Did chemo put you into menopause?

[sarah]

Hello,
I think chemo and particularly the anti-estrogen drugs can give you PMS reactions, also depression can also be a cause - depression isn't just about being sad but over reacting to things - anger, sadness but heightened.
If the PMS symptoms are creating problems with your family and friends, consider going on an anti-depressant for a while until the treatment is over or you feel calmer, etc. It doesn't have to be forever - that was my worry. A friend told me I was depressed during chemo and I laughed at her having never been a depressive person but then she pointed out the other symptoms and then I spoke to the chemo doctor about it and she said yes and suggested I do a mild one for a short period of time, which I did and I stopped getting angry quickly or frustrated and felt much better. and then I stopped and life is normal again. Mine was called Paroxetene but I'm in France so might be different. I'm glad I did it because during chemo my sweet husband once said to me "I don't know what to say anymore, everything seems to be the wrong thing"
take care
health and happiness
sarah

[ArmyMomLisa]

I turned 45 a week after my first chemo. Had my usual period the next week, and then nothing since (that was in February) My onc too told me that ifyou don't have it again after a year, it's probably not coming back. (That was the case w/ a friend of mine - she is 3 years out from chemo and hasn't had it again.)

The hot flashes are plenty and annoying, but in some odd way make me feel a bit more 'normal' after all of this. Even if it is chemo induced, it's something that was coming my way anyway - a proper, normal womanly right of passage so to speak - and I am craving normal desperately now after finishing chemo and wanting to be my old (or is it new and improved??) self. :-)

Been on Tamox for a few weeks now, so hard to tell what symptoms may be left from chemo and what may be from that.