In today’s world where people are so busy in their lifestyle that they need to do family planning. So, birth control is very necessary for today’s time. There are various methods of birth control. Some of them involve drugs and there are various physical methods also to control births. One of the best and most famous methods is Hormonal methods. Hormonal methods include birth control pills, skin patches, and vaginal rings. They contain estrogen and progestin.
Hormone pills or birth control pills- they come in packs which contain pills for three weeks. During the fourth week, when you do not receive hormones, you have a menstrual period. Some packs of pills have hormone pills for the fourth week also and taking hormones for the entire month reduces the number of periods you have.
Hormone Patch- the patch releases estrogen and progestin through your skin for 7 days. One patch is used per week for 3 weeks and no patch for one week. During this week, you have a menstrual period.
Vaginal rings– the ring is placed in the vagina for three weeks and this gives birth control for the entire month.
Various studies have shown that there is increased the risk of breast cancer due to the use of hormonal contraceptive methods. Breast cancer is defined as the tumor which forms inside the breast and it can be malignant or benign. There are higher risks for breast cancer with higher doses of hormones. There are various factors which can affect person using hormonal contraception and they are as follows:
- Her age
- Her general health
- Her personal risk of breast cancer
- Other breast cancer risk factors, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, and maintaining a healthy weight
The risk of breast cancer increases with increase in duration of hormonal contraceptives use. However, treatment for cancer is no possible by using various modern techniques.
As the hormonal contraception work with the release of estrogen and progestin, there has been evidence stating that estrogen can act as a carcinogen and especially increase the risk of breast cancer. Women who start menstruating early and start menopause late, produce more estrogen over their lifetime and have a higher risk of breast cancer. Estrogen helps in stimulating the normal breast cells but higher lifetime exposure to estrogen may increase breast cancer risk. There are some breast cancer cells which need estrogen to grow so with the higher use of contraceptives lead to higher risk of breast cancer.
There are various precautions you should take while taking hormonal contraceptives:-
- Consult your doctor before taking the hormonal pills
- Doctor will tell you the exact dosages and duration of the pills taken
- Consult your doctors for the exact contraceptive method according to your health.
- Don’t overdose and never miss your dosages.
- Keep diagnosing and keep checking the symptoms of breast cancer and if any knot and pain appear in the breast consult your doctor as soon as possible.
- Keep the medicine away from the children
- Keep the medicine in the cool and dark place.
Treatment for breast cancer
Your treatment for cancer cells depends on the location of cancer, how big it is, whether it has spread to other parts of the body or not, and of course your general health. A team of health specialists decides on the best cancer cure for you.
Other than hormone therapy, there are surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy for cancer treatment. Your doctor will decide which cancer therapy should be given to you according to your condition.
