Cancer Makes Menopause Worse, But Survivors Shrug It Off

Reliable reports from roughly half of the population hold that menopause is a bear–a female bear. Now comes news from researchers at the University of Melbourne that it’s an even grumpier bear for women who have had cancer. A U of Melbourne news release reports that researchers surveyed almost 1,000 survivors of cancer, most often breast cancer, and 150 non-cancer patients between the ages of 40 and 60. They found that cancer survivors had twice as many hot flushes (six compared with three in 24 hours) and were twice as likely to report severe or very severe flushes as non-cancer patients. More than 200 cancer survivors reported experiencing more than 10 flushes a day.  The good news: the cancer survivors were less bothered by the unpleasantness than were those who didn’t have cancer. Read more from the University of Melbourne.