Hello
Thank you to everyone for sharing their experiences - its been so helpful.
I'm 53 and have been having spotting and light bleeding for a couple of days a month for the past 12 months. At first very seldom. ie once or twice from last June to November when I went to the GP who referred me for an ultrasound. I'm on hrt (oestrogel) and have had a mirena coil in place for 4 years. I hadn't had a period for about 18months before the spotting but its hard to tell quite what's what menopause-wise with a mirena coil. I have a minor risk factor in that I am obese (BMI 32).
The ultrasound showed endometrial thickness of 3.9mm which is obviously good. There was, though, mention of the endometrium being "heterogenous and poorly-defined". According to the BMS guidelines the 3.9mm is below the red-flag levels but the BMS guidelines are less clear about the "heterogenous and poorly defined" aspect. GP said all well. I asked about the "heterogenous and poorly defined" thing and she requested advice and guidance from the local hospital gynae team who said unconcerned esp because of mirena.
Still kept bleeding in the same pattern.
Got the mirena changed in April (really hard to do this now that the contraception rules on duration of mirena have changed) in case coming to the end of its life. Kept bleeding. Went back to the GP who made an urgent suspicion of cancer referral and within a few days had an appointment for a WDI-easy test at the hospital which is this new test - bit like a covid test principles but vaginal swab rather than nose or throat (!). Pretty amazing that this test now exists and I'm mostly concentrating on that wonder of science. I get the results in 5 days - either positive for cancer (which will mean further investigations and a hysterectomy), unlikely to be cancer (further investigations to find out why I;m bleeding but less urgent) or insufficient sample in which case it will be done again.
It's hard not to think that a cancer diagnosis is inevitable (why would bleeding just start up again if not) and whilst I'm trying hard not to dwell on it I am anxious and fretful and snappy and my breathing is a little panicky. I tried to tell my adult daughter what was happening in a matter of fact but found I could almost not speak, got a kind of ringing in my ears and my voice, when I did speak, was weird and thick. It feels like a long time since this started and I'm more worried than I'm letting on.
