Bleeding since New Year's. Fab.

[niceboots]

I'm 40 years old and, up until New Year's, I have never had any kind of spotting or menstrual irregularities. Period came as usual and stopped, but some bleeding/spotting continued. "How odd", I thought. Hah! Had a period at beginning of February, spotting continued. Ditto beginning of March, except last week the slight bleeding (it's varied a lot) turned into a a second very heavy period. I went to my GP, well one at my GP's surgery as my one was away, about 6 weeks ago and she referred me for a scan which I had on Friday and they found absolutely nothing abnormal. I should be pleased, but I am feeling very down about it - the not knowing what it is, how long it will continue and how long it will take to get a referral or to see someone about it. She said next step would be to refer to a consultant. Googling has not really been very helpful or informative at all, so I'm trying to find out from personal experiences what it might be or what I could expect if anyone is willing to share. I have a (copper) IUD and have had it for 3 years without any problem.

Has the gp suggested peri menopause?

The GP suggested exactly nothing. She just referred me to the hospital for a scan and gave me a form to have tests for kidney and liver function, no hormone levels which I thought was strange.

I'm 46 so obviously a bit older than you but sometimes I constantly have some kind of discharge, hence wondering.

I had exactly this problem for a whole year in my late 40s until someone actually figured out that my copper coil was out of place. It was removed and replaced and the problem did not recur.

Not saying that is what is happening with you, but it may be something that simple.

Oh god, I feel like such an idiot posting going 'what it it?' when the perimenopause answer is almost certainly the case. Just did some extra reading and wow I have lots of them I thought about it a few times last year, but have pushed it out of my head. I have seen and spoken to my regular GP a handful of times over the last two years about terrible night sweats and also itching - and he's never suggested it, nor did the GP I just saw. She said she'd refer me to a gynae consultant but hardly seems required. So what now?

Thanks for the suggestion RockinD. That sounds horrible for you, but they confirmed IUD was in the right place on Friday.

And thanks to you too JeanSeberg

I spoke to my GP over the phone on Monday and am having a proper consultation on Friday. In the meantime, he prescribed norethisterone to stop the bleeding.

Hope all goes well.