does chemo cause menopause

JM · Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 10:27 am Post subject: does chemo cause menopause

Hi,

From what info I have been reading on various internet sites, I am getting the impression that once I undergo my chemo treatments, I will be put into menopause, and considered post menopausal. Does this sound correct? I start dose dense chemo this afternoon, four rounds A/C over the next 8 weeks followed by 4 rounds taxol over another 8 weeks. I just turned 45 a few weeks ago. Had hysterectomy in 1998 for fibroids and endometriosis. Just wondering if anyone was told that, since I've seen it posted that way on the Internet.
thanks, Jan

Muttsmom · Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2004 11:49 am Post subject: Re: does chemo cause menopause

Hi Jan,
I had just turned 43 when I was dx and I never had a period after my 1st chemo. The onco thought they would come back, but after 6 months (after chemo was done) it didn't come back and he did a blooc test and chemo had put me into MENTALpause.
It doesn't happen to everyone, but yes, it can happen and it did with me.
Nancy

penelopez · Senior User Joined: 11 Oct 2004 Posts: 165

Hi Jan,

I read that the closer you are to a natural menopausal age, the more the likelihood that the chemo will induce menopause. For example, someone who is forty-five is more likely to be put into chemo-induced menopause than someone who is 32.

Good luck,

Margie

leo · Site Admin Joined: 23 Sep 2004 Posts: 1574

Hello

Chemotherapy can cause menopause, absolutely. In males it can cause sterility.

regards,
Leo
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Disclaimer: this information is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice.

DJ · New User Joined: 12 Oct 2004 Posts: 1

I'm 47.. will be 48 exactly on the day of round #4 of A/C, and just finished round #2 of my chemotherapy. I started my period (normal) the week before my first treatment, and got it exactly 28 days later (normal). My oncologist told me I would go into menopause too so I'm prepared either way. I still have a total of six treatments to go.. two of the A/C and 4 Taxoterre.

AlaskaAngel · Posted: Sat Dec 18, 2004 3:07 pm Post subject: The meaning of menopause

The closer you are, the more likely you will be permanently menopausal.

Due to the fact that I had 6 doctors (including 3 female doctors) that I saw at time of diagnosis and not a single one of them gave me any description of the difference in what menopause means for women who are about to experience it by chemical or surgical means (compared to what it means for those who experience it naturally), I will try to do that for you.

I was 50 at dx and pre or perimenopausal, and I was 51 at completion of chemo and rads. At completion despite the rigors of treatment I still felt some joy of life every day, and still had some ability to enjoy sex.

My onc advised me to start tamoxifen. I said that I understood that tamoxifen was very drying, vaginally as well as just about everywhere else. He literally laughed at me and said that was not true.

Two weeks after starting tamoxifen my skin was dry, my eyes were dry, my vagina was dry, my sex life was dry, and my emotions were flat. I stopped the tamoxifen for 2 weeks and there was no change, so I restarted it in the belief that the damage was done and I could at least get the benefit of perhaps being among the 40-50% of women taking tamoxifen that tamoxifen might protect.

Since then I have spoken with my internist about this as well as the onc. This is a difficult subject to talk about with a male doctor but I did. Both responded that my testosterone level could be tested to see if adding testosterone was helpful, although it was doubtful. Otherwise they had absolutely no comment at all, other than my onc, who asked me why I was asking him this question and not my internist. Since chemotherapy does bring on menopause and for some reason there is no association in these doctors' minds with the impact of abrupt menopause on women, I don't think this onc really should be prescribing chemotherapy to women, even though he is at the top of his field.

They did not offer any counseling, or any referral for counseling. Each doc tested my testosterone, and neither of them ever told me what the results of the testosterone testing were.

I want to describe what this change was like for me. To me it was the equivalent of having a lobotomy of the part of my brain that deals with the joy of life and the joy of sex.

I am using the E-string for lubrication for sex, along with lots of lubricant, since I have been with a great partner for over 30 years. Sex is now 80% accommodation, 20% pleasure.

This might be the worst-case scenario and not what will happen for you, but I wish someone would have said this to me so that I would have had better information BEFOREhand.

A.A.

jayne · New User Joined: 19 Dec 2004 Posts: 8

I was 45 at the time of my first chemo. I was having slightly irregular periods. After my first chemo, I got my period earlier than expected, and that was it. I never had it again. Bloodwork was done which showed I was in menopause. At first my gyn wanted to give me medication which would bring on my period, but probably cause me to bleed heavily from not having periods for several months. I told my onc and she advised me not to do it. The hot flashes aren't as bad anymore, and I am on Arimidex.
Jayne

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