Knowledge Is Power Safety, Post-Menopause Too

Note: this article will be most relevant for a subset of our subscribership, but it’s a very large subset, so we’re going to go ahead and address the reader as “you”.

If, for example, you are a man and this doesn’t apply to you, we hope it will interest you anyway (we imagine there are women in your life).

PS: the appendicitis check near the end, works for anyone with an appendix

We’ve talked before about things that come with (and continue after) menopause:

• What You Should Have Been Told About The Menopause Beforehand
• What Menopause Does To The Heart
• Alzheimer’s Sex Differences May Not Be What They Appear

But what’s going on if certain menstrual symptoms reappear post-menopause (e.g. after more than a year with no menstruation)?

Bleeding

You should not, of course, be experiencing vaginal bleeding post-menopause. You may have seen “PSA” style posts floating around social media warning that this is a sign of cancer. And, it can be!

But it’s probably not.

Endometrial cancer (the kind that causes such bleeding) affects 2–3% of women, and of those reporting post-menopausal bleeding, the cause is endometrial cancer only 9% of those times.

So in other words, it’s not to be ignored, but for 9 people out of 10 it won’t be cancer:

Read more: Harvard Health | Postmenopausal bleeding: Don’t worry—but do call your doctor

Other more likely causes are uterine fibroids or polyps. These are unpleasant but benign, and can be corrected with surgery if necessary.

The most common cause, however is endometrial and/or vaginal atrophy resulting in tears and bleeding.

Tip: Menopausal HRT will often correct this.

Read more: The significance of “atrophic endometrium” in women with postmenopausal bleeding

(“atrophic endometrium” and “endometrial atrophy” are the same thing)

In summary: no need to panic, but do get it checked out at your earliest convenience. This is not one where we should go “oh that’s weird” and ignore.

Cramps

If you are on menopausal HRT, there is a good chance that these are just period cramps. They may feel different than they did before, because you didn’t ovulate and thus you’re not shedding a uterine lining now, but your body is going to do its best to follow the instructions given by the hormones anyway (hormones are just chemical messengers, after all).

If it is just this, then they will probably settle down to a monthly cycle and become quite predictable.

Tip: if it’s the above, then normal advice for period cramps will go here. We recommend ginger! It’s been found to be as effective as Novafen (a combination drug of acetaminophen (Tylenol), caffeine, and ibuprofen), in the task of relieving menstrual pain:

See: Effect of Ginger and Novafen on menstrual pain: A cross-over trial

It could also be endometriosis. Normally this affects those of childbearing age, but once again, exogenous hormones (as in menopausal HRT) can fool the body into doing it.

If you are not on menopausal HRT (or sometimes even if you are), uterine fibroids (as discussed previously) are once again a fair candidate, and endometriosis is also still possible, though less likely.

Special last note

Important self-check: if you are experiencing a sharp pain in that general area and are worrying if it is appendicitis (also a possibility), then pressing on the appropriately named McBurney’s point is a first-line test for appendicitis. If, after pressing, it hurts a lot more upon removal of pressure (rather than upon application of pressure), this is considered a likely sign of appendicitis. Get thee to a hospital, quickly.

And if it doesn’t? Still get it checked out at your earliest convenience, of course (better safe than sorry), but you might make an appointment instead of calling an ambulance.

Take care!