Lisa Tadiwa

You might be used to hearing about the kind of menopause that gradually comes with age, the one that women who are hitting their late forties and early fifties are automatically assumed to be going through regardless of what their menopause status is. However, not all menopause occurs naturally. 

Chemical menopause refers to a temporary and reversible treatment involving a class of medications. This medication, in turn, suppresses the production of progesterone, estrogen, and ovulation. Chemical menopause is only offered to treat the following conditions when other less invasive treatments have been unsuccessfully used, and the more invasive treatments, such as getting a hysterectomy are too extreme for the patient. 

  • Endometriosis
  • Cancer 
  • Severe premenstrual dysphoric disorder 
  • Uterine fibroids

How Does Chemical Menopause Work?

The main purpose of chemical menopause is to pause the production of sex hormones for some time, usually determined by your medical physician. This is achieved by administering a class of drugs called gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists (GnRH). These drugs influence the brain’s pituitary gland and the hypothalamus, which play a significant role in producing different kinds of hormones. 

This influence on the pituitary gland and the hypothalamus significantly reduces the amount of estrogen and progesterone in the body. This will have a direct impact on the kind of symptoms that women suffering from estrogen and progesterone-related illnesses have. 

For instance, chemical menopause can result in the temporary shrinkage of fibroids, resulting in a significantly lighter menstrual flow than the heavy menstrual flows that come with fibroids. When it comes to endometriosis, a reduction in estrogen and progesterone will result in less tissue lining (that is generally only supposed to be found growing within the uterus) extending outside of the uterus, which in turn results in less excruciating pain that is associated with endometriosis. 

The same can be said for the type of cancers that are fed by estrogen, otherwise known as estrogen receptor-positive cancer. Ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and endometrial (uterine) cancer grow and develop on the amount of estrogen they are feeding off. So, among the many types of treatments available, it also becomes necessary to consider chemical menopause as a treatment option.

The drugs mentioned above are usually prescribed for between 6 months to a year and can be administered in several ways, such as:

  • Injections
  • Tablets 
  • Nasal sprays
  • Injectable implants 

What Should You Expect When Undergoing Chemical Menopause?

Unlike natural menopause, which takes years to manifest fully, chemical menopause takes about one to three months to display in a person completely. As with natural menopause, the symptoms begin more or less the same way. 

At first, you will experience the common menopause symptom markers, hot flashes, bad sleep patterns, and night sweats. This will then be followed by a drop in your sexual libido, vaginal dryness, mood swings, and accelerated bone loss, among other signs. Because some of these effects pose a detriment to the quality of life as well as overall health, your medical physician may prescribe some additional progesterone and estrogen through a hormone replacement therapy regimen. 

When chemical menopause is successfully used to decrease the said gynecological condition, the person may then be weaned off the GnRH medications, and the ovaries will essentially ‘wake up’ and start releasing estrogen and progesterone, thereby reversing the chemical menopause. This is why it is a temporary menopause. 

However, in some cases, such as Rachel Charlton-Dailey, who suffered from severe endometriosis, an oophorectomy, which is the removal of either one or both ovaries, becomes a permanent solution in comparison to consistently taking medication over a couple number of years to maintain the chemical menopause. 

Chemical menopause has also been found to occur as a side effect of chemotherapy in cancer. When it results from chemotherapy, it can be a little harder to predict whether or not ovaries will function normally after chemotherapy is stopped. Younger women who receive treatment for cancer are more likely to regain function in their ovaries than much older women. 

Chemical menopause is a great option for managing the medical conditions mentioned above. Because it is often reversible, one can preserve one’s fertility in most cases while undergoing this treatment. 

Lisa Tadiwa

Lisa Tadiwa is a fulltime law student and a freelance writer living in South Africa. Her work is mainly found on Medium.com with articles published in The Startup and Curious publications. She writes about anything from mental wellness, philosophy to sexual health. When she is not studying you can find her exploring different styles of writing, reaching out to fellow writers for advice or travelling with her friends and family across the countryside in Southern Africa.