Dr Gillian Riley

Hi I’m dr Gillian. And I’m here with a public service announcement to do with vaginal bleeding

Yes. Sorry. We have met right? If not well
Now you know what you’ll get if we do.

If we have met you’ll know that the rule in dr Gillian’s office is generally vaginal bleeding not something you have to necessarily do, and she’ll help you avoid it – unless you’re planning a pregnancy.

But it’s particularly not the best if you’re post menopausal. If you’ve got through menopause, have your hot flushes, your chin hair, your zero fs left to give and you’ve not had a period for 12 months, hooray, you shouldn’t be having anymore vaginal bleeding. At all. And if you do. You need to see me, or your gp of choice (also me, obvs).

It might be something straightforward. But any kind of bleeding post menopause is a Not Normal Thing ™. It is very important to exclude serious causes like cancer.

And even if it is something straightforward, the straightforward is likely something bloody uncomfortable you don’t have to live with so, please don’t!

I get that as women, or people who own vaginas/vulvas/cervices etc we tend to worry about everyone except ourselves but please don’t be stoic and please get this one checked out.

Also here’s a picture of my dog sleeping in my lap right now because that seemed better than, anything else I could use to illustrate this point. Although he is a boy dog with no vagina. Im also a human GP, and merely a dog slave. And I should stop typing now.

Here endeth the psa.

Please see some more professional educational resources below

https://www.thewomens.org.au/health-information/periods/periods-overview/bleeding-after-menopause

https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/amp/article/bleeding-after-menopause