Heavy intermittent bleeding during perimenopause with clots, awaiting ultrasound and blood results

[LeeHarper5]

I am 53 and peri. I still have periods which, sorry for tmi, are generally irregular, light and brown in colour. They start and end with a day or two of spotting.

Last Monday I felt a sudden gush. I was bleeding heavily, bright red blood and passing large clots. No warning, no spotting. The bleeding lasted about 12 hours and stopped as abruptly as it started. I saw a nurse practitioner who prescribed Tranexamic Acid to take when the bleeding starts, took bloods and referred me for an ultrasound which she warned could take weeks. I didn’t take the tablets as the bleeding had stopped.

For the last week there has been a pattern of one day of heavy, bright red blood/clots followed by a day of absolutely nothing (not even spotting). This doesn’t feel or look like typical period blood to me. My mum had fibroids leading to a hysterectomy so I know that could possibly be a reason for the bleeding. My husband passed from cancer and my catastrophising brain is instantly going to worse case scenario.

My bloods show I’m anaemic and extremely low B12. I have a GP appointment later this week to discuss those results. The cancer markers are not back yet or if they are, they are not visible in my online records.

I guess I’m just looking for any similar experiences of this kind of bleeding pattern. I’ve not taken the tablets yet because the bleeding stops and starts so I’d be taking them more than the 4 days you’re meant to.

I had bleeding with blood like you describe which went on for months. Bleeding like this can indeed cause anaemia.

a CA125 test is an inflammation marker test. Did they perform this particular blood test?.

The cause in my case was hormonal in origin; constant rises and falls of both estrogen and progesterone were to blame.

The only treatment that stopped my bleeding completely was endometrial ablation. Tablets weee ineffective. The gynae surgeon also found a fibroid and that was also dealt with. An internal ultrasound only showed a thickened lining. No
mention of cancer.

I ended up seeing a gynae as a private patient mainly due to my gp practice not really wanting to do anything further. He subsequently wrote a stiff letter of complaint to my gp practice.

Thank you so much for responding. The nurse did say they’d include the ca125 test and that if it was raised I’d be put on the 2 week cancer pathway. Those results are not on my online records yet. She also felt my pelvic area and it was soft with no lumps or masses felt.

Sorry your GP practice weren’t as helpful as they could’ve been.

Just posting an update should anyone read this post in the future.
My CA125 was slightly high so put on the 2week cancer pathway.
I had an ultrasound and a fibroid measuring 10.5cm, approx the size of a grapefruit, was found. It was obscuring my ovaries so had a transvaginal scan so they could be checked. Awaiting a GP call regarding next steps.

How high was the ca125, in the thousands or a lot lower?.

Ca125 is an inflammation marker so they are erring on the side of caution here. All sorts of things can raise it: endometriosis is one possibility .

I was a bit younger when I had heavy perimenopausal bleeding and in my case the cause was hormonal. Constant rises and falls of both estrogen and progesterone were to blame (was diagnosed with both PCOS and endometriosis initially). Fibroids can and do cause heavy bleeding and this is far more likely to be the cause. My Internal ultrasound did not show much other than thickened lining.