Menopause Matters Forum
Menopause Discussion => Other Health Discussion => Topic started by: yellowflower on February 08, 2020, 02:56:36 AM
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So I have booked in for my free screen which you are eligible for every year after you turn 50. This will be my 3rd screen. You have to fill in a consent form prior to the mammogram and it was all about whether you or a direct family member have had ovarian cancer or breast cancer or are on HRT. A close friend of mine had clear mammograms for several years until the one she took after starting HRT a year earlier. She was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer that they said was due to HRT. I intend to have a natural menopause anyway, but it did give me some food for thought.
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https://www.menopausedoctor.co.uk/menopause/breast-cancer-hrt
Hi have a read of this article from Dr Newson x
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Quality of Life? My breast lump was found on palpation whilst in the bath, non sinister until it got to histology. Never showed on film.
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But there is no quality of life with no life.
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I don't get you :-\ we are either alive or dead [bit like sheep ::)]. If we can enjoy the better times then quality if important.
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So how do they know that your breat cancer is caused by HRT? I have known four people who had breast cancer and none took HRT.
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The risk of breast cancer in all women is 1 in 8. Personally I wouldn't take anything that would increase that, even a tiny bit.
Most women don't use HRT so of course most cancer is found in those that don't take it. That's a matter of statistics not cause and effect. And many have cancer before the menopause anyway.
If someone has been advised, by a medical professional, not to take it because of their particular increased risk, I would never persuade them otherwise. What a responsibility if they subsequently then developed cancer. I couldn't live with myself.
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When a doctor is talking sh*"t I would definitely pont it out. They can tell you there's an increased risk, they can't tell you HRT CAUSED the cancer.
Most of us increase our risk of cancer anyway, too little exercise, polluted environment, overweight, too much processed food etc etc. Many are bigger risk factors than transdermal hrt. Definitely makes sense to check yourself though and have mammograms.
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I would never tell anyone they should take HRT it is a very personal choice, but i do get fed up with those who i have met in real life who lecture me about taking HRT but they drink, do no exercise and are overweight, all of which increase breast cancer risk.
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Also - until it is proven that HRT is totally responsible for breast cancer then I think that qualify of Life is important.
I had 3 weeks of HRT years++ ago. Never associated it with the lump found in the 1990s. After surgery I was told by 'them', i.e. people that I sort of knew, that by having mammograms every 6 months then annually was putting me at risk. Well I'm still here >wave<. We sit at keyboards. We have TVs lurking in the corner of the room. Etc.. Etc.. Etc.. .........
It really is a personal choice. I now get my mammos every 5 years ..........
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I totally agree yellow flower.
I plunged into hrt which was a mistake for me. Anyway, I am now much better off going the natural route.
I still have the leaflet from my oestrogel pack.
It says: evidence suggests that using oest / prog increases risk of BC. Risk depends on how long you take it. The additional risk becomes clear within a few years. However it returns to normal risk after 5 years of stopping.
Even within 3 months of me taking oestrogel my breasts hardened and felt lumpy and they are never normally like that. It also states that you must tell them at mamogram if on hrt as hrt may increase density of breast tissue ( it did for me in 3 months) and may affect the outcome of mammogram. It may not detect lumps.
X
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I totally agree yellow flower.
I plunged into hrt which was a mistake for me. Anyway, I am now much better off going the natural route.
I still have the leaflet from my oestrogel pack.
It says: evidence suggests that using oest / prog increases risk of BC. Risk depends on how long you take it. The additional risk becomes clear within a few years. However it returns to normal risk after 5 years of stopping.
Even within 3 months of me taking oestrogel my breasts hardened and felt lumpy and they are never normally like that. It also states that you must tell them at mamogram if on hrt as hrt may increase density of breast tissue ( it did for me in 3 months) and may affect the outcome of mammogram. It may not detect lumps.
X
I wont say exactly how I know this because I have been doxxed in the past, but doctors will never tell a women that HRT is safe. Having seen women with aggressive breast cancer and the destruction it causes to their lives, I am definitely going the natural route. That includes exercise and diet.
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And of course that is entirely your choice as it is of those of us who wish to use HRT.
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Absolutely your right to choose, you have to do what's best for you. I hope you have an easy ride. For me life was hardly worth living before hrt so I prefer to accept the risk. We're all different.
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Good to hear you are taking the natural route yellow flower. I am also.
With diet change, exercise and supplements I feel at a good point now. Menopause symptoms have very much lessened and I feel they are passing.
I also know the devastating life changes with BC. I made a big mistake in rushing onto hrt for my hot flushes and in hindsight I realise if I had just dealt with them for a few months they would have become less and less of their own accord.. x
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Drinking alcohol and being overweight are both bigger risk factors than hrt. It is really worth working on these.
1 in 8 is a lifetime risk of diagnosis, not mortality. Heart disease is the biggest killer, and lung cancer is really high up there.
But, something will get you in the end, and I don't really want to last long enough to die of Alzheimer's. Maybe I will meet CLKD's bus? :-X
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It's OK I won't be driving it ;-)
But often people worry about all types of issues and then leave the Earth B4 the worry materialises. I can understand how worry can grind a person down :'( ............ as situations outside my control take over 24/7.
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Very true dahliagirl. Of course we must also keep alcohol levels at or under recommended units per week and keeping weight and bmi at correct levels goes without saying. For BC but also heart etc etc and menopause symptoms. X
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Yes diet and exercise are a win on so many fronts, and you can have fun with them even if it does not ultimately 'work'
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Yellow flower. I didnt know about a yearly screen being available. I havent had any screening since turning 50. Other than 3 yearly mammograms. (And of course smear tests).
I have multiple cysts in my breasts since my early 40s seen at breast clinic on ultrasound so I have been wondering if i should get mammograms more regularly than every 3 years. .
What does the yearly health screen include , if you dont mind me asking.
Xx
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Yellow flower. I didnt know about a yearly screen being available. I havent had any screening since turning 50. Other than 3 yearly mammograms. (And of course smear tests).
I have multiple cysts in my breasts since my early 40s seen at breast clinic on ultrasound so I have been wondering if i should get mammograms more regularly than every 3 years. .
What does the yearly health screen include , if you dont mind me asking.
Xx
In Australia, we get a free mammogram every year after age 50. If anything shows up, you get a call back for further tests. Prior to the mammogram, you must fill in a consent form that also asks about family history of ovarian and breast cancer, along with questions about HRT use.
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I see. Thank you yellow flower. X
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Tc I think you can ask them to drain cysts, they've always asked me when I've had them. I had a large one last time (convinced it was bc of course), I'd hate them to have left it because I couldn't check myself properly behind it.
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Thanks sheila. Yes checking never puts my mind at complete rest. It's difficult as there are so many and sometimes they are more apparent than other times. I was told they were hormone related and that as I got older the pain would ease. and it did indeed settle in my late 40s. But it seems to come and go on HRT.
I could get my gp to check but I think as soon as she feels the cysts she will send me to breast clinic. That's,what happened before.
Xx. . .
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I fill in that type of Form every time I go for a smear or mammogram ........ it's about building up patient profiles for future Research.
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I fill in that type of Form every time I go for a smear or mammogram ........ it's about building up patient profiles for future Research.
I have never filled in a consent form for a pap smear.
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Yellow flower.
If, as I think, your referring particularly to the "consent" aspect of the form. I've never filled a consent form for a smear either. In fact I'm realy surprised I didnt have to fill consent for my hormone implant, particularly as it's off license and it is a surgical procedure. . No consent for mirena coil either. Which I had expected as there can be complications.
Bu the specific question of Iwhy HRT has been included in the consent form which I think is what you're getting at (correct me if I'm wrong) . I cant see it would be anything to do with the test itself. (Putting aside the "small amount" of radiation with mammogram as I dont know enough about it to know if or why HRT use would be relevant to that.) . If it is purely information gathering around HRT use then it's interesting that they are doing it in routine breast screening setting and not your smear tests. Maybe you might find next smear it will be included too?
I choose to use HRT but I am minded to think that ialthough hormone replacement in menopause goes back before us, in some ways our generation are very much in the "learning curve" of HRT use just as we were with the contraceptive pill.
X
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:thankyou: Tc - as an aside, anyone remember the female condom ::) - seemed to go on for miles and miles and ..........
What did U decide yellow flower?
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:thankyou: Tc - as an aside, anyone remember the female condom ::) - seemed to go on for miles and miles and ..........
What did U decide yellow flower?
HI CLKD. Excuse me is I sound dumb, but I am not sure what "decision" you mean?
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Yellow flower.
If, as I think, your referring particularly to the "consent" aspect of the form. I've never filled a consent form for a smear either. In fact I'm realy surprised I didnt have to fill consent for my hormone implant, particularly as it's off license and it is a surgical procedure. . No consent for mirena coil either. Which I had expected as there can be complications.
Bu the specific question of Iwhy HRT has been included in the consent form which I think is what you're getting at (correct me if I'm wrong) . I cant see it would be anything to do with the test itself. (Putting aside the "small amount" of radiation with mammogram as I dont know enough about it to know if or why HRT use would be relevant to that.) . If it is purely information gathering around HRT use then it's interesting that they are doing it in routine breast screening setting and not your smear tests. Maybe you might find next smear it will be included too?
I choose to use HRT but I am minded to think that ialthough hormone replacement in menopause goes back before us, in some ways our generation are very much in the "learning curve" of HRT use just as we were with the contraceptive pill.
X
Hi TC
When we have paps in Australia, there is no form at all. I no longer have to have them as I had a hysterectomy 2 years ago and the cervix was removed. On my very last pap smear results prior to my hysterectomy, they had also tested for the HPV virus and I was negative to all of them. I found this interesting because I got my results via email and I did not know they now tested for HPV so extensively. I was told that well over 90% of cervical cancers are caused by particular strains of the wart virus and this may be the only test done in the future.
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Interesting yellowflower.
I believe that over here the NHS vaccinates girls around 13 years old against HPV. For that very reason.
X
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Interesting yellowflower.
I believe that over here the NHS vaccinates girls around 13 years old against HPV. For that very reason.
X
Yes. We have Gardasil vaccine here as well.
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That you will have the screening/not?
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That you will have the screening/not?
Absolutely. I don't muck around with things like this. Too important!
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Hi
Sorry to tag onto this post, but I have just found out today, that both of my Dads sisters (one was a half sister), died from breast cancer aged 61. I never knew that, I didn't know one of them, and I thought the other died of lung cancer (she was a smoker). My Dad died of lung cancer too, but he was 83
In the past I have always said there was no breast cancer in my family, but now I know that's wrong. Am I at increased risk now, and should I even be taking HRT? My mammogram came back clear last May
thanks
Jeepers xx
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I think it depends if they had the BRCA gene Jeepers, can you find out? Not all breast cancer is due to this x
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Ask for a gene test Jeepers.
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Hi
No, I have no idea if they had the brca gene, they died a long time ago. they were both a lot older than my dad ( half sister 23 years older), so it's 40 years ago now, I was just a child
I only found out today as a result of a conversation. One of my sisters has just been diagnosed with lung cancer, so all in all, not a good day.
I'll see about getting tested, I'll probably have to go private though
Jeepers xx
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Hi Jeepers.
I also have a family history of BC. Mother and sister. Both diagnosed before menopause.
Both Estrogen receptive BC.
There are many types of BC, but, I believe approx 80% of BC is estrogen receptive, whether or not you have a family history, so every woman is at risk of estrogen receptive BC. The most common type.
For this reason, I was absolutely advised, by GP and Breast Cancer specialists, not to take hrt. They also went on to say, if my meno symptoms were so bad that I could not cope, then hrt could be used, but very carefully monitored and for the shortest time possible, bearing in mind 90% of women will be through with meno symptoms within 4 years of last period.
Hope this helps. X
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Hi Jari
Thanks for your reply, although that's very scary. :o
I'll contact my clinic
Jeepers xx
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Hi Jeepers,
If you take hrt then definitely tell them this when you have your next mammogram.
Hrt can change breast tissue and can make it more difficult to detect a growth.
It would be wise to talk to your GP and see what they say re your history... ages of your aunts at diagnosis etc.. x