Joys of menopause

Menopause hasn’t been the difficult time for me that I’ve heard many others experience. The worst time was when I had a heavy period that went on for weeks several years ago. Hot flashes or flushes never were a thing for me. But now I’ve been in menopause for a few years, I have had one issue and that’s spotting and/or light bleeding a few times. It’s always happened in a specific pattern and I wasn’t too concerned but it had become more of an issue recently. I went to the doctor and she did a pap test and a couple other tests and sent me off for a pelvic ultrasound. She did say at the time that it looked likely I had a condition called vaginal atrophy based on the appearance of that area. I read that it’s now often called genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM), which certainly sounds a lot less unpleasant.

The ultrasound came out perfectly but the pap test didn’t get the cells needed, possibly due to the condition of the vagina. Also, I had too much of one thing and not enough of another in some other test done. In this situation, they often refer to a gynecologist who does the tests again but has better equipment to get a better reading on things. Of course, that takes more time. She said she thought it likely the issue was the GSM and suggested we could trial treatment and do another test in six weeks before going to the specialist. I was happier to do that than wait. I am on an HRT treatment daily for a couple of weeks and then I am to reduce down to fewer times per week as required. Hopefully, this should set things right and life will carry on.

I will admit to being a bit anxious about HRT treatments due to my family history of breast cancer. That said, I think a vaginal treatment is less likely to cause any trouble and hopefully won’t be something I need long-term. As I understand it, I am still young enough for that to be the recommended treatment at this stage.

I do suspect that my Sjogren’s syndrome may also be part of the issue here. It doesn’t help that I need antihistamines to handle seasonal allergies. The funny thing is I just saw the specialist about the Sjogrens last month and said all was fine. But I didn’t realise anything was amiss at that point. I am having a lot of dry eye and mouth issues right now though, so it may just be contributing to the problem.

I had to order in the medicine at the pharmacy and only started last night. I will say that it’s a bit of a messy business using a pessary that leaks everywhere when you get up. Hopefully, there won’t be any nasty side effects.