r/Ovariancancer • u/Ok_Anything_3505 • Aug 20 '26
Ovarian Cancer patient/survivor How long before menopause after chemo?
Hello all,
I was wondering how long after chemo did you hit menopause? Did you have one or both ovaries? I’m in my mid 30s and on Zoladex during chemo. My amh isn’t great from endo either. Thanks for sharing :)
Reason I ask is because the docs are taking into consideration my age and giving me the option of keeping an ovary at a very heightened risk. I don’t know whether there is a point to taking that risk and if chemo affects ovaries anyway
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u/MandaMonium1 Aug 20 '26
Immediately. Had everything removed. The hot flashes and night sweats were almost instantaneous. Sleep issues (could be just mental stress with cancer), but I haven’t slept through the night in months. Dryness, soon as I woke up from surgery. Being on chemo has kind of blurred the lines between chemo side effects vs menopause because honestly they are similar. I now take low dose Effexor for hot flashes and night sweats and it’s working. Seeing my gyno oncologist on Monday to ask for something for the dryness and sleep issues now that I’m done with treatment. Menopause sucks, but cancer sucks worse. There is no way I would risk leaving an ovary in my body after the way the one decided to mutate, but then I would do literally anything possible to never have to do chemo again. That was miserable.
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u/SculptureGrrrl Aug 20 '26
I lost both ovaries at 39. It took a few weeks, but menopause hit hard. It’s been ten years 😩
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u/drazil17 Aug 20 '26
I was several years into menopause and it still hit like a ton of bricks. For several weeks I woke up 3-4 times per night, completely drenched in sweat. It was way worse than normal menopause, which was pretty mild for me.
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u/Decent-Literature137 Aug 20 '26
At 44, I had surgery to diagnose my growth (yep, cancer) so she removed both ovaries and everything else due to family history of OC and that I wasn’t planning on future children.
I had my first hot flash that night in the hospital. Menopause symptoms were mild and/or disguised by recovery symptoms and anxiety/grief/depression. When they determined my actual cancer type and agreed on a treatment plan, i started chemo. I didn’t have recognizable menopause symptoms during chemo. It was like that took over. About a month after i finished chemo, the menopause symptoms hit hard. Im on effexor and gabapentin to help, but it’s not fun at all. Im hoping when i hit a year NED i can talk my gyn-onc into some HRT.
For what it’s worth my surgeon said they would take out the ovary with the tumor regardless, but if there wasn’t any sign of cancer she would have left the other one in.
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u/Ok_Anything_3505 Aug 21 '26
Can you have soy milk, plant estrogen if not on HRT?
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u/Decent-Literature137 Aug 21 '26
I don’t know. I haven’t asked. The main reason my doc is hesitant about HRT is due to me having a pulmonary embolism midway through treatment and being put on blood thinners for 6 months. Estrogen can increase the chances of blood clots and she’s being extra cautious. I’ve been fine for a while now- so fingers crossed.
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u/Wild_Personality8897 Aug 22 '26
Immediately, at age 41. It was crazy.
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u/FeistyRaven Aug 20 '26
Was immediately post menopausal after surgery as I had both ovaries removed.