Energy and Breast Cancer with Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD

Episode 92:

Energy and Breast Cancer with Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD and Evan H. Hirsch, MD

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 00:04

Hey everybody. Welcome back to the energy MD podcast. I'm your host, Evan Hirsch. And we are on a mission to help people who are tired all the time, and have really weird and mystery symptoms get their life back. And we do this by finding the real root causes of illness, which are a combination of heavy metals, chemicals, molds, infections, and trauma. That's what I call the toxic five. So really excited about our speaker today. So I'm going to be interviewing Dr. Jennifer Simmons. So let's learn a little bit about her today. So Dr. Jenn Simmons started her professional career as Philadelphia's first fellowship trained breast surgeon. After spending 17 years as Philadelphia's top breast surgeon, her own illness led her to discover functional medicine. so enamored with the concept of creating health rather than killing disease. She left traditional medicine and her esteemed surgical position in 2019, and founded real health MD, with the mission to help women anywhere along the breast cancer journey to truly heal. Dr. Jen, thank you so much for joining me here today.

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 01:12

I'm delighted to be here today.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 01:16

So let's talk about breast cancer. And then we'll kind of get into a little bit of the nuances between breast cancer and fatigue. So let's let's set the stage that everybody knows what we're talking about, what is breast cancer?

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 01:29

Yeah. So in a very traditional sense, when we think about breast cancer, it's the uncontrolled growth of breast cells in the breast. But actually, what is happening is that breast cancer is a normal response to an abnormal environment. And we have so many things that create that environmental shift that shift us from the chemistry of joy, which is where you're happy, and all of your cells are happy, and your chemistry is happy to the chemistry of stress. And we literally are bathing in this toxic soup that we call a world. And it is physically changing our chemistry, so that we look different from a chemicals perspective. And because of that our cells are facing this hostile environment. And so you know, think about what an animal does when it's backed up into a corner, right, I have a five and a half pound poodle. But if you try to threaten him, he's five and a half pounds of teeth, right? Everyone goes into survival mode. And that is exactly what is happening with the breast and breast cells. So we have this toxic environment. And the breast is especially sensitive to all of these environmental toxins. And so the micro environment of the breast is changing. And the cells are like what is going on here, I'm going into survival mode. And that's what's happening. But the good news is that if it can, if that South cell can go into survival mode, it can also come out of survival mode. So what all of us need to do is kind of wave that safe flag, and do what we need to do to create an environment that fosters joy that fosters health, so that our cells can behave the way that they're supposed to behave.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 03:38

I love that. So you mentioned a couple of things in there. You talked about the breast being exposed to environmental toxins and the response, it sounds like of the immune system and of different aspects of the body that are kind of seeing these toxins and reacting strongly. And that's part of the process of creating the cancers. That is what was actually what do you what's happening.

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 04:01

So what's really happening is a two front dysfunction, where we have this environmental shift that leads to DNA damage that leads to the formation of cancer cells. And at the same time, we have an all out failure of the immune system. So the immune system is failing on two fronts, we either are totally under reacting, and that is because our immune systems are exhausted, having been fighting all of these toxins for all of these years, right like your if your body is busy trying to keep viral load low, if it's busy, because you have mold illness, if it's busy because you've had repeated heavy metal exposure because you have a mercury amalgam in your mouth that's been there for 50 in yours, all of these things suppress your immune system. So if your immune system and that is not even to say, our food, our diet, the things that we consume, that are not food, right, and 70% of our immune system is housed in our gut. So if you're constantly exposing your immune system, to things that are not food, your immune system is going to be exhausted. So if it's exhausted, and when it's exhausted, it doesn't have the opportunity to recognize that cancer in its infancy, because we all make cancer cells from the very young to the very old, and everyone in between. But most of the time, these cancer cells are recognized in their infancy and destroyed. But that's with an intact immune system, the vast majority of us are not walking around with an intact immune system for various reasons. And so those cancer cells form and that population is allowed to expand. And that's what happens. Now, we also have another another side of that dysfunction, in that we have overactive immune or need, again, because we have all of these stimuli that didn't exist before. So we have things like plastics and, and viruses and things that are causing this molecular mimicry, where we're having an overreaction of the immune system. And that doesn't work either. Because that has the same opportunity. If your immune system is over here, dysfunctioning, it can't be over here doing what it's supposed to do. So cancer is a huge immune dysfunction that goes across the spectrum of immune dysfunction.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 06:55

So since we're seeing more environmental toxins over time, is there a correlation with breast cancer numbers going up as well? Without

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 07:04

question? So, you know, it's so hard to know, the real incidence of breast cancer, we certainly can look at the population studies. So the CDC puts out a breast cancer incidence report every single year. And when you look, starting at from 1999, up until 2020, of course, we did see a dip in 2020. It's not real, it's because people did not go to screen. So we missed all those screen cancers. But you know, there is a steady increase. Now. The biggest increase is from between 2012 and 2014. On. And that's because in 2012, we started the liberal use of digital breast Choma, that tomosynthesis are 3d mammograms. So with 3d mammograms, when we doubled and tripled the amount of radiation that women were exposed to every year with screening, we cause more breast cancers. So we added to women's toxic load, and we have the breast cancer to prove it. So when when we look at it, the number of chemicals that have been introduced into our environment, since 2000, is exponential. And none of them are tested synergistically. So even the ones that are tested, they're only tested in isolation. So we don't know what it means to combine PCAs and PCBs with radiation. So that plastic bottle of water that you're drinking as you head into your mammogram, we don't know how much exponentially worse that is. But logic speaks to the fact that it's got to be worse. Right? So the the interesting part is, I don't really follow breast cancer incidence all that much. I follow deaths from breast cancer, and that's the one number that's fairly steady. In that, no matter how many women we screen, no matter how many women we treat, the exact same number of women will die of breast cancer every year. So all of the mammographic screening that we're doing. We're definitely causing more breast cancers and treating more breast cancers, that's for sure. But we're not saving any lives. And that's a huge problem. So we we really need to cut back on the toxin exposure or if we want to see both breast cancer incidence coming down. But ultimately, it's going to increase survival because the less toxins we expose people to the better function they're going to have. And you know this better than anyone because we see this direct correlation with toxin exposure and mitochondrial function. And when I look at the breast cancer population, this is on that same spectrum, where you can only have mitochondrial dysfunction for so long before you see the manifestation but disease and breast cancer, like all chronic diseases is mitochondrial dysfunctional disease. Which is why you know, the first thing that everyone will tell me when they get their breast cancer diagnosis is unhealthy. But I have breast cancer, and I'm tired. Right? They all say I'm tired.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 11:08

Yeah, so that's the correlation that I just want to touch on. So since the mitochondria makes between 70 and 90% of our energy, and when you have these environmental toxins that are triggering this process and causing the mitochondrial damage, then you're not making as much energy, and you get the mitochondrial DNA dysfunction, which ends up leading to cancer. And so you can get that's why these people who have cancer also have fatigue. Did I say that? Right? Yep.

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 11:36

Yep. So but you know, it's a twofold issue. It is that, you know, our mitochondria are unhealthy, without question. And that is driving these disease states. And the, the, the health of our mitochondria is affected by definitely all of these environmental toxins, but one of the biggest toxins that we don't think about as food. And so many people are overfed. And this is one of the reasons why their mitochondria are not working. Right. And unless we allow for a fasted state, so that the mitochondria can clean themselves up and go through that process of autophagy. This is just a this is a cycle that just continues over and over and over again.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 12:41

So does that mean intermittent fasting? Or what kind of? What do you like to see? You say overfed?

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 12:48

Yeah, so I think that everyone every single day, should be fasting, at least 14 hours, every single day, from from one day to the next. Like, there is no reason to be eating anymore for you know, everyone should have an overnight fast. But beyond that, when we really talk about cellular repair, you need to get into longer fasts. And these are 2345 day fast. Now, not everyone has to do a water alone fast. I think that the the data on the fasting mimicking diet and you know, from Valter, Longo and an L neutre. Who has the you know, that that commercial fasting mimicking diet rolawn, I think that the data out of there really does support that you can eat under a certain threshold, and still get the benefits of fasting. But I think that one of the keys to health, which is why we historically see it, in every religion, and every society that we all, they all have fasting built in. And you know, the only reason that any of us are here today is because we were able to survive a prolonged fast, because there was no refrigeration, there was no agriculture, there was no food storage, you were eating when food was available, and when food was available, when was not available, you were fasting. And so we as human beings are incredibly able to sustain long periods of fasting and be as useful and productive in a fasted state as we are in a Fed state. So you know, for instance, it's not like you could walk out of the cave in the morning, encounter a saber toothed Tiger and say, Yeah, hang on a minute. I haven't had my breakfast. Right like we are designed to work as well in a fast it's date as we are in a Fed state, and that fasted state is very necessary for cleanup for maintenance for healthy cells. And eating. And eating constantly is very aging. It's very aging to the cells. And so I think that everyone needs to have fasting that looks like on a day to day basis, having prolonged periods without food, but then on a quarterly basis, also having some real prolonged fast, three to five day fast that that are either water fast, or they are because no one should not, no one should not be drinking water, right, like, everyone needed water to survive. But to have a three to five day period where you're not consuming any food, or you're consuming food, according to that threshold that they that they determined with the fasting mimicking diet. And that is really vital to health and it really applies to everyone. Now, you know, we can we can say that there are some people who have very end stage cancer and their eclectic sarcopenic And that they've lost their, their muscle mass, and they are really in this kind of hyper metabolic phase because the cancer is winning that person, you know, can they safely fast. I mean, I, I know stories of people who have gotten on water fast at that point, and actually been able to turn their cancer around. But that is something that, you know, people obviously need a lot of supervision and support, in that, in that instance. But most people are way over fed, and completely able to sustain a prolonged fast and probably need a prolonged fast, like if you look at their metabolic markers, and you know, they have elevated fasting insulin, they have elevated fasting glucose, these people really need fasting to turn the metabolism around.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 17:29

And what do you find? How many times does somebody need to do that quarterly fast? Or if they're doing the 14 hour fast every day? And then they're doing a quarterly fast? How much time with the right diet? How much time do you feel like it takes to reset their metabolism?

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 17:46

Yeah, so I know that there was a study in type two diabetes patients where for six months, once a month, they did a five day fasting, mimicking diet fast. And all of them reduce their need for diabetes medication, all of them lost weight, all of them their metabolic markers improved. And knees are people that didn't do anything in between, all they did was one five day fast a month, and then went back to their normal eating in between. And remember, their normal eating is what got them to be diabetic. So just adding the fast in was enough for them to lose over 20 pounds in six months and, and have all of their metabolic, like their a one C dropped by 1.4 points. It's really, it's really astounding information. And so if that's the power of fasting once a month without doing anything in between, you can only imagine the impact that it would have in the context of time restricted eating on top of that, so that you're having a daily 14 1618 hour fast, whatever, whatever works for you. And then being mindful about the food that you eat when you are eating. Right and avoiding all of those things that we know interfere with our health. Right, avoiding all of those food like substances and eating a whole food plant based low glycemic diet, be it these are things that they clinically improve your health.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 19:38

And so what is it that's happening when somebody is fasting to the cancer? What does that yeah, what does that look like?

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 19:45

Yeah, so what happens is that a normal cell when it's not exposed to food, a normal cell is able to recognize that there's not food around and change its consumptive pattern. So it's a stressed state, it's an induced stress state. And so that cell, at first gets quiet. And then when it realizes that there's still no food around, it says, What can I use for fuel. And so it looks inside of the cell at damaged or misfolded, proteins, damaged mitochondria, and it starts to digest those things, and uses that, for its energy. So it's like an opportunity to clean up the cell and and regain the health of the cell by getting rid of damaged cellular contents. a cancer cell is not able to do that, it does not have that ability. And so when a cancer cell is starved, it doesn't have any go to, and it dies. And so we often take advantage of that state, when people are getting chemotherapy. Because if we can shut down the activity of the normal cells, and then these cancer cells are so active, and so needing, outside, you know, calories, what we do is we often do insulin gated chemotherapy. So the the cancer cells are taking up all of the chemotherapy, and the normal cells are not, so people who fast and then do this insulin gated chemotherapy, they have far less side effects. So the fatigue, the nausea, all of that it's not there, they don't get it. Because the normal cells are so quiet, that they're not taking up the chemotherapy, and therefore they're not affected by it. And then the cat, and then they have such a dramatic response in terms of tumor reduction from the for the cancer cells, that this is really I believe that this is the only way that we're going to give chemotherapy in the future. Because and, and you can significantly lower the dose. So and in lowering the dose, you get far less of all the negative side effects. So, you know, at the normal cells ability to adapt in a stressful state is not true of a cancer cell. And so there are many opportunities that we can use to take advantage of that. And I often have people who are first diagnosed, or they're recently diagnosed with metastatic disease, stage four disease that go on these prolonged fast and their tumors actually reverse. So it's really, it's really astounding, the power of just depriving the body of food for period for prolonged periods of time, and allowing our innate mechanisms to kick in. So we see improved immunity, we see in increased T cell function and T cell infiltration into tumors. So it's really amazing the power of fasting and the processes that it turns on in our body.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 23:44

Fascinating. And on the flip side of the coin, it's also speaking, I think, a little bit to the the toxicity associated with sugar. Sure, without tension between sugar and cancer.

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 23:57

Yes. So you know that that is on so many fronts. I mean, first of all, we know that for six hours after you've consumed sugar, you do have a drop in your immunity. And so if if your body again, going back to even the development of cancer, if your body is busy fighting something over here, it's not going to be present in that breast as that tumor is forming. Right. And then cancer is without question a metabolic disease. We talked about that in the context of autophagy. And a normal cell being able to stop its metabolism and turn itself off where as cancer cells are dependent on constant nutrition they are growing at at a steady rate and they're not able to turn off that process. And so, in in it in as much as they are, they're not all reliant on sugar, but many of them are glucose reliant. And so as we increase our glucose levels, we are essentially feeding these cancers. So it's really important for anyone who is on a cancer journey to be on a really low glycemic diet. And that's for a multitude of reasons. But the more sugar you take in your diet, the higher an insulin response you're going to require. Insulin itself is a growth hormone. And the last thing that any cancer patient needs when they're on a cancer journey is more insulin, or growth hormone. You know, that's the really the last thing you want. And the more insulin the more insulin like growth factor. And this is like a feed forward process that just promotes cancer growth. So anyone who is on a cancer journey needs to be really, really concerned about their sugar intake, and really mindful about keeping insulin levels low keeping insulin, like growth factor low, so as to not promote tumor growth and propagate the disease.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 26:28

So those candy bowls in the chemotherapy lounge, have got to be maddening for you. Yeah,

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 26:35

that's pure poison. I don't know that. That makes me as angry as the insurer and the boost that is given to people who are getting chemotherapy, or the advice that they're getting from their medical oncologists saying no matter what you do, don't don't lose weight. So eat ice cream and pizza and things that like no human should eat ever. So there's so much about it. That's maddening to me that it's hard for me to just, you know, put my finger on one thing. There's there's a lot there to one pack.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 27:16

So fair enough. So let's go back to assessment. So we talked about like the 3d mammograms. Yeah. Are you in favor of thermograms? Or what do you like to do for assessment to determine if somebody has breast cancer? Yeah,

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 27:30

so I mean, thermograms use heat. So I don't think they're dangerous in any way. I just don't think they're particularly effective. I never recommend screening mammograms, which is not to say that I don't believe in diagnostic mammogram. So please know that I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And I do realize that we do have a considerable amount of technological advantage advances. And I think that we should use them when they're appropriate. So to me, screening, the general population with mammogram has absolutely no survival advantage. And I know that for every 10,000 women that we screen, we will save one woman's life and cause seven breast cancers. So the math is not good, right? The numbers don't add up. And the cost to the system and the patients is it. I mean, it's the fact that we continue to do this is wrong. It's just wrong. So I don't believe in screening mammogram for anyone, and especially in the brockagh mutation population. So these women that have a mutation in their Brocker gene, the bracha gene is a cancer protective gene. Right? It's a DNA mutation repair gene. So people who are born with a mutation in this gene can't repair their DNA with the same ability that we can. So people who don't have a mutation can so we take these women who already struggle with the side effects of environmental toxins. And we screen them early and often. Right? So we're basically guarantee that these women get a breast cancer. That's what we're doing in telling them to get mammogram early and often we are guaranteeing that they get a breast cancer. So this is a huge problem. I do not believe in screening mammogram and up until 2022 I really didn't have very much of a solution. You know, I tell people about doing self breast examination and you can get a screening ultrasound. There is some you know, variables and they will miss some things but I don't think they miss too much. That's, that's not that's important. However, in 2022, I will learned about something called cutie imaging. So this is a fascinating story where the NIH gave a $20 million grant to a man named John clock. And he is a serial inventor. He invented that calcium score that cardiac calcium score, invented the virtual colonoscopy. He's he's a genius. And MRI has been the definitive test for the breast. But MRIs are expensive. They are uncomfortable. They are, they have access issues. And they require the injection of a heavy metal of gadolinium. And gadolinium is a toxin. Now, you know, we're told that gadolinium and safe and it's no problem. I don't know what you see in your patients. But in my patients, when I screen these people for heavy metals, I'm seeing gadolinium spilling in their urine years after they have had an MRI for years. And we have to remember that when whenever we're storing something in the body, we're storing it at the expense of something else. Right. So you know, if we're storing it in the bones, we're storing it at the expense of calcium. We all know what happens when we mobilize calcium out of the bones. It's not good. Right? And so you know, this is another reason why fluoride is a problem. And so, you know, on and on and on. We cannot continue to store these toxins in our body. It has ramifications. So, you know, we were told cigarettes were safe. We were told Celebrex was safe. Where Vioxx was safe. The word total lot of things were safe. I mean, I did my surgical residency training in the time of Oxycontin. And, you know, I remember the reps coming in and saying, like, this is what you should use for post op pain. And it's non addictive. This is what they told us and we believed it. Right. So we have been lied to in the medical and we're being lied to today. I mean, you know, every radiologist, who is doing screening breast mammograms is saying that they're safe. And I hear time and time again, people saying that, Oh, it's just like riding an airplane, you know, it's it's an it's the same amount of radiation that you get in an airplane ride. Okay, that may be true, but it is being focused on this breast tissue at a time when the breast tissue is compressed to a fraction of its size. So we're traumatizing the breasts and radiating it at the same time. And you can't tell me that that does not have an effect. So I was so grateful to meet this man because he was given this huge grant from the NIH to solve the MRI problem. And he did. So he came up with a device that screens the breast, it when it was given an FDA approval as a breakout to a breakthrough device. A woman lives facedown on a table, no compression, her breast goes into a bowl of water. Sound waves three circumferential 303 160 degree sound waves are transmitted through this water. And an image comes out in anywhere from two to four minutes depending on the size of the breast. I'm sorry, four to seven minutes depending on the size of the breast with 40 times the resolution of MRI. Yeah. So though this was not intended to replace mammogram, I can't see why it won't. Because why? Why would you undergo mammogram and expose yourself to trauma and pain and radiation? When in an in as many as 15 minutes. You can have a definitive study of the breast without pain without radiation without compression. I mean, so listen, the Big Five the people that make mammograms, the people that make MRIs, they're not happy about it. The radiologists don't love it because the reading one study instead of reading for, you know our system is really not geared towards patient benefit, our system is geared towards system benefit. And while I think that things will change right now, there's just too much control from the pharmaceutical industry from the device industry, there's too much money there for people to do the right thing. But I'm intent on doing the right thing. So I'm going around the country talking about two T, opening imaging centers, I'm gonna bring this to the world, because I think it's really important.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 35:41

I love that. And how accessible is this is the Qt imaging.

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 35:46

So right now, there's five centers open in California. So if you're on the West Coast, you're very lucky. There's one center open in Scottsdale, but you know, in the next couple of years, they're going to be everywhere. Because I'm, I'm on a mission to make sure that that happens.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 36:05

Very cool. Well, hopefully this podcast will get out to people and more people will be contacting, what what can people do to kind of move this along? Do they need? Should they be requesting it of their of their doctors in order to make them more aware of it? Or what do you definitely

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 36:22

follow me at Dr. Jenn Simmons on Instagram and Facebook, we are compiling a list of patients we know who wants this, we know, we know that the demand is huge. And I'm going to be directing people to tons of resources. And, you know, we're going to make sure that this happens. But in the meantime, people should say to their doctors like this is what I want. Again, because because the radiology industry has said that these things are safe, and they're like they're going to they're going to die on this one, right? Like, they're just gonna go down with the ship on this kicking and screaming. And I know that it will take time. But I do think that the right thing will prevail, the inventor is very intent on not allowing this technology to be killed because so much from the time that does happen, where when it's too good, people make it go away. He's very intent on that not happening, I'm very intent on that not happening, because this is the right thing to do for people. And while I'm so grateful that the breast is the first generation of this technology, this this particular imaging technology has far reaching implications, because it also the next generation scanner is for orthopedics. So instead of going to your orthopedic surgeon office, getting a script for an MRI, having to go get that MRI scheduled go to an outside place, right, so it's one visit to you or the Pedic surgeon and then you have to go get your MRI, and then you have to come back to your orthopedic surgeon to have them read it and make a plan and that kind of thing. With this, you go to your orthopedic surgeon, you have your study done, you have your consultation and your plan all in the same time. So it's amazing. And the next generation scanner can scan a gravid uterus, a pregnant woman, because there's no radiation. You can scan a newborn without sedation, because there's no radiation, all you have to do is submerged. So I mean, the implications for this technology are enormous, enormous. So I'm just I'm so grateful to be part of this movement and this change, because it's so necessary. And at the end of the day, like as physicians, we need to do what we said we were going to do, first do no harm. We need to help people. We need to help them heal. And we're not helping them heal if we're exposing them to more toxins that is causing the very dysfunction that we say we're trying to prevent.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 39:40

Yeah, I agree. That's wonderful. And so it's, it's a sonogram, it's sound waves, but it's a different

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 39:47

waves, but it's very different than ultrasound in that it's not delivered through a probe and it's both quantitative and transmission. ultrasonography. So it's, it's very different than any other technology that's out there. Now, I get asked all the time, you know, I have a sign a sign or this or that it's very different than any of the other technology. And again, it the the key is that the images that are created have 40 times the resolution of MRI. So it is really the definitive study for the breast. And the really interesting thing about it is that you can count cells. So if you find something that's abnormal, you can bring someone back in three months and know if that's an active process or not. So it should cut down on biopsy significantly, because we're not going to biopsy something that's not active. And the flip side of it is that because it has this increased resolution. A normal study means that there's really nothing happening in the breast, and that person can not, it doesn't need another study for two years. Wow. So it's really going to change the way that we screened for breast cancer. But it's also going to change the breast cancer incidence. Because if we're not reading radiating people every year, we're not going to be causing most breast cancers.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 41:23

Very exciting. And then is it starting to be picked up by insurance companies yet? And how much does it cost if insurance doesn't cover it? Right?

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 41:31

So an uncovered study, which, you know, the nice thing about this is completely patient directed. So you don't need a doctor's prescription, you can just self refer for the study, depending on where you have it done right now. It's anywhere from $400 to $600. And insurance is starting to reimburse for it. There are five CPT codes available for this for this testing now. And it was given the first FDA approval for screening in 50 years. So, you know, we think about mammogram, and we think that it was FDA approved, it was 50 years ago. And everything else has been grandfathered in. And so the fact that this imaging is approved for to screen women with dense breasts, which is 40% of the screening population, and the women that need it most because these are the women that mammogram is failing the most. This is going to have huge implications for Excite. Yeah, it is very exciting, but mostly we need to stop causing breast cancers. Okay, that's, that's the, for me, that's the most important thing, we need to stop causing breast cancer.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 42:54

And so for someone who does not have access to a Qt image or imaging right now was calling Qt imaging QT. Yeah, QT. Right now, what do you recommend for assessment? Yeah, so

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 43:07

I really still do believe in self breast examination. And for me, what that means is once once a month, if you are pre menopausal, and still menstruating, then that once a month is day seven, so one week after your period starts. And if you are postmenopausal, that is whatever day you pick beyond one, the first you know, just whatever routine you get into, look at your breasts look to see what they look like make sure that there's no skin changes, no dimpling, no redness, that kind of thing. And then make sure that you're examining your breasts with your fingertips, they're the most sensitive part of your hand. And I just tell people with a raised arm to go around the breast circumferentially. And if you feel something, it's going to feel like a bump in the road. But, you know, these these screen cancers that were picking up these five millimeter cancers and things like that, most of them probably would have never become clinically clinically relevant. They may would have never developed into anything. And yet, when we subject women to treatment for breast cancer, we are changing the trajectory of the rest of their lives because the treatments for breast cancer, accelerate heart disease, accelerate bone disease, accelerate brain disease, and these are very serious consequences for a cancer that probably would not have affected them in the long run. So, you know, I think that any cancer that is going to be clinically relevant is going to show itself you're going to be able to feel it. You're going to have some changes. You're going to have some symptomatology, please To be in touch with your body, listen to yourself. If you feel something, do something about it, don't say it doesn't hurt. It's nothing. Right? Like, cancer is not painful until the very, very, very, very end. And so, I think that when we are in touch with our bodies, we generally know when something changes. But way before you're going to have the development of breast cancer, you're going to have other signals from your body. And I want you to listen to those signals. It's not normal to be tired. It's not normal to have sleep disruption. It's not normal to have bloating, it's not normal to have constipation. It's not normal to have headaches, it's not normal to have anxiety. It's not normal to have depression. All of these things are signals that your body is not doing what it's supposed to do. And there are people like Dr. Hirsch, who can help you figure out why you have dysfunction. Because by the time you develop a breast cancer, you are far along that dysfunction spectrum.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 46:20

Yeah, I would imagine most of the people that you see, probably have already received a breast cancer diagnosis, right, even though you're probably all of them at this point. Yeah. But you're, you know, you're like me in the sense that, you know, you'd love to work with people preventively. But yeah, so then let's talk a little bit about prevention, and then we'll conclude. So then what do you recommend for prevention. So,

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 46:47

you know, prevention. At the end of the day, breast health is health. Right. So the same things that you're going to do to have healthy breast, you're going to do to have a healthy heart and a healthy brain and healthy bones and healthy gut and all of that. So I advocate for a whole food plant based low glycemic diet. By the time people develop breast cancer, I add in grain free diet. But you know, if you are of normal weight, and grains are generally tolerated by you, that's, that's your thing. I don't think anyone should be eating birds. And then having healthy joyful movement in your body every single day, our bodies are designed to move and if you don't move it, you lose it. Right. So movement is really important. Having healthy ways to manage stress is of the utmost importance in that alcohol, pot. These things have terrible detrimental effects in the long run. So we all need this stress is going to be there for all of us, we all need healthy ways to manage that stress. If you're into meditating, if you're into breathing, if you're into dancing, like it doesn't matter what your thing is, you need to have a thing. And then we need to prioritize sleep. We are a society that values the waking hours. But the truth is that the sleep is where the healing happens. So if you're not sleeping, you're not healing. And so we really all need to prioritize sleep. And then your environment, the toxins in your environment, we have to have to have to manage that. Some things are easier than others to manage. But we can all do our part in not drinking out of plastic, not cooking plant in plastic, not using nonstick, being mindful, doing less, really doing less like using less products, using less ingredients, just having having things in on and around us that promote our health rather than detract from it. And then ultimately, in living a connected life, a purpose driven life. This is all what drives longevity. And when we look at the Blue Zones, we know that one of the primary reasons why people live as long as they do is because as they age, they become more valuable in societies that have less. So having that connection having that purpose is of the utmost importance. So you know when you when you do those things, that's really the recipe for health. So I think about disease prevention as health promotion. Sure.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 50:03

Well said, so we've come to the end here, but you've got a couple of, you've got a free gift to share

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 50:11

I do. So I have the breast owner's manual. So for, for anyone who, who owns a pair of breaths, this is your pretty much your guide to how to have them be the healthiest they can be. And then I also think I included a link to my book, which is the smart Person's Guide to breast cancer. And I wrote this book for anyone, anywhere along the breast cancer spectrum, to help you to develop a plan to restore your health. And this also applies to people living with metastatic disease, because the truth is that the same the way we started this same process that transformed those cells to cancer, you can reset the environment and have them transform back to healthy cells. And so for me, I think there's always hope. There's always hope. But the bottom line is that health doesn't happen in a doctor's office, doesn't happen in hospital, health happens at home. And what I want to do is teach people how to create their own health in their home.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 51:35

Well, Dr. Jenn, you've definitely taught me quite a few things today. I so appreciate you coming on. For those of you who are listening, if you have breast cancer, if you know of somebody who does or if you wants to learn more about prevention, please reach out to Dr. Jim, we'll drop all those links around this episode. And I know you have a summit coming up. So can you tell us a little bit about that?

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 51:59

Yes, absolutely. So the breast cancer breakthrough Summit is going to start January 16. To the 22nd. I co hosted it with Dr. V, Dr. Bernie decel. Yay. She is the author of heal breast cancer or heal cancer naturally. And she's just a brilliant woman, we interviewed over 50 people in the breast cancer space doing absolutely amazing things. This is stuff that you're not going to hear about in other places. And it's an opportunity for people to really hear about cutting edge strategies, but mostly how to empower themselves to change the trajectory of their lives to take back the control that they lost when they got a breast cancer diagnosis. And to really put their diagnosis behind them with confidence. Because they have so many amazing tools on how to promote their health. Because when you promote health disease goes away. So this is just such an amazing group of people that we interviewed, and it's going to be an awesome experience. And the dates again, January 16, to the 22nd. And then we I think we have an encore weekend the following weekend. For it's it's seven days. So I know it's a lot and it's packed with a lot of information. But people do have the opportunity to purchase the summit. And then you can listen at your leisure because there are so many days that are just filled with amazing people and you're not going to want to miss it.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 53:48

Excellent. And we will drop a link to that below. And that is that is in 2024 For those of you who are listening in the future. So excellent. Thank you, Dr. Jenn, we'll be sure to spread the word. Great, thank

Dr. Jennifer Simmons, MD 54:00

you.

Evan H. Hirsch, MD 54:03

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