24: The 7 Essentials to Conquering Breast Cancer with Dr. Veronique Desaulniers

Hello and welcome to the Kenya breasts podcast with Dr. Jen. The show dedicated to empowering women through knowledge, tools, and resources to take control of your breast health journey. I'm your host, Dr. Jen Simmons, and I'm thrilled to have you join me on this insightful and inspiring journey. As a breast cancer surgeon turned functional medicine physician, I'm on a mission to empower women to live their breast, I mean, best lives. This podcast dives deep into all topics related to breast health, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and holistic approaches to support overall well being.

You know what I say?

Breast health is health. So no matter who you are, a breast cancer survivor, newly diagnosed in treatment, living with metastatic disease, or you're simply seeking to improve your breast health, this podcast is for you. Join us on this transformative path towards better breast health and a thriving life. And now, let's get to today's episode.

Hi there, it's Dr. Jen. Welcome to another episode of Keeping Abreast. I am so delighted to have our guest today. She is truly one of my idols. In fact, when I was leaving surgery and considering going into this functional medicine space, I didn't actually know that it was possible to do this in the cancer space. And I remember someone asking me if I had heard of Dr. V, and I said no. And they sent me a bunch of videos and I watched this woman, and besides the fact that she is beautiful and brilliant and captivating, but for me, I had this epiphany like, oh, my God, I can do this. And it was literally Dr. V that paved my path to where I am today. So I'm first going to start by saying welcome, and I am so grateful to you.

Wow.

You, like, literally changed my life. I'm not exaggerating. I'm not using that metaphorically. Like, you literally changed my life, and you've changed the lives of thousands and thousands, probably millions of women with breast cancer. So I want to give you. I want to give our listeners your intro because you are the breast cancer conqueror and you are the founder of the Several essentials system. And I really want to get into that and talk about what that is. That is your signature process that you have used for thousands of women in over 63 countries around the world. Like, wow, the impact that you've made. You have a signature book called Heal Breast Cancer Naturally, which is a number one Amazon bestseller in 10 categories and five countries. I mean, just amazing. And you've bridged the gap between Pink Brown breast cancer movement and natural medicine. So welcome. I am so grateful for you. For coming here and for sharing your wisdom with us today.

Wow. Well, thank you, Dr. Jen, for that introduction. Brought tears to my eyes. It's just I've admired your work as well. And I really admire the fact that you went from the conventional world, a very successful practice, but your integrity and knowing that you could help people in a bigger way, you left all that behind. I mean, that takes a lot of courage. That takes a lot of guts, and.

Or maybe I'm insane. I don't know.

A little about a little bit of both. Yeah. But, you know, here you are, and your. Your impact is far and wide, and you're going to reach so many women as well. Because, you know, the fact that you have an MD degree carries a lot of weight for a lot of women. You know, they feel more secure with that. So, you know, your experience, your knowledge from both worlds is just the perfect blend for helping women so well.

Thank you. So, like many of us, you have a pain to purpose story, so I would love it if you could share how you found yourself in this breast cancer space.

Oh, certainly not what I was intending. You know, I'm a chiropractor by profession, and 23 years into my practice as a wellness warrior, I discovered a lump in my left breast. I was in the shower getting ready for work, and, you know, I. My gut told me right away, this is not right. It wasn't. I could tell. It just wasn't right. So I discovered I had, you know, breast cancer. And it was really like any other woman. Right. It's pretty traumatic, especially for me, who was advocating health and wellness since 1979. 23 years later, you know, I'm. I'm facing a situation with breast cancer.

Yeah.

So I had to go back to the table and ask myself, you know, what allowed this cancer to show up? Because I understood that cancer was just the tip of the iceberg. It's just the symptom. And I knew that my body had the ability to heal. So I said, what. What can I do that will allow me to create vibrant health in my body and remove that, you know, dis. Ease in my body? So I literally sat down with pen and paper and said, okay, what are the. What do I need to do to really get well? And it was like a download, you know, that's how the seven essentials came about. And it just was amazing to me. So I started putting that into practice. So 2004 through 2006, I went through that first healing journey, and I decided I was going to stop practicing chiropractic. After 30 years, you know, with more of a wellness clinic, not just, you know, pain relief. And I started, you know, I threw up a website in 2012, started, you know, coaching women, helping them to understand what it would take to heal breast cancer naturally. Three years into that journey, I'm not practicing self care. I'm tired, I'm not sleeping, my hormones are off. I've got, you know, cavitation issues. And I created the perfect storm for cancer to show up again. So talk about, can you talk about.

What cavitation issues means?

So cavitation is an infection in the bone that happens after an extraction and the socket isn't cleaned out properly. So it creates a breeding ground for anaerobic bacteria, and it literally creates a hole in your bone, a site of infection. So I didn't know what that was really until I went through that second healing journey.

So this is three years after your first diagnosis?

So this was nine years.

Nine years. Okay.

Nine years, yeah. So nine years later. Yeah. So now the breast cancer conqueror. You know, I'm coaching women. I'm doing all the coaching one on one, working from sun up to sundown, burnout, stressed out. And so, you know, I created the perfect storm for cancer to show up again. So this time there was a lot more shame, a lot more guilt, you know, am I a fraud? Did the seven essentials really work? You know, blah, blah, blah, all that stuff in your head.

So I decided to use them. For them to work right, you have to apply them.

Yes. And there was a lot of change from 2004 through 2015 in the cancer world. A lot more information, a lot more testing. You know, things were really coming to the surface, you know. Yeah. So I decided to dig really deep. I changed how I lived my life. I stopped coaching one on one. I trained coaches to do the coaching that I oversaw at the time. I took some time off every day to focus on my healing. I started really taking a deeper dive into the each of the seven essentials so I could really, you know, be updated with what was happening in the breast cancer world. So three years later, I went through that healing journey. And it was difficult, but everything went well. I mean, I. After, you know, after three years, everything was clear. Scans, blood work, all of that. And to this day, I still, you know, make sure that I'm checking my blood work and I'm doing scans and, you know, I'm staying on top of my health because that's. That, that's so important.

What do you think happened the first time? Do you think it was work, life, balance?

Absolutely, yeah. I had three children. I had a very big, successful chiropractic business. I had an unhappy marriage, stress. And I hadn't dealt with a lot of my childhood issues with being raised by two alcoholic parents, sexual abuse, biological by convicted pedophile from the age of three to five. You know, I'd done a little bit of work, but I didn't do enough work, I think, to really get to that root, to really heal it.

Yeah.

So that was a big part of it, too.

Yeah. So I would love to take this opportunity to go into those kinds of things, because I think that that is probably the most dramatic difference between. Between what they do and what we do. And I. I hate to make that divide, but the truth is that it's there. Right. And nowhere in what they do are they asking why. I believe, and I know that you believe, that you cannot get well in the same environment that you got sick. And adding chemotherapy and surgery and radiation into an unwell environment is just going to create more illness, more imbalance, more deficit. So can we go over some of the whys for people? Because for a lot of women, when they get this diagnosis, first of all, they don't know to ask. And when they ask their doctor, they're told that they have bad luck.

Right.

Or it's just something that happens. It's not preventable. You know, a fraction of them are told that there, it's genetics. But, you know, you and I both know, yes, your genes can provide a roadmap, but they're. They're not the. The entirety of the situation, and that we can influence our genes. We can influence how they're expressed. So let's start to talk about some of the whys, because even over this past weekend, I got a message this long on Instagram about someone who, you know, eats healthy and exercises and buys organic and grows her own food and still has breast cancer. And I think that there's just a big disconnect on what causes it. And this isn't about blame or shame. Right. We're not blaming the victim. We're looking for opportunities for improvement.

Absolutely. Because you can get rid of the lump or the bump, but unless you transform your life and you stop doing the things that brought you to that point, then there's not going to be much change. So I think if we. If we just go through each of the essentials, it'll help your, you know, your audience to understand, even though they may have a good understanding about basic principles. There's Key things in each of those that need to be applied in order to really make a big difference. So essential number one is let food be your medicine. I mean, that's common knowledge now. I mean, people are aware of, you know, eating well, but from just a high point on that level, you know, make sure that you're eating organic as much as possible. Check to make sure that your blood sugars are not spiking because some people think, well, I need to, you know, juice a bag of carrots and a pound of beets in order to, you know, really heal. But in reality, you know, you have to check to see how that's affecting your body because that's one of the things I discovered. I mean, I juiced for decades, but during my second healing journey, I bumped it up and I wasn't feeling well. And then I started reading Metabolic Approach to cancer. You know, Dr. Naysha Winters. Yeah, and it was a light bulb moment for me because, you know, those pathways can turn on cancer causing genes, so, you know, dial back the sugars, the complex carbohydrates, you know, those sorts of things.

Do you Recommend People wear CGMs?

They can. We also tell them if you want to do it, simply just get the diabetic. That's good. It's not as accurate as that, but it'll give you a good idea of what's causing the spikes in your.

And what, what are the optimal sugar levels that you, that you tell people?

Fasting 80 and below, preferably, you know, about two hours after you eat. You don't want your blood sugar to go over 120 if you're getting close to 141, 60. And then also you want to look at your 90 day blood sugar, you know, the HBA 1C. You know, ideally that should be around 5. If you start getting close to, you know, 5.4, 5.6, then you're, you know, then you're having issues. Fasting Insulin is another good one to test. You want that around 4. So, yeah, these are just, you know, simple little things that you can do to help monitor your food choices.

Yeah. And they make a huge difference.

It does, it does.

So you're buying organic as much as possible. You're watching your blood sugars because this is an indication of your metabolic health. What else are you thinking of in Let Food Be Thy Medicine?

Well, think about what foods support you optimally and how do you know that? There's a great test called the nutrition genome test, which looks at the genetic weaknesses in your body and what foods and supplements can best support your body. So it takes all the guesswork out of what your body needs. You know, there's no one size fits all diet because we're all biologically individual. So if somebody says to you, plant based is the only way, run the other way.

Yeah.

You know, because some people thrive with protein. I'm one of those, you know, I'm a balanced carnivore, so I do need a certain amount of protein in my diet. That's how I thrive. I'm an O blood type, so.

Yeah, and, and O stands for old. And most people who are O blood types do not tolerate a purely vegan diet.

Yeah, I could not do it.

Yeah, they tend to, everyone feels good in the beginning and then as they get out a little bit, they start to have problems.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I experienced that. I mean, I, I was a vegetarian for many years in my 20s and 30s, but then as my hormones changed, I just realized I needed to make changes in my diet.

Yeah, and different stages of your life call for different things. And I, I know lots of women who did fine on plant based diets until they went through menopause. And then as you get older, your ability to assimilate protein gets lower and lower. It has to do with a lot of things. Acid, lack of estrogen, like, it's a complex picture. And maintaining hormone balance after menopause is difficult when you, when you don't include animal sources of protein just is unfortunately.

Very good point. So essential number two is to reduce your toxic exposure. Now, we live in a toxic world. We can't live in a bubble. But there are certain things that you want to do, especially when it comes to breast cancer, and that's avoiding something that we call xenoestrogens or chemical estrogens that are in the environment and may even be in your, you know, in your household. So, so things like plastics, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, things you put on your skin, certain sunscreens, you have to really avoid those because they are going to drive and mimic estrogen production in your body. Another thing you want to be aware of is understanding if you have a methylation issue, do you have a problem genetically? Do you have a weakness? Breaking down and metabolizing your hormones properly? So that's, that's really key because if you do, you want to support those pathways and then you want to detox your body as much as possible. So start with basic things, you know, getting in a sauna and sweating as much as you can. People may not realize this, but According to the bus study, you know, blood, urine, sweat. They compared the detoxification pathways, and they found that sweat contains, contained the highest levels of environmental chemicals and heavy metals. So sweating, getting in a sauna, biomat, you know, running outside when it's hot, all, you know, all those ways of detoxifying, lymphatic drainage, coffee enemas, liver cleanses, colon cleanses, yeast cleanses, you know, all those things to really reduce that toxic burden. Because even if we try to eat organic, I mean, we're being exposed to glyphosates and our foods, our rain, our water. So.

Yeah, and I tell people all the time, like, even if you're buying from an organic farm, if the neighbor's farm is inorganic, you're getting cross contamination through air, you're getting cross contamination through water, you're getting cross contamination through runoff. So even if you are buying all organic, you're still getting exposed.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

All right, so the next one is essential number three. And that's about balancing our energy. You know, we're one billionth physical matter. The rest is all energy. So how do you keep that in balance? Chiropractic care, acupuncture, massage grounding. You know, we're so disconnected from our planet. We get so much benefit from being connected to the planet because of the electromagnetic frequencies that are beneficial for us. Hormones, you know, hormones is a big one, and you and I agree on this, is that our balanced hormones do not cause cancer. You know, it's all the other stuff that we're exposed to, and then our inability to properly methylate or break down our hormones, balancing our sleep. So many people are not getting proper sleep. Balancing your physical activity, making sure that you're moving your body every single day. You know, there's even a new branch of oncology, not physical oncology, but therapeutic oncology or something like that, where they're actually taking cancer patients on chemotherapy and getting them to move their body more effectively.

Well, we know that that is probably the biggest. The biggest difference for people in terms of recurrence is whether or not they're moving. And people who are sedentary, especially during therapy. Absolutely. Have worst outcomes. Yeah, absolutely. And you think that you don't have the energy to exercise, but it's actually the exercise that gives you the energy, and it allows for movement and circulation and oxygenation, and it actually allows for mitochondrial function because we have to be in a heightened level of oxygenation and circulation for proper mitochondrial function. And that's where we get our energy from.

Yeah.

So if you Think you don't have enough energy? Go take a walk.

That's right. Get out in the sunshine.

Yeah.

All right. Number four is to heal the emotional wounds. And I think if I were to start over, I would put that one as number one. Because, you know, I've seen time and time again when women say, oh, I'm fine, you know, they're just good stuffers, or they don't change their stress level. They keep, you know, running on that treadmill. They don't do as well as those who really take the time to address those emotional wounds and to manage their stress properly. There's a great study that I like to share with Everybody. There's an 11 year study done on women with breast cancer, and they found that if they met, learned to manage their stress, and number two, had community support, they had a 75% decreased risk of dying from breast cancer. I mean, that's so powerful. Something so simple, but so powerful. So it brings home, you know, makes the point that, you know, dealing with your stuff, getting into that relaxation mode every single day, you know, really stimulating, that parasympathetic versus sympathetic mode. And, you know, learning to nurture that little girl inside of you. Forgive yourself, forgive others, create healthy boundaries for yourself. I mean, it's such a huge step. Yeah.

And, you know, that forgiveness thing is really powerful. And it doesn't mean that you are condoning someone that hurt you, but in forgiving them, you stop them from continuing to hurt you. Because when you don't, and when you carry around that anger and that resentment, they continue to hurt you today with the same power or more than they hurt you in the past. So forgiveness is really powerful. I also think that this is a good time to talk about those relationships that you're in that are really detrimental to your health. I had a woman tell me last week, I said, you know what? She had cancer many years ago. And I said, well, what did you do to heal yourself? And she said, I had a husbandctomy.

I love that.

So, you know, sometimes it's your spouse, sometimes it's your job, sometimes it's, you know, there. There are lots of malignant situations that may result in your malignancy. And so looking at those situations, and sometimes these are difficult decisions, but sometimes they're, they're the, they're the. Your path to healing.

I've seen many women having to leave best friends and even some family members behind when they're on their healing journey. You know, and I love what you say, Dr. Jan, is. Breast cancer is rarely A medical emergency, it's an emotional emergency. And it's so true because we know breast cancer is a very nurturing emotional dis ease that's connected to relationships and to our, our inner self.

Have you seen a sided difference? Like have you seen left sided breast cancers be more associated with a broken heart, whereas right sided breast cancers maybe something more on the side of anger where the liver is. And have you, have you seen that connection?

Absolutely. And even more so when you look at relationships, you know, based on Chinese acupuncture meridians, you know, the left side has to do with mothering and mother issues. Right side is the father, you know, the father is always right. That's how I remember that. You know, the father, the father, the male relationships know. So when I mention that to our, our clients, they're like, oh, that is so true. You know, they make that connection. So there, there definitely is a relationship there.

Yeah. I'm curious. I, I'm, I'm trying to, you know, some of my bad habits from my training still remain right. So I, I for so many years treated thousands of women without making any kind of connection to what's happening with this woman and what side is her cancer on. So it's only now that I, that I think about that and I am actually going to start to track that because I, I think it's important for people to know because it's another, it's another tool that we can give them when, when you know better, you do better.

Right, Right.

And so if we can, if we can confidently tell them we know that these kinds of things are associated with left sided cancers and these kinds of things are associated with right sided cancers. It, it almost gives them more power to make the change and it opens.

Up that door that perhaps they didn't even make that connection before. So it's another layer that they can address and go deeper into the root cause of the cancer. Yeah.

Okay, so we're healing emotional wounds and.

Now we're going to heal the, the oral cavity. It's embracing biological dentistry. And you know, for some of your listeners, this may be a totally new concept, but you have to look at your mouth in terms of, you know, anything that may be toxic, anything that may be causing inflammation. So if we look at it from a chemical point of view, if you still have those silver fillings, they're 50% mercury. And mercury is the most toxic element on the planet. And even after 20 years, it's still giving off methylmercury vapors into your body. Mercury is also A metallo estrogen. It mimics and stimulates estrogen production in the body. So you want to have those replaced by somebody who's trained and certified in the smart technique, you know, safe mercury amalgam removal. They're, you know, real biological dentists. They're not just holistic like they're saying they're natural and not. So that's the first step. Then you want to look at root canals. Root canals.

I just want to say one thing before we move off of mercury, which is that I have people tell me all the time, oh, I just have one little filling and it's been there for years.

It's.

And my dentist told me it's nothing to worry about. I hear this all the time. So the longer that filling is in there, the more it is off gassing, not less, the more it is off gassing. And even that little one filling is off gassing plenty, especially when it's been there as long as it has. And everyone likes their neighborhood dentist. But if you have that removed without that smart technique that you were talking about, without the vacuum, without proper elimination of those mercury gases as you're having them remove, you're going to get a bolus of mercury and your health is going to be worse than it was when you started. So it is really important, even if you think you just have a little mercury in your mouth, it is really important to get that taken care of and to get that taken care of properly.

Absolutely, yeah. There should be no, no toxic metals in your mouth and then root canals. Root canal is basically like a dead organ in your body. No matter how clean and aseptic they try to make it, there is always, always a pack pocket of anaerobic bacteria that are deadly and toxic and suppress your immune system. So again, work with a biological dentist who understands the proper removal, proper cleansing personally, and I'm not a dentist, but I don't recommend getting an implant because you're potentially adding fuel to the fire there. It's a site of potential infection. So you can get something called a flipper. It's like a little false tooth and it just clips between your teeth and it can come in and out. So you can brush, you know, brush it and clean it. So it's, it's an easy fix if you have a root canal. And there's also something called regenerative endodontics now, which, you know, wasn't around a few years ago, where they literally remove the material from that root canal and use light waves and radio waves and really clean as Proper, properly and put in bio compatible materials. So, you know, that could be an option if it's in the front, you.

Know, and I think they're using a lot of ozone in those situations too.

Yeah. And then one thing to consider too is the connection between your teeth and your organs. You know, the acupuncture meridian connects our or our organs with our teeth. So if you have fillings or root canals on those breast meridians, there's four on the upper right and there's two on the, on the, four on the top and four on the bottom on each side. Yeah, four on the top, two on the bottom on each side. And so you can look up, you know, dental organ charts on the Internet and you can look to see if you, you know, if money is an issue to getting all this work done, then start with those breast meridians are affected and 99% of the time there's an issue there.

Yeah, yeah. A lot of people who have not had root canals have had wisdom tooth extractions. And I have seen this same cavitation issue happen years later. And, and people can walk around pretty asymptomatic. They, they don't. They're unaware that they have an issue in their mouth.

Right.

Have you seen that as well?

Yeah, they're unaware the symptoms haven't really manifested themselves, but they do eventually. So a cavitation, as we mentioned earlier, is a hole in the bone. And so if you've had an extraction and chances are it wasn't cleaned out properly by a biological dentist, then you have an infection that's literally seeping these toxic, deadly bacteria and causing everything from cardiovascular disease to cancer. Yeah. So make sure you get a 3D scan, CT scan of your mouth, a.

Cone CT. And I think that people need to be a little bit of educated consumers because there are some dentists who are just doing plain films. And unless you're doing the cone CT and looking at it not as a still image, but as a three dimensional study, because on the still images you can still miss the cavitations.

Yes, yes, very true. So important. And one more thing with dental is the inflammation in your gums, right? Yeah. Women, postmenopausal women who have periodontal disease are twice as likely to develop breast cancer. So that little bleeding gum is a serious issue and you need to work with that biological dentist to get that taken care of.

Yeah. So if you have gum recession, know that that is like an open doorway to your bloodstream so the bacteria can freely enter. And they do.

Yeah.

So if you do not have healthy gums. If you have gum recession, that is another sign that you really need to be paying attention to your oral health.

Yes. And there's a. There's a little saliva test that you can do that will literally measure the type of pathogenic bacteria in your mouth and what you can do to clean that up. So that's, you know, you can ask your biological dentist about getting that test.

While we're on this topic, I would love to know what toothpaste you recommend.

I use Revitin by Dr. Curatola, Dr. Jared Curatola. So I like his toothpaste. I also use Harry's, Uncle Harry's, which is basically bentonite, clay, and essential oils. So those are the main two that I've used over the years. All right, so now we move on to essential number six. And we could spend a whole day on this one. It's, you know, healing your body with therapeutic plants and herbs. So this is like, this is what women want to know, like, what do I do to kill this cancer and boost the immune system? So you start with some basic. Everybody needs basics. Our food is deficient, so we need some sort of supplementation. So make sure you're getting your trace minerals like magnesium, zinc, selenium. Look at supporting your estrogen pathways with, you know, ground flax and Dim, which is an extract of cruciferous vegetables. Broccoli sprouts are great in powdered form or in raw form because it turns on over 200 genetic switches. And, you know, a lot of these substances can help literally turn off some of those switches. Y. And then you want to make sure that you're supporting your immune system. Simple things like vitamin D. Just check your vitamin D levels. They should be between 80 and 100 and GS per milliliter. If you're in your 30s or in your teens, you know, or 40, that's way too low. You know, vitamin D is a steroid hormone that literally makes. Affects many, many genetic switches as well. You know, vitamin C, the basic, you know, make sure that you're getting enough vitamin C in your body. You can order little pea sticks from the Riordan Clinic to see if you're getting enough vitamin C. And an important thing about vitamin C, too, if you're getting vitamin C, IVs, how do you know what level to get? You know, should I get 20 grams or 100 grams?

Right?

So I learned from the Reordian Clinic there's something called the tumor lifting range. So if you get an IV on one arm and when they're done, you have them draw blood in the opposite arm right away and send it off to the lab to measure the vitamin C plasma levels. With their research, their decades of research, they found that you should be between 350 to 400 in your vitamin C serum. If you're not, then you're not reaching that killer stage of, you know, killing those cancer cells, that tumor lysing range. And so if you're only getting 20 or 25, then bump it up to 50 and see what works for you. Yeah, so I had to get up to 100 to reach that stage. And eventually I was able to cut back to 75 and 50.

And out of curiosity, did you ever get sick? Because I, I have a lot of patients, when we push a little higher, they have a lot of nausea, vomiting.

Oh, really? Yeah. No.

You haven't had that issue?

Haven't had that issue at all. Um, I mean, I, I would request that they drift it pretty slow. So a hundred grams may take me three and a half hours.

Yeah.

But no, I've never, I've never had that. Yeah.

So maybe they were, maybe they were.

Doing it too quickly and then, and then making sure that you're hydrating and that you're nibbling on some food, too, because it's going to really affect your blood sugar. Yeah. And then zinc, of course, is very important for the immune system. Medicinal mushrooms, I mean, there's so many great products. Beta glucans, you know, all these things, things to make sure that you're targeting your immune system. And then the last subgroup would be the targeted essentials. And those are the things that, you know, we call herbal, you know, chemotherapy or herbal cancer killers. And again, there's a lot of great products out there. Polymda, which is a very potent antioxidant, attached alpha lipoic acid attached to a trace mineral that really turns on those mitochondria. There's things like benign, even agaricus mushrooms are powerful cancer killers. Curcumin in higher doses can kill all kinds of cancer cells as well. And, you know, one thing to understand too is addressing those circulating tumor cells and those cancer stem cells. That's very, very important because the doctor may say, well, we've taken out the tumor and we don't see any visible signs. Your blood tests look good, but they're not checking for circulating tumor cells or the brain cells.

And also, you know, the blood test that they're looking at. And look, what they're looking for is virtually meaningless.

Right.

So I always pause when people Say to me, but all my blood work is normal because, you know, if you don't know what you're looking for, you're definitely not going to find it.

Right, right, right.

So in terms of circulating tumor cells and cancer stem cells, what tests do you like to use?

I personally like to use the RGCC or the Greece test. I've used it and recommended it for, you know, the last 10 years. And I can see that there's, you know, I never kept official stats, but there is definitely a correlation with the women that follow that protocol because it's a very targeted approach. They grow your circulating tumor cells and stem cells and then they drip 50 natural extracts and, or chemotherapy to see which ones are most effective against your cancer cells. And then when you follow that protocol, you know, you're, you're seeing really good results.

So I wanted to ask you a little bit about, we talked about the immune system and there are some off label drugs or natural therapies that do stimulate the immune system, modulate the immune system. So I wanted to know how you feel about them. Let's first talk about low dose naltrexone.

Yeah, I was on low dose naltrexone for many years and I think it works beautifully. It really enhances the natural killer cells for women who may have a problem with sleep. You can still take it in the morning, you don't have to necessarily take it at night. But it's a, it's a great tool. Things like metformin, even statin drugs. You know, some antibiotics have shown that they literally turn off certain cancer pathways and can be very effective.

Yeah.

In certain situations.

What about mistletoe?

Yes, mistletoe is great. I use mistletoe. You can do it.

Are you using it across the board? Like, do you think this is something that everyone benefits from or are you selecting people?

Well, even if it doesn't show up on their rgcc, we know that mistletoe has been around for decades. I mean, there's over 3,000 research papers done on it. So. So there's a benefit there. And you can tell by your reaction. If you start off slow and if you get a raised whelp, then you know that your immune system is working actively. If you don't get anything, then you keep bumping it up until you do. And some doctors like to do it IV as well. In certain situations if the cancer is aggressive and it's a more advanced stage. So I think it could be a great tool.

Yeah. Pancreatic enzymes.

Yes, pancreatic Enzymes, I did those, too. You name it, I've done it.

So, I mean, I've. I've seen recommendations for massive doses. So what do you think about that? How do you feel about that? When are you dosing them? How high are you dosing them?

So I was trained during my first healing journey by a medical doctor and a biochemist who had used pancreatic enzyme. And so people understand the background behind pancreatic enzymes. In the early 1900s, Dr. Beard was an embryologist and an oncologist, and he couldn't figure out why the placenta, which is very similar to cancer cells, you know, it divides very quickly, it invades healthy tissue, has its own blood flow, why it stopped growing, you know, on day 56. And then he made the connection that fetus begins to produce pancreatic enzymes on day 56. So he said, oh, light bulb moment. Let me see if that works on people and on animals. Well, sure enough, he started seeing a correlation. And then fast forward, hundred some years later, you know, Dr. Nick Gonzalez, Dr. Williams, you know, the research shows that they. They can be very effective in boosting the immune system. So think of the enzymes like little pacman. They attack the fibrous outer layer of the cancer cell, which makes it very difficult for things to penetrate. So they chew on that and they weaken it, and it allows, you know, the nutrients or agents to penetrate the cell much more quickly. So, yeah, the protocol I was taught was that you start with four enzymes every hour. On the hour, you do that for a week, then you increase to five, and you keep going until you reach a burning sensation in your rectum. That's when your body is saturated. And then you can start cutting back a little bit. So some women may reach saturation of 5 per hour. It took me 15 per hour to reach saturation. I did that for a month. I know it was. It was a lot, but I stuck with it. And eventually I was able to cut back, and now I just do them.

And do you cut back in the same way that I. That we cut back hydrochloric acid. When we. When we supplement people with hydrochloric acid, you take it until you get the symptom. You cut back one from your symptom. That's your dose. And then when you start to develop symptoms from that, you cut back symptoms from that. Cut back.

Correct.

And that's when you know you no longer need it.

Right?

Yeah. You do the same thing, Same principle.

Yeah, yeah. And I think it's important just to have those pancreatic Enzymes throughout the day, even if you're not actively cancering anymore between meals is best. Even if you do three or four, three times a day, just make it, you know, part of your habit. And I keep a little jar here on my desk. Not that I take them every single day, but try to remember. So enzymes are very important.

Yeah. And so outside of those seven essentials, like what do you say to people kind of on the other side of it when they're not actively in treatment anymore and they want to put their breast cancer behind them, how do they comfortably do that but yet know that they're monitoring themselves and, and they can actually feel safe? So what's your follow up with people?

So that's perfect. That's essential number seven. It's, you know, really keeping a pulse on your health and practicing early detection. So blood work is essential. And we want to look at inflammatory markers, so C reactive protein, homocysteine, ldh, esr, you know, those are basic. You can look at clotting factors like fibrinogen or D dimer, look at your iron levels, you know, ferritin and iron saturation. Because if you have too much iron, you know, that can feed cancer. And just looking at, you know, your, your basic blood work as well, just keeping a pulse on that, and when.

Your iron is up and your ferritin is up, that is an indication of systemic inflammation.

Absolutely.

Right.

Yeah. Yeah. And. And the iron feeds the cancer. Yeah. You know, and then you can do various scans, like ultrasounds. Obviously you want to keep on top of that. I'm not a fan of mammography, and I don't think you are either. But regardless, if you choose to do a mammogram, make sure you back it up with an ultrasound. Use other technology like thermography, which measures the infrared heat coming off your body. And then there's, you know, more and more tools now, I think. I don't know.

Can you see my button?

What does it say?

It says say no to mammograms.

Oh, wow, that is great. Where did you get that?

I had it made.

Oh, good for you.

I thought, I thought it was important enough to have it made.

Did you wear it at the hospital?

Yes.

You did? Oh, my goodness.

And I'm at. I for. For anyone who is going to be at a 4M, they're going to see my say no to mammograms button and they're going to see.

I have an.

Even bigger button that says ask me about safe breast cancer screening.

Okay. Yeah, I love that.

So I'm. I'm going to be a walking poster child so that we stop hurting people and stop causing the very disease that we pretend to want to prevent, because it's simply not true.

Yeah.

And we have a lot of culpability in causing a lot of the diseases that we say that we want to prevent. And I think the time for that is long overdue.

Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah.

So you are recommending ultrasounds. Are you using thermography?

I recommend thermography, yes. I had it in my clinic, but it's not a standalone screening. I always say back it up with an ultrasound and stay on top of your blood work, you know, inflammatory markers, because that's really key, because if your inflammation is high, you're probably actively cancering.

Yeah, yeah. And then as far as, like, putting it emotionally behind you, how do you help to counsel women to actually feel safe afterwards?

It's really pretty simple. You know, I always tell women that you'll get to the point where you never fear breast cancer again. And at first they roll their eyes and think I'm crazy. But if you understand what cancer is and what cancer is not and that you have a large measure of control on how your body responds and how it heals, then really you have the power in your hands and in your body, and it's a matter of following those steps and doing the work. And when you do the work, you see the results for sure.

Like you, my patients come out on the other side far healthier than they ever were before. Because while no one wants a breast cancer diagnosis, this is an opportunity for enlightenment and for really owning your health in a way that we don't do when we're not under that kind of pressure. So it is a huge awakening for people, and it is an opportunity to really have the best health of your life. And you deserve it, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

So we have something super exciting coming up. We have a summit coming out in a month.

We do.

And you interviewed some great people. Is there anything from that summit that sticks out for you that you say, like, people really need to see this one?

Oh, there's so many of them. I love what Dr. Tony Jimenez had to say about, you know, the. The breakthroughs in breast cancer research and the things that they've seen in the work that they've done. Belgiansky, Sylvia Bell.

Oh, Sylvia Beljansky. And that story is just so mind blowing. It is mind blowing. So she's always a great wealth of information, but just that story alone about her father and his research and, you know, if you ever thought that there isn't a force of evil trying to prevent the truth from coming out, his life story is absolutely demonstrative of that. So I'm really looking forward to this summit coming out for a variety of reasons. So the summit is January 16th to the 22nd and I'm sure that you're going to tell all your listeners about it. I'm going to tell all of my listeners about it. But it's really, it was a labor of love and a lot of work on, on both our behalfs. But I'm really proud of it and what we're going to share with the world because it's really beautiful.

It is. And it's really, I think it's one of the first summits that focuses specifically on breast cancer and breakthroughs.

Yeah. So you'll hear all about that and we'll even put some information in the show notes. I do want you to tell people your book again and where they can get it.

So heal breast cancer naturally. They can get it on Amazon. And if you have any questions about how we can support you, just go to breastcancerconquerer.com and find us on Instagram, Facebook and we'll be happy to support you.

Awesome. And again, where can people find you?

Breast cancer conqueror dot com. Yeah.

Awesome. So this has been so wonderful. I obviously love speaking to you. Thank you for sharing your seven essentials. I'm just going to quickly run through all the things that we talked about today because they were so many. But you start with let food be your medicine. And then number two is reducing your toxic exposures. Number three is balancing your energy. And number four, heal your emotional wounds. Number five, the oral cavity, which is so important and so overlooked in conventional medicine. And then number six, you're going to heal your body with therapeutic plants and herbs. And we talked about a whole bunch of vitamins and minerals and then targeted essentials and we spoke about a whole bunch of therapeutics there and what to do afterwards to monitor your long term health and keeping a pulse on your health. The labs that you're going to use to measure. And I hope to see all of you at the summit.

Yes. Been so great, so wonderful.

Thank you so much.

Yeah, you're very welcome. Thanks for sharing my message of hope.

Of course, of course. It's Dr. Jen. Bye for now.

Thank you for joining me on this episode of the Keeping a breast podcast with Dr. Jen. I hope you found the discussion informative and empowering. Remember, breast health is health. So by staying informed and taking proactive steps, you have the power to optimize your well being. My team and I encourage you to apply the knowledge gained from today's episode to make positive changes in your life and share what you've learned with others. If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to our podcast and leave us a review. Your feedback and support mean the world to us and help us to reach more people who can benefit from these conversations. Stay connected with me on social media where I share additional resources, advice, updates and announcements related to breast health. You can find me on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Dr. Jensimmons and remember, MyGen has two N's, so until next time, remember to stay proactive, informed and confident in your breast health journey. The key to your health is you.