Question for any meno or postmeno ladies out there.

This is going to be a bit long but please bear with me.  I have a question to ask to see if anyone else has experienced these symptoms and I appologize in advance for my wordiness.  I'll try to make it as short as possible. 

So it begins at what I thought was my last period in May of 2004, age 54.  Normal time frame.  I had no periods after that time until Nov. of 2007, I experienced what felt like PMS symptoms while on vacation.  I even mentioned it laughingly to my husband.  The next morning I woke up bleeding, at 57 after nearly 4 years of nothing.  I put on a pad, which I had to go purchase, and it went on for about five or six days, lightly, but just seemed like a regular period.  I had read somewhere that it is possible to have a "rogue" period where an ovary kicks back in for some reason after you believe you're done.  Then I also read that if that happens, you have to start all over again and count that period as the last one and go from there.  Funnily enough after that one, I had a slight bleed/spotting at monthly intervals, sometimes skipping a month or two,  just like a cycle for almost a year after that with pms symptoms before those, the whole thing with the migraine auras, headaches, irritability, lower GI disturbances, etc.  Then it tapered off again and went away.  Now flash back to 1992, at the age of 42, I had an abnormal pap which showed severe dysplasia.  I had had two abnormal paps in my past at a young age, both turned out to be metaplasia.  The doc was mystified as was I.  No risk factors for cc, etc.  After colpo directed biopsies came back, everything was neg so she insisted on doing a LEEP procedure anyway because of the high grade pap finding just to be sure.  Some docs just have you come back in three months for another pap or colpo but she wasn't one of them.  She even thought perhaps my smear got switched with someone elses.  Upon doing that procedure, which will be definitive in it's findings and curative as well, the final diagnosis was a spot of CIN1 and HPV, which she referred to as genital warts.  There wasn't the big tado about HPV back then really.  Studies have found now that this is the type that does not cause cancer but at the time, she offered no number but just said they were the wart kind but "when they get on your cervix can cause trouble".  I went on for a few years getting reg paps.  No problem.  I think she was a little too aggressive IMO in this case and I guestioned her ethically due to the fact that I was only able to see her for six months follow up and had to find a new doc as she moved out of state.  I thought perhaps she was trying to pad her pockets before leaving to a new practice by doing a lot of unnecessary stuff on me.  It happens, people. 

Anyway, I thought my problem was caused by an the old issue I used to have called "metaplasia" which I had told her about and it's cellular structure will mimic dysplasia or cancer cells under a microscope and unless the cytologist is very experienced, might conclude it to be other than the benign condition that it is. 

Fast forward back up to present.  So I decided to make an appt. with a new doc after a year of uncertainty and fear about my symptoms and just got an appointment with a gp other than an obgyn.  I hadn't had a smear in a while but because of the occasional funky blood/spot/stain/ etc., and the previous medical history with the weird findings, thought it was prudent. 

Low and behold, my result came back with an abnormality, an AGC, atypical glandular cells.  The doc didn't seem that concerned with it.  In fact, I got the report from the lab and called her first and she said I ought to just go to a gyn and get a colpo to make sure it wasn't anything. 

Well I was a bit freaked out!  But that's not the worst of it.  I have a tendancy to self diagnose and I worked in medicine for over 30 years and know quite a bit and have read tons and self educated on gynecological disorders and diseases but not as an educated pro, of course.  But it didn't add up to me still.  That pap result can be anything from nothing at all, to benign conditions to cancer, even in some distant organ other than the reproductive which made it a tad scarey.   However, I also have a retrodisplaced uterus or "tipped womb".  I do know that due to it's positioning that when a pap is taken, especially a vigorous one with the new cyto brush type, cells from the uterus can accidently be in there because the thing is sitting so low in the pelvis.  You're not suppose to see cells from endometrium in the cervix but you will if the person taking those cells gets too vigorous with the brush, and she ground around down there like she was boring for ore, coupled with a uterus that sits too low in there.  These cells then will be observed as "atypical" by the lab and kicked back for further evaluation.  I also know I have a friable cervix because I almost bled out during my LEEP, which scared the hell out of me, and it can bleed on touch even after a pap, especially now since I had the LEEP.  I remember that doc who did the LEEP procedure warning me of that.  "You'll probably bleed now when you have paps and have funky periods from now on."  those were her words.   No wonder she moves around so much.  Geez!   

So my thinking was, and dangerously I admit, that it was much todo about nothing again.  So I watched my symptoms and made daily clinical notes on a log and decided not to follow through with my symptoms or the past abnormal smear but to just watch it and see if it worsened or changed.  I also recalled my mother's experience in her early fifties.  I remember her going to her gp because, "My period started again."  And trust me, my Mom did not discuss her gynecological issues with anyone!  She was given a D and C and was told it was old fibroids.  I guess when they start breaking down as the estrogen depleats, they can bleed which would explain the "old blood" look to the discharge.

I can report that as of this past Sept. the bleeding and rather odd watery discharge I was having for so many years just finally stopped.  It seemed to taper off after an expulsion earlier last year of dark clotty stuff.  Not a lot but weird, and lengthen out between episodes and this is the longest I've gone without any symptoms whatsoever.  Guess that might have bee the last hoorah on it.  I have read that an atrophic vagina and uterus can cause these symptoms too and so can the hormonal swings and imbalances during this time and fibroid death, polyps and so can cancer.  I took the chance since it seemed like going through the angst of a colpo again, findings probably being neg again and having some very expensive and painful tests all over again was very distressing to me. VERY!  It's like that , "Oh no, not again.  No more please!" feeling.  And worst part was when my AGC pap came back that one time, they did not do a test for HPV like they were suppose to.  The reason they did not stated on the lab report was, "No HPV test was done due to pap findings."  What the hell did that mean? 

Anyway, I took my chances and knowing the sequence of events in any progressing cancer, signs and symptoms, I kept vigilant.  Mind you, the AGC pap test have just recently been upgraded from a "wait and see" approach to a more agressive one even though only half of them are anything and the half nothing.  And of the half that could be something, 80% of those are benign conditions and a small percentage then will turn out to be of a more serious nature, a precancer or an invasive cancer.  Seems like a low percentage to me in order to frighten the crap out of women in to more testing and procedures she may not need.  

So over the followng months and years, from Sept of 2009 to now, I've had an on again, off again, spotting anywhere from a dark blood to blackish, barely pink streaks to red blood, tiny clots on tissue but oddly enough, never ever had anything show up on my underwear.  This year it tapered off until Sept when what little pinkish smear or speck on tp finally disappeared altogether and has not returned.  I do believe my own self diagnosis was the correct one, fortunately, and I luckily spared myself of a lot of expensive tests, pain and exploratory investigations, which is popular in this country, and all I probably was experiencing was hormonal changes due to the menopause and some atrophy of the vaginal tissues.  Cancer is a very rare disease still and most are slow growing and progressive.  I just probably dodged a big bullet that may not have been coming at me anyway.  All through this entire thing there has been no pain whatsoever in the abdomen, back or legs, malodorous discharge, which is characteristic of most gyno cancers, no increase in blood or discharge.   

So, what do you think?  Anyone else experienced this or had the same tests results but unlike me, went ahead with all the rigors of investigative medicine only to find nothing wrong?  Or took the chance and did what I did and the end result was same as mine or similar?  Or some other issue was the result. 

All comments are welcome.  I don't condone anyone doing what I did.  It is risky but I felt I did know enough about my body and my medical and family history and risk factors to take the chance.  So like they say, don't try this at home, kids.  And results may vary.

I welcome your responses and appologize for the novel.  . 

Thanks so much for your time and replies in advance. 

0 likes, 3 replies