INFERTILITY FACTS NEWS AND VIEWS – Fertility Drugs and Breast Cancer Risks

October is being observed as Breast Cancer Month and as such, my Friday posts will largely surround this theme.

When I was taking fertility drugs, outside of the fact that they had such horrible side effects for me, I often wondered what other effects they were having on my body. Was I at increased risks for breast cancer or ovarian cancer, etc.

According to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, women who took the common fertility drug, clomiphene citrate (clomid) as part of their fertility treatment, did not experience increased risk for breast cancer, compared to women who did not take this drug.

Under current practices, clomiphene citrate is limited to three to six cycles with doses up to 100mg. A small group of women who took up 12 cycles however, saw an elevated risk of breast cancer 1.5 times the risks of women who did not take this drug. “This could be a result of persistent infertility rather than effects of this drug,” said Dr. Louise A. Brinton, Ph.D., M.P.H., chief of the Hormonal and Reproductive Epidemiology Branch at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Bethesda, Md. 

Read more, by visiting the link below:-

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/04/140403084245.htm

post image by: http://madamenoire.com/451647/ask-dr-renee-breast-cancer-affect-fertility/

PROMISING OVARIAN CANCER SCREENING

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand

Psalm 127: 3 & 4

“HOPE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE”

 

Healthy women might soon be able to have screening done for the early detection of Ovarian Cancer. This is surely good news for all women and especially for those who are at increased risk.


As someone who has been diagnosed with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS), and was told by my doctor that this can lead to cancer, I immediately thought that he was referring to ovarian cancer, since it is the ovaries that is affected in the case of PCOS. Upon research, I found out that women with PCOS are not at risk for ovarian cancer, instead we are at increased risk for Endometrial Cancer.

Women are at increased risk for ovarian cancer, as it relates to the following:-

• Age. Ovarian cancer usually develops after menopause. Women over age 60 have the highest risk. However, it is not confined to older women; one quarter of ovarian cancer deaths occur in women 35 - 54 years of age.
• Family history. If a close blood relative of yours (mother, sister, daughter) has had ovarian cancer, your risk is higher.
• Infertility & childbearing status. Women are at increased risk if they’ve had difficulty conceiving, had children late in life, have never been pregnant, or have never used birth control pills.
• Fertility drugs. In some studies, researchers have found that prolonged use of the fertility drug clomiphene citrate, especially without achieving pregnancy, may increase the risk for developing ovarian tumors. If you are taking this drug, you should discuss its potential risks with your doctor. However, infertility also increases the risk of ovarian cancer, even without use of fertility drugs.

The more we know, the more we can preserve lives.

Be encouraged therefore.

SUBJECT: HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH???????

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
Children born to a young man are like sharp arrows in a warrior’s hand
Psalm 127: 3 & 4

"HOPE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE"

I was going to post on something totally different today, but as soon as I was about to begin, I overheard on the television nearby, that the Duggars, of ‘eighteen kids and counting,’ which hears on The Learning Chanel (TLC), welcomed their nineteenth seven weeks ago.

The problem though is, the child was born prematurely, weighing only one pound plus and is still in the intensive care unit at the hospital she was born. Michelle, the mother, developed preeclampsia, (a common complication in pregnancies, when a pregnant woman is plagued with high blood pressure after week 20 of her pregnancy) and so they had to do an emergency C-Section, within 30 minutes, to take the baby.

As I watched this poor little thing lying there in tubes, who did not ask to be here, I wondered to myself, how much is enough? Nineteen kids from one woman, isn’t this too much, for medical reasons and otherwise? I read that they are leaving it to God to determine how many kids they have and strongly believe that children are a gift from God. I must say that, myself and many others believe that too, but we do not go around having nineteen children. I honestly believe that this is God’s way of telling them to stop now, enough!!!!

This is not a good story for couples who are struggling with infertility and hoping to have even just one. They are doing everything in their power to make this dream become a reality, the fertility drugs, the invitro-fertilization, the herbal treatments, you name it, and this lady just have them without much effort it seems. She must have been at the front of the line when God was handing out fertility, no, seriously, and I was somewhere towards the end.

I know if I did not have my son, I would be even more annoyed with this couple, but I am annoyed nevertheless, because I see a precious life hanging in the balance, because of no fault of her own. I am led to believe that she will pull through, God will allow her to live, because she deserves to, but he wants us to be wise and pro-active as well, and if we are not reflecting this in how we conduct our daily lives, he will step in and save us from ourselves.

I wish this little angel all the very best and I pray that she will continue to grow from strength to strength, so that soon, she will be home with her family where she belongs.

Share your thoughts on this story. Are you with me on this?????

Catch you next time, and until then, remember, "HOPE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE"