Hormone Replacement Therapy E4 Women

[Julie G]

Oh dear, Stavia- just saw this. I'm so sorry. It bodes very well for her that it was caught early. I think the synthetic progesterone has been associated with an increased cancer risk. I also took it for a few years as Combipatch- not realizing. I'm sending good energy for your sister. XO

[Stavia]

Well we hope early but ya.
It just brought home to me that nothing is without risk.
HRT does definitely increase the breast cancer risk when looking at large populations. We need not to ignore this fact and take it into consideration in our decisions.
Big picture as always

[Hubbs]

Stavia, so sorry about your sister. Hope she is treated effectively and recover soon.

I restarted HRT in January after stopping for a few months last year. I feel better with it but do worry about using it. My patch is Mylan Estradiol 0.025mg/day. Is it bio-identical or synthetic?

[Stavia]

Hubbs the estradiol molecule in your patch is the same as the one your body makes. Its made in a factory but it is still the same molecule. The words bioidentical and synthetic are not mutually exclusive.
I also use an estradiol patch. Mine is made by the company Novartis. I'm on 50mcg but should probably consider reducing it.

[circular]

Stavia sorry about this news, not just for your sister but for you too. It's fear on steroids. With my current status of maybe having ovarian cancer, I'm already learning boatloads. One thing is that 'favorable' statistics, even in large datasets, are still an oversimplification (as are unfavorable ones). They feel reassuring at a clinical distance, but when the low probability event arrives at the door, up close and in the context of unimaginable complexity, there's a sort of loss of analytical innocence, at least until knowledge catches up. We'll keep trying to uncover what data may be available that we've been missing in our assessment. It's just a real life reminder that we shouldn't forget how much we always don't know.

I meet with the oncologist Weds. My CA-125 is very low at just 8. While encouraging it's not diagnostic and 50% of stage 1 have normal CA-125. Stage 1 is a big surgery and often still requires chemo. At the same time one type of ovarian growth with normal CA-125 is 75% benign. I'm still haunted by the phrase 'irregular borders' bit staying cautiously optimistic.

I bring this up here because, while the frquency of ovarian cancer is much, much lower than for breast cancer, there are studies (a study?) suggesting a link with HRT. At the same time there's noscreening. I'm up in the middle of the night on my phone so don't have the links handy.

Statistics are helping me manage the terror, but for my sisters who are dx with ovarian cancer they will have been a mirage.

[Julie G]

(((Circ)))

[Stavia]

(((Circ)))
Please let us know as soon as you can.

[circular]

Okay, will do. Not sure I was making any sense in the middle of the night haha!

[SusanJ]

(((Circ))) Let us know how Wednesday goes.

[Jean]

(((Circ))) hoping for the best news!

(((Stavia))) So true - nothing is without risk.

Wishing both of you good outcomes!