Most women experience menopause — defined as 12 months without a period — between 40 and 58, with the average age of onset at 51. Perimenopause, the transition to menopause, lasts for up to 10 years before that. But middle-aged women aren’t the only ones contending with the hot flashes and mood swings and skin changes that often come with fluctuating estrogen levels. Menopause can come earlier — much, much earlier — for women with medical conditions that are treated with ovarian suppression. One of those women is 31-year-old Amanda Quick. Here, she tells Allure her story.
I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, estrogen-positive and HER2-negative, when I was 29. As part of my treatment plan, every 12 weeks I get an injection called Lupron, a drug that suppresses my ovaries. My cancer is really driven by estrogen, and the ovaries produce a lot of it. Turning them off is key to my treatment.
I got my diagnosis in August 2021, started Lupron in September, and stopped having my period almost immediately.
I vividly remember having my first hot flash that October. I was at La Pecora Bianca with my mom in midtown Manhattan. We were sitting outside and I was like, “I don’t know, maybe it’s the rigatoni but I’m feeling very hot.” I remember this intense heat just washing over my chest, my arms, my whole body.
I’d never felt anything like it before, and I started getting nervous as I peeled off my jacket. Was this related to the cancer? But then my mom started laughing a little. She knew exactly what it was: “You’re having a hot flash. It’ll pass.” I guess it was a good thing that I was with my mom that day and not another 20something who’d be like, “call an ambulance!”
I still get the occasional hot flash, but the bigger side effect for me is the night sweats. I get them probably twice a week. I wake up and the sheets, my pajamas, everything will just be soaked. I’ll get up in the night and change my clothes, sometimes even take a cold shower before I get back in bed. I’ve had to go out and get lots of extra sheets so I can change them multiple times a week if I need to. I found basic ones from Target that are a dupe of Brooklinen; I couldn’t spend $300 on multiple sheet sets. I’ve found that the best sheets to keep me cool are cotton and very breathable. And I always sleep in cotton pajamas, never silk or nylon or polyester.