› Forums › General Melanoma Community › Pregnancy after Yervoy- any side effects on fertility?
- This topic has 21 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 10 months ago by
Kim K.
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- June 7, 2016 at 9:34 pm
Dear friends,
I have a question if anyone have some information or experience Yervoy's side effects on fertility.
I am 40 years old- diagnosed 1 year ago stage3 spitzoid metastasic melanoma. My left grain lenf nodes were removed. I did 1 year interferon treatment- INTRON pen. Thanks god that my Pet CT and MRIs are clean. My oncologist suggested 3mg/4 dose Yervoy treatment for protection. I wonder if anyone got pregnant after Yervoy.
I can not decide to do the additional Yervoy treatment because we were just married and planning to have a baby before I was diagnosed. Any comments or experience sharing much appreciated.
Many thanks and take care..
Ekin
P.S. Anyone who has specific questions on interferon treatment can reach out to me from here or my e-mail below. I would be happy to help based on my experience ( [email protected])
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- June 7, 2016 at 10:41 pm
Yervoy damaged my anterior pituitary gland. This has switched off all my reproductive hormones.I am 56, so being pushed to the far side of menopause did not matter but it would in a younger woman intending to get pregnant.
I suggest you discuss this possible side effect with your doctor.
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- June 7, 2016 at 10:41 pm
Yervoy damaged my anterior pituitary gland. This has switched off all my reproductive hormones.I am 56, so being pushed to the far side of menopause did not matter but it would in a younger woman intending to get pregnant.
I suggest you discuss this possible side effect with your doctor.
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- June 7, 2016 at 10:41 pm
Yervoy damaged my anterior pituitary gland. This has switched off all my reproductive hormones.I am 56, so being pushed to the far side of menopause did not matter but it would in a younger woman intending to get pregnant.
I suggest you discuss this possible side effect with your doctor.
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- June 8, 2016 at 12:24 am
At 40 you will be lucky to get or even maintain a pregnancy. You should be proactive and get evaluated by a reproductive encocrinologist. At to that, many have permanent damage to thier pituitary that is critical in getting or maintaining pregnancy.
Get an idea of where you are right now, maybey you can get some frozen embryos? If you wind up having to use an egg donor (like me but for other reasons), most clinics have a cut off age of 45.
KK
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- June 8, 2016 at 12:24 am
At 40 you will be lucky to get or even maintain a pregnancy. You should be proactive and get evaluated by a reproductive encocrinologist. At to that, many have permanent damage to thier pituitary that is critical in getting or maintaining pregnancy.
Get an idea of where you are right now, maybey you can get some frozen embryos? If you wind up having to use an egg donor (like me but for other reasons), most clinics have a cut off age of 45.
KK
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- June 8, 2016 at 12:24 am
At 40 you will be lucky to get or even maintain a pregnancy. You should be proactive and get evaluated by a reproductive encocrinologist. At to that, many have permanent damage to thier pituitary that is critical in getting or maintaining pregnancy.
Get an idea of where you are right now, maybey you can get some frozen embryos? If you wind up having to use an egg donor (like me but for other reasons), most clinics have a cut off age of 45.
KK
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- June 8, 2016 at 12:45 am
Like others have stated, there are some rare side effects that can effect fertility. Majority of the side effects do not. However, it is usually best to wait a few years after your NED (no evidence of disease) status before getting pregnant since the first 3-5 years are when majority of recurrances happen. Having a recurrance while pregnant would be very difficult to deal with since you can't do any treatment or any of the regular scans. Plus melanoma is one of the only cancers that can attach to the placenta and/or fetus (rare, but can happen). Definitely talk to your doc about it.
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- June 8, 2016 at 12:45 am
Like others have stated, there are some rare side effects that can effect fertility. Majority of the side effects do not. However, it is usually best to wait a few years after your NED (no evidence of disease) status before getting pregnant since the first 3-5 years are when majority of recurrances happen. Having a recurrance while pregnant would be very difficult to deal with since you can't do any treatment or any of the regular scans. Plus melanoma is one of the only cancers that can attach to the placenta and/or fetus (rare, but can happen). Definitely talk to your doc about it.
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- June 8, 2016 at 12:45 am
Like others have stated, there are some rare side effects that can effect fertility. Majority of the side effects do not. However, it is usually best to wait a few years after your NED (no evidence of disease) status before getting pregnant since the first 3-5 years are when majority of recurrances happen. Having a recurrance while pregnant would be very difficult to deal with since you can't do any treatment or any of the regular scans. Plus melanoma is one of the only cancers that can attach to the placenta and/or fetus (rare, but can happen). Definitely talk to your doc about it.
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- June 8, 2016 at 8:29 am
Hi
I can't really answer your question but wanted to reach out and say how sorry I am that you are in this predicament. This is such a personal choice where you need to weight up alot of things.
On the one hand, you will likely fall PG quite easily at 40, but I can't say the same for 45. They say fertility drops off a cliff at around 40.
On the other hand, stage 3 has that chance of going to stage 4, and as some have said, crossing the placenta.
Here's an info page on Yervoy (ipilimumab) in pregnancy, bottom line is:
http://www.drugs.com/pregnancy/ipilimumab.html
females reproductive potential should be advised to use effective contraception during treatment and for 3 months following the last dose
It's a tough decision and I'm sorry I can't really do much but let you know I'm thinking of you.
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- June 8, 2016 at 8:29 am
Hi
I can't really answer your question but wanted to reach out and say how sorry I am that you are in this predicament. This is such a personal choice where you need to weight up alot of things.
On the one hand, you will likely fall PG quite easily at 40, but I can't say the same for 45. They say fertility drops off a cliff at around 40.
On the other hand, stage 3 has that chance of going to stage 4, and as some have said, crossing the placenta.
Here's an info page on Yervoy (ipilimumab) in pregnancy, bottom line is:
http://www.drugs.com/pregnancy/ipilimumab.html
females reproductive potential should be advised to use effective contraception during treatment and for 3 months following the last dose
It's a tough decision and I'm sorry I can't really do much but let you know I'm thinking of you.
-
- June 8, 2016 at 8:29 am
Hi
I can't really answer your question but wanted to reach out and say how sorry I am that you are in this predicament. This is such a personal choice where you need to weight up alot of things.
On the one hand, you will likely fall PG quite easily at 40, but I can't say the same for 45. They say fertility drops off a cliff at around 40.
On the other hand, stage 3 has that chance of going to stage 4, and as some have said, crossing the placenta.
Here's an info page on Yervoy (ipilimumab) in pregnancy, bottom line is:
http://www.drugs.com/pregnancy/ipilimumab.html
females reproductive potential should be advised to use effective contraception during treatment and for 3 months following the last dose
It's a tough decision and I'm sorry I can't really do much but let you know I'm thinking of you.
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- June 8, 2016 at 7:46 pm
Actually having gone through fertility treatments personally, fertility drops after 28. Getting pregnant at 40 isn't that easy since so many of our eggs are damaged by then and it is more common to have blighted ovum (pregnant but no baby develops, only an empty sac). I only mention this because many hear 40 as when fertitlity drops when really it starts much earlier than that. Everyone is an individual on that front and only day 3 FSH testing can give you a good indicator where you personally fall on the fertility scale.
Thus it is good to have the conversation with the fertility docs, especially if you wait 3-5 years. It is exceedingly rare to get pregnant with a healthy pregnancy at that age. Look up the research on declining fertility by age.
For me at stage 3, I would put family plans on hold. I was stage 2 and already dealing with infertility. I waited almost a year and then got aggressive with my fertility treatments. I now have 2 beautiful girls. Unfortunately when they were aged 2 and 4 I progressed straight to stage IV.
That was 6 years ago and I have been NED since 2010 thanks to surgery and IL-2, 23 bags.
Going to the fertility doctor is a good move so she can get good information to make decisions. Time is really running out in the kid department.
Using donor eggs is also an option. It was a hard choice to make, giving up on using my own eggs. It was more important I become a mom so I went the donor egg route for #2 and haven't regretted it, ever. Using donor eggs, most institutions won't implant embroy's if you are over age 45. The health risks to mom and child are too great so most have an upper age limit. Just wanted her to know.
KK
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- June 8, 2016 at 7:46 pm
Actually having gone through fertility treatments personally, fertility drops after 28. Getting pregnant at 40 isn't that easy since so many of our eggs are damaged by then and it is more common to have blighted ovum (pregnant but no baby develops, only an empty sac). I only mention this because many hear 40 as when fertitlity drops when really it starts much earlier than that. Everyone is an individual on that front and only day 3 FSH testing can give you a good indicator where you personally fall on the fertility scale.
Thus it is good to have the conversation with the fertility docs, especially if you wait 3-5 years. It is exceedingly rare to get pregnant with a healthy pregnancy at that age. Look up the research on declining fertility by age.
For me at stage 3, I would put family plans on hold. I was stage 2 and already dealing with infertility. I waited almost a year and then got aggressive with my fertility treatments. I now have 2 beautiful girls. Unfortunately when they were aged 2 and 4 I progressed straight to stage IV.
That was 6 years ago and I have been NED since 2010 thanks to surgery and IL-2, 23 bags.
Going to the fertility doctor is a good move so she can get good information to make decisions. Time is really running out in the kid department.
Using donor eggs is also an option. It was a hard choice to make, giving up on using my own eggs. It was more important I become a mom so I went the donor egg route for #2 and haven't regretted it, ever. Using donor eggs, most institutions won't implant embroy's if you are over age 45. The health risks to mom and child are too great so most have an upper age limit. Just wanted her to know.
KK
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- June 8, 2016 at 7:46 pm
Actually having gone through fertility treatments personally, fertility drops after 28. Getting pregnant at 40 isn't that easy since so many of our eggs are damaged by then and it is more common to have blighted ovum (pregnant but no baby develops, only an empty sac). I only mention this because many hear 40 as when fertitlity drops when really it starts much earlier than that. Everyone is an individual on that front and only day 3 FSH testing can give you a good indicator where you personally fall on the fertility scale.
Thus it is good to have the conversation with the fertility docs, especially if you wait 3-5 years. It is exceedingly rare to get pregnant with a healthy pregnancy at that age. Look up the research on declining fertility by age.
For me at stage 3, I would put family plans on hold. I was stage 2 and already dealing with infertility. I waited almost a year and then got aggressive with my fertility treatments. I now have 2 beautiful girls. Unfortunately when they were aged 2 and 4 I progressed straight to stage IV.
That was 6 years ago and I have been NED since 2010 thanks to surgery and IL-2, 23 bags.
Going to the fertility doctor is a good move so she can get good information to make decisions. Time is really running out in the kid department.
Using donor eggs is also an option. It was a hard choice to make, giving up on using my own eggs. It was more important I become a mom so I went the donor egg route for #2 and haven't regretted it, ever. Using donor eggs, most institutions won't implant embroy's if you are over age 45. The health risks to mom and child are too great so most have an upper age limit. Just wanted her to know.
KK
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- June 8, 2016 at 2:12 pm
I would be more worried about the interferon than the Ipi as Ipi is an immunity booster where interferon is more like a chemo that destroys good and bad cells.
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- June 8, 2016 at 3:26 pm
Actually Interferon is not a chemo, it is an immune system booster. Our bodies naturally produce some Interferon already.
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- June 8, 2016 at 3:26 pm
Actually Interferon is not a chemo, it is an immune system booster. Our bodies naturally produce some Interferon already.
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- June 8, 2016 at 3:26 pm
Actually Interferon is not a chemo, it is an immune system booster. Our bodies naturally produce some Interferon already.
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