At some point, most women probably wish for an end to periods! We also often wish for bodily changes to take place as few are happy with their shape – it is something we kind of have to grow into.
At the moment, I have no menstrual cycle and am not really sure when the whole shebang might start again. Chemotherapy has had an impact as will some of the other medication that I need to take. To make matters worse, the tablets I take once the chemotherapy cycle is complete will send my body into premature menopause, with all the resultant hormonal issues thereof!
I have even had a boob job – not quite the one I often envisaged though. Be careful what you wish for …
I spent the first ten years of my menstrual life suffering quite severe pains and heavy bleeding. Even though this hasn’t been the case for nigh on fifteen years, I still dread ‘that time of the month’ – a bit like Pavlov’s dog, I guess. The obvious solution, or so it seemed, was to go on the pill as soon as I could. This mitigated the symptoms enough for me to live a relatively normal life with only a couple of days a month of nightmare pain, including occasional migraines.
Having started my periods at age twelve, I was initially quite blase about the whole ‘becoming a woman’ thing. I was lucky in that my cycle was almost immediately quite regular but unlucky in that bleeding often lasted up to ten days. Just what every thirteen or fourteen year old wants! I started on the pill at aged sixteen and continued to take various types of pill for nigh on twenty years to prevent the menstrual cramps, sickness and heavy bleeding that I suffered through each month.
I tried different types of pill, even those that completely stop the menstrual cycle but had regular breakthrough bleeding and had to stop. I read any government warnings about increased risks of various side effects and discussed them with my doctors and changed pill as appropriate. I even had a couple of breaks from taking the pill in my twenties due to these warnings. I thought about having an implant but it seemed that there were more risk factors and I was using the pill to control the menstrual bleeding and pain, rather than as a preventative.
Why regale you with my menstrual history? Well, one notable factor in my type of breast cancer, at my age, is a history like mine. Breast cancer is far more common in post-menopausal women. In other words, I have had too much prolonged exposure to a natural female hormone – oestrogen – and this is one of the factors that probably caused my breast cancer. Since I have never had children the oestrogen production has never been interrupted, plus I used the pill for such a long time.
Before anyone reading this without kids goes out to get themselves pregnant, these are only the currently known factors that increase your risk of developing breast cancer, or at least one type of breast cancer. My ramblings come down to this: if your menstrual cycle started early, was extremely heavy, you have been taking the pill for extended periods of time and you don’t have kids then check your breasts regularly even if you are only in your late twenties/early thirties. These are all known risk factors – who knew that having a baby might be good for your health?
Musings of the Can(tan)cerous Kind ... (sic) 