Post menopausal bleeding - help/advice really needed

It was a thickened uterine lining which triggered my investigations. I was actually having ultrasound for something entirely different when it was spotted. It was followed up by vaginal ultrasound and surgery to remove flat fibroids. No problems since. I hope your mum has good news and makes speedy recovery from her surgery.

Yes Liz, polyps do cause the womb lining to thicken. Urgent referral for hysteroscopy is normal. I think we tend to expect to have to wait for various appointments so it is quite scary when you get referred so quickly.

Is your Mum's hysteroscopy appointment an out patients one?

Thank you so much for your kind words and helpful replies. I am just scared as to why she was referred as a matter of urgency after they made a failed attempt to take the pipelle biopsy. Does this mean that they detected cancer on the scan? She has also had to give consent to say that if they find polyps this Thursday then they are allowed to remove them. I am so worried

Yes Cressida it's an outpatients one!

Liz, I believe investigations for PMB are always done urgently, so try not to worry.

Liz, polyps are apparently quite common in post menopausal women but they are treated 'urgently' It is scary when the hospital phones the day after you've been referred offering you an appointment less than a week later. It certainly freaked me out the first time it happened. By the 3rd time it was more a case of 'not again'.

Don't worry about the consent to remove polyps if they find them, If they can do it in outpatients it avoids the need for it to be done under general anaesthetic.

The reason I asked if it was an outpatient appointment was because it might be an idea for your Mum to see if her GP could give her something to relax her for the procedure. If she tenses up they may not be able to do it.

Thank you all.

Cressida, thank you for your posts. She is having a hysterocopy tomorrow under local and so they said if they find any polyps they will take them there and then. I'm hoping it is polyps and nothing else.

Does anyone know how long results take from a hysterocopy? Could there still be many reasons for daily discharge and a thickened lining?

Sorry for all the questions and thank you all for being so kind and helpful.

Liz x

As she is being seen tomorrow, why not save your questions for the experts?

Good luck.

I know this is an old thread but it came up on the search button. I wish I knew the outcome of Liz's mum's investigation as I've got the same problem and have got a fast forward hospital appointment. Am scared to death...

Tegan : I've had this problem twice now. The first time in 2014 when, following hysteryscopy, I had a polyps removed and again this year when I had more polyps removed at outpatients and a few weeks later another polyps and a fibroid removed as a day case earlier this month. The medical staff have always acted swiftly and have been reassuring. In my case the biopsies have always come back benign which was a relief. I have a thickening of the lining of the womb (also dealt with this month) caused by the excessive oestrogen probably made by me being overweight. I'm waiting to discuss this further with my GP, I gather they can fit a coil that counteracts the hormones.

Don't be alarmed by the speed of appointments. I gather the number of nasty outcomes is tiny compared with the number of women who present with this problem. Good luck...

Tegan, PMB cases are always treated as urgent, so try not to worry too much. In my case the finding was just atrophy, which I was told was the most common cause. I hope it will be something similar for you.

Thanks; this thread is probably the most reassuring thing I've read on the internet [and believe me I've read a lot over the past few days!].

Tegan I know this is an old post but can you tell me how you got on. I have had post meno bleeding. I've seen the gynae, had all the tests and am awaiting the result of the biopsy. I've been googling for nearly a week which is not good. The gynae said it could be a polyp, hyperplasia or cancer. So hoping for the first.

I was fine, moores; turned out to be atrophy. But it was a really scary time and I do feel for you. It seemed to drag on for months, and they kept sending me for more scans. Do hope everything is ok for you. Hugs xx

I was absolutely fine, moores, although it did drag on for quite a while and they kept finding things like 'static bowel'[which, again was nothing to worry about]. It turned out to be vaginal atrophy, which I just use cream for. I'm sorry that you're going through this; I was pretty wretched for months last year when it was happening.They do say that it's more likely to be something not too serious, but that doesn't help much, does it! Hugs to you xx

My GP and a friend who is a retired GP both told me that any post meno bleeding required an urgent referral (ie appt within 2 weeks) to gynae at hospital. I suggest your DM returns to GP and asks why this has not been done.

Thank you Tegan. So glad it all worked out well for you. No news of the biopsy result until possibly Tuesday but the gynae said he was chasing it and as soon as he's got it he will be in touch. Have only had the one bleed which cleared up within a day so am trying to be positive. I have VA too and had been using Ovestin for about ten years. I'm wondering if its something to do with using oestrogen for so long. I've never been on proper HRT which I suppose would have progesterone too but I did read somewhere that too much oestrogen could cause a bleed because of the thickened lining. I'll go armed with questions when I know the result of the biopsy. Meanwhile I'm trying very hard to be positive!

Please let me know how you get on. I spent a whole holiday knowing that I'd have a hospital appointment in the post when I got back, to discuss the results of a scan and, blow me, when I got home [setting off the burglar alarm in the process as I was so desperate to get to the letter] it just said. 'don't need to see you, everything is ok'. At least, last year I pretty much had most of my body checked out [my 2 yearly mammogram was due as well!].

Its so awful when you are waiting for results. In my case its the first thing I think about when I wake up "what if". DH is good but he really doesn't like medical matters especially "down there"! You really had a difficult time Tegan but I'm so glad it turned out well in the end.
Will post again as soon as I have something positive.

I was thinking about what you said about the Ovestin causing the womb lining to thicken, and that does sound the most likely cause. I was prescribed something like that and a lubricant but, as I haven't had [touch wood] a problem since I'm just using the Replens.What did annoy me was that my GP made no mention of the fact that it could just have been atrophy [which is what I thought it was]. The worst bit was when I was in a waiting room and a nurse called me over to ask 'if I had anyone with me'. They were just asking because I was being moved to another part of the hospital, but you can imagine what I thought at the time!!

Hello tegan

Yes, you read the letters very carefully, Tegan, once you've been in that situation with someone - being asked to bring someone with you.

When I worked for the NHS I like to think that I was very careful about any comments I made that people could interpret wrongly.

I did speak to the gynae today. We are lucky to have private cover and he did give me his number and took mine after the consultation. I really really did not want to continue the Ovestin jut in case but I was in so much agony this morning so I text to say would it be OK. He replied he thought it would be fine until we have the definitive biopsy. I think I must have advanced VA because it can be so painful. I bought a vaginal moisturiser from Boots and have used that for a few days but this morning I felt like I had the worst cystitis and pain in the world. Used the Ovestin this morning. I was using it three times a week but will try and reduce it if I can.

I agree. I work in the NHS and have noticed quite often that medics are perhaps not as sensitive as they could be.Think the younger ones are better though.

I'm afraid medics are taught to treat the problem and aren't taught to think of the patient. In my experience they don't even want to address cause or offer advice about future management which is ridiculous.

I had two separate episodes of post menopausal bleeding, two lots of hysteryscopy (?) and finally had an op to remove several polyps and the lining of my womb. I was told that 'large ladies often produce thick linings'. Not very scientific. I still get a vague bleed now and again but nothing as bad as the previous events and I'm certainly not rushing back to the hospital.