DD 18 & Urgent referral, worried sick.

[Allromanticsmeetthesamefate]

DD just started uni in September so living away from home. She has suffered from heavy periods, crippling period pain and mid cycle bleeding for a few months but that this has got worse in the time she has moved to accommodation in a different city and meant that she had to make a GP appointment where they put her on the combined pill to try and regulate her cycle.

As well as making her very anxious and emotional they also didn’t stop the bleeding so she was sent for an internal scan which she had last week.

I got a call from her this morning at work in an absolute state as she opened the NHS app to check if update and it said Emergency gynaecology appointment, cannot rule out malignancy. I reassured as much as I could, it could be a lot of things, the likelihood of it being anything sinister at her age highly unlikely etc but she has since spoke to a GP who has confirmed she has been fast tracked for an emergency scan and biopsy and not now I’m really terrified and actually just quite sad that this is her 1 few months at Uni and she is going through it all this herself.

I wondered if anyone could reassure? The GP she spoke to was factual and kind but did say the results were very unusual for DD’s age and I’m not sure if I’m more or less worried.

Oh what a worry, poor DD, hopefully she’s seen and sorted very soon.

Thank you.

I hope it turns out to be something that can be sorted for her, but take heart that she is now in the system and things are on the move. or for you, for your dd

I have no experience to offer reassurance. At least she is being taken seriously. There are too many stories of women being fobbed off for too long.

Not the same, but I had an abnormal first smear age 20 (before the days they raised the age to 25 for first smears), it had progressed to CIN3 by the time I had the smear repeated 6 months later. I was so worried I had cancer. I had to go to colposcopy clinic and have the cells blasted away. Luckily, and with a lot of repeat 6 monthly smears, the treatment worked and I've not needed any further treatment.

Wishing your daughter well in her journey to get to the bottom of what's going on.

DH has just left to pick her up and bring her home, she was prescribed Mefenamic acid but she has been messaging during the night to say it’s not touching the pain and she is in agony.

I am so worried about her.

I’m really sorry she is going through this. I’m also a a bit cross for her home GP didn’t refer her as soon as she started midcycle bleeding.

OP, if she's in that much pain when she gets home to you, why don't you take her to the emergency gynae unit if you local hospital has one of those? Not only will it hopefully help get something better for the pain but they may be able to undertake scan etc and get the ball rolling quicker?

Sending love ❤️

Hi OP, how worrying for you. I just wanted to reassure you that I had a very similar scare in my 20s and it turned out to be endometriosis. So it doesn't mean it isn't something like that or fibroids or a host of other things....just that she is going to be thoroughly checked out. 💐

Thank you @GameOfJones can I ask how symptoms presented for you and how easy it was to diagnose.

DD has raised Lymphocyte markers her Endometrium is thickened by 19 mm’s and is heterogenous.

Thank everyone.

I will definitely be assessing her as her mum when she gets back and wouldn’t think twice about taking her back if she needs to be seen

I’m so sorry OP, poor dd and poor you. I’ve had more than one health thing in my life where there has been a serious and scary possibility, including cancer, but it has turned out in the end to be something less serious. Medical investigation often seems to work by a process of ruling things out and it’s good that they are being thorough. Sending all my best wishes to dd.

Ask for better pain meds if she is still in that much pain.

Has she been given any pain medication?

As above she has been prescribed Mefenamic Acid for pain but it’s not working.

I have every similar symptoms and it turned out to be endometriosis and fibroids.

It's really difficult to find something to help with the pain- mefenanic acid only helps ever so slightly. Lying on her stomach on a hard floor may also help too and heat. Hot water bottle for her stomach.

The main positive is that she's being seen very fast so hopefully will get to the bottom of it very soon.

@Allromanticsmeetthesamefate A thickened, heterogeneous endometrium just means the lining of the womb looks a bit uneven or thicker than average on the scan. There are lots of benign reasons this can happen; hormonal fluctuations, recent or ongoing bleeding, the effects of the combined pill, or something like a small polyp. In young women, it’s almost always hormonal or benign rather than anything sinister. The thickness of 19mm can sound high, but if the scan was done at a certain point in her cycle (especially just before a period), that’s not unusual at all.

The raised lymphocytes are a marker that her body’s immune system is responding to something- that could be inflammation, infection, or even stress. It’s not specific for cancer and in someone her age, much more often linked to things like viral infections or general inflammation.

The biopsy and follow-up are just to make sure they know exactly what’s causing it, they’re being thorough, which is exactly what you want.

I know how hard it is seeing “emergency” and “fast track” in the same sentence, but the NHS uses that pathway whenever something isn’t immediately clear, not just for cancer. At her age, serious causes are very rare.
The waiting is always the hardest bit, but you’re doing brilliantly being calm and supportive for her. ❤️

@Allromanticsmeetthesamefate my symptoms were extremely heavy periods, flooding and breakthrough bleeding along with pelvic pain. I was wearing a tampon plus a pad and soaking through in under an hour. I couldn't walk very far when I was bleeding or I would flood.

Diagnosis was via a transvaginal ultrasound and laparoscopy. The hospital team were lovely and I can't say it was comfortable having the tests but after my internal ultrasound the sonographer could reassure me that it was looking like endometriosis. It's not an ideal diagnosis but obviously far, far better than it being anything malignant.

I have gone on to have two DDs and now have a mirena coil to help with my symptoms which has helped me a lot. So if it does turn out to be that, your DD will be ok.

Thank you this has really helped and reassured me. ❤️

Very similar symptoms to DD, thank you for sharing and glad it was something manageable. ❤️

That sounds terrifying - I’m so sorry. But also like the NHS is doing its thing, and you will get answers very quickly.

Mefenamic acid won’t do much on its own. As an interim measure, and unless contraindicated, I suggest the strongest cocodamol you can get over the counter. That’s what I used to use as a young adult with endometriosis, along with the mefenamic acid.

They will have used the two week pathway to get her into the system asap - otherwise she could be sitting on a waiting list for over 6 months in agony. As others have said, given her age and otherwise good state of health, it is unlikely to be anything life threatening but most likely will require intervention, so best she gets that done sooner rather than later to not be in any more pain than is necessary

I had endo and horrific periods. Mefanamic acid never did a thing for me. I found ibuprofen taken with Tramadol or codeine were the only things that helped, plus heat pads and baths. Emotional stress makes the physical pain worse as well, so listening to some relaxing meditation tracks or soothing music in the bath might help a little too.

She needs pain relief aswell op. Maybe you could ask at pharmacy. Note , may need a laxative if it's codeine

So she has abnormally heavy periods and instead of investigating the root causes, they just put her straight on the hormonal contraceptive. Because it's cheap, quick and easy. The NHS are still up to their old tricks I see.

Your poor DD. I hope she can get this resolved quickly.

OP how is your DD?

Hop your dd is ok. Sending hugs

Hope your DD is feeling a bit better just being home with you and her dad, x