Unusual vaginal bleeding can have various causes, ranging in severity from 'needs attention' to 'generally fatal'. Finding the true cause means ruling out or confirming each possibility – in other words, diagnosis.
Diagnosis is usually a complex process due to the sheer number of possible causes and related symptoms. In order to diagnose unusual vaginal bleeding, we could:
Cause | Probability | Status |
---|---|---|
Endometriosis | 97% | Confirm |
Ovarian Cysts | 26% | Unlikely |
Endometrial Hyperplasia | 26% | Unlikely |
Fibroids | 0% | Ruled out |
Ovarian Cancer | 0% | Ruled out |
Endometrial Cancer | 0% | Ruled out |
Adrenal Fatigue | 0% | Ruled out |
Abnormal bleeding. Do you have any vaginal bleeding that is not due to a menstrual period?$$$NOT linked to Metrorrhagia because abnormal bleeding is much more serious after menopause... conditions are linked individually instead
Possible responses:
→ Don't know→ No → Occasionally, a few times per year → Frequently → Yes, it is constant or nearly constant |
The most common sign of endometrial cancer is unusual bleeding from the vagina, especially bleeding that occurs after passing through menopause.
Endometrial hyperplasia usually occurs after menopause, when ovulation stops and progesterone is no longer made.
Although endometriosis is more common in women who are still having periods, it does affect between 2% to 5% of postmenopausal women.
The growth of uterine fibroids is estrogen dependent, which means that fibroids tend to stop growing – and often shrink – after menopause.
Dysfunctional uterine bleeding is commonly associated with an 'anovulatory cycle' – a menstrual cycle that does not result in the release of an egg from one of the ovaries. If a follicle does not release an egg, it can swell and become a cyst.