Hold on there. This is not so much *rot.* This has a very possible connection in fact. While actively doing mastectomy fittings since 1978, I chose a time frame in the mid 1980's where I did an informal verbal survey of my clients as to whether they had ever been constipated prior to their breast cancer diagnosis. Due to an additional colon cancer risk, some of their docs had put them on Metamucil daily also. Most of them looked at me quizzically and asked "how did you know?" At least 80% of the women admitted to intermittent or chronic, life long constipation. The waste mechanism of an infant to pee and poop is highly regarded by this group of lactation specialists. It tells you much about whether the baby is thriving or surviving. Why not wonder about the mother's waste mechanism being adequate? Has anyone asked women who've been diagnosed with cancer if they breastfed and if they also had any prior mastitis in the cancerous breast while breastfeeding? Breast cancer is not only of the ductal variety. There is a type of breast cancer that begins in the lymph system. For the body's lymph system to be efficient, adquate hydration is necessary. Ask any massage therapist (and chiropractors) and they'll tell you they give specific instructions to drink plenty of water after a massage or adjustment as they've moved lymph and wish to have the waste exit the body. I once had a two-hour full body lymphatic drainage session by a close friend in Seattle who has been schooled in all three methods around the world: Foldi, Casley-Smith and Vodder. I gave myself an organic coffee enema first in order to be as detoxed in the large intestine for this event as I could. (Coffee enemas have been in the Merck manual from its beginning until 1987 as an effective purgative.) Even so, the very next day after the full body lymph drainage, and after drinking several glasses of fluids as instructed, I experienced the largest bowel movement of my life. I know her massage was effective in moving and removing toxins. It is not such a stretch that the lymph nodes around the breast need help in cases of mastitis. I see mastitis as a plugged breast event--can't go out through the nipple or be reabsorbed into the body cavity, infected with bacteria, etc. Perhaps not too different from plugged sinuses. To drain lymph is dependent on adequate hydration. I don't think it is a stretch to connect mastitis to being plugged otherwise. Laxatives are not the answer, but hydrated fibrous foods are: Brown rice and lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. Women who are vegetarians have been proven to have more estrogen expelled in their waste also. Judy Ritchie *********************************************** The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html