I had a call today from a LLL leader who had been contacted by a mom in her
group. The mother is nursing a 14 month old and is still amenorrheic.  Her
doctor wants her to take progesterone to induce a period.  He has told her
that if she goes longer than 3 months without a period, that she is
increasing her risk of uterine cancer.  I have lots of information on how
normal prolonged lactational amenorrhea is and the mother is really
comfortable with this and has no intention of going on drugs while nursing
her baby just to induce menstruation.  However, the threat of increased risk
of cancer has her worried and she fears other less well-informed mothers may
be getting the same scare tactic.  I guessed that the doctor is generalizing
the increased risk of uterine cancer one sees in postmenopausal women who are
receiving estrogen only replacement therapy as opposed to a combination
estrogen/progesterone therapy to the postpartum amenorrheic woman, but I have
nothing in print to share with him that this situation is different.  Does
anyone have any suggestions on how to handle this situation?

Thanks
Kris Rogers
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