Suggestions: thoughts please

[Enigma52]

Hi
Aged 52, PM by 5 years.
Surgical menopause due to cancer.
On hormone blockers, due to another cancer

HRT totally out of the question.

Symptoms are brain fog, fatigue, severe joint pain, mood swings, zero libido and tearfulness.

I feel destroyed; totally broken.

I'm 52 and feel condemned!

Any ideas on how to manage this horrific time?

Thanks.

have you contacted Macmillian at all? They might be able to point you in the direction of support. Also, how do you know these symptoms are due to menopause, not hormone blocker? Can you talk to your cancer support nurse about trying different doses or different hormone blockers?

How long have you been on the hormone blocker? I found sound effects cleared after around 6 months

@Stonehill I know these are menopause symptoms because they are what prompted me to go on low dose HRT to begin with.

Been on HB since January. Will
ask if I can try a different one perhaps.

Your oncologist(s) ought to be supporting you with this and referring you to a consultant gynaecologist who can suggest non-HRT treatment.

It's not something you should need to ask here (I'm not blaming you by the way!) but they need to step up.

In London, there is a menopause clinic at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital which used to see women from all over the UK who had complex needs like yourself. If you can fund private care, to avoid waiting, there are many consultants (London, mainly) who could help.

I'm not sure how they work now but your drs could contact them(or you could make a call) and see what can be done.

https://www.chelwest.nhs.uk/your-visit/patient-leaflets/medicine-services/west-london-menopause-and-pms-service

@JinglingSpringbells thanks.
I do feel very left to my own
devices now. I paid to see a private specialist in 2019 and she was happy to prescribe a low dose of HRT, despite having had primary BC.

Now that it has returned, there's no chance of having any oestrogen, but I don't know what they expect me to do?

I will add it to my list of things to ask the consultants this week. It's really distressing because I'm dealing with side effects of the anti cancer drugs, the symptoms of the actual cancer which have reared their ugly head and now the menopause.