Jean is the manager at Mildenhall Library, she has worked for Suffolk Libraries for 4 years. Prior to that she spent 20 years working in the waste industry and 10 in teaching. Jean shares her experience with the chemical menopause, or induced menopause, which can be a side effect of GnRH analogue injections.

Having the chemical menopause was one of the most bizarre times of my life.

In my youth, I had a lump and painful periods. My GP decided that I had IBS and sent me off for counselling, where they tried to prescribe me antidepressants. My mother had abused prescription drugs and I was terrified of addiction, so I never filled the prescription. My boyfriend helped me go through a list of things that were making me depressed, we made a plan and we fixed them. Three months later, the counsellor decided I was much better.

However, I still had a lump and I still had painful periods, and I needed to pass a medical in order to work abroad. The next GP sent me off with a 2-year supply of strong painkillers, which worked provided I took them as soon as my period started, but I struggled with exercise because of ‘breakthrough bleeding’ (bleeding or spotting between periods).

Three years later it was the first week of term on my MSc course in Manchester. I registered with the nearest GP to campus, where I was examined and quickly told I did not have a hernia, but that I needed a scan. A week later at my appointment, I was directed to Gynaecology for an ultrasound. Everyone else there was pregnant - happy young women with their mums and partners, and I was wondering if that would ever be me as I’d not been able to conceive.

“Oh thank goodness, it’s fibroids!”, the lady with the scanner exclaimed. Much smiling all round. “What did you think it was?” I asked. “Oh”, she says brightly, “We all thought you had ovarian cancer.”

I go to officially get the result from the consultant, and the next bit passed in a blur, but I do remember a very painful injection in my rear, and the consultant telling me not to worry about all the other injections. I would have an operation, but not until the fibroids had shrunk – if they didn’t shrink, there was a chance I’d need a hysterectomy. I was 34.

I went back to my house share completely stunned. What just happened, what do I tell people? I went to the student welfare officer the next day.  “Do you want to defer?”, he says.  I'd just paid for 18 months tuition and signed a 12-month tenancy agreement. I had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do. I stayed.

I felt awful. I was exhausted and I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t regulate my temperature. I was forgetful, found concentrating hard and began to think I wasn’t bright enough to be doing the MSc. I would cry over absolutely nothing.

I decided to call the GP. She listened as I sobbed, and then asked if anyone had told me that I'd been given a chemical menopause.  And the honest answer was I had no idea.  I'd let a consultant give me an injection and not asked any questions.  I'd been on my own and I'd had quite a shock. The GP suggested HRT and we discussed it. I was worried about links with breast cancer which my mum had had, but she reassured me. I started HRT week later and saw her every couple of months until after my operation.

I had my operation during Easter break to minimise time off, passed my exams and finished my dissertation on time.  I didn't have to have a hysterectomy and I kept my ovaries.  I started running again about a year later and a couple of years after that did my fist 5k.  I never had any more breakthrough bleeding. Since then, I've made an effort to be fit and I believe that running has made a difference to both my physical and mental health.

My periods stopped in my early 50s and I had no real symptoms then.  I had the odd night sweat and a couple of flushes.  The difference was this time it happened gradually, I knew what to expect and it was nothing like as severe.

I've been lucky – the menopause has been easier for me than lots of women.  With my first menopause, my hormone levels changed instantly, and as all the symptoms appeared at the same time there was enough there for me to seek medical advice and get on HRT. If these symptoms had crept up on me, I wouldn't have asked for help.

When I look back over this, what stands out for me is the time it took to get the fibroids diagnosed.  No amount of counselling or antidepressants was going to change that. I let myself get fobbed off.  If you think you would benefit from treatment for any menopause symptoms, seek medical help – don't get fobbed off.