Dagmara was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer after a routine mammogram in 2024. Fortunately, treatment was successful, but it pushed Dagmara into immediate menopause. Here, the 51-year-old describes the changes she’s had to navigate, including one of the hardest – disrupted sleep.
I was already perimenopausal before my diagnosis, but once treatment started, I was thrown into menopause without any warning. I lost my hair and I lost my periods.
I also lost good sleep.
During treatment, I think my restless nights were due to all the medication I was taking. But since finishing treatment, my insomnia is still a work in progress. I can go to bed and be so tired, but then only sleep for 2 hours at a time. I don’t consider myself old, but lack of sleep can get me down.
I work full-time as an executive assistant, which I love doing. Going to work helped me stay connected and feel normal during cancer. It is also meant my son, aged 12, didn't have to see me so unwell. But now, when I get home from work, I have very little energy left.
I wonder if the fatigue I experience every day is due to having cancer, being menopausal or both.
When I was going through treatment, my doctors and I didn't really talk about menopause. I guess I didn’t ask about it because I was so caught up with treatment and trying to stay alive more than anything else.
Medically induced menopause is when menopause happens because of surgery, cancer treatment or medication.
Since my cancer treatment, I feel less patient, get overwhelmed more than I used to and have mood swings. But now that I am in the clear, I am on a quest to understand my special, often difficult and frustrating new friend I call menopause – and how to live with it.
I'm exercising as much as I can, practising relaxation techniques and trying different therapies with the help of my doctors.
I’ve also done a lot of my own research to try to better understand what my body is going through.
When I was going through treatment [for cancer], my doctors and I didn't really talk about menopause ... I was so caught up with treatment and trying stay alive more than anything else.
Dagmara, 51, Executive Assistant
I don't want to be forever tired. But I also know I need to be kind to myself because it has only been 6 months since I finished treatment.
I have a lot of responsibilities as a woman, mother, partner, colleague and friend. Finding just a little bit of time for myself – that's one of the hardest parts. But I try.
For those who are perimenopausal or will be joining us menopausal women soon, my advice is to not be scared because it's going to come eventually one way or the other.
Life throws crazy things at you and just being kind to yourself, I think that's all you can do.
Dr Moira Junge, CEO of the Sleep Health Foundation, looks at why sleep can suffer in midlife and what may help.
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