The main fears of women for her fertility and pregnancy against cancer

According to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncologylast year 286,664 new cases of cancer patients were diagnosed. Their data ensures that 28% women are at risk of disease. According to Lidia G. Asensi, a health psychologist, in the event that a woman has the desire to be a mother, this will be a concern to add to all those uncertainties related to the disease. He points out that this diagnosis is a high emotional impact for both the person who suffers from it and for their environment due to the fears they must face, so it is common for different issues related to their life to be rethink.

He points out that in the case of motherhood, there may be women who from the beginning were clear that they wanted to be mothers, others who perhaps with the survey of the disease, begin to think more about it. «Perhaps they did not have the approach to be, but seeing the possibility that treatment can affect their fertility, generates more doubt or fear of the idea of ​​not being able to be. The concerns and fear that may appear in relation to fertility are fundamentally the following: fear that the treatment received can cause temporary infertility or hinders the subsequent search for pregnancy; that treatments generate permanent infertility and the idea of ​​having to delay motherhood, because of the disease prognosis and the associated relapse period ».

To help them relax and not advance events in these types of situations, he explains that it is normal for what is known as anticipatory anxiety. «What we can all recognize in us as the ‘What if?’ When we are afraid or we are facing a situation that generates uncertainty, as is this case, we will have to learn to live together and manage this type of approaches that our head presents to us. This type of anticipatory thoughts make us believe that very negative things will happen, leading us to the conclusion that everything will go wrong. Because of this, a feeling of hopelessness can be generated ».

Consider that it is normal for the person to try to see in advance what can happen in order to be aware of possible dangers and make sure that nothing bad will happen. The problem is that this anxiety will be activated in situations in which they are not needed. To do this, it recommends:

• Retrieve short -term objectives. That is, the immediate to do. For example, the following medical test or treatment session. Place ourselves on the next step because when we put ourselves in four steps ahead these types of thoughts appear, since we try to guess what is going to happen.

• Express fears, uncertainties and feelings with the people around us.

• Search time for activities that generate well -being and that are pleasant for the person. Both outside and inside.

• Concentrate and pay attention to what the person can have control. For example, making changes in lifestyle, organizing their daily activities, asking questions that worry us, could make more control.

However, he acknowledges that delaying maternity because of the disease is a matter that always angers and generates a lot of pain because he suddenly comes and changes personal plans and objectives. «In these types of situations we have a single option, place ourselves in acceptance. Accepting something does not mean that we agree or like it. It is the ability to assume life and what happens in it, accept its reality, without trying to change or fight what we cannot control. The main objective before the cancer diagnosis will be the recovery of the person. A way of being able to be calm for women with the desire to be a mother, will be to talk to her doctor and explain the different options she can take, to be calmer with respect to the delay of motherhood. As the freezing of ovules or embryos ».

Nor does Lidia G. Asensi forget that this matter also emotionally affects the couple. «As at the individual level, the situation generates fear, frustration, anger, sadness, uncertainty and anxiety, added to the emotions also generated by the disease, these same sensations also appear at the couple. Fear may appear that the other part of the relationship rejects him for the present situation. Therefore, it is important not to look guilty about this situation, or use it as a reproach. It is essential to be able to communicate to our cunado partner we are worried or sad about this issue. Open a communication space. However, there must also be spaces outside this conversation issue. Sometimes, it can become the only matter to be treated, so this can generate a lot of wear. You also have to have a space for the enjoyment of the couple ».

Alicia inheritance, responsible for the CrioPreservación and Doctor Unit at Bernabeu Madrid Institute, It coincides by ensuring that one of the biggest concerns of young women diagnosed with cancer is knowing what will happen with their fertility and what happens if they become pregnant. «It will depend on the case, but they always are afraid that pregnancy itself is a problem for their illness, fear of a recurrence of cancer, as well as uncertainty towards the future in the sense of whether or not they may or may not be in good condition of Health to take care of your child, ”he points out ABC.

This expert explains that the treatments that are used to treat cancer, such as chemotherapy, usually have an impact on fertility «since they affect the ovarian reserve and are often a cause of early ovarian failure. When the woman has not had the opportunity to vitrify her oocytes before starting these treatments, it can happen that the only option to be a mother is to resort to a donation of ovules, with the genetic duel that this is for her.

However, from the medical team of this institute they point out that in most cases a woman can achieve a pregnancy safely after risks without risks either for the mother or the baby. They warn that most of the tumors are not hereditary, but in the case of being the risk, not the tumor would be inherited. “There is accumulated scientific evidence that shows that the children of people who have had cancer are not at a greater risk of contracting the disease than any other child,” says Luque.

Lydia Luque, a gynecologist specializing in reproductive medicine and medical coordinator of the Bernabeu Institute in Albacete, also warns that treatments such as chemotherapy, surgeries and radiotherapy can affect subsequent fertility according to the patient who undergoes them, but fortunately, Advances in the Oncological Treatment Area have allowed «a great increase in survival and subsequent quality of life in a wide variety of clinical cases«.