If you're post menopausal read this....posting here for traffic

[happinessischocolate]

I didn't know this, so passing it on.....

I am a Family Doctor and I want to keep a promise made to a patient.

Julie was a healthy, post-menopausal woman in my care who came in for a periodic health examination. One of my routine questions, in what is called the “Review of Systems”, was to ask if she had experienced any vaginal bleeding.

She said “No” but then laughed and added, “Other than when my period came back for a few months last year”.

All health care professionals are taught early on that ‘vaginal bleeding in a post-menopausal woman is Cancer of the Uterus until proven otherwise’. This comment by Julie was, therefore, a red flag (no pun intended) prompting further questions, an examination and an ultrasound of her pelvis.

Julie was surprised to see me so concerned, especially since the symptoms had not recurred over many months.

Sure enough, a pelvic ultrasound and tissue sampling confirmed Cancer of the Uterus.

Julie underwent a hysterectomy and radiation therapy. She is now healthy, cancer-free and is expected to stay that way.

After all this was done, Julie sat ME down for a talk. She told me she’d had no idea a ‘short return’ of her period after menopause was a danger signal. Furthermore, she addressed the topic with friends over coffee and discovered that, out of 20 women, NONE of them knew this symptom was abnormal! She admonished me to “Tell women this! Don’t assume we know it!”

From that day on, I have kept Julie’s advice in mind when talking with post-menopausal patients. But recently my wife suggested that I should take this to a wider audience.

So, Julie, this is for you:

If you are a post-menopausal woman and your period ‘comes back’ or you have even one episode of vaginal bleeding, TELL A HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONAL and insist on having it investigated!

Wishing you all good health and long lives.

Thanks OP.
Will spread the word.

Thank you. I like to think I'm pretty clued up on women's health issues but apparently not. I didn't know this either.

I didn’t know this. Thank you. I still have my periods, but I’ll tell my mum.

OP, do you know why this happens? Family history or any other reason?

Thank you op

I didn't know this but will definitely be mindful of it now. Thanks OP, and please thank Julie next time you see her!

Yes I do know that. I thought it was common knowledge. I also know that when one wishes others to do something it is customary to ask politely and say please rather than instructing and shouting using capitals.

I hope you invited Julie to use your first name btw as you are freely using hers.

This is being posted all over Facebook at the moment so I very much doubt the OP is the actual Doctor.

How do you know when you are post menopause? Intermittent periods with longer gaps. How do you know which was the last one?

I am sorry but this is scaremongering in the extreme.
I also doubt the OP is a GP.
While post menopausal bleeding can ( rarely) be a symptom of uterine cancer it is thankfully quite rare.
And this statement All health care professionals are taught early on that ‘vaginal bleeding in a post-menopausal woman is Cancer of the Uterus until proven otherwise’. is rubbish.

HCPs will investigate with an open mind.
Post menopausal bleeding is not uncommon, but the vast majority of causes are linked to atrophy or thinning of the vaginal or uterine walls, hormonal changes or polyps.
While post menopausal bleeding always need to be investigated I think this "story" is unhelpful.

Is this an American thing? No one I know has a "periodic health examination".

You don’t say how many years post menopause Julie was when she experienced this but something similar happened to my grandmother.

She had a late menopause aged 56 and, following a one-off bleed years afterwards in her 60s that she did not report for several months, was diagnosed with cancer of the uterus and needed a hysterectomy. Sadly, this procedure wasn’t enough and she died soon after because the cancer had already spread.

Thanks so much for highlighting this. We all need to be aware.

@RedDiamond

This is being posted all over Facebook at the moment so I very much doubt the OP is the actual Doctor.

Columbo's got nothing on you 😁 maybe the clue was in my first sentence

I didn't know this, so passing it on....

Really sorry to hear that about your grandmother @AcornsTrustee

To some of the other posters:
If it turns out it's just a viral thing that's actually rare I still don't regret sharing it, I'd never heard it was anything to worry about rare or not.

@JayAlfredPrufrock

How do you know when you are post menopause? Intermittent periods with longer gaps. How do you know which was the last one?

You don't have a few periods, you note this, and you start counting from the last one, and when you have reached twelve months without a single period you are considered in post-menopause. But if you then get a period, say seven months after the previous 'last one', you start counting again... That's how I understand it. Once you are definitely post-meno, any bleeding should be investigated.

I've been told at least twice by health professionals that any bleeding post menopause needs to be checked out - but I'm not in the UK. I really think it is important women are given this information.

Thank you for posting this. I’m glad that Julie is healthy now.

If only we had some kind of punctuation mark to indicate a first person statement was copy paste bollocks from facebook not our actual words.

This doesn’t read right at all. I don’t believe the post - and that doesn’t help the point you are trying to make. And surely everyone knows that any post menopausal bleeding needs to be investigated.

I was going to ask a question, assuming from your post that you were actually a doctor, but it appears that you are merely trained in copying and pasting and not medicine.....

Hmm, I’m dubious about this post as well. My periods stopped for at least 22 months when I was late forties. I went to Dr, she said “periods will do what they like”. I asked it it could be menopause, she said “no far to early”. I then had another two over a couple of years and that was it. Dr wasn’t bothered at all. No examination, no offer of HRT, no hormone tests.

Is this what's known as a copypasta ?

It's absolute bollocks and just the usual viral shit that if it's posts all over Facebook

However.. looking past all that, the message is correct. If you know you have gone through the menopause then you must see a doctor if you have any further episode of vaginal bleeding. Quite how you know you're definitely through it is something you'd need to work out as periods don't tend to just stop with a bang. Oh and it's not an automatic death sentence if you do bleed. It's just something to be aware of and know that you should seek advice should it happen

I'm postmenopausal and I knew this. There's no harm in raising awareness, though maybe not quite so dramatically.

That full 12 months thing has been trolling me. 363 days between my last two periods! My hormones still cycle but mot at the levels required, though I currently have full on premenstrual symptoms, including extra lax and painful joints, cold sores and that bloody enormous chin hair that appears 2 weeks before a period...