Chemo induced menopause

Hi, when I had chemo it induced menopause for me too. After I finished the chemo, about a month later, I got my period and it was very heavy. The oncologist said it was best if I didn't have my periods anymore and started giving me shots to chemically stop them. I took them for a year and a half and stopped but then my period came back and it was painful. Now I'm on the shots again but don't know for how long. He hopes they'll stop naturally eventually. I asked about a hysterectomy or ovarian ablation but he says why go through it when I can stop them chemically. I trust him but will discuss this again with him when I go next week for my usually shot. Ask your oncolgoist and let us know how it goes. Hugs, Marie

Hi Lynda:

My cycles were regular as clockwork before chemo.
After that first cycle of A/C however, I never had another period.

I do get some strange things going on from time to time though. Nothing really bothersome but things I notice. I've never been bothered with hot flashes but do get night sweats. They come in strange cycles which neither my onc. nor gyn can figure out. I don't have them at all for about 3 months and BAM, here comes the night sweats. They last for about 2 weeks and go away again. The other thing I notice is that once in a great while, I begin to feel like my body used to feel prior to my periods...sort of sluggish, with some very mild pelvic pain for maybe a day and then it's gone. My gyn says it's likely caused by hormonal fluctuations. I don't worry about it as it happens maybe three times a year.

I had assumed that my ovaries were chemically "fried" after chemo but it appears that this is not the case. GYN says that the ovaries still continue to produce very small amounts of estrogen, post menopause and chemopause. It doesn't concern me, particularly since my tumor was hormone neg.. What I'd like to know is if or when DO the ovaries finally stop functioning completely??? At any rate, I haven't had a period in three years now, so it's safe to say that my menopause is permanent.

A friend had a different experience: During and
following chemo, her periods stopped. About 3 months post chemo she had a period...very heavy and lasted about 10 days. Then, 4 months passed before she had another one. It too was heavy and of longer duration than normal for her. She had only one more about 6 months after that and now hasn't had any period at all for almost 2 years. Her gyn says her menopause is permanaent. She was 44 at chemo and I was 48. There seems to be no predicting how each woman's ovaries/system will react to chemo. Onc says that past 35 years of age, the percentage of women experiencing permanent menopause from chemo rises substantially and incrementally. Still, there are exceptions to that general rule, as we all know.

The thing which needs addressing most in your case, seems to be the amount of pain you're having. Pre chemo, did you have this level of pain with your periods? Being 40, perhaps your body is just beginning to go into menopause (did your female relatives have many meno problems and at what ages did they go through it?) As I understand it, it can be a roller coaster, with periods, then no periods, sweats, flashes, mood swings, dry skin, insomnia, transitional memory lapses, all manner of little and big buggaboos going on and of course, finally, the occasional "change pregnancy". It occurs to me that some of us are fortunate to have had our menopause virtually overnight with chemo. We were spared the transition years of period difficulties, D and C's, as well as a lot of other things which can take more time when coming about naturally. Not sure if we're really fortunate though, since we paid a heavy price to get to the other side so quickly. Nontheless, here we are in meno and since I'm forever looking for silver linings, I'll consider myself fortunate, compared to some of the women I know who got there the natural way! Two friends had complete hysterectomies to remedy the chronic miseries and problems, another one finally went onto HRT (scary) another friend eats everything Soy she can find and uses natural remedies, which help her and keeps her out of the gyn's office so much. Still there are some women who sail right through, naturally, with few problems. Now THOSE are the fortunate one's!!!

I had a few ovarian cysts during my 20's and 30's and had some pain with them but nothing major or requiring meds. They went away on their own and of course, are not uncommon at all. Have never had fibroids so don't know if they can cause major pain even when they're small. Since we're all different, it stands to reason that what may not cause one person pain at all, may well give another person serious pain.

Hope your docs get to the bottom of this soon, although it's no fun having to go through so many tests, and can find the cause and a remedy, without surgery. My philosophy is try absolutely everything available before resorting to the knife!

Best wishes and keep us posted.

Love, light and laughter,
Ink