'Cancer treatment plummeted me into menopause'

When Jo Menneer was diagnosed with breast cancer, she knew undergoing treatment would be a difficult process. What she did not anticipate was the challenge of navigating the menopause afterwards.

Before her diagnosis in 2022, Jo, now 55, from East Yorkshire, had been taking hormonal replacement therapy (HRT) to manage the menopause.

Part of her treatment included surgery, which meant she had to stop taking HRT, and is still unable to use it.

"For me personally, my menopause symptoms came back with a vengeance almost immediately," she says.

"As well as recovering from surgery, which is quite gruelling, to then be mixed with hot flushes, aching limbs, brain fog, up and down emotions - I felt like I'd gone back about 10 years."