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Estradiol For vaginal atrophy after breast cancer. Is it safe?
I have developed severe atrophy 25 years after estrogen receptive breast cancer. Did chemo, radiation and 5 years of Tamoxifen. I was always told NO estrogen. I am experiencing extreme pain and bleeding so sexual intimacy is impossible. I also have been diagnosed with Lichen sclerosus. I am 65 years old. My gyno has prescribed Estradiol vaginal cream 0.01%. I am told the new view and trials say is it is safe for breast cancer survivors. Anyone been down this route or had their gynecologist say this? I really want to try this for quality of life with my husband but I am also very scared.
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There wasn't a really good trial on this before but this new study seems to indicate vaginal estrogen is safe. I've been using vaginal praesterone (DHEA) as it's a precursor for all three Se
sex hormones and has been used in Europe for years.
See https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(24)01126-8/abstract
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I am hormone positive breast cancer and my oncologist prescribed vagifem. Glad he did makes a big difference. I have been using it for 1 yr
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1 ReactionI so glad to hear this. I am apprehensive but excited to use it. For years I’ve heard absolute no estrogen and now it’s okay. I’m ready!
Will they let you take that? I was on it and they told me that I had to stop taking it. Orally or cream.
Following is from the web and I think this is on the package too. Warning:
"You should not use estradiol if you have: undiagnosed vaginal bleeding, liver disease, a bleeding disorder, or if you have ever had a heart attack, a stroke, a blood clot, or cancer of the breast, uterus/cervix, or vagina."
There was a new study that came out in November of 2023. I will find it and post it. My oncologist said it’s fine.
It’s so hard to know what to do. So scary….once you have had breast cancer. I used it three or four times then got worried again. I have not been using it since. I decided to try the Mona Lisa. I just had my second of three procedures. I will let you know how it does in a week or two.
I tried that for 6 months and had no luck with it.
It is so scary. I was 100% estrogen and 75% progesterone positive. I wish insurance covered the Mona Lisa and it lasted longer. Let me know how it goes.
This is amazing…but I do question it. Maybe I don’t understand how that estrogen % is figured on the path report from the tissue sample. I’m in my late 70s, way past menopause and was using estradiol cream. My est level was 97% . I’m expecting that to drop because of the hormone blocker. My malignancy was fed by that estrogen…or at least, that’s what I’m thinking. I see my drs next month so I’ll bring this up. Estradiol is, I believe, a bio-identical. Suzanne Somers used them and talked about them openly, but she died from breast cancer. Don’t know what to think.
It’s all ever changing