Ya know, I really thought things were looking up when I got that cortisone shot for my knee and the pain went away. Now I have an appointment for an abdominal ultrasound and then I have to go see the doctor after that. Why do I have to have the ultrasound? Because I've gone through menopause (and let me tell you, I was damned glad to see the end of periods and all that they entail) and up until last night, I haven't had a period in 6 years and haven't missed them at all (and I was lucky, my hot flashes, night sweats, and mood swings didn't last all that long). I started spotting last night, and today it's like a full-blown period.....boo hiss. So I called the doctor's office and talked to her nurse, gave her the details, and she said she would talk to the doctor and call me back. When she called back, she said the doctor had set me up for the ultrasound, and when I see her she wants to do an endometrial (sp?) biopsy of my cervix. I don't know what they're looking for, or what the hell could be wrong, just that after six years with no periods, I definitely shouldn't be having one now. I don't know if I should be worried or not. I tried researching it online and can't find anything relating to my situation. Plenty of information about menopause (don't need that, been there done that), plenty of information about menstrual periods (don't need that, been there done that), no information about getting a period after going through menopause. Surely I'm not the only woman who has ever had this problem? I don't know if it could be a side effect of the cortisone shot, or a side effect of the 10 lbs I lost (and I think I might have lost more weight, my clothes are a little looser, but I'm not sure about that since I'm not dieting and I'm not doing a lot of exercise yet). My pap smear last year was normal, but I remember my mother always having abnormal ones and having to have some kind of freezing/burning procedure done to her cervix several times before they finally decided she needed a hysterectomy.
The other thing I'm worried about is how much good is it going to do to have an ultrasound? I mean, I have quite a bit of fat on my stomach around my waist, so is the ultrasound even going to be able to "see" anything inside me? I hate not knowing and having to wait until Tuesday for the ultrasound, and then I have to wait until Thursday to see the doctor and find out what's going on. I don't have a lot of patience when it comes to my health, I want to know what's wrong and I want to know now, dammit. The sooner I find out, the sooner we can work on fixing it, to my mind, anyway. Y'all keep your fingers crossed for me, kthnx.
Friday, January 18, 2008
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I think they can either do a vaginal ultrasound, or that the abdominal one will "see" just fine. I hope they find out what's up with you, because the period after six years without? Freaksauce.
ReplyDeleteI hope it turns out to be nothing worth worrying about. That said, when this happened to my MIL, it turned out not so great. I don't mean to stress you out or anything but I am glad you are getting it looked into and that your doctor is on the ball with it.
ReplyDeleteTry a google for "Postmenopausal bleeding". Good luck, and hope it goes well!
ReplyDeleteHi-- I have never replied to you before, but I do enjoy your blog, and am wishing you good luck.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to tell you that I imagine they may do a transvaginal ultrsound, which means they will actually put a want in your vagina to see things. They would do this no matter what your size, but it should eliminate any issue of the ultrasound results being diminished in any way because of fat.
(delurk)
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm sorry to hear that you're having these symptoms. I'm not a medical professional, but I thought that I'd try to set your mind at ease a little bit about the ultrasound from my own experience. Unlike in the later stages of a pregnancy and what you always see on TV, the ultrasound will probably not be external, but one that is inserted in the vagina. It's not the most comfortable experience, but you won't have to worry about them being able to see anything through adipose tissue. Also, a quick Google search using "symptom vaginal bleeding after menopause" (although without the quotes) does give some hits with some possible causes, ranging from low estrogen to uterine growths to cancer. I'm hoping you're just having a little hormonal swing, and it's nothing serious. :) Good luck!
(relurk)
Boo hiss on the period!! The type of ultrasound they'll probably do is a vaginal one, they put a condom on it and use it that way. It's painless and able to see everything, I had one when I was in the hospital. I'm sure everything is fine, sometimes when you lose a little weight estrogen is released through your body and wacky things happen!!! I'm not a doctor, I read a lot on the internet :)!!
ReplyDeletePlease try to relax. They should be doing an internal ultrasound (they don't hurt, the scope just looks from inside your vagina) which will see what's up (your body weight won't matter).
ReplyDeleteIf there is unusual bleeding they have to check for the possibility of cancer of the uterus. It isn't very likely, but that the signal to do a screening test. An ultrasound of the uterus is usually done with a probe in the vagina, so I think the shape of your abdomen wouldn't be a problem (and yes, they can do it when you are bleeding).
ReplyDeleteI had the test for excessive bleeding during perimenopause and they measured the size of my fibroids to see if they grew.
jogeek - I googled it, and got enough information that I'm not as worried as I was, so thank you. I don't why I didn't think of the postmenopausal bleeding term, I had one of those "duh!" moments as soon as I saw it. I guess I was more freaked than I thought and was having a major brainfart.
ReplyDeletegoingloopy - yeah, that vaginal ultrasound is probably what they'll do, so I hope they can see what's up with all this.
scarlet - thanks, I'm glad she's on the ball with it too. I'm usually really healthy (other than the arthritis and fibromyalgia) so when something like this happens, I tend to want to know NOW what is wrong. Other things I'll put off going to see the doctor about, but not something like this.
sophiabrooks - thanks, I do worry about the fat when it comes to doctors being able to palpate and feel what's inside, and an abdominal (outside my body) ultrasound might have probs. The vaginal one, not so much maybe.
audrey - thanks. The main reason I worried about the bleeding was because I never did the HRT (a friend of mine did when she was going through menopause and had bleeding). When I went through menopause, I went to the doctor a couple of times, she said yeah, that's why my periods stopped (I was 48), she recommended HRT to stop the hot flashes and night sweats, and I said that's ok, I can deal with them, so thanks but no thanks.
michelle - boo hiss is right...lol.. it's not just the bleeding, it's the damned cramps. I can definitely live without those.
anonymous - yeah, i figured that out when I googled the term jogeek gave me. Those "duh!" moments are so embarrassing.
pem - yeah, cancer is a possibility, so are fibroids, and so is a hormonal imbalance. I'm hoping for the lesser of the evils.
Oo, lucky you, you get to ride the dildocam! I hope you have a good wandmonkey. As for the biopsy, I suspect they'll just scrape a little of your uterine lining off, it'll probably feel like a pinch, much like a regular pap smear. I might be wrong, though, so don't take my word as gospel.
ReplyDeletePS, they'll still be able to see stuff if they do an external ultrasound, they do them on fat pregnant women all the time and pictures are fine. And if they can't see anything, all that means is that you've got a crappy tech doing the scan, nothing to do with you at all.
ReplyDeleteorodemniades - yeah, I am so not looking forward to that, I don't even like having pap smears done (it's why I hadn't had one done in over 8 years until my physical last year, and did I get the riot act from my doctor over that). I think I might, maybe, have had 4 or 5 paps in my life, which is not a good thing, but I got tired of hearing about how fat I was and how much I needed to lose weight while they were poking around down there. At least the doctor I have now doesn't do that, so maybe now I'll keep up with that kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteI'm hoping they have good techs at our hospital, the one who did my x-rays on my knees was good, so maybe the rest of the techs are good too (it's a small town, so who knows for sure until you have to see them).
Good luck and I hope everything turns out well.
ReplyDeleteMY OWN WOMAN - Thanks, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's nothing major.
ReplyDeleteHi Mariellen ... I've heard from a coworker who was 2 years into menopause that her period came back. Well, not a "period" per se, but bleeding like you described. So it's not unheard of, but definitely it's good that you're going to get checked out.
ReplyDeleteI had to have an ultrasound about 6 months ago and I, too, have the belly fat issue. They used a "wand" to ultrasound me (they did the on-the-outside-of-the-tummy ultrasound too). The wand is just like a big, um, steel dildo that the nurse or you will insert into your vagina, and then the nurse moves it around for a few minutes while she does the ultrasound. Not fun, but not painful either.
I will be thinking good thoughts for you as you go through this. Hope it's nothing major, and please keep us posted. ((hug))
Thanks, Ursula. I should know something by Thursday, at least from the ulrasound. I won't have the biopsy done until Thursday, so I'm not sure when the results from that will be back. But I will keep y'all posted on results as I get them. :)
ReplyDeleteIt is kind of fun to look at your insides on the screen. I hope you find out you're ok and it's an easy thing to fix.
ReplyDeletebtw...The low carb thing can cause a recomposition of body tissue, it's a hormonal (insulin) thing and independent of weight loss. If you have less insulin in your system, more of what you eat goes to maintain and build muscle tissue instead of being sent to your fat cells. The more insulin in your system, the more insulin resistant you get, the more resistant you are, the more nourishment goes to fat cells. You might also notice more energy, stamina or muscle strength for the same reason.
nonegiven - I plan on watching the screen if I can. Maybe the low carb thing is changing other hormones besides insulin and that's the cause, One more thing to ask the doc when I see her.
ReplyDeleteEstrogen is produced by the fat cells so losing some fat could change your hormone balance. Many of our hormones are made from cholesterol and low carb is known to change that. Good cholesterol (HDL) rises, triglycerides and VLDL (the worst) drop, LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol changes it's composition from the mostly small, dense, easily oxidized kind that sticks to arteries to the mostly larger, fluffy, safer kind. I don't know what effect this might have on hormone balance but it wouldn't surprise me to find it did.
ReplyDeleteI've been eating this way for 3½ years. I've had 5 periods in the last 2 or so years but I don't know if it would have been different with different symptoms if I ate differently. I know it did seem to help the cramps, a lot, though.
I had a cortisone shot for my knee last Thursday and started to spot very lightly on Sunday. It is hardly anything at all but after being postmenopausal for 54-5 years it scared me! I was able to find some information on the web that cortisone can cause this in postmenopausal women. I made an appointment with my ob/gyn and hopefully it is nothing. Like you, I have lost some weight so maybe between that and the shot...
ReplyDeleteYeah... nothing like getting older!
Yeah, I finally got all my results back from the biopsy and the ultrasound, and there wasn't anything wrong, so that's a relief. I haven't had any more spotting since the biopsy, so I'm hoping it was a one-time thing from the cortisone shot. Aging is a PITA, but no way around it, so we get to grin and bear it, I guess :)
ReplyDelete