Hello,

Thanks for posting a question for us.  After someone has had their breast removed for breast cancer, even in situations where the doctors think they have caught it early and most likely cured them, there is a chance that some very tiny cancer cells might have already spread to other parts of the body. These right now might be too small to see on scans.  This may well not have happened, but as the doctors cannot be 100% certain they often will prescribe hormone medicines to reduce the chances of any microscopic cancer cells starting to grow at some point in the future.  I imagine this is the main reason they are recommending that your partner take these medicines. 

If your partner starts to experience menopausal side effects from these treatments she can discuss this with her doctor or breast care nurse who may be able to suggest some ways of helping.  If menopausal symptoms are very severe, some people, on discussion with their doctor, decide to stop taking them.  But we would always strongly recommend discussing this with the medical team first before deciding to do it, so that together they can weigh up the risks of not taking the drug against the amount of benefit they may get from it.

I hope that helps

Martin