Post menopausal and worried

I've got an appointment with my GP this morning and will ask for an internal examination.

I had a swab test to check for an infection but no infection detected.  I'm not due for another smear test until 2019 (it has now been reduced from every 3 years to every 5 years, i live in the UK).   I feel i was quite well 'investigated' last year due to my uterine polyp ie scan, biopsy of the uterus etc so surely if anything sinister was going on it would have been detected?  Should i ask for an early smear test?

Hi Carina, I'm the same age as you, but when I was 52, I kept getting a pinkish tinged discharge, with tiny specks of blood in it every few weeks. Occasionally I'd get spots of true blood, but nothing a panty liner couldn't deal with, and then one day a sudden rush of blood filled my jeans. Time to visit the GP. It turned out I had womb cancer, aka uterine or endometrial cancer. I had to have a hysterectomy but am absolutely fine, and no recurrence. Womb cancer is far more common than cervical cancer, but never gets much coverage in the news because it is highly curable, and unlikely to recur. I would keep an eye on the discharge pattern. Smear tests rarely detect womb cancer as they scrape the wrong place. Incidentally my GP could find nothing wrong with me when she looked, but had to put me on a 2 week cancer referral as it is now the rules for postmenopausal bleeding.

Hi Jane, im 66 and ive been getting a pinkish discharge for about  three  months now, not much and not every day. ive been adviced to go for a check by lady on hear but ive had no smear tests for 6 years now, i was so put off by the pain of my last one. Im worried what i might have  but cant pluck the courage to go to my gp.  But as you say smear tests dont detect womb cancer so what do they do to diagnosed it? 

Sue 

 

Sorry for the late reply, didn't spot your message. I had the pink-tinged spotting on and off for several months and dismissed it as wasn't true bleeding to me. I felt fine otherwise and in good health. Then I did get the occasional spot of blood, before one day a huge sudden bleed which rather embarrassingly soaked my jeans. Then nothing at all for 6 weeks before pattern started again. GP could find nothing wrong, but is the rules that all post-menopausal bleeding gets a 2 week wait cancer referral to hospital. The first test is an ultrasound up the vagina, I'm afraid. If the endometrial thickness is shown to be thicker than 5mm it is a sign of unusual growth and then you will go on for hysteroscopy for endometrial biopsy, which will prove one way or the other if the growth is cancerous or not. I had a general anaesthetic for this. Unfortunately mine was. So it was an MRI followed by total hysterectomy for me. Like you I've had terrible experiences of smear tests and and had a dreadful time, but at no point did anyone cause me as much pain as I had with smear tests.

Jane thanks for reply, aww that must have been very scary to have that sudden loss of blood like that. Im still losing from a light brown to a pink stained discharge more so the light brown these days.  I had to have the ultra sound up the vagina when they had to check my lining after a slight bleed after being on the vagifem for a few months, all was ok, no thickness of the womb but was told to stop using the vagifem unfortunatley as they really did help with the atrophic problems.  Wonder why the smear tests are so painfull, never hurt before i reached menapause.  How are you now by the way, did you have to have chemo as well?