Is it possible to get pregnant after the cancer treatment? Whether my cancer treatment affects my pregnancy? If you are a cancer survivor, these kinds of questions may be a buzz while you are planning to add a new member to your family.
Besides, there are many stigma related to pregnancy after cancer treatment. Both men and women face these kinds of issues. So, it is necessary to know everything about having a baby after your cancer treatment.
Cancer Is Never The End Of Your Parenthood
The following sections will help you to get a deep understanding of the obstacles in between cancer and your pregnancy.
Is It OK To Get Pregnant After Cancer Treatment?
Even if it is completely fine to get pregnant after cancer care, there is an element of risk in it in many cases. In many cases both mother and baby are safe and there might be chances to come back to the risk of cancer again because of the pregnancy.
Although, many doctors suggest to many couples to wait a certain period of time and this suggestion varies according to the type of cancer and cancer treatment, the stage of cancer and the age of the women.
The time period varies from 6 months to 5 years after your cancer treatment. Health care providers opinionated there is a chance of occupying the damaged eggs within the first 6 months after the chemotherapy.
Is Cancer Treatment A Nightmare For pregnancy?
Although cancer is a nightmare to your pregnancy, still there are several chances to welcome a new member to your family by concerning a few tips while you’re planning. Before that it is important to know about your cancer treatments and how those treatments affect your pregnancy as there are several cancer treatments available right now and it affects differently.
Take your glance at how various cancer treatments affect your pregnancy.
- Radiation Therapy- The Starting Stage Treatment: Normally radiation therapy is used as the cure method of early stage cancer. It has low risk for the problem at your pregnancy period while comparing it with other cancer treatments, although it may reduce the blood supply by affecting the support cells of your uterus. These issues may lead to low birth weight, early birth, and even miscarriage.
- Surgery to the Cervix-The Treatment of Cervix Cancer: Surgery to the cervix removes the cervix and prevents the growth of cancer cells in your body. A person who undergoes this surgery have high risk of miscarriage and early birth as the cervix may not be capable for supporting your pregnancy. This incapacity may cause other severe issues too.
- Chemotherapy- The Common Treatment: Basically chemotherapy done with a certain kind of drugs such as doxorubicin, daunorubicin, idarubicin, and epirubicin. The treatment with these drugs are highly toxic to your heart as it damages your heart cells and weakens the functioning of your heart. Pregnancy is the time period in which the heart must function at a deeper level. The oxygen level, blood circulation and other major functioning of a pregnant lady is mainly controlled by her heart. But, most of the time the radiation in the chemotherapy is done to your chest or upper abdomen. Idf you go through this kind of treatment, there is a high risk for many heart problems. Therefore, there is a high risk of miscarriage and several problems for your upcoming baby.
How Cancer Treatment Effects For Men To Try For A Baby?
Actually there are not many problems for men trying for a baby after cancer treatment. However, health care providers recommend that men wait 2 to 5 years after their cancer treatment ends.
Even if there are no explicit issues with cancer treatment in men, there is a high chance for the sperm damage. The chemotherapy or radiation therapy can damage the sperm and it may take at least two years to replace that damaged sperms by healthy sperms. There is not much surety for having health problems for the baby even if the father has the baby before the recommended time period.
Have An Eye On These Too
- Cancer Reattacks: Getting pregnant after cancer care does not provoke the cancer cells to return. THere are many rumors, especially in the case of breast cancer as some hormones that produce during pregnancy will provoke the growth of breast cancer in that cancer survivor. But there is no scientific proof for this statement. A few studies even suggest the risk of breast cancer is very low for a cancer survivor after getting pregnant.
- Will the baby get cancer? There is no risk for the baby to get cancer even if the parents give birth to the baby after their cancer care. However there is a risk for getting hereditary cancer. But it can also be prevented by proper medical care.
- Infertile After Cancer Treatment: There is a chance for infertility after cancer treatment such as chemotherapy and radiation therapy. So, it is important to consult and discuss infertility issues with a medical team before starting cancer care.
The number of cancer patients is increasing day by day and many of them are unaware about many issues related to cancer treatments. Even if they survive from cancer, there are still confusions and problems related to their future life.
Pregnancy after cancer treatment is a major issue among them. Hope you all understand and get a clear picture of pregnancy after cancer care from the above data.