Spotting After Menopause
Some Important Facts About Spotting After Menopause
Although it is not all that unusual to have some spotting after menopause, it can be a cause for concern and if you experience any type of bleed after menopause you should contact your doctor.
When someone is spotting they will experience a slight amount of blood; this blood may be bright red, which indicates it’s new bleeding, or it may be darker brown; this indicates that it is old blood. When you experience the bleeding, can be as important as the color of the blood and the amount of bleeding. Basically, someone is not considered postmenopausal until they have been without their period for at least a year. If you have only gone six months without a period and then you begin to spot, this may be just a normal process, but it wouldn’t hurt to call your doctor.
On the other hand if you have gone a couple of years without a period and then all the sudden find that you are spotting, this can understandably be alarming. It is not normal to have any type if spotting once your periods have stopped for longer than one year; this included brown blood as well as bright red blood.
Some of the causes of spotting after menopause may include a hormonal reaction to taking estrogen, which is a common hormone therapy after menopause. Birth control pills as well as non-cancerous polyps or fibroids may also cause some spotting. In some cases you may also have some vaginal bleeding with genital herpes and warts. Some of the more serious problems that may cause spotting after menopause include uterine or ovarian cancer.
Aside from these causes, some other conditions that may cause bleeding are leukemia, or a blood disorder that prevents clotting. In some cases there can be bleeding during early pregnancy, and although your periods have stopped there have been some cases of women getting pregnant, even after menopause. Stress may also be a factor in why you would spot after menopause. When a woman is going through the physical changes of menopause she is already very stressed, additional stress can be too much for the body and cause some spotting.
If you have spotting that is accompanied by an unusual or foul smelling discharge or fever, this may be a sign of an infection. In cases of infection a doctor should see you as soon as possible as these can be very serious. No matter what the cause of bleeding after menopause, it is probably a good idea to call your physician so that you can be properly diagnosed. If the problem is an illness such as cancer, the sooner it is caught the better. Cancer of the uterus and ovaries can be cured if it is caught in time, which is why seeing your doctor as soon as possible can be very important.
When you do visit your doctor the first thing he will probably do is a pap smear, this will check to see if there are any abnormal cells that could be cancerous. At this time he or she may also do a pelvic to see if they can feel any abnormal growths. If the pap comes back positive, or there are some abnormal growths your doctor then will schedule you for a biopsy. If the biopsy comes back malignant, your doctor will probably want to schedule you for a full or partial hysterectomy. If the biopsy comes back normal your doctor will then look for another cause, such as a hormonal imbalance.
One of the most common treatments for spotting after menopause is the use of estrogen. In most cases the doctor will prescribe estrogen in the form of tablets, or a topical cream. Seeing your doctor as soon as possible is really your best bet for successfully treating spotting after menopause.