by Jo Lawrence @JoCLawrence

On #WorldMenopauseDay let’s talk about chemo induced menopause. Yep, that’s right, the trial run you get when going through chemotherapy.

As if my diagnosis wasn’t enough, being a 37 year old woman and a way off menopause and without children, I took the option to try to protect my ovaries through a treatment called Zoladex that suppressed my ovaries.

What it did was fast track me straight into menopause. No slow build up. No warning signs. Within 24 hrs of my first visit for the farming needle sized injection I was floored with hot sweats and emotions.

I have never known anything like it. Sweat dripping down my bald head. Emotions like a rollercoaster that everyone around me found it tricky to navigate.

Dry and soreness down below that remains even now I’ve finished the treatment.

It was not a pleasant experience and at times felt a lot worse than the chemo induced side effects.

It’s certainly given me a heads up warning to what the real thing will feel like. And a new sense of empathy when friends and colleagues are having a ‘flush’…the struggle is real!