Hampshire cancer survivors say it's "isolating" trying to find menopause support post-treatment
Figures reveal more than 70% of women over 40 enter permanent menopause following cancer treatment
Last updated 18th Sep 2025
Hampshire cancer survivors are saying it's "isolating" trying to find menopause support after having cancer treatment.
It's after figures from 'Menopause and Cancer' found 70-90% of over 40s and 40% of under 40s women enter permanent menopause following treatment.
Jane Austin, 52, from Portsmouth was diagnosed with cancer at 49, and spoke to us about her experience.
She said: "I was diagnosed about three years ago with a non invasive breast cancer.
"I only started HRT earlier that year as I'd started to go through hormone changes, but because of the type of breast cancer I had, I had to stop HRT.
"This was at a time when the benefits of HRT were being really promoted.
"I think in terms of my cancer, I felt really quite alone, quite isolated and really had no idea where to go for help.
"I was bang in the middle of a load of menopause symptoms so felt really quite alone.
"I had excellent support for my cancer but it's dealing with the cancer and the primary concern there is to preserve life and to deal with the cancer.
"So to have any conversation about menopause which happens afterwards, it just wasn't there."
In 'Menopause and Cancer's research, they also found that women say their menopause can arrive overnight, hitting harder and lasting longer than natural transition.
It can also affect people in their 20s and 30s as well as midlife.
More than nine in 10 received no plan to manage menopause-related changes after treatment, with three in four saying they had little or no information about the impact on hormones or fertility.
Ms Austin told us what she feels needs to be done to help improve patient care.
She said: "I think first of all, it's really how we build menopause support into cancer care.
"So patients are educated in terms of understanding what may happen, what could happen depending on their treatment and they're provided routes to support and help them before, during and after treatment.
"I also think improved training for healthcare professionals, and this is on top of the great training they have, but they're simply not equipped to signpost women to the resources that are out there.
"I think better access to safe therapies and support for cancer patients so they can manage their symptoms safely and protect their longer term health because often many of the traditional remedies are just not options for women after cancer.
She told us that she began to self-advocate for her treatment.
She added: "It was quite isolating because all of a sudden, you have to become the researcher and have to be able to advocate for yourself.
"You need to understand where you can go to at least have conversations about what your options are, but also what support is out there for you."