If I wasn't in menopause before breast cancer and chemo therapy, will I automaticlaly be placed into it?
Asked August 21, 2009
If I wasn't in menopause before breast cancer and chemo therapy, will I automaticlaly be placed into it? I am 45 years old. My periods have stopped while on chemo therapy the last 4 months but I am finished now and will go on Tamoxefen. Will my periods resume? I don't have any other menopausal symptoms. other than a dry /shrunken vagina. What can be done to combat THAT? Are breast cancer patients whose tumors tested positive for estrogen and pergesterone destined to misery in menopause, unable to take hormone replacement?
Expert answer
Whether your periods will resume is questionable primarily because of your age which is closer to menopause than not. The more definitive test would be to check hormone levels particularly FSH; if very high it is unlikely that periods will return. It make take a number of months to return if it is going to happen. 2. One can use vaginal creams judiciously (low levels of estrogen with limited absorption. 3. Exogenous estrogen (such as replacement hormones) are contraindicated in a patient who has an estrogen receptor positive tumor. The use of estrogens may cause the tumor to flare.
Answered August 21, 2009
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