Chemotherapy induced menopause

[FoldyRoll]

I'm 45 and my periods have been very light for a year or two - little more than spotting. I'm now on a course of chemotherapy which has stopped my periods. Macmillan advise that women 40+ may never re-start their periods after chemo, so I expect I'll fall in that category. However they offer no advice on what else might happen. There have been no symptoms so far apart from missed periods. Has anyone else experienced this who could advise whether hot flashes etc will eventually catch up with me, or is a symptomless menopause an unexpected benefit of chemotherapy?

Unfortunately, the outcome will be the same as if you'd had a natural menopause. Not sure why you are having chemo (hope you are okay) but unless it's breast cancer, you need to discuss HRT with your drs because you are on the cusp of it being an early menopause which has health implications. Good luck!

Ah, thanks for the tip Queen. It's not breast cancer, so hormones shouldn't be a problem, but do you need to wait for symptoms?

Same thing happened to me at 36. Periods never came back. I did also have my ovaries removed a bit later.
Symptoms pretty much started right away. Unfortunately mine was breast cancer, so no HRT. I'd recommend asking your GP for a referral to a local menopause clinic, mine was hugely helpful.

I never had any problems with periods and when I had chemo induced menopause at 49 I had no symptoms. I think maybe your menopause is whatever it was always going to be whether natural or chemo induced. But that's just my opinion.

@FoldyRoll Many menopause gynaes would recommend HRT up to the age of the average menopause (51) regardless of symptoms or no symptoms, to protect you against heart disease and osteoporosis, in the future, for at least 5-6 years from now.

Although the NHS gives the timeline for menopause as 45-55, that's a bit black and white. some specialists regard 47 as the absolute minimum age for women in the west ; any earlier, they suggest supplementing with HRT.

Thank you all so much. This is all new and useful information to me. Ignorant perhaps, but I didn't even know there was such a thing as a menopause clinic!

I had chemo for bc 5 years ago and then onto tamoxifen and now aromasin so I said bye bye to periods at 47. My life is now, quite literally, hell, with the hot flushes. Still haven’t slept longer than 2 hours in all that time, apart from the anaesthetic for my mastectomy. Can’t have hrt due to bc.

Urgh, poor you Hatemyjob that sounds intolerable. So if you've had breast cancer you're never allowed any hormonal treatments? Are herbal or traditional remedies out too?