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Anyone taking hrt even though they have an elevated risk of cancer
I have osteoporosis and I would love to go on hrt. My menopause symptoms are horrible and now with osteoporosis I want to go on hrt even more. The problem I have is that I have dense breast tissue and my mother had breast cancer so I'm already at an increased risk. Since I still have my uterus I would need progesterone as well and that makes my risk higher than if I was just on estrogen alone. Is anyone else familiar with what the new guidelines are for women like me?
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Last month the FDA took the black box warning off estrogen. It is safe now.
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3 Reactions@dvargo we hope !
@dvargo Is it though? I know the FDA removed the black box warning, but I'm not sure if it is really safe for someone like me.
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2 ReactionsIt may be worth finding out whether your mother's breast cancer was estrogen receptor (ER) and/or progesterone-receptor (PR) positive, and whether either of you carries a BRCA mutation, to help refine your baseline risk. If those are negative, some observational data suggest that transdermal estradiol combined with micronized progesterone (bioidentical) is associated with relatively low additional breast cancer risk, especially over the first 5 years of usage, though not completely risk free and individualized assessment is needed.
It might also be worthwhile to discuss Duavee with your physicain, although long-term data is still limited.
Would love to hear what you find out.
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2 Reactions@soggybones this is a conversation you will have with a functional medicine doctor. Trad doctors were not trained in medical school. There is a venue for breast cancer survivors that are going back on HRT. Search this and seek medical advice.
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2 ReactionsI agree with the idea of getting tested for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 test. Not only will they help you stratify your risk, if you have daughters or granddaughters it will help them as well
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2 ReactionsFrom what I understand it’s an individualized decision made with your GYN - I recently started HRT at age 68, even though I was 11 yrs post menopause - my GYN and I took in all aspects of risk factors - cardiac, breast cancer, etc.. and although I have a sister who died from stage 4 breast cancer, she was a half sister so we share a mom but there was no breast cancer on my moms side of our family tree. Also I needed to be cardiac tested - I have no visible signs of cardiac disease but was ordered a cardiac calcium ultrasound to determine if there was disease I may not be aware of . After all that, my GYN Dr brought my case to the board at Yale hospital to ask for further opinions because I am so far post menopausal and that is one of the possible risks. I too was still having awful frequent hot flashes and have significant osteoporosis of the spine. I would have a discussion with your GYN and see what is possible in your situation, but obviously the history of breast cancer in your mom likely could be a problem. Good luck!
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3 Reactions@mahonlye Thank you. It seems as if you got a good doctor. I will have to discuss all of this with my doctor.
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1 Reaction@laura1970 I did get tested for BRACA1 and BRACA2 and I was negative for both so that is good news. I was told there are other genes that could be involved so it doesn't rule out the possibility I could get cancer.
@mayblin Thank you. I know my mother took Tamoxafin so I believe it was an estrogen receptor positive breast cancer. I did get tested for BRACA1 and BRACA2 and fortunately I don't carry either of those genes. I'll look into Duavee!