Will Treatment Affect Your Fertility?

If you're about to start breast cancer treatment, you may have many questions about how it will affect your future fertility:

• Will chemotherapy make you infertile?
• Is there something you can do before chemotherapy to preserve your fertility? How soon do you have to do it?
• Is ovarian stimulation with fertility drugs safe?
• Is one type of chemotherapy less harmful to the ovaries than another?
• How long will it take for your periods to restart after you've finished chemotherapy? Is there a test that can tell you if you're in early menopause?
• How soon after treatment can you try to become pregnant?
• What about taking tamoxifen after chemotherapy — will it interfere with your childbearing plans?
• If you can't produce any eggs after treatment, what are your other options to become a mother?

As you think about the therapy your doctors recommend, organize the questions you need to ask your medical oncologist and, if possible, a fertility expert, about fertility issues. Be sure to ask what your risk of infertility might be with the proposed course of chemotherapy.