathy aims at and treats. This is also what the new field of psychoneuroimmunology [PNI] has demonstrated in recent times — something that homeopathy has always espoused since its inception 200+ years ago.
New studies evidence that fibroadenomas commonly occur in women with an over-considerate attitude for others and failing to care for themselves. As a result, they suffer in silence when it comes to physical illnesses, such as fibroadenoma.
There are a host of homeopathic remedies which are safe and useful in the treatment of fibroadenoma — they are Phytolacca decandra, Conium maculatum, Silicea terra, Carbo animalis, Sulphur etc., to name a few. However, the caveat is simple — it is imperative that one seeks the guidance and advice of professional homeopath, owing to the complexity of fibroadenoma, not to speak of the subtle nuances of homeopathic remedies and also treatment.
A Case In Point
Twenty-five-year-old Sonia was accompanied by her parents, when she came for check-up. She complained of having a lump in the left breast for the past six months. She was already operated upon — a lump was removed before she came to my office. After surgical intervention, there was now a lump in her right breast within a month. A new lump too had developed in her left breast within six weeks. The lumps were gradually increasing in size. After the administration of homeopathic remedies, such as Phytolacca and Conium, the size of the lumps was stabilised and further growth halted.
After four months of homeopathic treatment, it was found that the lump in her right breast had regressed by 60 per cent, and the other in her left breast by 65 per cent.
With subsequent treatment, the lumps in her left and right breast regressed further and were gone in the next 4-5 months. It is three years now, and there has been no recurrence of any breast lump.
