Hello from the U.S. I'm Becky and you have no idea how happy I am to find all of you ladies! I guess I'm here because my body is rebelling and I'm in desperate need of reassurance.
This is going to be a bit long-winded, but I wanted those who may have answers to my situation to know where I'm coming from.
I'm 52 and not sure if I'm in the grips of peri, but from what I've read here, sure sounds like a yes. I've never been pregnant. I am not taking any HRT. My hot flashes, night sweats, and weird periods started about a year and a half to 2 years ago. My emotions are all over the map. A coworker I barely know told me his mother had passed away over the weekend and I was fighting back tears. I've never been a crier, but lately, I tear up at the littlest thing. And I have trouble staying asleep. I keep waking up at 1 in the morning.
A little history, I'll try to be brief. For several years in my 30's, I went without a period because I was overweight. I buckled down and lost 40 pounds (about 18kg if the online calculator is correct). When I dropped the weight, my periods came roaring back. Even better, they were mostly regular like clockwork. I currently work in a big box warehouse retail store that is physically demanding and lost another 10 pounds. Depending on how busy my day is, I walk 17,000-20,000 steps in an 8-hour shift. My weight has remained steady since then.
When my hot flashes started, they would fluctuate between mild - "wow, it's warm in here all of a sudden," to very intense - "who decided to sacrifice me to their volcano god?!" My periods also fluctuated, sometimes normal, sometimes light, and once it was so heavy it look like I had been gutted. I would also miss a month or two. I suffer from anxiety, so a missed period when I'm stressed is common for me.
I was in the midst of a few missed periods when a family emergency sent my stress and anxiety through the roof. I live with my mother, who had been hiding a health problem from me. While at work, I texted her to see how she was doing with some new medication for high blood pressure she had gotten the day before. She texted me back that my sister would text me. My stomach dropped to my feet and a shard of ice slid down my spine when I read that. If she wouldn't tell me, it was bad. Long story a little bit shorter: my mother was in the hospital diagnosed with heart failure and had to have bypass surgery. A procedure that should have had her out of the hospital after a week turned into a 6-month nightmare. The staff were incompetent and did everything wrong from day 1. One setback after another delayed her bypass 3 times before she was stable enough (she had 90% blockage in all of her arteries).
This all happened during the height of the pandemic, so the hospital only allowed patients one visitor per day - not one at a time... one per day. My sister stayed with her all day on weekdays, and I was there on the weekends. So I was alone in our house, a complete basket case. I was eventually driven to adopt a pair of kittens just to have another living being in the house. They saved my sanity.
Fast forward to this October. My mother had survived the surgery despite the hospital staff's best efforts to kill her, and she was sent to a cardiac rehab facility. She was in cardiac rehab for about 2 months and was finally able to come home for Christmas. With a lot of hard work, she has regained her strength and we are getting back to our pre-medical scare routine. She even got her driver's license back last month and has been driving me to work every day (I've never had a license, I'm too anxious!).
All this time, I hadn't had my period. I was too wrapped up in my fear for my mother to even realize it had been that long. At the beginning of this August, I started to bleed again. It was very light, watery, and pink. An I didn't pass any clots. All I needed was a panty liner. But after three weeks of non-stop bleeding (spotting? discharge? I don't know anymore.), I thought maybe I had a UTI since I was feeling abdominal pressure and had the urge to urinate every 5 minutes, on top of the bleeding.
At the clinic, I peed in a cup and they took blood. All tests came back negative. My urine was clear to light yellow with no blood in it and my blood test results were all in the normal range, except my glucose levels were a little high. There was no sign of any infection. Turns out, it was just an irritated bladder caused by stress and caffeine. I cut my coffee down to one small cup in the morning and the irritation cleared up quickly. No more pressure or the urge to pee every 5 minutes.
While I was there, the doctor wanted me to get an ultrasound "just in case" and I had to go to the hospital to do it since they didn't have that equipment at the clinic. This scared the hell out of me! When I learned that one of the scans was transvaginal, I declined. Because of trauma I suffered as a child, I can not stand being touched, especially in intimate areas. Nor will I submit to invasive exams or procedures. No way, no how, not gonna happen. They had to settle for a jelly-on-the-belly scan. As it was, I was shaking like a leaf during the scan.
The scan results showed that my uterus is "normal in size and position with no masses" and "there is a 12 x 12 x 9 mm echogenic endometrial focus near the fundus that could reflect an endometrial polyp. Small amount of fluid within the endometrial canal."
September 18th, I woke up to notice there seemed to be a little more fluid. Since I move around a lot at work, I decided to wear a pad instead of a liner that day. Good thing I did. I bent over to pick something up and felt a gush. In the restroom, I saw I was finally having a regular period. The blood was the deep red and volume I was used to. It lasted all of a day and a half, then went back to thin and watery. I don't feel bloated or have cramps. There is no foul smell.
Sorry for the word vomit. I feel better getting it out.
So my questions: weird bleeding caused by stress, peri, polyp, or all/some/none of the above? Low estrogen resulting in thin lining? For those who have had similar experiences, when will this stop? I do not want to take any HRT, I'd rather ride it out naturally. I've cut down on sugar and altered my diet to eat healthier foods that balance out hormones.
Please help!
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Topic: Peri, polyp, non-stop light bleeding (a tad bit long) (Read 772 times)