I have recently had a lumpectomy and radiotherapy for DCIS and am being advised to stop taking HRT. I really don’t want to do this and I wondered if anyone else has had this dilemma and how they resolved it? I would be really grateful to hear from anyone especaily if you decide to continue with HRT as I am getting increasingly upset over it! Thanks
Hi Kerria
this is a tough one isnt it?
I had lumpectomy and radiotherapy in 1999 then an ovectomy I was put on HRT only stayed on it 6 months.Sadly I am a fully paid up member of the secondaries forum did this cause it I have no idea!
We all have to make choices that ordinary people cannot imagine think very carefully and do lots of research. In 1999 I could not use a computer now Google is one of my mates.
Good Luck.
Love Debsxxx
Hi Kerria
I had an easy menopause and never did HRT…still got aggressive breast cancer.
But HRT is definitely a known risk factor in breast cancer and I think if I were you (and I’m not) I would take your doctors advice and come off HRT. I think the key question to ask yourself is whether if you get invasive breast cancer you would regret staying on it. (Of course you might come off it and still get breast cancer as well as bad menopausal side effects…so a tough one.)
best wishes
Jane
Kerria,
If you are into alternative therapies you might want to take a look at Jan de Vries book on female cancers as there is a lot in there to do with HRT and female cancers. He has clinics all over the UK if you google him, he isn’t expensive to see it’s the treatments he give you that cost money.
I know that I will never be able to take HRT as I am er+ but I am will look at the alternative side of things when the time comes, which probably won’t be long when the tamoxifen starts.
Good luck
L
Hi Kerria,
I used HRT after treatment for BC and now in secondaries forum with it in my liver and lungs.
How I wish I had never followed medical advice which said it would be OK when it clearly wasn’t.
Chemo etc is proving a long difficult road and I suspect I will probably lose some 20 years off my life.
I had a difficult menopause, got BC on top, and despaired of ever being happy or healthy again which is why I used it - I was so depressed and suicidal I didn’t care whether I got secondaries or not. Yet when I stopped HRT on diagnosis of secondaries I didn’t notice it. Contrary to all the evidence there is contentment and happiness after the menopause.
Cannot speak for your circumstances but do not do anything you might regret later, I feel so guilty about what all this is doing to my family.
Hope it works out OK for you Ariadne xx
I was put on HRT in my late thirties due to an early menopause and was still on it when dx with BC at 45.My onc has told me that it was probably the cause of the cancer and that’s good enough for me - I wouldn’t touch it with a barge pole!
I am currently in surgical menopause after having my ovaries removed. I think sometimes the whole menopause thing is overplayed - it is expected to be some unbearable thing - but for some women it really isn’t too bad. It’s like periods - some us have had hell every month and some women barely notice.
As I say I am now in it and it is fine. Hot flashes are few and far between and I am full of energy. The thought of never having a miserable period or PMS again fills me with unbridled joy.
I wouldn’t touch HRT. My Aunt has endometrial cancer and the HRT is directly implicated in that. It is a massive risk to pile hormones into your body once you had had a bc dx I think.
I think pregnancy following dx also carries big risks - but some medics still blithely say there is no problem.
Good luck
Molly
Dont think you will need any more convincing after reading the above, I have just had a double mastectomy with invasive lobular and ductul, which was hormone receptor positive, and at the dx stage was told to immediately stop my HRT. The hot flushes have come back, but I can put up with that as long as BC doesnt - Good Luck
I had no hormone involvement in my cancer at all and the oncologists said they would have approved for me to have HRT had my menopausal symptoms been bad enough; I was referred by them to a menopause clinic. I am on a topical oestrogen pessary twice a week, which is a tenth of the dose you get on HRT but enough to take the edge off the flushes, prickly heat, sleeplessness etc. However, had I been offered HRT I would not have taken it as I feel it would just give me something else to be worried about. My sister has been on HRT for over 10 years (she’s in a country where you can buy it over the counter would you believe) and I said to her recently I think she should maybe think about other methods now as I feel that’s far too long.
I read an interview with one of the top oncologists in the UK who said he wouldn’t steer his wife away from HRT, but wouldn’t want her to be on it for too long as it was only meant to be taken for a period of 5 years to get the body through the worst of the menopause, you were not meant to be on it for a really long time. My S i L had it for 10 years after having a hysterectomy then her GP refused to give her any more. She has terrible flushes and night sweats at the age of 58.
I took HRT for over 5 and a half years - and I was pleased to do so. I felt so awful/depressed and at the end of my rope I wanted to end it all. If my doctor had told me that by drinking bleach I would feel better, I would have done it. I had reached rock bottom.
I tried on 2/3 occasions to get off HRT and couldn’t, the horror story all started again. BUT I kept trying and I got off it last September - unfortunately I was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 weeks later. I do think HRT did me no favours with regard to my cancer but it was a risk I was prepared to take, and at the time it was a lifeline. However when I was diagnosed I was told that if I was taking HRT I would have to stop.
If you can do without it don’t take it.
Love
Lynda xx
Another reason I wasn’t keen to have HRT was because I had precancerous cells on my cervix 20 years ago and I had to have laser treatment. The Consultant who treated me told me 25% of patients with this go on to develop full blown cancer and he was pretty certain I would have been one of them had it not been found quickly. I worked in a Japanese bank where all the staff were sent for private health screening every year and I have always been grateful for this; they also taught the correct way to do breast examination and I did it regularly. I was so surprised when I suddenly found a lump one morning.