Help needed, again

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2003
Help needed, again
1
Fri, 09-24-2004 - 7:02pm
I have posted many times before about my irregular bleeding...and I am back for more advice/opinions. At about age 38 (and not on the pill) I started having some irregular bleeding. It started out as spotting 2-4 days before my period would actually start. That happened a couple times then I started having mid-cycle spotting (red but light). Usually between day 9 - 13 of my cycle. I had a couple months that my period would end and if I would have sex that day or the next day, I would bleed again for a few hours - not heavy just red spotting. My dr did a pap, colposcopy, endometrial biopsy and found nothing. During an ultrasound he did see something that sort of looked like an empty sac or early pregnancy. He had me do a urine test and he did a blood test and both came back negative. I asked him what it could have been and he said probably just some left over blood and he wasn't at all concerned. I quizzed him on it a couple times and he said it was hollow on the inside and no chance it was anything to worry about. That is the only thing that seemed a little odd. Anyway after going through the weird bleeding for about a year, I decided to take his advise and go on BCP. He suggested Ovcon 35 which I took for 4 months. The first month I had mid-cycle bleeding. He added cenestin to take at the beginning of my cycle. I was spot-free for 2 months. The next month though I had some spotting before my period began (like 2-4 days before). I called and they talked me into the Nuvaring. I started it the Sunday prior to when I would have started my period and I again went spot-free all month ! I was really thinking this would be the end of my problems for some reason (I expected to spot during the week that my period would have normally started but I did not). Anyway, this is the second month on the Nuvaring. My period ended last Sunday. I may have had a couple brownish spots on Monday. On Tuesday night, my dh and I had sex and there was the blood again ! It was very light but it was red. What is going on with me ???? I called the nurse and she suggested I give it another month. I am so tired of worrying. A part of me thinks this is just my body preparing for menopause or perimenopause. I just turned 40.

Thanks in advance.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Sat, 09-25-2004 - 11:12am
Oh hon, I'm sorry it seems like it's back! The beginnings of menopause can start in your late 30's, the phase called perimenopause can last 10-15 years, it's why a lot of women go back on the pill after their families are done.

When I have sex too soon after the end of my period, I always have a little bleeding, possibly because of movement within the uterus, pressure, and whatnot. If the sex is a little too vigorous and my cervix gets whacked, I have bleeding. I asked my doctor about this at my last annual, and he said so long as there isn't an infection of some kind, it's no big deal. The hormones in the pill (and the patch and the ring) can make the cells on the cervix more sensitive to being bumped as they are during intercourse, and that can make them bleed. And this has been going on since I was about 24. ;)

Try to hang in there...in the big picture, bleeding isn't the worst thing that can happen, but I know it's nice to be able to predict it! It's possible that this bleeding is just from intercourse and might not reoccur as the spotting that you're used to. That's the case, right?

I hope it goes well!

Judie
Co-cl for Birth Control
Judie Cl for Birth Control