All about Postmenopausal Bleeding: How Common is It?
After a certain age, every woman is faced with a natural and irreversible process – menopause. But, this new period of life is, sometimes, overshadowed by complications of the climacteric period: pain, increased sweating, and nervousness, weight gain, depression, etc.
Menopause has 3 stages: perimenopause (menstruation can sometimes “happen”), menopause itself (cessation of menstruation) and postmenopause (the period that occurs after the last menstruation). The appearance of postmenopausal bleeding is often not a good signal. The patient should consult a doctor immediately. Even if the bleeding was one-time, you still need to be examined.
Causes of postmenopausal bleeding
The reasons for bleeding after menopause can be many. Some of them are quite harmless, but there are those that indicate a serious illness. Treatment of uterine bleeding in postmenopause is almost always required and how it will be conducted depends on the postmenopausal bleeding causes.
Causes of postmenopausal bleeding can be:
- Hormonal disorders;
- Early-onset of menstruation, lack of childbirth or a big difference between them, refusal to breast-feed;
- Heredity;
- Uterine fibroids;
- Uterine cancer;
- Ovarian dysfunction;
- Endometriosis;
- Endometrial hyperplasia;
- Polyps on the endometrium;
- Vaginitis;
- Tumors, ovarian cysts;
- Ovarian cancer;
- Endometrial cancer;
- Cervical cancer.
Can stress cause postmenopausal bleeding? Yes, this can happen in postmenopausal women who are in the condition of chronic stress. What is the most common cause of postmenopausal bleeding? According to statistics, it is endometrial cancer.
Postmenopausal bleeding symptoms
Especially dangerous symptoms of postmenopausal bleeding ICD 10 are:
- Fever;
- Dizziness;
- The pallor of the skin;
- Cold sweat;
- Sharp pain in the lower abdomen;
- A feeling of heaviness and “fullness” of the space below the abdomen.
The most terrible and most dangerous symptom is sharp profuse bleeding, in which the blood is bright scarlet, thin, and quite liquid. In this case, ICD 10 code postmenopausal bleeding does not stop and increases, and there is a sharp, throbbing pain in the abdomen. Such conditions require urgent hospitalization and may even lead to the death of the patient.
How to diagnose pathology?
Uterus bleeding after the change requires careful postmenopausal bleeding workup with the most modern methods. Only they can accurately establish the diagnosis, the cause, and only then can treatment be prescribed. First of all, they need detailed information about the symptoms, the history of the onset of menstruation, childbirth, abortion, surgery and other important facts. Also, the doctor may ask about breastfeeding, the presence of gynecological diseases in close relatives. A thorough gynecological examination is mandatory.
Based on initial examinations, subsequent diagnostic procedures may be prescribed:
- The study of blood, its coagulability;
- Additional studies of the liver, kidneys, thyroid gland;
- Tests for tumor markers;
- A vaginal or transvaginal ultrasound;
- A biopsy. The study of biological material is carried out to detect the most common cause of postmenopausal bleeding – cancer;
- MRI of the pelvic organs.
Depending on the results of the research, additional procedures for examination may be prescribed. Sometimes the diagnosis of uterine bleeding requires consultation not only with a gynecologist, but also with an endocrinologist, mammologist, oncologist, therapist, and hematologist.
