Modern Medicine

Medical treatments using hormonal therapies or radiation therapies have their place, but some still elevate your cancer risk.

Prolonged use of any hormone therapy like birth control, fertility treatments and hormone replacement therapy post-menopausal has associated increased risk of breast cancer. This includes use of bio-identical hormones.

Diethylstilbestrol also known as DES was a medicine used in the 1930s through the 1970s until the FDA learned of its side effects. Millions of pregnant women were prescribed DES to prevent miscarriages and other potential pregnancy related problems. Unfortunately if you are one of the women who took this medication or were one of the 5-10 million individuals exposed to DES in utero you have an increased risk of cancers, atypia, and other reproductive problems.

Radiation therapy used to treat both lymphomas or even acne in those under the age of 29 are prone to an increased breast cancer risk, especially if the radiation was targeted in the thorax region of the body. It is important to note that the radiation one will receive from a mammogram is minimal when compared to the curative doses being administered for radiation treatments.
Other medicinal risks include: steroid use, certain medicines for psoriasis and other inflammatory conditions, medicine given long term to transplant patients.