Post by puddleduck on Apr 13, 2008 3:45:09 GMT -5
Hi there,
From American research, a strong correlation has been found between endometriosis and certain cancers among their 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree relatives (parents, grandparents and so on).
As this is an international message board, I thought it would be a good place to conduct a brief survey on family cancer history among endometriosis sufferers on the whole.
Which cancers are in your family?
There is ovarian cancer and non hodgkins lymphoma on my father's side and bowel and lung cancer on my mother's. (All of these except lung cancer have been found to be correlated with endo).
Please read p192-195 of Mary Lou Ballweg's book, "Endometriosis: The Complete Reference for Taking Charge of Your Health" for more details about the study. I quote:
"In 1998 the Endometriosis Association surveyed 10,000 North American women with endo and looked at the histories of cancer to determine if these women had a greater risk as has been found in earlier studies, including the Brinton, Vercellini and Hornstein studies...The data shows that women with endo and their families have a heightened risk of breast cancer, melanoma and ovarian cancer. There's also a greater risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in their families".
This is not intended to be alarmist: rather, it helps raise the profile of endometriosis as a disease to be taken seriously. It could even save lives because we should never assume all symptoms are due to endo...But it's also clear that just because endo and cancer share some similarities, they are not the same disease and having endo does not mean that we will develop cancer...it only means there is a slightly increased risk.
From American research, a strong correlation has been found between endometriosis and certain cancers among their 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree relatives (parents, grandparents and so on).
As this is an international message board, I thought it would be a good place to conduct a brief survey on family cancer history among endometriosis sufferers on the whole.
Which cancers are in your family?
There is ovarian cancer and non hodgkins lymphoma on my father's side and bowel and lung cancer on my mother's. (All of these except lung cancer have been found to be correlated with endo).
Please read p192-195 of Mary Lou Ballweg's book, "Endometriosis: The Complete Reference for Taking Charge of Your Health" for more details about the study. I quote:
"In 1998 the Endometriosis Association surveyed 10,000 North American women with endo and looked at the histories of cancer to determine if these women had a greater risk as has been found in earlier studies, including the Brinton, Vercellini and Hornstein studies...The data shows that women with endo and their families have a heightened risk of breast cancer, melanoma and ovarian cancer. There's also a greater risk of non-Hodgkins lymphoma in their families".
This is not intended to be alarmist: rather, it helps raise the profile of endometriosis as a disease to be taken seriously. It could even save lives because we should never assume all symptoms are due to endo...But it's also clear that just because endo and cancer share some similarities, they are not the same disease and having endo does not mean that we will develop cancer...it only means there is a slightly increased risk.