Bleeding during intercourse; cervical polyps?

[queenofdelosers.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone,

A friend of mine has a problem. The other day she and her boyfriend were having sex and it hurt a lot, but they continued any way. After they finished, she headed to the toilet to have her post-sex pee. There was a lot of blood. She described it as not blood from a period but like when you cut yourself. She's about in the middle of her cycle. She said that she can feel something potruding from her vagina, but it doesn't hurt when she touches it.

After googling some, she thought she might have cervical polyps. Needless to say she's really freaked out and nervous about what this could mean. She'll be going to our university health clinic tomorrow. Do you think it is cervical polyps? If it is cervical polyps, what should she expect? The websites say that sometimes they need to be surgically removed. Is that an out-patient thing, and do most insurances cover it?

Comments

[buzzboomsplat.livejournal.com]

In my experience, it's never a great idea to google symptoms. She shouldn't worry about a diagnosis that hasn't been made yet, especially if she is seeing a doctor tomorrow.

Wish her luck and tell her not to worry!

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

She should definitely see a doctor, there are a variety of things that can cause bleeding after sex. Thankfully they're mostly easily dealt with.

I've had three cervical polyps. The first one was found by a nurse during a smear test. I noticed the second and third myself, I could feel the little thing protruding from my cervix (it does not stick out of the vagina, but perhaps there's been a miscommunication there?). The bleeding after sex was usually bright red, and sometimes there was an awful lot of it. Scrubbing the sheets and the mattress protector with oxygen bleach at 3 am is really not a nice way to enjoy that post-coital glow.

With the third polyp, I went straight to the doctor as I was worried there would be problems with my IUD, and the sodding doctor couldn't feel it. I saw a gynae a few months later for PMS, who assured me that the former doctor was excellent and would have been able to find the polyp. So by the time that polyp was finally taken out, it had been there about 11 months. Like the other two, it was absolutely harmless, they almost always are. The only real reasons to get them taken out in my case are because of the nuisance of bleeding after sex, plus they always check polyps just to be on the safe side.

Cervical polyps do not equal cervical cancer, or even anything to do with cervical cancer. I don't know why I keep getting them, apparently some women are rather prone to them, but my doctors seem utterly unconcerned and keep telling me not to worry.

[elettaria.livejournal.com]

Forgot to mention:

It's definitely an out-patient thing. It's no more hassle than a smear test, though you need to get to a doctor who can do it (i.e. you can't just have it done *during* the smear test if your smear test is being done by a nurse who isn't able to remove polyps, I had to wait for referral to a gynae). The doctor simply grasps hold of the polyp and twists it off. You can't feel the polyp being removed, so the level of discomfort is about the same as a smear test as well (speculum being the main issue for me). I have no idea how the insurance thing works, I'm in the UK, but it's a short, simple procedure.