Your decision to make a doctors appointment for evaluation of your heavy vagina bleeding is a great achievement.   It will put you on the path of discovering the cause of your bleeding problem, and put you one step closer to finding an adequate treatment. As the day approaches though, one can become very anxious at the unknown that awaits them.

I find that my patients often have some very strange ideas on what will happen at that initial office visit.  Many of them have done some “research” on the Internet regarding heavy bleeding. Research is great, but you have to find good sources of information. Sometimes internet content can be out of date, poorly written or even contain false information. Our goal at heavybleedinghelp.com  is to provide you with expert information that is easy to understand, up-to-date, and  accurate.  Although we cant provide you with advice, diagnosis or treatment of your problem, you can use this website as a great starting point to gain information in preparation for that first doctor visit. It’s our hope that you use the information here to prepare your mind to make the most out of the doctor’s visit that’s to come. Here is an article on ways to optimize that 1st visit.

This article will provide you with a good idea of what you may expect during that 1st visit with your doctor. And hopefully in doing so, some of those anxious feelings will be minimized, if not eliminated altogether.

Your History: Getting to Know You and Your Heavy Bleeding Problem

The key to discovering the cause of your heavy vagina bleeding is in defining clearly what the problem is. Is your bleeding very heavy? Is it very prolonged?  Is it irregular? Is it the combination of all of these things? Your doctor will ask you a series of questions to be able to understand what the problem exactly is. Often these questions may bring out ways of describing your menstrual periods that you have never realized before. Great!  That’s part of the process of figuring out what’s going on.  A great tool to help your doctor understand exactly what is happening is to keep a menstrual calendar that you can show her at this visit.  For more information you can click here

Your doctor will also ask you about other aspects of your health which may  affect your menstrual cycle. Things like medical illnesses you might have, past surgeries, your pregnancy history, medicines you are currently taking. Asking questions about the health of family members may often reveal hints of what may be happening with you. For example, it is known that fibroids can run in families. I have seen patients whose mothers and sisters have this problem, often at the same time as my patient.

The doctor will also perform what is called a review of systems, which is a series of questions about symptoms. These questions often may not seem to be related to your heavy bleeding problem, but they can be useful for your doctor to discover other problems which may have a direct affect on your menstrual cycles.

The Physical Exam: Looking for Signs of a Problem

Your doctor will perform a physical exam to look for signs of where the problem might be. This examination may be performed in the context of an annual exam in which the breasts, abdomen, pelvic organs and other parts of the body may be examined. Your doctor will concentrate primarily however on the abdominal exam and the pelvic exam. What she is looking for is changes in the size or shape of the internal organs.  Fibroids or adenomyosis may affect the size of the uterus.  Enlargement of the ovaries may suggest a cyst or even polycystic ovaries. There may also be changes in the hair pattern which may be a sign of hormonal imbalance. The skin can also show signs associated with  heavy bleeding. For instance there may be small red spots or black and blue marks associated with problems with the clotting of blood, the condition which can also cause problems with the menstrual cycle.

Lab Tests: Looking Into Your Blood for Clues

Although you won’t have the results immediately, your doctor will undoubtedly order  a series of lab tests to look for multiple signs of disease. A basic series of tests will include a complete blood count to look for anemia or other changes in the number of blood cells, hormonal tests to look at the functioning of the pituitary gland, thyroid function tests, and possibly tests to assess the coagulation/clotting of blood. Depending on the history which you give to the doctor, he may choose to order other blood tests.

Conclusions: A Pretty Good Idea Of Where to Look Next

By the end of this initial evaluation, your doctor will have a good idea of where to look next. She will have some suspicion of what the most likely cause of your bleeding is but will need some further testing to prove the theory. Your doctor may share some of these ideas with you. You will have a lot of questions and will want to know the treatment that she has planned for you right away. Your Dr. will answer many of your questions, however,  more likely, she will ask you to wait until she evaluates the results of all the testing before giving you a definite answer to the cause of your problem.