Having a bit of a meltdown. I've had very a troublesome menopause so far. Debilitating vasomotor symptoms mainly. Can't take anything in tablet form (makes me sick) put on sequential HRT patches (terrible side effects during the transition period) so then put on continuous HRT patches, which precipitated a 23 day long bleed and the return of all my symptoms. GP prescribed oestrogel and noristherone the latter is oral but didnt actally make me sick and this has been working fine. however my GP hadn't prescribed this before and so with my support made a referral to our local hospital menopause clinic.
My last thing I can describe as a period was in June 2019 but its not my last bleed- I've had spotting and also this 23 day episode. I'm 52 and I think probably peri - probably should be on sequential HRT but it made me so ill I had to come off it and the non sequential regime has been great. Just the odd bit of bleeding.
So I had a consultation with the Gynae doctor at my local hospital 3 weeks ago- I wasn't aware that this was the service I had been referred to. I wanted to be treated at a menopause clinic not a gynae dept. But found that this appears not actually have been the case. There seems to be an altered perspective on bleeding such as mine by gynaecological oncologists that I unwittingly (and without any desire from me), found was advising my menopause treatment. When I mentioned the bleeding (this was in a phone consultation at 4.30pm on a Friday) the response was "oh you should have no bleeding on continuos HRT". I've only been on it for four months!! But she referred me for a trans vaginal ultrasound scan. This is a big deal for me because I have been raped and therefore i have a real problem with internal investigations. My GP prescribed enough diazepam to knock out a horse which I took before the dreaded exam. I was so stressed about it I lost 5lb in a week due to being unable to eat or sleep, began having nightmares about the assault (in law it's not called rape because it was not with a penis but to me it was rape). I ended up in a right mess by the time I got there.
I'm fairly slim anyway and the loss of weight left me unhealthily skinny. The sonographer clearly decided (presumably within Trust policy) that she could take the measurements through my abdomen and did it that way. So the shed load of diazepam, weight loss and panic had arisen because the gynae doctor didn't know the policy of her own scanning department -and I had made it clear that i would have problems with a TVS
This is devastating for me- nearly 2 weeks later neither I or my
GP have had the scan report back. I've bled since and I'm now so petrified I can't sleep eat or do anything. I made a GP appt to discuss but it got messed up and so now it's been rescheduled til later this week. Still nothing from this gynae doctor. She's managed to put the fear of god into me and I can't shift it. I'm a scientist and I know the endometrial cancer risk is low and the chances of false positives for this type of investigation are high. I feel that I'm part of a box ticking exercise designed not to miss cancers and enable the gynae doctor to sleep at night. What is terrifying me is the thought of the hystersocopy she suggested. I said I would need a GA and she laughed, like I was joking.
I've gone from a difficult menopause to one that's now been pathologised and I'm terrified. has anyone else had this experience or anything like it?
