High estrogen is linked to cancer from what I have read. I have had high estrogen too, plus high testosterone myself.
I'll wait for other ladies to comment but wanted to say you are not alone. I still have never gotten cancer but sadly lost a cousin to cancer when she was 18. And I am 44 now.

http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/prevent_breast_cancer.aspx <--good reading.

This is from a pamplhet my OB gave me when I was diagnosed on Thursday.

"PCOS is linked to heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Also, in some women, the presence of estrogen without progesterone increases the risk that the lining of the uterus (endometrium) will grow too much. This is a condition known as endometrial hyperplasia. If not treated, it may turn into cancer."


My mother has PCOS, my aunts have had cancer , other problems, and some have had everything removed. My grandmother had uterine cancer and vulva cancer. She lost her battle with cancer as did my grandfather. Because of all the "girly" problems in my family it has put me in a higher risk category. The fact I have had 2 periods in 16 months isn't so good. My OB put me on BC pills (which I still have not filled) and I go back in 3 months for tests.

All of my doctors, primary care, chiropractor, therapist (physical and mental) and now the OB want me to lose weight. My weight is causing me a lot of problems, but the PCOS we have now figured is what is causing the weight problems.

My story is a little different than most. I was put on BC at the age of 15 because I was irregular and when I did have one they were extremely painful. I never went off BC until I was 26ish, with husband #1 , we TTC for about a year. Dr. assumed it was because I had been on BC so long.

Sadly, that relationship didn't last. I went back on BC.

Last year, at the age of 36, I went off it again. This time TTC with husband #2. It's been over a year, here I am at 37 and no kids and a huge increase in weight (which always seems to happen when I go off BC). I have been working with a dietitian for months now. No luck. I have degenerative disk disease in lower back and osteoarthritis in my hips. Hence, the reason for the weight.

All these problems started to add up. Primary care doc started to run all these tests. Internal ultrasound found fibroids. Sent me to OB, she did another set of ultrasounds, found the PCOS.

So, here I am.

I have decided since my body is in so much pain, I am focusing on the weight first. I also opted to not have fertility treatments. I have never been the girl who dreamed of having children. I always wanted to adopt. So, that is most likely what we will do when we get the weight under control and know for certain. And, he is done with his clinicals and I am done with my masters.

Either way, I refuse to be scared of cancer despite my family history or let this PCOS rule my life.

I hope you find the answers you are seeking because I too have a ton of them and hope to work through it all.

Minka = the endo I had helped me immensely when he put me on met & avandia for some years. My tsh adjusted and my blood sugar got normal (used to go from a high to 100 down to 40 easily). the blood sugar swings gave me bad nightmares. All those are gone. I think most PCOS gals will end up better off seeing an endo.

Irishc = I just wanted to say I think that it's lovely you want to adopt. I myself never had much a strong desire to have children, but I don't mind and prefer a mate to have them. My current beloved has a 15 year old I have sort of spiritually adopted. It used to be in biblical times, Jewish law was a person could disown his own children but was not permitted to disown adopted children. I am glad you won't put yourself through the torture of trying to conceive infertility treatments and will bless a child that is waiting for some parents to love him/her.

She is right, and she deserves some kudos for recognising that the pill isnt a cure for pcos. When your endocrine system hormones are imbalanced, it doesn't just effect reproductive hormones (estrogen, progesterone, androgen, testosterone) but also your metabolic hormones (insulin, adrenalin, leptin, cortisol) because they are all part of the ENDOCRINE system. You have lucked upon a doctor who actually recognises that linkage and resulting weight loss difficulty. But there is hope. I am PCOS and IR and I lose a kg (2.2lbs) a week by naturally controlling the hormone-insulin-cortisol cycle, so it can be done. It's not hard once you know how.

But to answer your question...
Yes we often get told of 'links to' or 'increased risks of' various cancers, heart disease, kidney failure, liver disease, osteoporosis, and renal fatigue, thyroid problems, diabetes etc. without explaining how/why. I won't explain them all (unless you want hahaha) but since you mentioned cervical cancer, I'll pick on that one as an example. Estrogen is the hormone that builds cells rapidly in your body, which it is great at... And this is fanastic for quickly building a comfy environment for a potential baby... Unfortunately a lot of women with pcos/hormone imbalance don't produce enough progesterone to trigger a period to shed all those rapidly accumulated cells and so the lining keeps building without being shed. Normally, when the body builds tissue at an alarming rate like that, which we cant get rid of/shed, we tend to refer to that additional tissue as a 'tissue mass' or even 'tumor'. If a cell with damaged DNA (which can happen from exposure to chemicals, pesticide etc etc) is replicated repeatedly, this can become cancer and is also more likely to occur because IR Sufferers crave higher gi carbs (for reasons I could explain but won't here) and so we are more frequently in an acidic blood state in which cancer thrives. Instead of being granted the seriousness it deserves, for some reason, when this occurs in a woman's uteris, we just get a rather uninformative brochure and a prescription for the pill to provide the progesterone we dont produce ourselves. If your body can't tolerate the pill (eg. You get life threatening blood clots) then you're deemed 'untreatable' and get chucked into the too hard basket, like me. If this is you, then you can either be fat your whole life and finally succumb to related metabolic disease or cancer, OR address the CAUSE and rebalance your hormones naturally like I did.

The reason for her comments concerning the pill are because your body, being the incredible wonder that it is, produces estrogen that is perfect for you and distributes it only to places capable of shedding the rapidly built tissue I.e. your uterus. Whereas the pill on the other hand is synthesised, often from the urine of mares, and absorbed by your stomach, into your blood stream and sent pretty much anywhere including body tissue that is sensitive to estrogen and yet not designed for shedding extra cells eg. Breast tissue (hence the increased risk of breast cancer associated with pill). The problem with the pill is that it doesn't cure pcos, it doesn't address IR and as one medical journal observed, women are not horses.

Sorry this was so long, but then, that's why they don't bother going into it in the brochures. If you would like to produce your own estrogen and progesterone, and lower your androgen (which is the cause of the problem) and rebalance your ENDOCRINE system (I.e. your reproductive AND metabolic hormones) then take 2-4g of magnesium, calcium, vitamin d (in the right proportions) plus 2-4g vitamin c stirred into unsweetened oj plus a zinc capsule. Tada! Control your IR by managing (not eliminating) carbs and a coq10 enzyme. Control cortisol overproduction by restricting exercise to 35-45minutes. I also recommend keeping your body alkaline because this impedes cancer and it is easier to lose weight in an alkaline state than acidic state and why make it harder?

If I sound a bit cranky its because my heart really goes out to you - I get angry that so much metabolic/pcos suffering goes on when it doesn't have to, and that good people, nice people, reach a place of desperation and sadness. Best wishes to you and all those struggling with pcos ir. xx