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[Jumpingjules]

I am 59 and had my last period at 52. Been on HRT ever since (estrogel 2 pumps plus 100 mg utrogestan per day)
No issues in almost 8yrs until recently a two day spotting incident. Spoke to duty GP who became very engaged and referred me for an ultrasound under the two week cancer pathway. Obviously I was really nervous about this but gladly went along. I thought it might be more to do with my nervous state - at the time of the bleed both my mum and best friend had died within a week of each other. Dr said no. All pst menopause bleeds are serious.

The scan was carried out a week later and the radiographer identified two small fibroids, and said the womb lining was 4.5mm mostly but was 6.9mm in another spot. This is over the marker for normal and must  be investigated. GP called me 24 hrs later and said off for a hysteroscopy at once. She also said I should stop HRT immediately. I questioned this as it seemed a bit extreme. She said I would be fine. I did so whilst waiting for the appointment. I got terrible heart palpitations within four days (never had before) and by 10 days they were constant. Restarted HRT. Palpitations stopped in a few days. Saw the consultant who said never go cold turkey and said carry on with HRT. He was not concerned about me and said that if the womb lining was thick he would fit a Mirena coil, to get rid of it.
So day of hysteroscopy comes around, have read so many horror stories and was worried. Took two tablets of Solpadeine max (500mg paracetamol and 12.5mg codeine - stronger than usual co-codamol) about an hour before.
The procedure was done without local and was uncomfortable but not too painful. As he expected the womb lining was actually completely normal. It wasn’t even thick enough to take a biopsy which is good. After effects were cramping like a period and swollen tummy - they put a lot of water in you. Wore off after two hours. Some bleeding.  He thinks the radiographer confused the fibroids. He also said many NHS scanners don’t read the womb lining thickness accurately - there’s a private scan you can have instead of a hysteroscopy which is more accurate.
So reason for the post. Don’t panic if you get an abnormal womb lining measurement. The gold standard is the hysteroscopy and bite the bullet or the Solpadeine and get it looked at. I went from “serious” to nothing wrong at all. Hope this helps. x

[Dotty]

Thanks for your post.  Glad all is ok.  I've been through the same thing four times....all ok and nothing found thankfully.

[Jules]

That's great that you managed the procedure with painkillers. I wish I'd had the same experience.  Just to point out, I did bite the bullet, I wanted it done so I could get my travel insurance for my imminent holiday. I drove myself there and back, I took painkillers.  It made no difference.  It wasn't a case of not being tough. I hope nobody thinks that.

[SaFa]

I am 57, I had ablation about 5 years ago for two large fibroids which caused bleeding even after I had had the coil fitted. This stopped the bleeding (caused by fibroids growing into womb lining)At the time I was very worried about having Estrogel as I had been told this caused fibroids to grow- I have been told subsequently that this is not the case, they don’t grow as such but swell with blood normally during a cycle but this happens less and less during menopause and estrogen HRT doesn’t affect them drastically. However,the last six months ,I have had several bleeds and some quite heavy which I put down to fibroids playing up again but when I read up about post menopause bleeding on HRT and especially with a coil, bleeding was more likely caused by too high a dose of estrogen in relation to progesterone. I stopped my gel( 2 pumps a day) and the bleeding stopped but other symptoms reared their heads again! I started back up again just with 1 pump a day about six weeks ago and things improved without the bleeding coming back but I have put on weight rapidly, especially around my middle and hips and got painful,heavy legs, puffy face and feet - I don’t want to go backwards! But I don’t want to bleed all the time.. spent most of 45 too afraid to leave the house because of gushes! Is the weight gain a residual effect of too high a dose of estrogen over the last six months or an effect of too low a dose? Can’t get any advice from GP! Always been useless and feel bad to pester consultant all the time..