Medics got me through cancer but they can't help with my menopause

When Kat Denisi was diagnosed with breast cancer at 32 she was put into a medically-induced menopause to stop her hormones fuelling the tumour.

The set designer also underwent radiotherapy, which left her with burns on her body and chemotherapy, which caused severe nausea.

When her white blood cell count dropped dangerously low she had to spend time in hospital but she says doctors did everything they could to treat her symptoms.

Now 35 and cancer-free Kat, who lives in Edinburgh, had hoped to be feeling a lot better.

But little did she know that the "crash menopause" would affect her so much.

"Sometimes menopause feels worse," she said.

"When you get symptoms from cancer, doctors throw the book at you to try to solve the problem.

"They take really good care of you during chemo and after your surgeries and through the radiation you're getting constant check-ups.

"But then once all that finishes that's when they push you off the cliff.

"They are like 'OK, bye'. No-one talked about menopause to me at all and you don't know what is happening to your body," she said.

Every woman goes through the menopause, the process of their monthly periods stopping due to a decrease in hormone levels.

The majority experience the transition between the ages of 45 and 55, with the average age being 51.

Symptoms can vary greatly and affect nearly every aspect of physical and mental well-being, from common effects like hot flushes and mood swings to lesser-known ones like joint pain, bloating, and brain fog.

While natural menopause results in a gradual decline in hormones, a medically-induced menopause can happen overnight.

The symptoms come on so suddenly and feel so intense that it's sometimes known as a "crash menopause".

Kat, who is currently undergoing four years of menopause-inducing injections, has since suffered a loss of libido, anxiety and severe hot flushes.

"I've had a lot of issues with a dry vagina and get fissures that bleed and it is really painful," she said.

"It's so terrible, the hot flushes you can feel bubbling up through your body and then it spreading all over your face and then your cheeks become bright red apples that are burning and then I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"It really sucks because I got married and you're meant to be having the best years of your lives," Kat said.

Instead she feels ill all the time.

"When you're going through chemo there are so many side effects I don't think you really notice menopause until you come out of the other side," she said.

One way of managing menopause symptoms is hormone replacement therapy (HRT) but Kat can't take this option as oestrogen, a key component of many HRT products, can stimulate the growth of breast cancer cells.

"The crippling thing with menopause is doctors don't have many solutions for it," she said.

Kat said: "The day I got my first injection immediately my ovaries got shut off. It's not a slow meander towards crash menopause, it's literally the next day, whereas regular menopause is very prolonged.

She said she was put into crash menopause to protect her ovaries from the chemotherapy, which could have destroyed all her eggs.

Medically induced menopause can be temporary or permanent, depending on the treatment and individual factors such as age.

"The longer you're in medically induced menopause the less likely you will be to get your period back," Kat said.

When she comes off the crash menopause drugs in a year's time she will know within six months if her periods will come back.

"It would be really upsetting if it was permanent but I'm hopeful because my body is strong and good at healing itself.

"If I stay in menopause I assume I will have the symptoms forever because I went into menopause so young that my body will be confused."

If her periods return, she would have to go through a second natural menopause in the future.

"It's really unfair to miss out on some of the best years of your life through crash menopause and then to have to go through it all again. The hot flushes, memory loss, brain fog and joint aches.

"It's quite upsetting to think I might have to do this all over again."

Dame Laura Lee, chief executive of cancer charity Maggie's, said crash menopause could be "brutal" for many women with cancer "yet awareness is frighteningly low".

"Menopause was once a taboo topic which nobody discussed but now we have many celebrities shining a light on the subject - we need to do the same for 'crash menopause' - we want to let people know we are here with them during cancer treatment and all it brings, including crash menopause," she added.

"If we keep the conversation going more women and their friends and families can identify the signs and symptoms and get the help they need. Whether that is psychological support or help to understand what it might mean for their fertility, or to protect their longer-term health."

Kat says she thinks young people who have been put into a medically-induced menopause suffer in silence.

"People expect you to be back to normal after cancer treatment and ask 'are you ok now, everything great now?'" she said.

"And you're like 'Oh yes I'm all cured and back to normal' but inside you're screaming into the void because you're not back to normal."

"It's crazy how many people don't know that a lot of young women who have had cancer are put into this induced menopause," she added.

"I just want to shout from the rooftops what it is because if your family doesn't know then they can't help you.

"Now my husband knows about it and his parents know about it so that they can help me be the best version of myself instead of saying 'You're fine, everything's great, right?'".