A teen who became reliant on opioids to alleviate her pain when her cancer symptoms were dismissed as ‘teenage hormones’ is now going through early menopause months after her treatment.
19-year-old Caitlin Wilde claims she was forced to turn to ‘Dr. Google’ to know why she suffered from hot sweats, bleeding gums, bone pain, fatigue, and bruising after she was turned away from A&E two times.
She was eventually diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia – a rare form of blood cancer.
Caitlyn went through grueling chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. But only six months after she rang the bell, she started experiencing hot sweats again, leaving her scared that her cancer had returned.
But she later found out that she was experiencing signs of menopause.
“Cancer is always the number one thing on my mind, so as soon as I started getting the sweats I thought that’s it, my leukaemia’s back,” Caitlyn told FEMAIL.
“I was given a book about my transplant and there was a mention of menopause and it said I’d be infertile, but it didn’t explain the other implications of menopause.
“While I was waiting for my test results, there was a huge poster on the wall talking about it. It showed a graphic drawing of a woman bent over with osteoporosis and that terrified me. That was when it really hit me that menopause wasn’t just about my periods stopping and being a bit sweaty, it was serious and it terrified me.”
Cait believes her age is the main reason why it took so long for her to get a diagnosis.
“I think there’s a view that young people don’t get sick – they’re just depressed, or it’s their hormones. I kept getting told to change my lifestyle, eat healthy. Even A&E turned me away on two occasions,” she expressed.
“I was recommended a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). But you can’t say my physical symptoms were brought on by depression or anxiety. In a way I used to live the perfect life – I was happy with the way it was before.”
Cait shared how she became dependent on opioids to keep the pain at bay. “I was prescribed morphine at the age of 15 and I became quite reliant on it,” she said. “People are quite surprised when I tell them, but it’s quite common just to shove people of opioids. They are pretty dangerous and addictive.
“It sounds a bit dark but when I was actually diagnosed, I was upset, but it was a relief to know I wasn’t crazy. I wanted to go back to that old doctor and say ‘I told you I was sick’.”
According to Center Research UK, only 20 percent of patients with acute myeloid leukemia will live for 5 years or more after diagnosis.
“The day I got discharged I rang the end of treatment bell, cried, thought it was finally over,” Cait recalled.
Because she was only 17 when she underwent through her treatment, she said that she was non given access to a mental health support worker.
“Because I was only 17 I didn’t have access to a counsellor. My college said they could connect me with someone, but I didn’t find them helpful because I don’t think they understood cancer related trauma. That was difficult,” she expressed.
“Eventually I told my Teenage Cancer Trust nurse that I was struggling. She found it difficult because she really wanted to refer me to a psychoncologist (a clinical psychologist for cancer patients) – but because I wasn’t 18, she couldn’t do the referral. Why should a person have to wait until they’re 18 to have access to that support?”
Cait wants to see more psychological support for women under 18 who have become unfertile because of cancer treatment.
“I think it’s so important people know about the health implications of menopause and how it affects women psychologically. It doesn’t just affect women in their 40s and 50s, it is happening in teenagers,” she added.
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