Very worried about vaginal bleeding & impending results

Hi,

I feel a bit of a fraud posting this as I haven't had a cancer diagnosis. But I'm getting myself into a bit of a lather. 
 

I'm 32 with 3 children 11, 8 and 16 months. Periods have always been regular, not heavy or anything - every 30-34 days and lasting 5/6 days. I have never spotted in between periods ever, and I'm not on any contraception.

My period ended on 26th June. I had intercourse with my partner 1st and 2nd July, woke up Sunday 4th July with general malaise, pain and burning when I urinated and I put it down to standard UTI which I get often and usually following sex. I drank a ton of water and took pain killers and symptoms cleared and felt a lot better but by late afternoon I was passing a lot of bloody discharge every time I wiped and some fell to my underwear. This has continued until today but is now a bit more scant and dark brown in colour.

I took a urine sample to my dr surgery first thing this morning and they said it was clear with no signs of infection. they suggested high vaginal swab as potentially thrush following a course of antibiotics I had mid June (I have no other thrush symptoms at all). I haven't had a smear since 2013 (hate myself, why did I put this off??!!) so I asked the nurse doing the swab to do a smear test as well. 
she said urethra looked fine, cervix looked fine, she said the bleeding was "more vaginal, not cervical" whatever that means? And there was a lot of old blood/brown discharge in my vagina as though my period hadn't fully completed. She said I have a very friable Cervix - her swab was covered in fresh red blood. 
2-4 weeks for smear results. I get the swab results Friday this week. What if it isn't thrush, what could it be that's caused this random spotting and heavy bloody discharge I'm freaking out. I do sometimes have discomfort when having sex but put it down to deep penetration and hitting my cervix.  No other symptoms - occasional twinges in hips and dull ache in abdomen especially today but I put a lot of that down to anxiety.

Has anyone experienced spotting or bloody vaginal discharge outside of period and it be nothing sinister ?

  • Hello Stressyhead

    I'm sorry to hear that you've had some ongoing health concerns recently. It's understandable that you're feeling anxious about things and I'm glad to hear that you've already been in touch with your GP surgery. Hopefully, the results at the end of this week will bring some reassurance. 

    Has the nurse said what would be the next step once your swab and cervical screening results are returned? Does she want you to see the GP or have they mentioned sending you for an ultrasound or referral? 

    It's natural to feel anxious but try to remain positive about things and remember that there could be any number of reasons for the changes that you've noticed recently. Hormones certainly do keep us on our toes and many things such as stress or general illness can play a role in hormonal changes. There have also been some reports of women experiencing changes to their menstrual cycle following a Covid vaccine. You can read more here

    Keep in touch with your GP surgery Stressyhead. Hopefully, you will have some reassuring news soon and things will settle again for you. 

    Best wishes, 
    Jenn
    Cancer Chat moderator 

  • Thank you so much for your reply, Jenn. 
     

    There was no mention of a scan/referral or anything at all. The GP said my urine was clear of infection and suggested a swab for thrush/infection. It was only due to me asking the nurse to do a smear while she was down there that I had one at all. She said the results of the smear take 2-4 weeks. Which is a long time to be worrying for!

    I had the covid vaccine 4 weeks prior to the bleed. The bleeding resolved itself in 24 hours. Is it post-coital bleeding if it happens 48 hours after sex?

    she said my cervix was very friable but reading up on that just made me worry too.. I feel like there's no other explanation for the bleeding other than cc now as she'd have surely seen ectropian whilst in there, wouldn't she?

    Thank you x