Birth Control Pill

Renae64

Does anyone think using the bcp contributed to getting cancer?

Thank you.

Renae

softness1

YES!!! YES and YES!!!!  About 3 years ago my GYN put me on birth controls as a means of aiding my fibroids. I was 39 at the time and hadn't been on birth control since I got my tubes tied at 25 years old.  I was given a few options because my period was so heavy, she thought we should first go this route before thinking hysterectomy. Now I have breast cancer and from what I've read you increase your chances slightly if you are on birth control especially after a certain age. I don't remember that even being brought up. I think I read it on the packaging insert that came with the birth control pills but it was a very small percentage.

It was the first thing I thought of because I got off the pills for the side effects. Mood swings etc, about a year ago and BOOM.. breast cancer..  

softness1

bump

SelenaWolf

It's hard to say, but my personal opinion is, anytime we seek to artificially alter our natural hormone balance, we risk unexpected consequences.  That would include medications such as birth control, hormone replacement, even some SSRI's, which have been (albiet very weakly) linked with possibly contributing to breast cancer development.

I don't feel that our bodies are meant to deal with high levels of oestrogen for prolonged periods.  That's why pregnancy only lasts nine months and why menopause occurs when it does.  When we mess with that cycle, I believe that we are placing ourselves at greater risk for developing something like breast cancer; especially those of us who, already, have a number of the other risk factors in place.

I was on the pill from age 19 until I was 40 before my doctor advised that - at my age - the risks were beginning to outweigh the benefits.  At 41, I started taking an SSRI to help control anxiety and OCD (which reared its ugly head following a serious head injury).  At 50, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Coincidence?

My mother had a breast cancer scare at 39 and had what turned out to be a prophylactic mastectomy.  She, also, took birth control pills for several years.  At 50, after a hysterectomy for a massive pelvic abscess, she hurtled into menopause and her doctor put her on hormone replacement therapy, which she took for 20 years until research linking HRT with breast cancer became concerning.  For 20 years, she's taken an SSRI for depression.  At 75, she developed a strongly (nearly 100%) oestrogen-positive breast cancer, nearly 25 years AFTER going into menopause.  Coincidence?

I'm starting to wonder...

fd1

I believe mine might have been caused by taking the pill or at least brought on earlier in life because of it.  Through this process I've found out that I have Gilbert's Syndrome which is considered a benign genetic condition where your bilirubin levels tend to be elevated.  I have read that it is suspected that those with this syndrome do not process specific types of estrogen properly which happens to be the exact type that was used in my birth control brand.  Now, this is entirely my theory and could very well be out to lunch. I have not run it past my MO for fear that he will think me completely crazy!  It is nice to have a theory to answer the why though....  

sbelizabeth

Perhaps not BCP, which I took intermittently throughout my child-bearing years.  But during menopause I developed intractable insomnia, and rather than give me sleeping meds or advising other approaches, my GYN put me on an estrogen patch.  I had a lurking bad feeling about it, but I was getting some SLEEP.  I stayed on the patch for about 14 months until my breast cancer diagnosis, 100% estrogen-receptor positive. 

Do I think the patch caused my cancer?  No, but I think it fed it like chunks of meat to a hungry shark. 

My mom NEVER took hormones in any form, and had bilateral breast cancer and mastectomies, but this was before they were testing for estrogen receptor status.  My sister's in the middle of her radiation treatments, and her cancer is ER+ and she's never taken any hormones either.  So it's a mystery.

But if I could turn back the clock to 2009 when I couldn't sleep, I would beg for ambien, accupuncture, or hypnosis, anything but estrogen.  As it turns out, NOW when I can't sleep due to the cancer radio playing in my head, I have to take a sleeping pill...so not only do I have insomnia, I had the breast cancer battle to fight!

fredntan

I had had mirena IUD place few years before I found my BC.

I like that "cancer radio". I got that too at times