I loved it when one of my sisters on the breast cancer ("b/c") listserve recently described herself as "hormonally confused" I can't remember if she was confused about her hormone treatment, or if her brain was suffering from lack of estrogen.Many of the women on the b/c listserve describe themselves as "thirsty" for estrogen; one woman commented that before she dies, when she's off all meds or chemos, she's going to ask for estrogen, just so she can die with a clear head, soft skin and glowing cheeks!
The adriamycin put me into menopause (as well as heart failure). A number of chemotherapies do this. I'm not sure HOW it does this, whether it's by destroying the fast growing cells of the ovaries or estrogen deprivation. My eight months of treatment found me struggling to concentrate, to find the right words, to pull information out of my memory. I worked hard to focus.Now that I'm off adria, my mind is back (um, somewhat! What gets me now is fatigue - I've doubled my dosage of carvedilol, a drug for the heart failure, and that makes me sleepy and sluggish for a few days as the dosage changes). (I'm ready for a nap now, and I might just take one!)
It's NICE to have my mind back. I am officially in menopause this March, and it has gone better than I expected. I DO have a bit of "post menopausal zest". The tamoxifen I take to manage the cancer post-treatment gives me some wicked hot flashes, but a sleeping pill I take which doubles as an anti-depressant makes them bearable. Before the anti-depressant, the hot flashes were so frequent (hourly) and so intense (sweat running down the side of my face, turning red, and the unacceptable urge to rip off my clothes right where I stood just to freakin' cool off!) I was miserable. Now I have a few a day, but I still dress light - so I can rip off my sweater to cool down. I've also heard that Vitamin E is a good vitamin for hot flash management. I might add that to my vitamin regimen.
Still, the mind isn't back where it was a decade ago. I'd guess most of us would say that!
Put this on a t-short: "Don't Mind Me, I'm Hormonally Confused."
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