Why is this important to me?
I have a heartfelt compassion for women who receive a cancer diagnosis and suddenly experience menopause during their cancer treatment. Many women are not informed about this, and to be honest, there is so much going on both practically and emotionally at the time of a cancer diagnosis that this information does not typically take centre stage. Having spent decades working as a specialist cancer nurse I supported hundreds of women with a cancer diagnosis, dealing with cancer treatment and menopause symptoms and often referred to this as the ‘double whammy’. Some women who were adjusting to the reality of a cancer diagnosis and were then facing a sudden and unexpected menopause said to me, with a touch of irony and sarcasm ‘cancer, the gift that keeps on giving.’
Why is this important for women with cancer?
I feel strongly that we must not ignore the needs of this unique group of women in our menopause conversations. As menopause conversations and support become more acceptable and accessible in our communities, we need to ensure that this important group of menopausal women have access to individualised information and support. They are often way younger than the average age when menopause abruptly arrives, their symptoms can be worse than other menopausal women and furthermore it is often difficult to know if symptoms are related to the cancer diagnosis, the cancer treatment (e.g., brain fog from chemotherapy, symptoms from medications used to block hormones) or if they are in fact due to the menopause (often the team treating them are unable to distinguish this either).
Why this is important for women’s health?
Unfortunately, a large cohort of this group of menopausal women are unable to have hormone therapy and will need to access non-hormonal, complementary or psychological interventions to help with their menopausal symptoms. I hope this information is useful for those of you that were unaware that women with many cancers, especially breast cancer and gynaecological cancers experience an induced menopause, it helps us to appreciate why the conversation about menopause and treatment and everything in-between needs to be inclusive, holistic, and individualised.
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