Hi Andreac. You've certainly had a time of it but things will seem much better now that you have found us lot!
As you are such a young age and are now post menopausal it's considered important for your health to take HRT at least up to the usual menopause age of around 50/51. This is to protect your heart and your bones. There are lots of different types of HRT available and quite often it's necessary to try a few before hitting on the one that suits you best. You may find that a patch HRT gives you much less bloating than a pill one for instance as the patches are not metabolised by the liver and so don't cause as much digestive upset.
Regarding the vaginal dryness. HRT should help with this but also the pelvic radiation can cause a stiffening of the vagina and it's often necessary to use dilators to keep things supple "below". Were you given any advice on this? I guess you've seen the advice following pelvic radiation on the Cancer Research site?
It's a real shock when our body begins to look and feel different to what we've been used to. Some of the changes you mention could be down to you now being in menopause but you have also been through a treatment which must have been really challenging for your body. Don't be so hard on yourself.
Taz x
