Fertility issues can strike when you least expect it -- even in young women in their 20s, attempting to conceive their first or second child. It seems like going for IVF treatment would be one of the last resorts for this group of women, but it definitely happens.
Although across all age groups IVF hasn't been shown to increase risk of breast cancer, younger women are a special case, according to a new study out of the University of Western Australia that followed 21,025 women for an average of 16 years. IVF may double their risk of breast cancer over the following 15 years. Even though this age group's risk is already low to begin with, this is still unnerving!
I guess it shouldn't really come as that much of a surprise, given that estrogen -- a hormone very well known to fuel certain forms of breast cancer -- soar up to 13 times higher than normal during an IVF cycle. It's why upon finding out that she had breast cancer, Giuliana Rancic had to stop her fertility treatments immediately.
Sure, women are already counseled on the risks associated with IVF, but one thing it seems like the medical industry keeps choosing to ignore is how a woman -- especially a young woman's -- natural hormone balance plays into all of this.
A dear friend of mine, in her 20s, was told several months ago that she might need to try IVF to get pregnant, but the fact of the matter is that she has PCOS. And there are various lifestyle and natural/conventional treatments that directly address androgen (male hormone) excess, which could help her get pregnant. Methods she should definitely try before jumping the gun with intense, expensive, and risky IVF.
And given how tainted our food supply is with antibiotics and hormones these days, plenty of young women are exhibiting symptoms of estrogen dominance, which can interfere with fertility. But since estrogen dominance isn't one of those conditions conventional docs will readily diagnose, it doesn't seem out of the question that they could fail to address it while signing that same woman up for IVF. Bad news!
Of course there will be instances wherein 20-somethings need IVF to conceive, and it is a perfectly safe bet. But hopefully this research will implore medical professionals and patients to consider hormone balance (and the potential downstream negatives associated with such a huge blast of estrogen) as a part of the risk-reward equation.
Does this news surprise you?
Image via Jerry Bunkers/Flickr
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Comments 14
I want to correct this article. I isn't just IVF that's cuasing this. Its the meds associated with IVF. I am in my 20's and had to utilize infertility methods to get prengant. But it was NOT IVF. But I did exhibit estrogen dominance.
So, you ask me....if I could change things knowing that it increased my chances of breast cancer. Yes, my baby Leo means the world to me and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
@ corinacs, I don't think the author is suggesting that children aren't worth the risks of IVF but rather that, given the risks, it's better to try less intense treatments first. I would think given the financial strain IVF places oun couple TTC, doctors would exhaust other options first but that doesn't seem to be the way our health care system works.
Children are very worth the risk, you are right, but what if you get cancer and it gets bad and you die?
then you have a child with no mom, etc. Idk if people think about that.
However, I get the same drugs that IFV women do because I currently am donating soem of my eggs to a woman.
So this did surprise me a bit, never was i ever told breast cancer could be a risk..
I wonder how much of your article is opinion & how much is fact. There are a million studies that come out daily & most are untrue & used as scare tactics. I think anyone who is interested in fertility treatments needs to speak to their Dr. for proper & accurate information.
Thankfully newer procedures such as mini-IVF and IVM are becoming more available and more successful. IVM uses virtually no medication, and in mini-IVF only 3-5 eggs are produced, which means much less medication (and cost). Doctors are beginning to agree that a typical cycle only produces 3-5 good eggs anyway, so mini-IVF produces only the best eggs.
Thanks for this post, it is a service to all women who are considering IVF. I understand what it is like to wrestle with infertility, but doctors need to explain the risks more.