Why Are Black Women Less Likely To Stick With A Breast Cancer Follow-Up Treatment?

Black Women and Breast Cancer

Niasha Fray used to counsel women about sticking with their cancer treatment.  Then she was diagnosed with breast cancer and  started to experience first-hand what her counselling clients went through. 

Black women are less likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer, but are 40% more likely to die from it.  The disparity can be even higher for other cancers.

According to this article, part of the reason for this is that Black women are less likely to stick with follow-up treatment. 

If African American women -  and men - are less likely to attend follow-up appointments or stick with the treatment, there could be many reasons for this.  They could be finding it harder to pay for the treatment.  Finances are often a factor.  They may find it difficult to have to take time off from work; transport may be a problem.

Black patients tend to do better with Black doctors.  There may be other psychological, emotional or social factors involved. Read this article to find out more about this topic. 

To find out about my cancer journey, go here for my Cancer Journals. 

Please share your responses below and please share this with your networks.  Thanks.

How Stress Contributes to Our Health Issues

Relaxation and Stress Release

You are probably aware that people of African heritage are more prone to particular health issues, notably diabetes, heart disease and some cancers, as well as mental health issues.

Did you know that chronic, long-term long-term, stress underlies a lot of health problems?

Living in a racist society obviously contributes to our long-term stress. 

These days, we are all experiencing a lot more stress. It can raise your blood pressure, it can lower your immune system. It can do a lot of damage. Stress causes physical health problems, as well as mental and emotional problems. And it can make existing problems worse.

Click here for a FREE consultation and  for help with relieving your anxiety and stress. I can provide you with an individual, personal journey to help you to relax, and to draw on your powers of physical, mental and emotional healing.

See also:  How to Get the Results You Want.   

Here's to your success!

Did You Know the American Diabetes Association Tried to Shut This Down?

Did you know you can reverse your Type 2 diabetes?  I did it!  Hooray!!   I came off Metformin more than a year ago, and I am still off it. 

DeWayne McCulley, author of Death to Diabetes, was volunteering his services, teaching people how to reverse their diabetes and come off the meds, when someone from the American Diabetes Association came in to tell him his services were no longer required. 

African Americans have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the U.S.  Check out these statistics from the American Diabetes Association. 

Diabetes in the U.S. Breakdown by Race 

Go here for more about Death to Diabetes. 

Go here for more ways to reverse Type 2 Diabetes and many other serious health issues. 

 Please share this with your networks and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

Here's to your health!  

Civil Rights, Fannie Lou Hamer, Black Women and Hysterectomy

Fannie Lou Hamer after Beating

I found this by accident on Wikipedia while looking up something else. Fannie Lou Hamer, who later became a reknowned Civil Rights leader, was given a hysterectomy at the age of 32 in order to prevent her from producing children.

If you don't know what happened to Hamer during the voter registration drives of the 1960s, what the police did to her, you really need to.  So please google her name.

Hamer had gone into hospital to have a tumour removed, and during that surgery, the hysterectomy was performed without her consent. This is just another way Black women's reproduction has been controlled by the authorities for generations.

If you have listened to my Cancer Journals, you know that I had a hysterectomy last year as a result of my diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Prior to that, when I was still of childbearing age, two different doctors at two different London hospitals try to force me to have a hysterectomy.

Hamer's surgery was performed in 1961 and she later coined the phrase “Mississippi appendectomy” because this practice was very established as a way of removing and preventing Black women's ability to reproduce. So this tactic, which was common in Mississippi in the early 1960s, was still being employed in London in the 1980s and '90s. I was never given any good reason or explanation for why I should undergo this surgery until my cancer diagnosis last year.

Experiments on Black women formed the basis of gynecology. For more about this, see: 

Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology.  

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Click here for my Cancer Journals. And remember, Black Lives Matter. 

Go here for more Black history blog posts.   

Please leave your comments below and please share this with your networks. Thanks.

Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology

As you may know, the speculum was developed via experiments performed on enslaved Black women.

Dr. Marion Sims, who conducted many of these experiments, has been called the “father of modern gynecology” and is credited with inventing the speculum. 

Meanwhile, the enslaved Black women on whom he experimented have largely been forgotten. They were experimented on without anaesthesia and without dignity, and some of them died under his “care”. 

Anarcha, Lucy and Betsey were three such women whose names we should, we must, recall.

Just part of the history of how Black women's bodies have been treated in the name of “healthcare".   

Click here for an excellent NPR show, Remembering Anarcha, Lucy, and Betsey: The Mothers of Modern Gynecology.

See also: Black Women Sue Johnson & Johnson over Ovarian Cancer.

Please share this with your networks and please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

Cancer Journal 8: A Healing Process

Angry Black Woman

Is there a link between anger and cancer?  Listen below. 

You can always tell when a Black woman is angry.  And we have plenty of reasons to be angry.  Sometimes we have to fight to get the healthcare we want, need and deserve. 

As I said here, I have experienced a lot of anger in my life. 

Click here for more Cancer Journals.

Check Out Books Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Zhana21 on BlogTalkRadio

  

Cancer Journal 7: EFT for Releasing Fear

See below for relaxation audios with effective ways to  release fear and anxiety.  

In addition to anger, I've been experiencing a lot of fear.  Enormous, overwhelming fear.  I am sure this is natural under the circumstances.

I've been doing loads of tapping, but I am not sure how much this has worked.  Then, last week, I did a brilliant tapping session with my EFT practitioner.  She is in South Africa now, so we Skyped.

As I said, it was amazing.  We went back into my childhood to tap on some serious issues including the part of myself that is still damaged from many years of abuse (mainly verbal), and my feelings of unworthiness that stem from the difficulties I experienced.  They still affect me now.

She also had me tap on the fear of fear – maybe I'm scared of being scared.  This really helped.

During the tapping, I let go of a lot of stuff.  I felt so much calmer afterwards. Brilliant.

For more about EFT, click here to download What They Don't Want Us to Know.  Or click here for the free chapter on Achieving Success.   Plus check out these relaxation audios. 

Click here for more in the Cancer Journals series.  

 

Cancer Journal 5: An Angry Life

Angry Black Woman

Continuing this blog series “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.   Please leave your comments below.  Thanks.

Anger has always been an issue for me.   And even as a young child, I always believed that anger is connected with cancer – if we don't find ways to process our anger effectively.

As Black people, we cary a lot of anger due to the oppression we face, and we have carried that anger for generations. When we carry negative emotions, they block us from attracting the things we want and deserve.  For more about this, see Achieving Success and Why We Need to Heal.

The negative emotions we carry affect our families as well, and I believe they can not only make us prone to disease, but also block our healing process.  But I have long felt the need to hang onto my anger.  It's as if I think it protects me.  I have thought of anger as a protection, a form of armour.  But really, the opposite is true.

This is why I have decided to record a healing meditation to help me let go of any negative emotions and anything that could be blocking my healing process.  It will not just be for people who have cancer, it will be for anyone who needs physical or emotional healing.

I have carried a lot of intense anger and fear in the past, which stems partly from the abuse I experienced growing up.

I'm a lot less angry than I used to be, but I still experience the full range, from mild irritation to annoyance, to anger, rage and fury.  Even lingering resentment can be destructive, as it alienates us from others, and eats away at us from the inside.

I trust that my new healing meditation will help me, and will be beneficial for you, too.  I shall be posting a link in the next few days.

Cancer Journal 4: Brain Freeze

Brain Freeze

Continuing this blog series “Cancer Journals”, named after Audre Lorde's classic The Cancer Journals.  Please leave your comments below.  Thanks. 

 

I saw the hospital psychologist on Friday.  She reckons I am still in shock, and I realise now that I am.  I'm very vague a lot of the time, and I'm having trouble making decisions.

Once I was given the cancer diagnosis, I went into brain freeze.  As my flat fills up with packing materials, my head can hold very little apart from clothes, green candles and similar.  I am usually not that into clothes, but I am turning into one of those women who take ages to decide what to wear.

At times like this, it's useful to have friends who tell me what to do, like the one I talked about here.

Why Are So Many of Our People Dying?

We cannot overstate the effect that centuries of slavery and oppression have had, and still have, on our mental and physical health, our emotional wellbeing, our relationships, and our economic status.

Did you know that African Americans are 50% more likely than white people to have strokes?

African Americans are dying disproportionately from cancer and other health challenges including, among other things, cardiovascular problems, stroke, diabetes, certain cancers, HIV/AIDS and Alzheimer's.  For more about these and other issues, click here to download Why We Need to Heal.  

 

Why are so many of our people dying?  Why are our people dying at such higher rates than the rest of the population?

Is this to do with poverty and discrimination?  Is it to do with lack of access to healthcare? Is it to do with racism within healthcare provision?

Is it due to diet and lifestyle?

As suggested by this video from the African American Cultural Center, is it a cultural thing – do we just accept that we will be subject to certain health issues?

For more about health issues and other challenges facing our communities – and what we can do about them - click here to download Why We Need to Heal.

I would love to know your opinion. Please leave your comments below.

See also: Many African Americans Still Can't Access Healthcare.

 

Black Men and Cardiovascular Health

Dr. Bill Releford

Since Black men would not go to the doctor, one man, Dr. Bill Releford, decided to take the doctor to them.   

Black men are statistically at higher risk of developing cardiovascular health problems. 

The Black Barbershop Men's Health Project promotes health to African American men in the areas of hypertension, coronary heart disease and diabetes. To read an article about Dr. Bill Releford and the project, order the free ebook More Black Success Volume 4.

Relief for Diabetes Pain

I am re-purposing this blog. 

As we know, diabetes and the accompanying pain are more prevalent among people of African heritage. 

Diabetes pain is just one form of pain which has been treated successfully using EFT.  Click here for more about how EFT can help you to relax and feel better, increasing your physical and emotional wellbeing.  

EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) is based on acupuncture, but it uses no needles and no drugs. can be used successfully to relieve the pain of diabetes without drugs. It is very easy and quick to learn.

I am holding online EFT tapping sessions.  Please join us - you can book here.  

Here's to your health! 

Black Health: Pain Relief without Drugs – Free Downloads

You probably know that people of African heritage are at statistically higher risk of certain health issues.  Then, too, some issues affect everyone.  

 

Did you know that painkillers can triple your risk of cancer?

Pharmaceuticals save millions of lives on a daily basis. But many people die from using prescription drugs every year.

A new drug, a powerful opiate, has recently been approved for use in the United States. This painkilling drug has been described as“frightening”.

But there are safe, effective methods of relieving pain – without drugs.

Click here to learn more. Plus you can download some free ebooks on drug-free pain relief: 

 

Black Health

Black Health 2

These ebooks give examples of how people have relieved or eliminated pain, including intense pain and chronic pain, related to a variety of health issues including arthritis, back pain and shingles.

Please share this information with anyone who can benefit from it.

Here's to your health!

African Americans Twice as Likely to Suffer from Alzheimer's

Did you know that African Americans are twice as likely as white people to develop Alzheimer's?  

However, Alzheimer's can be reversed and even eliminated.  For more about this, see Freedom from Alzheimer's and Dementia. 

Meditation can help improve our overall wellbeing.  Click here to hear about the benefits of meditation.  

Click here for Alzheimer's resources for the African American community.  

Click here for the Alzheimer's Associastion's Community Resource Finder.  

Six Things in Your Home that Can Cause Cancer

This one is really scary.  

Consumer health groups have studied many household products and warned that they contain carcinogens, or ingredients known to cause cancer. 

Click here to read more.  

Plus, remember, Black women are more prone to particular types of cancers.  Click here to read about Black women and breast cancer.  

Older Black Women and the HIV/AIDS Epidemic

What measures are Black women aged 50 and over taking to protect themselves from HIV and AIDS?  The answers may shock you.  

These are some of the issues being tackled by the Black Women's Health Imperative.  These are very difficult conversations, but they need to be held, and we need to hear them.  Listen to the audio below. 

Listen to internet radio with Imperative Radio on Blog Talk Radio

Do You Have Diabetes and Not Know It?

Check out this article: Do You Have Diabetes and Not Know It? It gives the telltale signs of diabetes.

Then check this out: Why I Wrote Success Strategies for Black People.

See also: Why We Need to Heal.

I have lots of highly effective methods for you - see Alternative Health Remedies.

Here's to your health!

African Americans 50% More Likely to Have Strokes

African American adults are 50 percent more likely to have a stroke than their White adult counterparts. Further, men are 70% more likely to die from a stroke than their White adult counterparts. According to a CDC health interview survey also reveals that African Americans stroke survivors are more likely to become disabled and have difficulty with activities of daily living than their non-Hispanic white counterparts.

One more reason Why We Need to Heal. Click here to read more.

Click here to read about the Black Barbershop Men's Health Project. If we can't get Black men to go to the doctor, we need to bring the doctor to the brothas.

Click here for more about what you can do to keep your heart healthy.