Benign Breast Lumps

Strict abstention from caffeine, including chocolate, dissolved the benign lump in my breast in 6 weeks, just before it was supposed to be removed surgically. I was aware of the lump in my left breast for years. That was years ago at a time before anyone talked about breast self-examination and before physicians checked our breasts for lumps routinely. I only found out that I had the lump because it hurt, not just to the touch, but constantly. I finally asked my family physician about it. He insisted that I must have injured my breast by falling on something. I was not convinced by his explanation, because I would have remembered the occurrence of such a painful injury. An x-ray revealed that the lump was not malignant. That was good news. It did, however, bother me constantly, and I was scheduled to have it removed surgically.

Solution from a Newspaper Advice Column

Two months before the scheduled surgery, I stumbled across a physician's advice column in the Winnipeg Tribune, one of our daily newspapers. The physician connected caffeine with benign breast lumps and urged abstention as a cure. I was as unconvinced by that theory as by that of the injury, because I had not drunk coffee or black tea for years, ever since I was told that I was a menace on the road after one single cup of coffee. That had been enough incentive for me to swear off both of these caffeinated drinks forever. I did, however, enjoy the odd piece of good German dark chocolate. The caffeine in chocolate and green tea appears to be in a different chemical form, because neither of them have any noticeable effect on me. I certainly have no problem falling asleep immediately after eating chocolate. Nevertheless, as a last resort I could see no harm in putting the advice in the physician's column to the test. I strictly refrained from ingesting any and all forms of caffeine, including that delicious German dark chocolate. When I am convinced that something is bad for my health, I have no problem abstaining from it, no matter how good it tastes.

Problem Solved

Two weeks before the scheduled surgery and six weeks after the beginning of my experiment, I had a final pre-surgery checkup. The lump had vanished. The pain was gone. The surgery was cancelled. Both the lump and the pain had been with me for many years, and I felt a great relief.