Hormones Or Anything Else Due To Early Menapause?

I'm curious about this after talking to a breast cancer survivor the other day. I know that is treated totally different than rectal cancer. BUT after radiation of the pelvic area they say I will go through early menapause. I finished treatment 3 weeks ago and have only had 3 days of bleeding in the first week of radiation and that's it. I do seem to be having hot flashes a bit.. but that could just be because I feel bad.

 Has anyone had to go on any type of meds or hormones because of early menapause due to pelvic radiation and chemo?

 I am 42 years old so I would be approaching menapause in the next few years anyway. I was bleeding so irregularly for years before this. I am glad that has stopped. I even had surgery (endometrial oblation) to get my periods to stop or lighten up. That did very little for me.

Thanks

Anita

Anita,

When I started my radiation treatments (August '06) I was told that I would go through menopause right away..  Well, I had a period about one week into treatment (horrible, heavy period but I was 49 then and my periods had been heavy then anyway) and my rad onc told me that I wouldn't have any more.  Well,  a little less than 4 weeks later, I had another!  He then assured me that THAT one would be the last.  No way!  Another one came in September, then October, November, December and January '07.  In between this I went to my GP & asked her about this.  I really wasn't concerned about going through menopause since I was 49 at the time.  She told me that she wished the rad oncs would not say that all women will always go through menopause because of radiation because it just isn't true.  We spoke with a oncology GYN at the University of Washington who said the same thing.  It just depends on your anatomy, the field of radiation and if YOUR ovaries are in the field of radiation.  Obviously mine were not.  Each woman's anatomy is different and I was told by this GYN that roughly 50% will go into menopause because of radiation and obviously the others won't.  She also said that there are women who stop during radiation and then start up again a few months later. 

In November, I was put back on the BC pill to try and control the heavy bleeding.  I informed my onc about this and nothing was said to me.  I am so passionate about this because you need to know that:  #1 having cancer increases your risk for having blood clots (why, I don't know)  #2 chemotherapy also increases your risk for blood clots and #3 being on the birth control pill (or any other estrogen-not vaginal cream though) combined with chemo and cancer significantly increases your risk of bloods clots.  No one warned me about this and I ended up in the hospital with blood clots all over my right arm.  Fortunately they were not life threatening, however, I had to stay in the hospital for three days, get heparin injections, get started on coumadin and take that for 6 months.  Needless to say, I learned the hard way from the hospital pharmacists who said that it was a BAD combination and that is most probably why I developed the clots.  Obviously, I stopped the pills right away!

I want to stress that you REALLY need to talk to ALL doctors involved about any kind if estrogen treatments (does not include the vaginal estrogen for dryness) while you are undergoing chemotherapy.  When I finally stopped my periods, I didn't find the symptoms that bad-hey they were WAY better than all the heavy bleeding I had to endure.  Just be careful about replacement therapy while you are on chemo.  It's just not worth it to run the risk of blood clots.

Although I had colon cancer with mets to the liver, I was told the chemo would put me directly into menopause.  I was 43.  I stopped menstrating during chemo, and then it returned.  No menopause.  I finished chemo in June of 05.   

I just wanted to write to let you know that everyone is different.  Wait until you are off of treatment to figure out whether or not you are truly entering menopause or not. 

Hi Anita,

I have one more radiation treatment left, YEAH!  Anyway, I just finished bleeding for 19 days!  Most of the days were extremely heavy.  I had been having hotflashes for the past couple of years but they became more frequent and sudden.  My doctor said my ovaries were in the line of fire and that I will be shot through menopause (we'll know for sure after treatments are done).  My suggestion to you is to try and go through it naturally without any meds if you can.  I still think my mother in law and her mother and my husbands paternal grandmother ALL developed breast cancer because of hormone replacement therapy.  I won't take anything.  There is a natural pill for hotflashes it's black pepper or something, I can't remember exactly but I'll try and remember (not easy these days) to ask my mom tomorrow and let you know.

Hi Anita,

I was 44 when I had my chemo and radiation - I had six weeks - 5xweek radiation to the pelvic region, and was told that it had probably completley fried my ovaries.  Having gone through to hell and back, when my surgeon recommended a double oopherectomy (removal of both the ovaries and fallopian tubes - left the uterus intact) at the same time as the mesorectal excision, I agreed - figured the increased risk of ovarian cancer due to the radiation damage was not worth it; I had my two girls and had no plans to have any more children. Once I woke from the surgery (and they got me off morphine, which I reacted really badly to) nothing was said about the oopherectomy.  I ended up back in hospital a week after my eventual discharge (14 days after surgery) due to an ovarian DVT.  While I was in hospital, I started panicking that I had another infection as I was sweating and practically hallucinating.  My gp stopped by to visit me, and she asked me what the surgeon had given me to counteract the onset of surgical menopause.  The penny dropped, and I realised that what I was going through was just extreme versions of the hot flashes I had had a few times before my illness.  She said that it was inconceivable that I had not been given anything and recommended that I go back on Seasonale, a low-dose three month birth control that I had been on before my cancer.  I did, and within a week, all the menopausal symptons went away.  She wants me to stay on this until I am about 52, which she says is the "normal average age" for natural menopause.  This should also help prevent any issues with osteoporosis, which is a greater risk due to all the radiation.  I did question her about the potential for increased risk of breast or uterine cancer, and she said that because this was both a progesterone and estrogen combined pill, and a low dose pill, she felt that the risk was minimal, if at all, and the benefits were significant.  Do talk to your doctor, but make sure you also talk to your gp or obs-gyn (my gp is my family doctor and delivered both my girls).  Good luck and let me know what happens.

 jess