WHO says no booze til you hit Menopause ..... AS IF!

arpie

SO the World Health Organisation now reckons women shouldn’t touch booze til they hit Menopause ....

I’ve got news for them!  THAT WON’T HAPPEN!

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/no-booze-until-menopause-who-s-alcohol-guidance-sparks-female-backlash-20210618-p582e4.html

What do you reckon?

Afraser

As far as I understand, it’s an extension of thinking - if you shouldn’t drink when pregnant (generally accepted as wise), you shouldn’t drink any time when you could be pregnant! As someone said, it smacks a bit of treating a woman purely as a vessel for motherhood (handmaids unite!). A bit of proof reading might have helped! 

June1952

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
That is my comment !
You have to laugh at the whole idea.  Saw that on the news and whilst I did not drink any alcohol in early years I still could not have kids anyway ......

iserbrown

Good luck to them getting that message across 

Afraser

To be scrupulously fair, it’s the WORLD Health Organisation. In some cultures, the amount of time a woman of child bearing age spends when she is not at risk of pregnancy, pregnant or breastfeeding isn’t all that long!! But then again, you won’t find a doctor who will tell you alcohol is good for you! 

Temple

I thought the idea of beginning to drink alcohol at menopause when the risk of breast cancer (female, over 50) is higher doesn’t sound like good advice either! Who would begin alcohol at that age if you’ve lived a life as a teetotaller. 

Have we decided what the bc - alcohol risk really is? Is it less for recurrence than first diagnosis? 

iserbrown

https://www.bcna.org.au/breast-health-awareness/reducing-your-risk/

FLClover

I drank alcohol from the age of 15 til about 18 or so. Weekends only, but not to the point of not remembering what I’d done. I only vomited twice from it, and the second time is when I decided to stop. I hate vomiting and I hate not having control of my body and mind. So since the age of about 18, I might have one or two drinks per year, or none at all. Depends on the year. And I still got bc at the age of 39. Both my sisters continued drinking throughout the years, even weekdays sometimes. One of them went through a period of drinking almost every day. Neither have gotten bc or any other serious illness (and I sincerely hope they don’t). That doesn’t mean I’m now going to hit the bottle and go crazy. I don’t drink cos I don’t like or need alcohol. But I’m not sure that it actually is connected in any way. Over 100 replies on a fb bca page, in response to this question, showed that most women (who responded) were not regular drinkers or had never drank in their life, yet still got bc. Drinking heavily is not good in general for the body or mind. It should be done in moderation. But to suggest women should not drink at all cos they need to bear children or to avoid bc seems excessive, unfair and ridiculous to me. We’re adults, and should know when to or not to drink, take drugs, have intercourse with strangers or whatever. If we start with the drinking then eventually it will continue on to other things as well, until women become slaves again. I think the WHO is in need of a reboot. 

Cath62

Well I have always enjoyed a drink or 2. Sometimes I have over indulged and sometimes I have none. I don't believe alcohol caused my bc. I believe stress caused my bc. I had the perfect stress storm about 18 months pre bc. So now, post my  active treatment I love a great glass of wine with a meal. 

MicheleR

Ive always been a social drinker only. I dont drink at home at all and post treatment plan to limit to special events. Yeah its a risk factor but actually when i went through chemo i drank a lot of water and i found hydrating properly really good and im keeping that - seems slightly in conflict with drinking.

I think bc is probably related to hormones. I had a lot of hormone issues and i suspect was oestrogen dominant. In tge 5 years before bc i went off all birth control and emotionally it was a roller coaster. Maybe this contributed to stress or ability to manage stress? 

 Why does one person get it over others, who knows but cancer isnt a modern day problem, mummified egyptians have been found with cancer i read somewhere. Modern day stressor are probably different and could contribute but any number of things could. 

Why do our cells grow out of control and not get killed off in some people. I have friends who have alway binge drank and they are seemingly fine   

I think its a kind of silver lining that i now am choosing different things, managing stress is one of them. I knew my lifestyle was hurting me but i felt stuck. Could lifestyle have affected my hormones, yes i think so. 

Halla

I wondered about the WHO advice and whether it is about the disease risk for women themselves rather than potential damage to babies. I drank regularly for most of my life and I accept it increased my cancer risk, along with smoking earlier in life, not having children, taking the pill for 20 years and HRT for the last two before I got cancer. And being overweight. Oestrogen overload all of it. I knew I was taking risks though and did those things anyway.  I never think “why me?” I think “obviously me” I would have been surprised not to get it at some point!!

Halla

MicheleR said:

Ive always been a social drinker only. I dont drink at home at all and post treatment plan to limit to special events. Yeah its a risk factor but actually when i went through chemo i drank a lot of water and i found hydrating properly really good and im keeping that - seems slightly in conflict with drinking.

I think bc is probably related to hormones. I had a lot of hormone issues and i suspect was oestrogen dominant. In tge 5 years before bc i went off all birth control and emotionally it was a roller coaster. Maybe this contributed to stress or ability to manage stress? 

 Why does one person get it over others, who knows but cancer isnt a modern day problem, mummified egyptians have been found with cancer i read somewhere. Modern day stressor are probably different and could contribute but any number of things could. 

Why do our cells grow out of control and not get killed off in some people. I have friends who have alway binge drank and they are seemingly fine   

I think its a kind of silver lining that i now am choosing different things, managing stress is one of them. I knew my lifestyle was hurting me but i felt stuck. Could lifestyle have affected my hormones, yes i think so. 

I think I was oestrogen dominant too, and/or PCOS. I always struggled with hormones and PMDD, painful irregular periods, acne, hursutism. That’s probably why I self medicated with the pill, and drinking etc. I also got unexpectedly pregnant at 43 and miscarried. Hormones always have been all over the shop. My mother was the same and had fertility treatment to have me, and failed to have any more kids after me.

Locksley

@Halla I also had HRT treatment approx 2 years before breast cancer.  I feel stress and HRT added to my risk.  I am a social drinker.  

Halla

Yes I was stressed too, from working too hard all the time

June1952

Like @Cath62 I believe my BC was from 8 months of extreme stress (involving the courts) ... who really knows ?

FLClover

I was having a difficult decade, which culminated in the last two years before diagnosis being extremely stressful and me being badly burnt out from work, almost having a nervous breakdown and uncontrollable panic attacks. Heightened general anxiety and dealing with all the narcissists in my life. Went into depression, lost motivation and couldn’t feel happiness anymore. I’m 99.99% certain that was the cause of the bc. I was actually thinking during that time that I needed to get help before I got a disease, but it was so hard, so there you go 🤷🏼‍♀️. I’d been eating well for a few years already, in an attempt to avoid getting anything nasty, but once again 🤷🏼‍♀️. I’m so lucky that I found it early though. I’ve made some significant changes since and now I feel content, also when I feel happy it radiates through my whole body. It’s weird but so wonderful 😊. Much better than not feeling anything at all, except stress and anger. So I’m not sure what the WHO or other doctors want to say, but from MY experience I know it wasn’t the food I was consuming, and def not alcohol since I don’t drink.