Chemotherapy-induced Amenorrhea

Certain medical treatments may damage a woman's ovaries, suppress her estrogen and progesterone levels, and stop the ovaries from working. The treatments that may cause medical menopause are chemotherapy, anti-estrogen hormone therapies, and pelvic radiation. These treatments may cause a sudden drop in female hormone levels, resulting in temporary or permanent menopause with all the side effects of menopause. Younger women may only experience temporary menopause.

Breast cancer chemotherapy regimens that may cause medical menopause include cytoxan, methotrexate, and fluorouracil. According to BreastCancer.org, with treatment of these medications, fifty percent of women younger than 35, 80% of women 35–44, and nearly 100% of women over 45 will go into menopause. With adriamycin chemotherapy, the risk of permanent menopause is somewhat less for women under 40, but it is similar to that of cytoxan, methotrexate, and fluoruacil in women over 40.

If you are taking HRT (Hormone Replacement Treatment medications) for menopause symptoms and are diagnosed with breast cancer, you may stop the HRT treatments and this will result in a drop in estrogen levels and menopause.

If your ovaries are surgically removed you will experience menopause right away. This is called surgical menopause.