early menopause and bleeding after menopause in TNBC

pesky904

I had no idea where to put this question so I chose this area of the forum.

Two questions:

1. For those whose periods stopped during chemo and didn't come back, when were you considered to be officially in menopause?

2. For anyone who has had bleeding after menopause, can you share your story: how long after menopause was it, what was the reason for the bleeding?

I was diagnosed at 42. Never had any ovarian suppression and I am triple negative so NO hormone therapy. My last period started literally the day before my official diagnosis in June 2017. Have not had even a hint of bleeding since then.

I started chemo the day after my next period was due. Before that, I was clockwork, every 28 days without fail. I figure the stress of diagnosis and all that was going on in my life made that next period late, and then starting chemo kept it from coming at all. And then it just never came back.

I had chemo July - Oct 2017. No treatment 2.5 months and my hair grew back a good amount and my blood counts were all great, but still no period.

From mid-Jan through February of 2018, I had radiation (and only 2 of 4 cycles of cisplatin). Then no treatment in March and April and then started Xeloda in May 2018 and was on it until mid-October 2018.

So that's a lot of treatment, with short breaks in between. I have no been off chemo for an entire year. No period for 2.5 years. My FSH and estradiol levels indicated postmenopausal (FSH was 81, definitely very high).

Three different people at Dana-Farber over this past year told me I am "definitely" in menopause - even before my hormones were tested, they said it was definitely menopause because of the length of time I'd gone without any bleeding whatsoever.

So now I suddenly have spotting, started out as here and there and this week it has been daily. Sometimes thick and brown, sometimes red blood mixed with mucous.

Last Friday I had a CT scan that showed a small (about 2.5x2.5 cm) lesion arising from my right ovary. "Likely a cyst" but no further detail. I have a pelvic ultrasound scheduled for early next week.

As much as I don't want this to be bleeding for any bad reason, I will be REALLY annoyed to be getting my period back after all this time and after everything I've gone through. With my FSH level, I highly doubt it, but just wonder if others can share their experiences of chemo-induced menopause (not involving explicit ovarian suppression or hormonal treatment) and incidents of bleeding after menopause.

**edited to add: the level of horrendous hot flashes I had from October 2017 through recently was insane. There were times I truly felt like I was going to lose my mind from hot flashes. I really will find it difficult to believe my period is coming back after going through such brutal menopause symptoms for so long.

NinjaMeow

I was 40 at diagnosis and went into menopause during treatment. One month post treatment my period came back with a vengeance and got so bad that I had an ablation done a year ago. Not sure if the heavy bleeding was menopause symptoms or what but it was unbearable. It ranged in color at first too - I didn’t do any suppression treatments before chemo either.

pesky904

Thanks for sharing, NinjaMeow. I was surprised that I never had even a hint of any bleeding immediately after starting treatment or after completing treatment. I've now been off treatment for an entire year and suddenly started having spotting - some thick and brown, some red-tinged.

It happened a few random times over the past month, then happened 4 days in a row last week. It's stopped again now.

My hot flashes had been so unbearably bad and multiple times a day every day all through the entire year of 2018 and up until recently. They're less frequent now but still just as bad when they do happen. And my hormone levels were postmenopausal levels. So I'm pretty sure I am definitely in full menopause, but this recent bleeding has me questioning everything.

romashka

Thank you all for posting.💜

At the time of diagnosis, 46yrs., I was already playing the stop-and-start game with my periods. The 2 years previous to diagnosis I would go months without a period. The day after diagnosis I had a period. Nothing since. Hot flashes started with one and only round of DD AC. Hot flashes continue over the last two years up until now. Strangely enough, they abated over the summer. Now back with a different schedule.

iiiggg

Pesky, my tumor was ER+ and I had ovarian suppression after I finished chemo in December 2016, so not the same situation as yours of course. But I stopped ovarian suppression and Tamoxifen in June 2018 because I wanted to see if I get my period back and possibly get pregnant. As I didn't get my period back my gyn tested my hormone levels in January 2019 and FSH was 70, LH 50 and estradiol 5. My gyn told me I'm in menopause and I went back on Tamoxifen. In June this year I had some spotting and three relatively normal periods since then (though around 38-40 days in between). My gyn retested my hormone levels and FSH is back to 9, LH 2.5 and she and my oncologist consider me premenopausal again. Have you had your FSH checked several times?

pesky904

Just got the results of today's test. New gyn says I am postmenopausal and ultrasound results show "abnormally thickened endometrium with several cystic spaces" and "a few small subcentimeter fibroids." I have to go back within the next two weeks for an endometrial biospy. Ugh.