fertility
Fertility is the ability to have children. Unfortunately, some cancer treatments can affect a young person’s fertility, but your doctors will always think about this when planning your treatment. They will do their best to make sure you stay fertile after treatment.
If only one of your ovaries has been taken out, the one left will continue to make eggs. But if you’ve had both of your ovaries removed, or you’ve had radiotherapy to your ovaries, you will be infertile (unable to have children). This is a really tough thing to have to cope with on top of everything else that you’re going through. Many hospitals have counsellors and people specially trained to give help and support. Our section on relationships, sex and fertility goes into all this in much more detail and might be useful for you (and your partner or family) to take a look at.
periods
If you have chemo, it could affect your remaining ovary and you might notice that your monthly periods stop or may become irregular. This doesn’t always mean you’re going to be infertile, it’s a side effect of your treatment. Once the chemo’s finished, your periods should go back to normal, but it could take a few months.
menopause
As women get older (normally over the age of 50), the hormone levels in their bodies change, eggs aren’t released anymore and periods eventually stop. This is called the menopause (“the change”). Some cancer treatments can cause an early menopause. That means getting your menopause a lot sooner than you normally would have. Having both ovaries taken out means you’ll start the menopause straight away. Radiotherapy to your ovaries means you’ll start the menopause but more gradually, over a few months or so.
Your doctors will talk to you about what this means for you and ways of coping. For example, hormone replacement therapy (HRT) can help. There‘s more about this in the relationships, sex and fertility section.
