please help

[shells123]

Diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 30 and had a double masectomy. The cancer is estrogen positive and I also tested positive for the brca 2 gene. I also had a hysterectomy with the ovaries removed. Just recently I started to bleed vaginally and have pain. Dr says that the vaginal wall is thin and it should be thick. Dr says that the pain and bleeding will get worse. The Dr. has tried arimedex and raloxifene and neither have worked due to side affects. Tamoifen is out due to family clots with this. The doctor said the last resort is estrogen inserted vaginally. I was told that taking this increases my risks of brest cancer again. Does anyone have any suggestions?


This discussion is related to Breast Cancer and Premarin.

[PaulMD]

Estrogen treatment in someone with estrogen receptor positive breast cancer may in theory cause an increase in the activity of any remaining cancer cells, or those cells with the potential to be cancerous.  For this reason, using estrogen treatment for the vaginal bleeding may have this negative effect.  You can explore other options such as a surgical procedure (discuss with your doctor) but if there are no other options, the risks and benefits of this treatment should be weighed.

The vaginal wall really needs hormones to maintain its integrity.  The localized hormone treatment (vaginal estrogen) would address this issue, but some of the estrogen can still make it to your system.