Hormonal disturbances are an all too common result of cancer therapy and can occur due to many types of treatment; surgical, radiation therapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy.^{3 14 31} Both men and women can experience changes in their hormones as a result of cancer treatment. This hormone change can be due to a couple of reasons. One is that hormones such as estrogen or testosterone may help some cancers grow. Therefore, quickly lowering hormone levels is part of the cancer treatment. Second, some chemotherapy drugs or radiation treatment involving the pelvic area can make hormone levels drop if the testes or ovaries are getting radiation. In both cases, unwanted side effects can occur.

Experiencing menopause related symptoms is not unusual. Several studies report 50% or more of women with breast cancer experience disturbances in temperature regulation, irritability, sleep, bone, vaginal, sexual, and urinary health.²⁷ Research is attempting to provide evidence for effective alternative treatments to hormone replacement therapy in an effort to prevent unwanted symptoms as a result of hormonal changes. Studies have also shown that women with breast cancer often report more frequent and more severe menopausal symptoms than women without breast cancer.^{18 5 28}

For men receiving androgen ablation treatment for prostate cancer, side effects expected include hot flashes, decreased libido, changes in fat content in the blood, changes in fat and muscle in the body and bone thinning (osteoporosis).^{24 33 19} Therefore, symptoms related to hormone changes may be experienced by both men and women. These symptoms and interventions for relief will be discussed on the following pages.

As a woman, menopause is an expected, if not anticipated, event in life. Menopause is marked by the cessation of ovarian function, with an accompanying decrease in sex hormones, namely, estrogen and progesterone.^{43 41} Women expect to confront these hormonal changes with their most prevalent symptom, hot flashes, around age 50. At this time, most women would expect to speak with their physician about possible hormone replacement therapy to help cope with the decrease of hormones in their body. If a woman has been diagnosed with breast or gynecologic cancer, menopause may come sooner than expected and be more distressing than anticipated. In addition, most women with a history of cancer do not have the option of using hormone replacement therapy.

Men do not go through "menopause" in the same way women do. Testosterone levels in men are thought to decrease over their lifetime, beginning at age 30⁴⁰, but levels do not drop sharply and may not go far below normal. Aging males are thought to lose about 1.2% of their body's useable testosterone each year.⁴⁰ However, men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer and treated with hormone therapy will have large drops in their testosterone levels and may experience symptoms such as hot flashes, decreased sex drive, decreased muscle mass and osteoporosis.⁴⁰ Menopause-related symptoms are something most men never expected they would face.