Menopause Support Group

Estrogen alone hasn't been shown to cause breast cancer (BC). The Women's Health Initiative (WHI) actually showed a lower risk of BC in the estrogen only arm of the study. It was the combined (estrogen-progestin) arm that showed an increased risk. More recent studies have been inconclusive about a link between BC and estrogen. Also, I've read that women who take estrogen and develop BC have a better prognosis due to a lower risk of metastasis. Here’s an article – http://www.cancerpage.com/news/arti...

Of course, unopposed estrogen increases risk of endometrial cancer. So if you haven't had a hysterectomy, you'll need to monitor endometrial thickness if taking estrogen without a progestin or progesterone.

Here's a link to the WHI home page - http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/whi/ which contains links that will take you to more detailed info.

My GP said not to use it if you have a history of breast cancer. Also, you have a lower risk if you dont use it longer than five years. My personal feeling is to have hormones checked to see if you need them. Many women are estrogen dominant and progesterone deficient. I wouldnt want to take estrogen if I dont need it. Judy

Just to make things more confusing, WHI studies indicate that progestins (which are synthetic -- called: medroxyprogesterone acetate) are implicated as a risk factor in strokes, heart disease and breast cancer. Bioidentical Progesterone (made from wild yam) is Not progestin and contains no such risk. However, what you get via the Dr or Gyn is usually the synthetic stuff. Bioidentical Progesterone can be found in your health food stores.

You can read more on this in Dr. Christiane Northrup's book "The Wisdom of Menopause: Creating Physical and Emotional Health During the Change." or look at the section called "Health Wisdom" on her website: www.drnorthrup.com

Good Luck!

My own opinion is that if cancer worries you, even if you have none in your family or are low risk, that you should not take HT. I worried about this too and as a result, was not as compliant with HT as I should have been, maybe. Especially the last couple of months. Then I realized one day I was reading too many BC articles on the Net and that was that (I had other reasons too for avoiding HT). My dad had cancer of the lung, he was a smoker, but still he had cancer. Plus a couple of distant relatives were recently diagnosed with BC. That is when I made my decision....but some days, I wish I still back on it since am still having withdrawal (has been a month since I removed the patch...) DaisyC