A woman who started bleeding so heavily she thought she had cervical cancer was told she was actually going through menopause.
Gigi Gerencser, from Sechelt, Canada, had not had a regular period in three years when she woke up one morning to find her sheets “soaked in blood.”
She rushed to the hospital where doctors took a biopsy to test for cancer, saying the then 53-year-old’s bleeding was “not right.”
But the tests came back negative, indicating she did not have cancer, leading Gerencser’s gynecologist to determine that the gushing blood was a “unique” symptom of menopause.
Gigi Gerencser, 58 years old and from Sechelt, Canada, rushed to the hospital convinced her heavy bleeding was caused by cancer. But doctors later revealed it was a lesser-known symptom of menopause and that her body had ‘one last hurray’ before menstruation stopped.
Ms Gerencser said that when she first arrived at the hospital, doctors were concerned that the bleeding could be caused by a serious medical complication.
When Ms. Gerencser arrived at the hospital, doctors were concerned about the heavy bleeding and sent her for a biopsy – where a small sample of tissue was taken to check for cancer – but she got the results two weeks later when no cancer cells were found.
She then had an appointment with her gynecologist, who explained why she might be experiencing the heavy bleeding.
Mrs Gerencser said: ‘My gynecologist told me it was highly unusual, but not impossible. I’d had a ‘one last hurray’ period – a last, huge period.
‘She said it happens when women have a few eggs left after their periods are delayed.
‘It was likely that I would never have my period again. Five years later I still haven’t done that.’
Mrs Gerencser said: ‘I can’t even explain it – it was so terrifying – I woke up and saw blood pouring out of me.
‘I had had a total of three periods in the three years before, but this was nothing like this situation. I was extremely weak.
‘I thought I was bleeding from something that had burst inside me, or I was convinced I had cervical cancer.
‘(But) A few weeks after I went to the hospital, the results of my biopsy came back clear. My gynecologist told me that (the bleeding) was a unique symptom of menopause.
“I thought I was going crazy.”
For the three years leading up to the episode, Ms Gerencser was in perimenopause – when symptoms appear and the ovaries begin to close, but the body has not yet fully entered menopause.
She still had periods every now and then, but they were “weak,” she said, and separated by months.
“I just thought they would gradually stop and I would never have one again,” Ms Gerencser added.
Ms Gerencser revealed that when perimenopause started, she also struggled with intense bouts of anger and anxiety and had joint pain, bloating and constant hot flashes.
She said: ‘I started thinking, ‘I’m a bad person. I hate myself. I don’t understand what’s happening to me.”
‘I started to get intensely angry over absolutely nothing – and that in an instant.
“Someone could give me the wrong lid for my coffee at Starbucks, and I would just want to smash the cup.
‘My husband and I started having problems; we didn’t get along. This was not normal for us; we had the usual fights, but we never really had a fight.
‘Anxiety was something I had never suffered from before, yet to this day I could open my eyes first thing in the morning and feel it taking over my body. To the point where I feel the hairs on my arms and legs standing up.’
She went straight for a biopsy – where a small sample of tissue is taken to check for cancer – but got the results two weeks later when no cancer cells were found.
To help with the symptoms, Ms. Gerencser has been taking a topical hormone that is 80 percent estriol and 20 percent estradiol.
She also takes vitamin supplements for more magnesium, K2 and vitamin D and makes sure her diet includes plenty of healthy fats like salmon and leafy greens.
Symptoms of perimenopause include night sweats, heart palpitations, vaginal dryness and, in some cases, heavy periods.
These heavy periods normally require women to change a tampon every hour or two, doctors say, and aren’t heavy enough to leave the sheets soaked with blood.
Although it is a symptom of perimenopause, hLight vaginal bleeding is also a common warning sign of cervical cancer; Nearly 12,000 women are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. each year.
It may also be a warning sign of endometrial cancer, the fourth most common cancer among women in the US, with 65,000 cases diagnosed annually.
Women who have gone through menopause may also experience heavy vaginal bleeding in some cases, and experts say they should see a doctor immediately.