Pregnancy after Hormone Positive Breast Cancer

NarelleD

Hi,

I went through my journey at age 36 after having given birth to Mr5. Since then my children’s father and I have separated and I am now dating someone new. Whilst neither of us want children my 2 pre-cancer children were both unplanned pregnancies so I know my fertility rate was rather high. Just wondering how others went with having / not having more children post-cancer journey. Did this increase the likelihood of your Cancer returning? I caught my Cancer in the very earlier stages so had lumpectomy, tamoxifen and Zoladex. If I fall pregnant now I will be classed as a High Risk pregnancy due to age and weight issues, let alone the cancer side too.

NarelleD

I should probably add I’ve always been scared about having another baby due to the fact that I don’t want to risk getting Cancaer again.

Sister

I'm not in this position so I don't have any medical/scientific knowledge to draw on but I would think that Tamoxifen should be putting a stop to the ovaries and oestrogen production that is essential to pregnancy.  I don't know how long you're on Tamoxifen for though and would imagine that you could become pregnant once you go off it.  I guess the only surety you can have is to have the ovaries removed.  But, please remember, I'm not speaking from a position of real knowledge or experience.  Best to discuss the matter with your medical team.

youngdogmum

Hi Narelle,
Like sister I am not a medical expert and you should speak to your oncologist about concerns of falling pregnant.. however this is what I’ve gathered from my short 7 week history of learning about fertility as a young woman with breast cancer ... It is not recommended to fall pregnant on tamoxifen due to defects it will cause to the foetus. Zoladex will suppress ovaries as well but supposedly there is still a risk of pregnancy and I have been advised to use other contraception as well.. 

Is it possible to come off these medicines and fall pregnant, yes. Is it safe? I personally don’t believe there’s enough evidence to say it will or won’t cause the cancer to come back.
Its a very very personal decision and the doctors seem to say to me, if that what you want in life is to have a baby we are happy for you to try after several years of hormone therapy. But no one can say yes or no will it cause the cancer to regrow unfortunately ... a big study in 2017 seemed to conclude there was no increase in mortality for those woman who had a baby versus those who didn’t post breast cancer treatment, however apparently we are the group of cancer patients who are least likely to go on and have children, so there’s just not that much evidence. 

I suppose also given your age after being on zoladex for 5 years you might not be as fertile as you think? You could start with an AMH count blood test via your GP; if it shows you’re still fertile you could then discuss concerns further with oncology? 

As sister mentioned an oopherectomy would stop the chance of pregnancy completely. 

I hope that is somewhat helpful.