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54 y/o post menopausal for 2 years and started spotting

starrynight5626
starrynight5626 CSN Member Posts: 17 Member
in Uterine/Endometrial Cancer #1

Hi. I am on Climara estrogen patch and 200mg of progesterone, which I've been on for several months. I was on 100mg of progesterone, but my doctor upped it for me about 6 weeks ago. About a month ago I noticed very, very light pink, almost hard to see, spotting when I wiped. Within the next few days it remained the same but now with some dark brown blood but pretty much only showed on the tp when I wiped. I realized I had forgotten to put on a new patch when I took the old one off, which had been 2-3 days. I then put a new patch on and it seemed to fix the issue.

However 3 days ago I went to the bathroom and noticed there was just a small spot of blood on my underwear. I went to wipe and there was the dark brown blood back. It has been consistent for 3 days and now seems to be somewhat more towards pinkish/red and there is more this time than there was the first time last month. I also have this heavy feeling in my stomach like I used to get before I got my period.

I saw my doctor this morning and she says that it's most likely hormones causing this, but scheduled me for an endometrial biopsy next week and a pelvic ultrasound the following week.

Anyone else her eon HRT and had this breakthrough bleeding after menopause?

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Comments

  • NoTimeForCancer
    NoTimeForCancer CSN Member Posts: 3,619 Member
    #2

    I can't comment re: the HRT but I wanted to say I am glad you told your doctor and they are investigating.

    Please let us know what they find out and for sharing this all in case other women who are on, or started, HRT are curious.

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  • starrynight5626
    starrynight5626 CSN Member Posts: 17 Member
    #3

    So it has been 11 days now of bleeding. It started dark brown then went to red and heavy, and for the past 3 days it's back to being dark brown and much lighter. I have an endo biopsy tomorrow and a pelvic scan next week. This seems to be following a pattern with my HRT so I am guessing that is where the bleeding is coming from, but we'll see what the results say.

    I'm a little nervous about the biopsy but I told my doctor that I had a LEEP about 20 years ago and she said if you handled that ok then the biopsy won't be as bad.

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  • NoTimeForCancer
    NoTimeForCancer CSN Member Posts: 3,619 Member
    #4
    https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1725888#Comment_1725888

    Good luck tomorrow and let us know how it all goes.

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  • starrynight5626
    starrynight5626 CSN Member Posts: 17 Member
    #5

    I went to get the biopsy this morning and turns out the doctor couldn't do it because my cervix was too tight. We had to reschedule for 2 weeks out and she's giving me misoprostal to take a few hours before to soften it up.

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  • NoTimeForCancer
    NoTimeForCancer CSN Member Posts: 3,619 Member
    #6
    https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1725910#Comment_1725910

    Ahhhh…yes, my doctor couldn't do a biopsy on me and instead she scheduled me for a D&C. I'm sure it was very frustrating.

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  • starrynight5626
    starrynight5626 CSN Member Posts: 17 Member
    #7
    https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1725924#Comment_1725924

    Yes, I hadn't been too stressed about it until about when I was ready to leave for it, but then when I was there that was just amplified by me sitting there with her trying to figure out how to get it to open. There was a student in there with her so although that wasn't stressful, it's just one more person in the room.

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  • cmb
    cmb CSN Member Posts: 1,012 Member
    #8

    Yes, I've never had success with the doctors doing a biopsy. Like NoTimeForCancer, I had two D&Cs instead. First time I was okay. Second time years later showed cancer, which started me on the path to surgery, chemo and radiation.

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  • starrynight5626
    starrynight5626 CSN Member Posts: 17 Member
    #9

    So I have my biopsy next week, but I had a pelvic ultrasound a few days ago and got the results today. I've had 3 previous pelvic ultrasounds because they were monitoring a mass on my ovary which they say is just a stable endometrioma and aren't concerned since it's been stable. This ultrasound was to diagnose the post-menopausal bleeding.

    This time they found the endometrial stripe thickness was .8 cm which is not normal since most are under .4cm. They also found what they are calling "an echogenic area within the endometrium measuring 12 x 6 x 9 mm which could represent a polyp."

    They're impression was:

    8 mm thickened endometrium in a postmenopausal female with a focal hyperechoic area measuring 12 mm which could be a polyp. Consider a hysterosonogram.

    So I guess I'll have to do that as well as this biopsy next week.

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  • NoTimeForCancer
    NoTimeForCancer CSN Member Posts: 3,619 Member
    #10
    https://csn.cancer.org/discussion/comment/1726034#Comment_1726034

    Please keep us posted. Try not to get too far ahead of yourself right now. Hugs dear.

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