How will I know when menopause starts?

I am new to this forum.

I had hyst on 12/06/05. Then I had radiation starting the end of January. I was told there was a chance I ovaries would be ok and I would not go thru menopause since I am only 33. I was told that menopause would start before my 3 month check up with my radiologist. At first he seemed hopeful that there was a chance I would not be sent into premature menopause. However at my 6 week check up I had bad belly pains and after poking me he said that before I see him in July I would be in menopause. No ifs ands or buts. For about the last week I have been moody and last night I got really really hot and had to keep kicking off my covers, even tho temp is set below 60 degrees.

I had a blood clot and I'm on coumidin, so estrogen is contra-indicated. At least radiologist, and primary doc says so. Oncologist seems to believe that since the blood clot was secondary caused by surgery then I should be able to take estrogen, but I should wait until June when I see him again and he does a complete physical.

I don't know if I'm just overly paranoid because I was told I am going into menopause, or if this is legit.

Also I am having a very very hard time dealing with the inablity to have more children. Dh and I have been planning for years and the timing was finally right and he had just started trying a month prior to me finding out I had cancer. Now for some reason I have not fully dealt with this yet. I get sad when I see babies but I have not really cried since finding out (at which point by dh and I cried for about 2 weeks nonstop and then once a week until surgery). I find that i am angry with dh because he kept giving me depo without an exam and had I went to family planning or a family doc they would have done exam (which I hate with a passion and kept insisting I didn't want one). however with the depo in my system non stop for 6 years I never had a period so I never realized my periods were messed up at all. I also feel that if we would have started trying to have a child sooner we would have caught this and today we would have a baby. I know dh feels really guilty. However at this time its really hitting me hard. And my depression and sadness makes dh feel worse. So I don't know if these things are hormonal or what.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,

Missie

Hi Missie and welcome to the Jungle

This surely can be a challenging journey. It's a lot to deal with physically, hormonally and emotionally, and takes time to heal and find balance again.

Here is a link that might be helpful to read as it provides some excellent menopause information, including a menopause symptom list, hormone/no hormone choices, supplements, etc.

Menopause Checkpoints

Regarding the emotional aspects that you are experiencing, it's very normal. There is a finality that comes with this surgery, and with that a grieving process. You might also want to check out the Aching Hearts forum where you will find discussions and support from other HysterSisters who are experiencing similar feelings.

Let us know what you and your doctor decide re: hormone replacement, and if you have further questions.

I am sending healing 's