I had two small seemingly "normal" periods after 13 months with none. My blood tests show I am post-meno. Ultrasound showed no focal lesions and a uniform thickness of 6.3mm. Anyone else had post-meno bleeding and thickened lining that turned out to be OK? Needless to say I am kinda worried. Doc said it's not a "bad" ultrasound report but needs follow-up. Some articles say 5mm thickness is the cut-off point. How bad is 6.3??

Dear'chico'
Just wanted to say hello and hope all will be well.From what I know,which is not a lot,a slight thickening of the endometrium is quite common after Menopause.Try not to worry too much.

I am well Post and am still on HRT but thankfully no thickening though I have experienced break through bleeding and spotting.

Please let us know how you go on.

All the Best
Elizabeth

Thanks Elizabeth. I am not on any HRT, so don't know what's going on. Still, guess I'll find out before too long.

Hi chico.

Please do not be to concerned about this, I am actually reading my ultra sound report now which I had done in may 08. The midline endometrium is thickened and 18.4 mm I had a D&C and a merina iud placed which releases progesterone . Which also shrinks the fibroids and to keep the endometrim from thickening. I am 52 . A lady here on the boards had 21.mm lining.. I have to agree with Elizabeth it is common for some women to have this.. And for women post to have the break through bleeds..

I wish you the best, thank god we have these boards..

Thanks gizzie, I am glad yours turned out to be OK. Can fibroids be seen on ultrasound I wonder, or do they just show as thickening? Anyhow, thanks for the encouraging words, I do feel better now

Yes fibroids can be seen on the ultra sound. My largest fibroid measured 51 mm in diameter. Also showed small nabothian cysts close to the cervix which are non cancerous.
I'm glad you feel better we all need a little reassurance from time to time.

All the best to you.

hi. i hope you are all doing well

i have a 7.3mm [and dr. said 5mm was the guide for thickness].

history: recently, i learned that i went through menopause without knowing, because my periods were always irregular. after performing a TVUS, and pap, he wants to see me again in july which will be four months from the initial 7.3mm findings.

oh, there was a singular small hyper echoic focus [i read these may be caused by prior instrumentation- i.e., biopsy, which i had years ago because of irreg cycles].

my question, please- is if the doctor wants to see if the lining shrinks on its own, how does it shrink without having a cycle? i neglected to ask him that question the day i saw him as i was taking in so much information. hearing that i skated through menopause was interesting, to say the least! the labs are on my profile page.

thank you in advance for any knowledge about how the lining sheds itself - i've tried searching for everything under menopause transition/endometrium thins out, et c.

I can't imagine how it can shrink on its own, you need to purge it, and it take progesterone or D & C, normally, when estrogen is low as yours, there not enough to build it up to begin with.
I would call your doctor and ask for progesterone at least, so you can induce bleeding and rid of the build up.
If the doctor things it will resolve itself, I would start looking for another doctor, better to be safe, IMHO.
Most doctors are the opposite, they think while you still bleed, it is not a problem with thickening, problems starts when you no longer bleed.
JMO.
Best,
I.

Yes, I can't see how it can shrink itself without some sort of hormonal or mechanical trigger. I've got a Tuesday appointment to see the gynae man at the hospital on Tuesday so I will make a list of pertinent questions to put to him and hope I can remember the answers to post here later!

Thanks for your kind note easypause!

I was told all the "girley parts" ie - uterus, ovaries, f tubes, vagina, labia urethra area will atrophy/shrink after meno. (some of this starts during meno too) So, then I would assume that the lining atrophies over time - even without the increase and decrease of Progesterone (whether the P is from the ovaries or ht supplementation). But, docs do like to check out a thickened endometrial lining, especially after becoming Meno. Hope this helps, JZZ

Oh, OK, I forgot that things shrink, lol. thanks.

thank you all so kindly for replying to my question in this thread. how are you all fairing of late?

i remembered the other day that the doctor mentioned [but i did not ask a question about shrinkage]- he was not concerned about waiting four months to do another tvus because of the transition brings about changes - to the lining i would imagine.

may the week be gentle to you all!

i'll check back here for updates, and keep you all posted as well.

best,
ep

Thanks for those very useful links a couple of them in particular are very helpful. Well yesterday was my appointment with the man, but I never made it. I crashed my van on the way there (it's a 2 hour trip to the city hospital) when we hit a diesel spill on the road. Turned it over and ended up hanging upside down from the seatbelt. Spent the rest of the day in hospital (our little local one), and luckily came out with no injuries. Although pretty sore today. And as well last night, my 80 year olf mother became suddenly very sick and had to call an ambulance for her to go to hospital, so I was in an ambulance at at hospital twice in one day! She is still there, with suspected food poisoning. But now I have to wait till next Tuesday for another appointment, so that's another week of worrying about cancer. This has been a very bad week for me!

OMG, Chco, I am so sorry for the accident, what an ordeal in one day.
I wish you and your mom speedy recovery, and I hope there is nothing wrong with both of you.
Best wishes,
I.

Wow, sorry to hear about your accident and your Mom. Hope it all gets better soon, JZZ

Thanks. I'm not looking forward to the next Tuesday appointment, but this time I am more worried about getting out on the highway in a motor vehicle than I am about the clinic appointment! lol. Consoling myself by re-reading my ultrasound report which says there are no masses seen and the lining appears uniform. I hope that is a good sign! Good heavens, if 5mm is the cut off point for normal, should I be worrying myself silly over 6.3mm? When I look on the tape measure, I can barely see 1.3mm.

So sorry to hear about your accident.. I hope all is much better for you and your family now.
Good luck with your appt on tuesday! This is not uncommon


My ultrasound showed my endometiral lining at 8mm and have to have some kind of water hysterogram on the 28th. Last year my ultrasound showed a thin lining.. The ultrasound didnt mention anything except the thickness and a heterogenous fibroid... whatever that is. I have had complex hyperplasia in the past that we've been dealing with for over3 years but my biopsy in January 2009 and January 2008 were clear however the January 2009 said that there was not enough tissue and my Dr. said there was not much tissue to get.. He didnt understand how my lining could be thin in January from the biopsy and then show the thickness now.. I do have a fibroid the size of a golfball but that isnt a problem I do take Prometrium 10 days every month and it's been over a year since i've had any bleeding or spotting. If he sees anything from this procedure in a couple of weeks then I guess it's another D& C ( had one 3 years ago to rid of the hyperplasia) My Dr dosent think he'll find anything but is doing it to be on the safe side.. so I'm banking on that.. Procedures give me anxiety.

Has anyone had a hysterogram with the water? I hope it all goes well and then I'm free and clear for another year of procedures.

Chico,
Hope you are feeling better after the accident and your mom is doing better. Just wanted to say that I am post and had a thickening of around 12 mm. I had an endometrial biopsy. The biopsy came back as metaplasia. I was really scared. My doc wanted to treat it with hormones. So I took hormones every 3 months for almost a year. I had spotting on and off with the thickening. The hormones didn't seem to be helping and the biopsies were coming back more complex so I had a D&C. Everything came back OK. Just more metaplasia cells which are benign. However, a large polyp was found. This never showed up on any of the ultrasounds that I had. He removed it and thinks that this was the source of the problems. I had this done last October and have not had any more problems since. I too, worried myself sick as I had abnormal cells which can turn to cancer. But everything turned out OK. Just want to tell you that other things can be causing your problem. Hang in there, I am sure everything will be OK.

LLW

Thanks LLW for sharing your experience, glad you are OK now. Bushmountain, hope it all goes well on the 28th. I am laos having a hyeroscope when I have the D&C but I dunno about the water part! I saw the gynae man but it was a bit of a production line situation and not really time to ask many questions. He was encouraging though and said he thought it not very likely that I have cancer or a pre-cancerous condition, but he still stated that his profession considers ALL postmenopausal bleeding to be cancer until proven not to be. Meanwhile, I have yet ANOTHER bout of bacterial vaginosis, so gotta get that cleared up before the D&C. Groan.

i feel for you all, one question....why where we born with all this complicated machinery( below the belt?) uggghhh!!! why us? men are only checked for their prostrate!

I dunno why, but its sure aggravating! I think the whole thing is ridiculous. And have done since my first period. Even though I had been told about it and knew it was coming, when it actually started, I was shocked by the truth of it - the pain, the mess, the discomfort etc. And EVERY MONTH for years and years and years, with varying degrees of period pain, PMS and all that hormonal garbage that culminated eventually in my 50s in a couple of years of heavy bleeding, flooding and misery. Oh, and of course the thrush and bacterial infections due to "hormonal" reasons. Then ONE YEAR of bliss - no periods, no pain, no infections, no nothing. I thought I was the queen of the castle - made my 12 months period free, trouble free, not even a hot flash to moan about. Shoulda known it was too good to last - now it's all on again, 3 infections this year, 2 bleeds, expensive scans, tests and stressful visits to gynaecologists, and now a D&C looming to eliminate the cancer possibility and maybe even a hysterectomy - even tho I'm jumping the gun a bit by thinking about that, need to get thru the D&C & hysteroscopy first. But frankly, even though I don't want to undergo a major surgical procedure, it would be a relief to get rid of those bits once and for all.

OK moan over!

Just need to be thankful for the otherwise good health we have I guess, and I do try to keep things in perspective. There are many folks much much worse off than me, and I am ashamed to complain - but I have anyhow....sorry

Hi, Yes, I am one who had post-meno bleeding and thickened lining that turned out to be OK. I went 18 months without a period and then had one. I had a scan which showed a uniform 7mm lining. After six months a further scan showed a reduction to 5mm, and I have had no periods for a further two years now.
I was very scared and posted on here, where these wonderful ladies reassured me. I think it is more common than you hear for a bleed to occur after a break. My Gyno lady said so, anyway. Uniform thickening is good and at the worst it could be a common benign polyp. But GRRRRRRRRRR to our unruly bits!

Thanks for the encouraging post K, glad yours turned out OK. I wish I could just have another ultrasound like you did, to see what the lining is doing, but both my doc and the hospital gynaecology clinic want to do a hysteroscopy AND a D&C. Not looking forward to it, but guess I just gotta do it.

Chico: You made me smile over your statement about not quite believing periods were really real until you got one. That cracks me up -- I can see your mom telling you about it, and you responding "no wayyyyyyyyyy." lol

I'm sorry you have to have the d&c hysteroscopy. I'm not post but I have had that procedure, and it's really not that bad. You'll be fine and end up with some peace of mind. You can also demand some pampering afterward, which is always good.

Chico - I'm in England and they don't spend the money on extra tests easily. I did have the test where they scrape a bit of womb lining withought an anaesthetic, which caused some mild cramping, but that was okay, and as I said the scan was uniform, so I waited. I was very scared at having gone for 18 months with no bleeding, but was told that it isn't all that rare and they just err on the safe side. I suppose what is rare to us crops up more for a gynae doctor, lol! I can laugh now but was really wigging out then...

Thanks K, here's hoping that mine comes out as good as yours! I'm in New Zealand and although we grumble about the public health system, it does seem pretty efficient in some ways. And you're right about them not spending money on procedures if they don't think it necessary. Once my doc referred me I was processed pretty quickly - ultrasound, then clinic visit to see specialist, and today the hospital rang to say my D&C is scheduled for next Tuesday. The sooner its all over with the better.

Hi Chico,
I'm new to this website but I can tell you that I had this problem a few years ago. When they found out I had a procedure done called Novasure where they burn the lining of the uterus off. I thought it was great because after I didn't have so much lower pain, and I didn't get periods after at all. They said that could happen but now they say I'm in menopause which so far is awful!! The Dr. told me it's not related to what I had done but it would be nice to know if I'm having symptoms because I would be near or having a period... Good luck! I'm in Michigan and thank goodness the health care isn't so bad, but it's a fortune to pay for.. and the doctors aren't totally helpful..

Dear 'chico'
Sorry about the accident but so glad you were not hurt.
Have just come out of Hospital having a D&C plus two benign growths removed.
The Gyno. was almost triumphant as he said "I kept telling you to go off the HRT"!
Could not help myself and said "Well I hope the Viagra is still working for you"!

The whole procedure took about an hour and was a little sore after.Have strong antibiotics to take plus Vaginal Suppositries.

So please do not worry
Praying all goes well for you
Keep us Posted
Warm Wishes
Elizabeth

overIT, I like your name! I too am SOOOOO over it all. Yes, I know that feeling where you feel terrible and even though you don't want a period, you still kinda hope for one, cos when we were menstruating, the arrival of the period would give relief from the pre-menstrual stuff, and we could relate almost every physical and emotional glitch to periods. We knew where we were and what we were dealing with. But now.....we don't know what's so-called "normal" meno stuff or not and as the posts on these forums show, the range of symptoms women are suffering is horrendous.

Thanks for your thoughts Elizabeth. I'm going to hospital next week. Just want it over with. Then maybe I'll get some peace for a while before the next stupid meno drama comes along. I know that's negative thinking, but I am so exhausted and depressed and I don't seem to be able to see anything beyond this at the moment.

More confusion......had the procedures done yesterday (hysteroscopy & D&C) and the discharge form says the following were done - D&C, diagnostic hysteroscopy without dilation (I assume that means without dilating the inside of the uterus with water?) and polypectomy performed. Routine procedure, cervical polyp noted, no curettings obtained. Polyp sent to histology.

So my confusion arises because it says that D&C were done, but then it says that no curettings were obtained! I'm finding that hard to understand, because my investigation was for thickened endometrium @ 6.3mm and post menopausal bleeding. Is it possible that the endometrium has shrunk since the ultrasound in April? And that there was not enough lining to curette? If it was still 6.3mm, wouldn't she have removed some for biopsy? Could she have seen via hysteroscopy that it was thin or thick???

And the cervical polyp confuses me. I have had regular pap smears and examinations for years, including quite a few lately for swabs for thrush etc and the nurses have always said my cervix looked nice and normal. No mention of any polyp!! Surely they would see the polyp? Can it have grown suddenly? How weird!!

There was nobody to ask, surgeon had gone home, and all I have is this discharge letter saying what was done and to see my GP doctor in 2 weeks for "follow up and histology". Now I will worry about it all for 2 weeks!!

At least I know that it will probably be the polyp that caused the two short bleeds I have had this year, and maybe the slightly thickened lining was just a red herring and is gone now anyhow? I read that 99% of these cervical polyps are benign, but the post-menopausal ones are "suspicious" - or CAN be suspicious.

I thought I would feel better after the op, but I don't really, now I've just got a whole new set of questions. maybe I am just a misery-guts who needs to worry.

Let me be of some help....

I just had my ovaries removed. Surgical menopause set in two days later....I am on Estrace (Estrogen) and was told since I still have my uterus, I will have to take progesterone to give myself a montly period to reduce my endometrial lining every month. (YAY FOR ME RIGHT? NOT!)

Anyways, if the Dr is not concerned about it, I would bring it up to him and tell him YOU ARE CONCERNED.....He will explain his rationale behind not doing anything. You cna also ask him about progesterone to thin it out too..

Good Luck!


Let me add abuot the polyp. I had one removed 3 years ago and they are 99.9% benign. They can be VERY small to very large. Mine seemed to pop up in a matter of a couple weeks.......

Hi Chico - I was checking up on you...It sounds as though the polypectomy was to remove a polyp in the endometrium ,and the histology of this will cover the endo-lining. These often don't show up on an ultrasound. They probably thought that the cervical polyp was benign - I have some in my stomach which showed after a scope and they were not biopsied. Simple polyps can vanish, but larger ones in the endometrium cause thickening of the lining in response ,and heavy bleeding, so are best removed. I hope this helps a little. Keep us updated!

thanks armywife and K for the info. Yes, now that I read it again, I can see that it might mean that the cervical polyp was noted, which might mean not removed, and the polypectomy referred to another polyp inside. Now I will start worrying about that one! lol. Will post up here when it's all over and I know what the story is. Thanks for checking on me!

I am sure it will be a common polyp but the wait is awful! I remember my mammogram recall last year ...Hugs ((((chico)))) and do let us know.
Kim

Have you had those results back yet, chico?

Hi K, I was going to wait till after I see my GP tomorrow to post, but so far I managed to find out by phone that the histology on the polyp was benign. They describe it as an "endocervical polyp" so I assume it was located higher up out of sight. It was not seen by ultrasound in April. I don't know yet if it arose from the endometrium or the actual cervix. But anyhow the lab says its OK. I got a copy of the "operation report" yesterday, which simply says "cervical polyp removed. At hysteroscopy a good view was obtained and the endometrium looked normal. hysteroscopy followed by curretage. On the anterior wall there was an area of increased vascularity, but no other abnormalities were seen and no curettings were obtained from the cavity. Uterus sounded to 8mm."

No explanation about where my 6.3mm lining went! As the curetting yielded no tissue, and the endometrium looked "normal", I can only assume that any thickening has shrunk in the 2 months between the ultrasound and the D&C. I also assume that the surgeon had some means of measuring and/or assessing the lining during the op. Re the area of increased vascularity, she says that was noted and then "no OTHER abnormalities were seen...." Which makes me think does that mean this increased vascularity is an "abnormality"? And if so, how abnormal? Is it a common finding? Is it an unusual finding? Any idea what causes it? Will it turn nasty?

Basically, my GP has to answer all these questions for me, as I don't get to see the surgeon again. That's how it is with the free national health service. You get attended to alright and stuff gets done, but you get no contact with the surgeons/specialists yourself afterwards and if my own doc can't answer my questions, then I will have to ask her to write to the specialist and ask! Oh, and you have to wait ages for results, and even then you sometimes have to chase them yourself. Like yesterday I had to ring the hospital clinic and say I (and my doctors office) were still waiting for the histology report.

So anyhow, at this point I am assuming that all is well, in light of "normal" endometrium, and a benign polyp. And I am guessing that the polyp was the cause of the bleeding I had. Incidentally, I have had no return of the bleeding since March, and now that the polyp is gone, I'm hoping that's the end of the whole affair! What a circus!!

Will post up here tomorrow after I see my own doctor. Thanks for all your help and interest.

Hi Chico,

Well, I did have a vaginal ultrasound which was fine, but I went into the OB today cuz of cramping (remember my post)...
Anyhow, I told her I was having a discharge and behold I have an infection. Doc couldn't believe it either as I wasn't itching or anything like that.

Now, she told me that my uterine lining is 8.???? I TOTALLY freaked out (I am a health anxiety skitz-oid). Anyway, she is checking to see if she can do a hysteroscope in the office with injection at the uterus and pain and anxiety medications. It would cost me a $500 deductible to do it as an out-patient vs. in her office so she is checking. She told me not to worry, that this is precaution because it is not good to have your lining over 5!!!!!!!!!

O.K. ladies again, anyone experience this and everything turned out O.K....My question is, how does one get rid of the lining build up and will I have to constantly face this procedure....

Nervous Nellie here in California.

Kathy

Kathy, a bacterial infection will not usually produce itching in the way a yeast infection does. i have had quite a few and the only sign is a white/yellow discharge that just keeps coming. I go and get it swabbed and they invariably are overgrowths of B strep (haemolytic strep . This is a normal bug in the vagina, but when something in the vaginal ph goes wrong (due to hormones in my case), the bug thinks its party time. I usually take a course of antibiotics to clear it and THEN I have to have a thrush treatment too because antibiotics always give me thrush. it's ridiculous. Now my doc wants me to use Aci-Jel to help keep the ph correct - ie add acidity. By the way, there are other sorts of vaginal infections that produce different discharges, but I have not had those. If you google bacterial vaginosis or vaginitis or vaginal bacteriosis you will get some good info. These infections are not serious, just very annoying.
re the 8mm lining, well I give up on trying to work that one out! Mine appears to have shrunk since April when I had the ultrasound. Also, I have read, and my doctor told me today, that ultrasound does not always give an accurate measurement - whether that's thicker or thinner, I don't know. but best to have the doc take a look anyhow, then you'll know. I sincerely hope that your doc will be able to do the procedure for you without pain and affordably. try not to panic. I have worked myself up into a right state over my uterus and it has all turned out OK. Keep posting your progress here because it's good for others who read the threads to see the outcomes of our investigations, to see that these things are usually fine.

Saw my doc this morning and she told me that the D&C results were good and that things are"normal". She agreed that the 6.3mm lining could have simply shrunk in the time since ultrasound, and obviously wasn't there at the time of my D&C. She said the 12x8mm benign endovervical polyp probably wasn't the cause of the bleeding events, she says that the "area of increased vascularity" as noted by the surgeon could be responsible. She said that this can happen, that you get areas like that in cavities, like your nose, etc where the membrane is rich in small vessels and they can sometimes bleed. Sounds odd to me, but they all say its fine and not pre-cancerous or anything nasty. She said that if it had been of any concern the surgeon would have biopsied and than ablated the area. There has been no more bleeding anyhow, so hope that's the end of it all. But I am still going to have an ultrasound next year anyhow just to make sure.

So obviously I am relieved at this outcome, I don't think I could have stood any more stress over this. Thanks all for your support.

Chico!

Hello again! The infection I have is YEAST! Have you are anyone else that has had one, experienced cramping? Just curious!

Yup, been obsessing over here with this whole thickened endometrium...it so stinks especially for someone like me who has health anxiety (grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) to start with! Still waiting to hear about the insurance side of it all. Don't know if I mentioned this or not, but if I have the hysterscopy in her office, she will numb the uterus, give me some Vicodin and then something to relax me and all I said to her was, 'Doc, ya gonna have to give me something very strong'......................

I'll keep you posted and thanks Chico for everything!

Kathy

Hi Chico, I am pleased that you are okay. I remember all of my own scary times waiting for test results. My own thickened lining was put down to a hormone surge! I remember the doctor saying that if it didn't go back to normal, then I may have a polyp which wouldn't show on the scan. I didn't, but it made me think that you could have one. We learn more than we want to on this journey!
Hyperplasia which doesn't recede is also fairly common which is why so many women have to have a d&c. If it comes back I think progesterone can help.
Kathy - I think you are just having to go through all of this fairly common but uncomfortable and frustrating stuff. Let us know!

dear chico, elizabeth, & everyone- hallo!

how are you all doing? wow, the end of july is here already. where does the time go? i hope you are well, chico!

just a couple of mini updates on the second pelvic ultrasound/TVUS, please. the lining did indeed shrink from 7.3 mm to 4 mm.

the recent appointment showed the hyperechoic focus still present - dr. believes it was from prior uterine biospsy instrumentation/calcification.

a tiny ovarian cyst did grow, and so i'm going to return in 8 weeks to see how that looks. dr is VERY conservative, which makes him an awesome fit to my patient care/needs. i found a great article, and wanted to share it with you all; i'm going to find a thread on cysts in which to post it as well.

i hope this information helps someone! thinking of you all.

http://www.ovaryresearch.com/ovarian_cysts.htm


brightest blessings,

ep

Hi easypause, (and the others on this thread) I just saw this!! And I see you wrote it ages ago, so I hope you are still looking here. Glad to hear your lining DID shrink! And fingers crossed all goes well with the cyst.

I have had no problems since the D&C back in mid June, but today I had a pink discharge! For heavens sake. Will wait and see what it develops into, hopefully nothing. But I am going to ask my doc to refer me to a gynae. I want to know what that "small area of increased vascularity" noted during the hysteroscopy really is - I mean, is it a common finding? why does it bleed? could it turn into cancer? My doc did tell me that it could bleed a bit and said it is simply "inconvenient" for me, nothing to worry about....well worry is my middle name and I need a better explanation. So am I "post menopause" or not?? I'm Sooooooo fed up with this ridiculous business.

Saw a post from a happy lady in this forum, celebrating her 12 month milestone. I won't chip in and say hey, things can still go wrong. It's mean to rain on someones parade! But I remember my 12 months bleeding-free milestone, I was so happy! Now, 21 months, 2 bleeds, many tests and a D&C later, it's still not over. Oh well, that's my vent for the week. Hope things are GOOD for you ladies.

Here's my story - I am 54 and have not had a period since going off of continuous birth control in January of 2008 - 22 months. My FSH and progesterone is in the post menopausal range but not my estrogen. I had some clear discharge (ovulation type) twice in the past 6 months. I had 2 different transvaginal ultrasounds showing my endometrium first at 11 then 3 months later down to 10. I tried being treated with progesterone for 3 months last spring but only produced one "period". I tried prometrium recently but felt terrible on it and had a scary day of really high blood pressure so I have stopped the treatment. Both my internist and my gyn did not suspect cancer as I did not have bleeding and it is obvious that my hormones are still unbalanced and I am still producing some estrogen. I will retest the lining in December to see if their has been some natural atrophy. At that point, I may be sent for an endometrial biopsy to be on the safe side. I am not too worried because I am still having so many hormonal issues that I am sure they have not settled down yet. I guess that darn estrogen does not want to let go!