Hi, I'm 56. Went 15 months with no period. Blood work in 9/08 indicated I was menopausal. In 2/09 had light spotting for a week. Went to doc and he did transvaginal ultra. Everything looked fine and lining only 3mm. He was not concerned, but said to come back if bleeding happened again and he would do a biopsy. In early April, I got all the regular PMS signs just as I always did before a period started - tender breasts, full feeling in pelvis, light cramps. Sure enough, a real period started 4/15 - after 15 months with nothing!!! Had regular flow for about a week with some cramping and two heavy episodes of bleeding. Then it tapered off, but I am still spotting 3 weeks later! Will see gyn again tomorrow. I know he's going to order a biopsy which I'm not looking forward to! But since lining was so thin only a month ago, I'm not too concerned. Wondering if a polyp could be causing the continued spotting? I read that they don't always show up on ultrasounds. I had a polyp removed about 8 years ago which was causing heavy menstrual cycles. Also had fibroid removed via surgery about 13 years ago. After doing ultra, my gyn did say I had 2 small fibroids but he wasn't concerned about them. Perhaps they are the culprits? Any advice would be appreciated. I've read other posts which indicated that lots of women experience bleeding/periods after going over a year and sometimes 2 or 3 years without periods. So frustrating! I may ask him to redo bloodwork along with biopsy.

Hi Lady!
Sorry to hear of your troubles but I think you've come to the right place to get some answers. I'm not at the stage of menopause that you are but being an RN I can tell you that it sounds like your Dr. is on the right track. Any vaginal bleeding at this point should be taken as suspect and even though your endometrial lining in February was only 3mm, it doesn't mean 1) more than that now, 2) a small fibroid not detected has grown quickly or 3) that you've developed a new polyp, etc. In my opinion, a biopsy makes perfect sense as though it really is unlikely, you need to make sure it isn't something more serious that those options. If all is clear and you continue to have the bleeding, an uterine ablation is always on option but I think we are getting ahead of ourselves. Have the biopsy and see what it shows and go from there. And though I know it's much easier said than done, try not to worry too much about what it might be and just plan on dealing with what it turns out to be. Hang in there and good luck! Keep posting so we all can support you while you wait!!!

I had the biopsy on Monday and am awaiting results. Doc does feel the fibroid could be causing the problems. He thinks I had an estrogen surge which caused my period in mid-April and caused the fibroid to grow a bit. This would explain the breast tenderness and pelvic cramps I had, which always preceded my periods. Second ultrasound showed where the fibroid is definitely pushing on the uterine lining. Fibroid is the sub-mucosal type - the ones most often associated with bleeding problems - just my luck! My first fibroid, which he removed in 1994, was the same.

Doc said tissue that he saw looked healthy, but of course we wait for the lab results. He said if biopsy was ok, he wants to take a wait and see approach. He feels menopause will ultimately take care of the fibroid without any surgery. He did more blood work and my estrogen level has dropped back to menopausal levels again.

That sounds like a reasonable approach to me. At 56 you can't have too much longer until you are fully menopausal so unless it gets truly unmanageable the "wait and see" approach seems reasonable. I know that is easy for me to say because I'm not the one living through it but there really aren't really that many options other than surgery which is a big deal. Especially when you consider that you might very well have a natural ending to this problem within months. I hope so for your sake. Hopefully now that your estrogen levels have dropped back down things will stablize for you. If it gets worse go back to the Dr. I have every expectation that your biopsy will be fine (they usually are!) so try not to worry.
Good luck!