RMC:
I've been reading your posts from last year about your pap scare. Based on what I read, I feel the same way you do about doctors and tests, and anxiety kicks in before I even have my appt. ( what if they find something? How bad are the tests going to be? etc. etc.). Anyway, I am 36, soon 37 and feel I've been having peri symptoms for the past year. My Gyno appt is the end of the month and already I am agonizing. How am I going to approach him about all the symptoms? What tests will he send me for? Will he scare me into thinking something else is wrong with me because he feels I'm too young for peri? I can't stop this. I am going on vacation next week and I want to have a good time without the anxiety. Just this morning I had very light spotting. I am around mid-cycle although I can never tell exactly when mid-cycle is these days. I've had spotting for several months now around mid-cycle and I know I have to tell the doc, but I don't want the tests. I have many symptoms I feel are peri because they are what I've been reading on here. About 8 years ago I had an abnormal pap test and went through the cervical biopsy and colposcopy (freezing) and I haven't had an abnormal since, but I've had several repeat tests done. I get so nervous when I go to the gyn because of that time and now that I'm getting older (and possibly in peri), my anxiety will probably hit an all time high.
Sorry about my rambling but any reassurance would be appreciated.
Yes I can very much relate!! There have been actual posts in here that women have started just on anxiety alone so you are not alone and do not feel that way.
I recently had a cholesterol recheck done and was anxious about the results (which came out encouraging by the way, got it down 15 pts all the way around) so I know what you mean and what you are feeling.
I think first of all find a doctor you feel comfortable enough to talk to. As far as being too young to go thru peri there are people your age on this board that are going thru it too. So if your doctor just will not hear of any talk of peri perhaps you need to see another doctor and maybe a female doctor who is more in tune to this too .
You said you were going on a vacation next week and want to have a good time without the anxiety. I hear you as last year when my anxiety was at my highest I was going on two trips within a month of each other and I was very worried. You know, I was fine!! But my anxiety beforehand made the symptoms I was having beforehand worse. I really do feel once you are on your vacation and your mind off of things you will be fine, I really do. I also feel that the more we fret the worse any symptoms become. But it is easier said than done to not fret I know. I do find when I try to keep busy and not focus on things I am better. But it is hard as I said.
Have you mentioned the spotting mid cycle to your doctor? I know that in peri it is common and I have had this too, but it is always good to mention it of course. You are current with your paps tests and have not had an abnormal one in 8 years with several repeats of tests to recheck. So please concentrate on that and that you have been checked and rechecked. Try to focus on that and that you have checked things out and you are fine. as I said I know it is hard to do.
I do not know if you are taking any anxiety meds and I was given xanax to take as needed when I was at my height with the anxiety. I really resisted it and did not want to rely on it and did not. I have not taken it for a long time and when I did I did not take it a lot. But what I am saying is that there are a lot of things out there that will help anxiety so do not hesitate to ask you dr. about something.
Please continue to post and tell us how you are feeling and I know that others will post too who have been thru this. You are not alone!!
I have not been to my doctor since the spotting started. For as long as I remember I had occasional spotting (maybe 2 or 3 times a year) mid-cycle. I am seeing him the end of the month and will tell him then along with all the other things going on with me. I know he will probably send me for tests. What tests will they do for this?
My period is no heavier or lighter. It just sometimes comes earlier or later than it used to and it "arrives" differently. I get 2-3 days of spotting, then 3 days bleeding, then 1-2 days of spotting, then it's done until mid-cycle when I spot again, then nothing until day 25 -30. Sorry about all the info. I need to tell someone, other than myself, to make me feel better.
Hi flyerfan,
Whenever I even get a reminder post card from the gyn, I get anxiety over it! I can totally relate to you agonizing over it. The gyn is the only dr. that I hate going and I always get really stressed over it - even when I haven't even made an appt. yet! I'm like you, I get so nervous that the whole thing ends up being so painful - and that's why I hate going! I think all of us are worried about test results - I tend to think the worse and I have to try really hard to think positive. So, you are not alone when it comes to being fearful of all these med procedures. When I went thru my bad peri symptoms, I went to 35 drs. in 5 mos! Talk about being stressed! And everything came back normal - they were just peri symptoms and but none of the drs. figured it out until the hot flashes came on.
Easier said than done, but try not to worry - you will only end up making yourself sick and making things out to be more bad than it is.
I agree with Molly...try not to worry as it does make things worse and I can tell you that from firsthand experience. I am the queen or worry believe me, about these things!!
Since you said as long as you can remember you have had mid cycle spotting 2 or 3 times a year your doctor is aware of it and also it has not been consistent as in every month for a year...so try to focus on that.
When you go at the end of the month to the doctors I would tell him just as that is what an annual appt is for, to fill the dr. in on what is going on with you. I understand your apprehension certainly as the anxiety takes over us and makes us always think the worse. But as I said the anxiety really makes things worse so it is kind of a vicious cycle we get ourselves into. It is very hard not to do it though and I understand that.
You said you had been reading my posts from the Pap test I had in Oct and so you know I was a basketcase about it!! But coming to the board and talking to people here like Molly and so many others really helped me put it in perspective as many of them had been thru this themselves or if not had been dealing with the anxiety issues and so it made me feel not so alone. I hope that my words and others make you feel not so alone in this too.
As far as what tests he will send you for, you know he may not even do that. But that is the first thing we think of and then we start imagining all kind of things and it sends us spiraling with anxiety. So it is really in our best interest not to think ahead as far as what tests they may or may not do. I had the ultrasound done which was do to the Pap coming back with the endometrial layer looking thicker in the test. But it was due to the bleeding I had when she did the Pap. The ultrasound was not at all painful. So do not worry about that if that is what they do. From what you told me in your original post you went thru more with the other procedures you had a few years ago.
What you are describing with your period sounds so normal for perimenopause. (it coming sometimes earlier, sometimes later, then some days of bleeding, then some spotting).
Please do not apologize for giving as you put it "all the info" ...believe me I think it is good to do so as it does help to vent. So feel free to do so.
Know that many of us get this way when we go for our Pap. I heard my gyn's voice on the phone last week when she was just calling to give me my cholesterol results and was anxious just hearing her voice!! So it is something a lot of us experience.
Try to not worry , Flyerfan, although I know it is easier said than done. But when you go on vacation and get your mind off things, you will find that you will be calmer.
You are not alone in your anxiety and it also is a big part of perimenopause.
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