Episode 20: Heal Breast Cancer Naturally with Dr. Véronique Desaulniers

Hi, I'm Dr. Tabitha, the functional gynecologist. I'm a board certified, OB, GYN and functional medicine physician. I've embraced the world of functional medicine and wellness through my own personal health journey and I'm super excited to share my wisdom and unique perspective as it pertains to women's health. So if you're struggling with hormone imbalance, weight gain period issues, anxiety, insomnia, you name it, then you've come to the right place. I want to be your functional gynecologist. So welcome. Hi ladies. I'm super excited about this episode. I am interviewing Dr. Veronique Desauniers. She goes by Dr. V. She's the founder of Breast Cancer Conqueror and the Seven Essential Systems and co founder of My Breast Friend. Her signature process has empowered thousands of women in over 44 countries around the world. Her mission is to change lives one breast at a time. Dr. V has personally conquered breast cancer twice, which gives her an empathetic perspective to understand other women facing a healing journey. Her signature book, Heal Breast Cancer Naturally is a number one Amazon bestseller in 10 categories and in five countries. That's impressive. She's been featured in the world renowned Truth About Cancer Docu series and TTAC Live stages as well as many other stages, summits and podcasts including JJ Virgin, Wendy Myers, Wellness Mama, NBC News Affiliate Show, Tampa Enlistment Goes On. She's been a great contributor to Natural News, Green med info, Natural Health 365, mindbody, green wellness.com and many other sites. She is just a sweet person with a lot of knowledge and wisdom to share. So I know you're going to enjoy listening to her and please check her out after the show at www.breast cancer conqueror.com. all right, well welcome Dr. V. Thanks for being on the Functional Gynecologist podcast.

Thank you Dr. Tabitha. I'm excited about sharing my message of hope with your audience.

Yeah, you are such an inspiration. I've been following you and seeing all the amazing things you're doing online helping women with their breast cancer journey. I would love to hear your journey, how you got into this.

Well, I'm a chiropractor by profession and when I was first in practice in 1979, a long time ago, I just was passionate about bringing wellness to the world. And three years into my practice, my father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and that was quite a shock. And of course with traditional medicine, he was given no hope. Told him he had six weeks to live and he died to the day of those six Weeks. So, you know, through that grief and that frustration, I felt like there was something that could have been done for him. And so I did a lot of research and called some clinics, cancer clinics, which were few and far between back then, and realized that there were many things that could have been done for my dad, but for him, it was too late. So I said, people need to hear this information. So I started bringing this information to my practice and was seeing amazing results. I mean, things like rheumatoid arthritis, Ms. cancer, you know, all these different types of issues that were being reversed when people changed their lifestyle, they started eating better and applying, you know, the principles of natural health. And 23 years into my practice, I'm in the shower, I was doing a breast exam, as I typically did, and bam. Felt that lump. That changed the course of my life forever, professionally and personally. And so I knew from that moment that cancer was just the tip of the iceberg, and I had to get to the root cause of what was allowing this cancer to grow. And that's when I dove into the research and did a lot of soul searching, because I couldn't figure out how somebody like me could develop breast cancer. Because I. I thought I was doing everything right. I mean, I ate organic before organic was in style. I breastfed. My kids had home births. I was under chiropractic care. You know, I thought I was doing everything right, but here I was with this lump in my left breast. And that definitely made me think differently about my life.

Yeah. And did you have a family history of breast cancer?

Well, my mom. My mom and several of her sisters had breast cancer, which is why I was a little diligent about, you know, doing the breast exams. And, you know, she. I mean, but she was a smoker and a drinker, and she did not live a very healthy lifestyle. So, you know, I wasn't surprised when she found breast cancer, but for me, I was very surprised because I was the epitome of health. So I thought.

Right. And so you did all this research, and what did you come up with?

Well, I realized, you know, there were pieces of the puzzle that I was missing in my healthy lifestyle. I, you know, did not manage my stress at all very well. You know, I didn't manage it. I had a lot of emotional childhood wounds that weren't addressed. A lot of stress in my life, personally. You know, bad marriage. I had thyroid issues. You know, there was just so many things that kind of all fit together. And as I was going through the journey and really digging deep, you know, personally and professionally. I realized that there were a lot of moments of frustration for me because, you know, I was jumping from one thing to another. And then I said, okay, there's got to be an easier way. There's got to be a system that makes it easy for people. And that's when I just had that light bulb moment of creating the seven essentials. You know, seven easy steps that if you follow, you never have to fear breast cancer or any dis ease for that matter. I say disease dis ease. Your body's not at ease any longer when you have a disease. I just started writing all these things down and it just flowed so beautifully. And since then, I've shared my essentials with women in 45 countries and my team and I have reached hundreds and hundreds of women all around the world and written a book. It's the number one bestseller on Amazon. Heal breast cancer naturally. And you know, one thing led to another and here we are.

That is so amazing. I love that. And I think that you touched on one of the most important concepts is having a stressful life, having emotional burdens and baggage that you're not addressing. I, I really would love my listeners to understand that that is toxic. It is cancer causing. Can you talk more about that?

Absolutely. Essential number four is to heal the emotional wounds. And you know, we know that when we're not managing our stress and we're in our, and we're staying in the fight or flight mode, you know, that's when you feel very anxious all the time. Then there's so many things that happen to your body. Your immune system is suppressed, you don't sleep well, your cortisol, your hormone levels are off and your body just can't function. It's like having the pedal to the metal all the time and not having that balance with the brake in there. People are just running all the time like a hamster on the wheel. And we know with psychoneuroimmunology that our thoughts literally produce proteins that communicate with every cell in our body. So if our thoughts are, I hate my life, I'm stressed out, I'm not happy, all those kinds of things, then what kind of message are you giving to your body? And so many of these thoughts and feelings could be subconscious. I thought I was a happy person or I worked at being happy, but I didn't realize that there were so many layers for me to get rid of before I really got to healing that little wounded child who had been sexually abused by a convicted pedophile from the age of three to five, dealing with alcoholic parents and never really having a childhood. You know, for my parents, raising my little sister, I mean, there was just so many factors that I just kind of suppressed and thought, well, that was just my life. But as I, as I learned more, I realized how deeply those things affected my health, my emotional well being, the relationships that I picked to be around me. And so it's just really transformational.

Yeah, that's such an important concept that you hit on. You have seven essential systems that you focus on. And so that's just one of those.

Correct, Correct.

So I know another one is our toxic exposure from our environment are the xenoestrogens that we get exposed to. Can you talk about that a little bit?

Yes. So essential number two is to reduce your toxic exposure. And we can't live in a bubble, you know, we know we live in a toxic world. But there's so many things that you can do to reduce your toxic exposure. You know, everything from environmental to, you know, what you bring in your home, what you put on your body. And you know, you mentioned xenoestrogens or chemical estrogens. So if we just look at simple things like dry cleaning, floor fluid, you know, that's been known to really affect our hormones. Plastics, you know, bpa, those are very estrogenic and you know, we call them chemical estrogens or xenoestrogens. And then there's pesticides and herbicides, they have the same effect. Phthalates and parabens, all those things that are found in cosmetics. And then we have the, the xeno metallogens, the chemical metal estrogens, things like aluminum and mercury, cadmium. Those metals are toxic and they mimic and stimulate estrogen production in our body. And one thing your listeners need to realize is that our hormones do not cause cancer.

Amen.

Stigma around women's hormones or your, er, positive. So your hormones must be driving the cancer. So let's shut off your hormones with these drugs. But in reality, when we just step back about it, if our hormones cause cancer, then every person on the planet would have cancer in their 20s, right?

Exactly.

Hormones are raging. We need our hormones for our brain health, for our heart health, for our bone health, for our muscles, everything. And when we shut off those hormones, our bodies suffer. So your hormones do not cause cancer, ladies. You have to look at the chemical estrogens that you're exposed to. And then secondly, how your body is able to metabolize or methylate and break down your hormones. Now there are some women, and I was One of them. This was a new concept for me, understanding what methylation was and realizing that I had genetic weaknesses that prevented me from breaking down my estrogens properly. So, yes, I did have aggressive estrogens recirculating in my body that should have been excreted. So that definitely could be a driving factor.

Yeah, I think that's an important key, is we have different types of estrogens in our bodies that we make. And like you said, there's one that's turning on those bad genes, and then there's the kinds that keep us healthy, keep our skin nourished, keep our heart and our brains healthy. So it's important to know that and to know what causes the driving force of increasing the bad estrogens, like stress, obesity, that type of thing, and then these xenoestrogens in our environment. I try to say, you know, start with one little change. Quit drinking out of plastic bottles, start carrying a stainless steel water bottle around and fill that. You know, if you start making little changes, they add up over time. Wouldn't you agree?

Absolutely. That's one thing that I mentioned today on our virtual retreat is, you know, somebody put in the Q and A, there's so much to do. Like, I feel overwhelmed. Like, how do I start? What do I do? And it's. It's the little things that you do, the little changes that eventually add up. Because, you know, a healing lifestyle is not a sprint, it's a marathon.

Right.

It's a lifestyle change. And so any little thing that you change, whether it's your toothpaste, your deodorant, you know, your food, your choice of food, you know, all those little things can really add up in just a short amount of time.

Right. Just like all those little things add up to cause cancer. You know, if you're doing all the wrong things, it's not an overnight situation. This is something that develops over time. So I love that you, you know, have this seven essential system and you break it down into the different categories for people to focus on. Food is another one. Like, I am a huge proponent of going organic, getting rid of those pesticides and those toxins that we're exposed. But do you have any specific diet in particular that you recommend for women dealing with breast cancer?

Well, that's essential. Number one, let food be your medicine. You know, there's no cookie cutter diet when it comes to an anti cancer diet, because we're all different.

Yes.

And I always tell our clients, you know, you have to test and it's test, don't guess when it comes to your health. So, you know, some women may do very well on a vegetarian diet. Some may do better with some, you know, some protein. The key is to, is to test. So let's say you're, you're a very strict vegetarian and you check your inflammatory markers and your inflammatory markers are staying high and the cancer is progressing, you're not getting better. But then that's a clue that perhaps you should change your eating habits. You can also do something as simple as checking your blood sugar. Just get one of those little diabetic meters, check your blood sugar and see if what you're eating after your meals is causing your blood sugar to spike. If you have high blood sugar, chances are you're driving pathways that are causing cancer to continue to progress and you're causing inflammation in your body. There's another test that I recommend. It's called the nutrition genome and it looks at your genetic SNPs and what foods best support those weaknesses. And so there's a lot of ways, there's no one way to eat. It's just a matter of figuring out what works best for you. But you know, basic principles. Avoid the sugar, avoid the high carbs, eat clean, eat organic. If you eat protein, make sure it's, you know, grass fed, pasture raised, no antibiotics, no hormones, you know, all of those things.

Yeah, and that stuff is so readily available nowadays. You know, 10 years ago it might not have been, but I can go to any local grocery store now and find those items. So there's really little it excuse for not, you know, making that switch. I think that's super important. And just to clarify for my listeners, snips are like little genetic mutations in our DNA that sometimes we're not making an enzyme to help digest our food or we're doing, we're metabolizing too quickly. And so that is great information to know how your, how your body, you know, relates to food. So I think that's a great test to incorporate. So when people work with you, you do a whole coaching system through the seven systems with them. Is it always one on one or is it more group or is it both?

Well, I don't do any personal coaching anymore just because I, it was, I just reached a point where it was just too much for me. And so I trained a couple of coaches and certified them and they're, you know, they're both, you know, nurses by profession. You know, they do all the coaching now one on one. We also have group coaching which women can join and then Once a week, they get together for 10 weeks. We have retreats that we host a couple of times a year. You know, normally they're live retreats in person, but that didn't work.

Yeah, you mentioned you were. Where were you guys supposed to be at right now?

Seattle. Yeah, Seattle. In the end of April.

Okay, so now you're doing it virtually because of COVID Right. I love it.

And we also take women to Hope4Cancer in Cancun. So Hope4Cancer is a clinic that was created by Dr. Tony Jimenez. He has another clinic in Tijuana, another one in Malaysia, another one Colombia. But he's fantastic medical doctor who's been in this work for 25 years. And we bring a small group of women down to Cancun so they can experience the clinic for five days. We get high dose vitamin C, we do coffee enemas, ozone therapy, hyperbaric chamber. I teach Dr. Tony and I consult with them. You know, we just really dive deep and support them for five days. And it's really transformational. I mean, all our retreats are transformational. You know, we see women coming in looking like deer in headlights, not knowing what to do, struggling with a diagnosis, but by the time we're done with them, they have a plan they can walk away with. And they're not afraid. They have a community that can support them.

So it's.

It's really a lot of fun.

That's wonderful. Yeah. I think as soon as someone, you know, told the big C word, you have cancer, the fear sets in. And sometimes they're paralyzed because by it, you know, I see that oftentimes with my patients, it. It's like talking them off the ledge just to get them moving and into a different headspace, Would you say? That's probably.

Oh, that's so true. That's so true. Because what do. What's the first thing we think of when we think of the word breast cancer? Right. Bald, sick, dying, you know, torturous death. But, you know, my mission, my team and I, our mission is create a paradigm shift so women never fear breast cancer again. Because once you understand what cancer is and what cancer is not, and you do the work, you know, miracles happen. We see that all the time. I mean, we see women transform their lives, not just getting rid of cancer, but just coming out on the other side of that journey happier and so much healthier than they were before.

Yeah, exactly. And I think, you know, your system touches on everything that's needed. When I talk to my patients, we talk about, how is your Energy. Are you focusing on the positive healing aspects? You know, are you eating the right foods? Are you using the right supplements? You mentioned high dose vitamin C. Are there any specific herbs or natural supplements that you typically go to in this situation?

Well, again, you know, depends on the individual. So that's essential. Number six, that's repair your body with therapeutic plants and herbs. And if we just want to talk prevention, first of all, I mean, vitamin D is the number one thing you should be looking at. You want to make sure that your vitamin D levels are optimal. Just that can reduce your breast cancer risk by 83%.

Yeah, that is key. I mean I live in Michigan and my patients levels average, you know, 15 to 25. It's, it's like heartbreaking when I see it. And then they, you know, see their conventional doctor, their doctor gets them up to 30 and tells them they're good and you know.

Yes, I know, I share your pain. It's very sad, very sad. And you know, really optimal, especially if you're on a healing journey, should be between 80 and 100. And make sure that you're also supplementing with vitamin K, you know, D and K, not vitamin D. Yes. Then you look at something as basic as iodine supplementation. You know, we're so deficient in iodine because we're exposed to so many what we call halides, things like fluoride chloride, bromide, which is a flame retardant, which is in everything, clothing, furniture, carpeting, cars, electronics. And it competes with iodine. So we don't have enough iodine. Which iodine in itself is antiviral, anti cancer. It feeds and nourishes your thyroid. And so many women are on thyroid medication that is just suppressing the symptoms. And women that are on synthetic medication are twice as likely to develop breast cancer than those who are not. So iodine is great. And then we look at everything from medicinal mushrooms to curcumin to high dose vitamin C to there's different products called Poly MBA and Sporicel and wormwood and artemisinin. I mean the list goes on and on. And there is a blood test that you can get that actually measures your circulating tumor cells and then tests them against specific natural supplements to see which ones affect the cancer more. That's called the RGCC or the Grace chest. And you could also do that test and check different chemotherapy agents as well. So it's very specific and it allows us to create a protocol for them so they're not just guessing when it comes to, you know, what do I take and what do I do?

That's wonderful. So when women work with your nursing coaches, they. You go through all of that type of stuff with them?

We do.

We do. That's amazing. Okay, I love that. So another aspect of your essential system, which, you know, I don't have very much exposure to because of where I live, there just aren't any biological dentists. So I would love for you to just educate our listeners on the importance of that.

So essential number five is embrace biological dentistry. And biological dentistry basically means that the dentist understands that your teeth, living organisms that are connected to every single organ in your body through the acupuncture meridian system. They also understand that toxic metals like mercury and cadmium, nickel don't belong in your mouth because they leach into your body and cause a lot of. A lot of problems, a lot of disease. And we talked about how those actually can stimulate and mimic estrogen in the body. So make sure you work with a dentist who can remove those amalgams safely and who understands that a root canal is like having a dead gallbladder or a dead appendix in your body. It's toxic root canal are dripping toxins into your bloodstream that's affecting your immune system. So it has to be done with somebody who certified, who's had the training. You know, don't be afraid to ask questions. There is an organization that trains dentists. They're called SMART dentists, which means they've done the training for. SMART stands for safe Mercury amalgam removal technique. You know, you have to do it a certain way because if you don't, you're dumping a lot of mercury into the patient as well as the dentist.

Yeah, well, I love that you're dealing with that, because I find, you know, especially women with other conditions like chronic fatigue or Hashimoto's, that we can't get under control, things like that. What it comes down to is they have this stealth infection, you know, in their root canals that are preventing them from. From getting their inflammation down and getting that immune system calmed down so that they can heal.

Absolutely.

Yeah. I can see how it would be so integral to cancer treatment. That's super important. Do you have a list of referring dentists that you use, or do you. Where do you refer them usually?

Well, I mean, there's different organizations that we refer them to, you know, national and international organizations that have lists of doctors and dentists in each state. But there's a particular dentist that I refer people to in Marble Falls, Texas. His name is Dr. Nunnally N. U N N A L L Y. And he specializes in all those things. But what's even better is that he helps people who have cavitations. Now, cavitations, it's not a cavity. A cavitation is an infection in the bone. So what happens when you've had an extraction and the socket wasn't cleaned out properly and it doesn't heal properly, eventually it creates an infection in the bone. Again, suppress your immune system. And the, really, the only way you can tell if you have cavitations in your mouth is through a cone beam 3D scan that looks at your, your gums and your bones and your jaw three dimensionally. And you know, it's just, he specializes in cleaning those up. So it's the type of oral surgery, they go in there and it's, he says it's like removing green gunk. It's, you know, it's just really gross. But you go there and I went there, I had four cavitations, unbeknownst to me, and I've referred many, many clients there. You walk out of there, you don't even feel like you've had oral surgery. I mean, their techniques are so good and they take such good care of you and vitamin C, IV drips and I mean, they do it all.

So that's amazing. Yeah. And just so people understand, like you don't get the typical jaw infection or tooth infection type symptoms, you know, you don't usually have pain and swelling. Right. It's that you have chronic systemic inflammation and other medical illnesses that won't go away.

Yes. Yeah. You know, people don't necessarily have to have pain when they have cavitations.

Right. Okay, well, that is a super important point. I'm glad we talked about that. So how about early detection? I am a conventionally trained physician, so the only thing I learned was, you know, I do the breast exam once a year and then at age 40, I send them off for their mammograms. And I feel that I was definitely done a disservice because there's so many other, you know, detection modalities out there that are less harmful and not using radiation and maybe more sensitive. Right. And causing less anxiety. Because often I get women who have biopsies because something is possibly seen and then they over treat and have these biopsies done that are negative and it causes a lot of stress. And so what do you recommend for early detection?

Well, no matter what your choice of screening is, don't just rely on one. So if you choose a mammogram back it up with an ultrasound. I'm not a fan of mammograms because of what you mentioned. You know, the compression, the radiation. We know studies have shown that chronic low dose ionizing of breast tissue increases your risk for breast cancer. So it does not make sense to reduce mammograms. And you know, there's plenty of studies that have shown that, you know, mammograms do not decrease breast cancer mortality rate, not even by 1%. I mean, there was a 25 year Canadian study done on 90,000 women and did not make a difference. A screening with their hands like a breast exam versus a mammogram, there was absolutely no difference and it did not decrease breast cancer mortality rate at all. So thermography is a great tool that you can look at. Thermography reads the infrared heat coming off your body and it can detect unhealthy cells when they're just a few hundred of them compared to by the time you see it on a mammogram. It's been there for six to eight years now. Thermography will not diagnose cancer just like a mammogram won't, but it can give you, it can alert you to changes that is going on in your breast tissue. And if there's lots of inflammation, then you know, where there's inflammation, there eventually can be disease. So it just gives you an opportunity to get an ultrasound or do some blood work. There's a great test called the IV gene I V Y G E N E I vgene labs.com and they look for cancer DNA methylation in the blood. And they've discovered four different kinds of cancers that can. This can be used for very early detection. The results, look at a chart and if you're in the green zone, you're good. Red zone means there's probably some activity. So there's so many things that you can do to, you know, stay ahead of the curve. And you know, you mentioned, you know, young women at 40 and then you doing an exam once a year. Well, there's a product that I founded, so it's called My Breast Friend. And the Mavicare foundation has been training clinicians for 30 years on how to do proper breast exam using a silicone breast model. So they asked me to take this model to the general public so that women could have access to this model. And I know you can't see it because this is audio, but go to my breastfriend.com and you'll see a picture of it. Silicone breast model that trains you what an abnormal lump feels like in normal breast tissue. So it's got replicas of actual tumors inside the breast, and it teaches you, it trains you to distinguish what's the difference between my lumpy breast and a cancerous lump. So breast exams are extremely important because even if you get your yearly mammogram or yearly thermogram, there's still 364 days of the year where your breast tissue can change.

Definitely. And when I do breast exams on my patients, I have them feel what I'm feeling. And I try to educate them, but, you know, hope they don't get to feel what cancer feels like. But I do try to get them to know what their breast normally feels like. I think that's so important because I don't know what their breast normally feels like, you know, so it's important to know your own lumps and bumps and to get comfortable with doing an exam on yourself. I love that you guys are doing that with the model. I think it's so smart and so needed. That's just amazing. So my best. My breast friend dot com.

Yeah, my breast friend.

Yeah, that's hard to say. Well, I think we've covered all of your seven essential systems. What would you tell my listeners as your parting words?

You know, my parting words would be, you know, just don't panic. You know, breast cancer is not like having a heart attack. You know, you're not going to die tomorrow. You've got time. Make informed decisions, do your research. If you don't like your doctor and how he's treating you, fire your doctor. Find somebody that's going to support you and understand you. This is your body, this is your life. And, you know, get a team of people that can really cheer you on as you go through this journey. It's not a death sentence.

Yeah. I think that's so important for people to understand is you're most likely going to survive this and come out on the other side and have an amazing life. But it's. How do you want to go through the process? You know, it doesn't have to be scary and miserable. You know, I think that you can come out healthier and stronger on the other side. So I would love for people to, you know, check you out on their website and hook up with you if they feel like that's something that they need to do. It's so important.

Well, thank you. You can find us @breast cancer conqueror.com and we're everywhere on social media. And my breast Friend as well.

Oh, I had one last question. So do you have to have active breast cancer to work with you and your coaches?

Absolutely not. I mean, our goal is to create healthy breasts, right? Saving lives one breast at a time. So we want women who are unsure. You know, we have women, we call them proactive patties. They want to prevent breast cancer. Maybe their mom or their sister had it. So, you know, we can coach them and guide them to really stay on a healthy path. Then we have surviving Susie's who've been through the journey and have been told that they don't have to worry about cancer for now. So they want to make sure they never go there again. And then we have healing Hannah's that are in the active healing journey. So all kinds of women, if you have breasts, we can help you.

I love that. That's fabulous. So, yeah, Definitely check out Dr. V@breastcancerconquerer.com I think she's going to help you with all of your questions and calm your fears and get you educated so you know how to this. So thank you so much for all this information. I think it's been amazing. You are just a ray of hope for so many women.

Thank you so much, Dr. Tabitha. It's been great.

Yeah, take care. All right, so that's it, ladies. Another episode of the functional gynecologist podcast under my belt. I'm loving talking to all these amazing wise women in all of their respective specialties. I think the work that Dr. V is doing is so important. And don't hesitate to embrace other modalities in the wellness space in addition to your conventional medicine treatment options for your breast cancer. Her seven essential systems are life changing because cancer starts at the cellular metabolic level. And the way that she is tackling, treating and preventing breast cancer works. So if you've enjoyed this podcast, I would love for you to hit the subscribe button and leave me a review. Five stars would be amazing, but whatever you think. And please shout me out your questions so I can shout you out on my Friday question of the week episodes and answer all of your questions. And so follow me on Facebook at Dr. Tabitha and on Instagram or check out my website, www.doctor Tabitha.com. that's-R T A B A T H A. No eyes. Just A's. And one last comment. I know this Covid thing is difficult. Everyone is missing each other. I'm definitely missing my friends and family. I'm tired of sitting in my closet, my closet, working alone. But I know that this information is important to you guys. So I'm trying to work overtime to get it out to you. So if you are enjoying this, please let me know. And if there's anything else I can do for you, don't hesitate to reach out. Now go. Be your best. Give yourself some love. Focus on your seven essential systems for the week by eating clean, organic, whole foods, decreasing your toxin exposure, balancing your energy, healing your emotional hurts, embracing the idea that plants are medicine and give yourself the love and attention that it deserves. I will talk to you soon. Bye.