vaginapagina | Help! Shedding entire uterine wall at once???

Hi all...
This community has been my go-to source for so many things but I can't seem to find an answer to this question. I found something kind of similar to my issue, but it doesn't seem to be exactly the same. I tried to explain it over the phone to my doctor's nurse but even she didn't know.

I have been on birth control since I was 14 because I've always had irregular, painful periods. I have NEVER had anything like this happen before. I am always on time, same day in my pill cycle, same duration.

I have been under an immense amount of stress lately and I thought that was the cause of my non-existent period. I was supposed to have started 3-4 days ago but only had some very light spotting and brownish discharge (usually this is towards the tail end of my period).

Today, I had some pretty bad cramping (which usually is the sign of my period starting), but I got so busy with work I started to forget about it. I went about my day as usual.

Got home, changed my tampon, and after wiping there was a fully in tact, piece of tissue on the toilet paper. It was almost like a sac or cylinder type of shape attached to a string. (Wide then tapers).
Literally, it was about 2 inches in length, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch in thickness, and was for sure pink tissue. It was definitely not a blood clot because after having a panic attack, I calmed down and cleaned it up a bit so I could explain to my doctor. It was like a cast of my uterus!

Unfortunately, my doctor is out of the office until Friday so it will have to wait until then and the only person that was available to talk to was the LPN in the office, who was not helpful at all. She made me feel like I was confused and didn't understand what menstruation was. Then she said she'd call me Friday once she can talk to the doctor.

Has this happened to you?? Should I be concerned? Did you talk to your doctor about it and what did they say? I asked the LPN if I should save "the specimen" and she said no, it's probably fine. I told her I would take a picture anyway.

Any help would really help put me at ease. I read on some other forums online that some girl had a uterine polyp that seemed to be described like this?? Another had an eptopic pregnancy?? (I don't think I could have been pregnant for the record. Had sex twice in last month, I take birth control, used condoms every time AND pull out -- my husband and I are as fool proof as possible)

I'm just scared... Help :(

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Uterine cast! Yup, there's at least a large handful of people at VP who've had these things, either in strips or -- in one case that, if I recall correctly, left the person fainting with the pain -- an entire uterus "cast." Being on HBC can make people slightly more prone to these, too.

It's almost certainly fine, especially if you have no continuing pain.

(Do you suppose, though, that you could change "ladies" to something a bit more gender-neutral? VP has guys with vaginas as well, many of whom may be on HBC to try to minimize having to deal with their nethers, and who may've had similar issues. Thanks!)

Thanks for your reply, archangelbeth! :) That makes me feel a LOT better. Do you recall any of the other people at VP that had these ever getting an answer from their doctor? What causes them/are there any health risks? The LPN had never heard of anyone having this happen to them, so I am glad to hear it is more wide spread than I originally thought.

I'm wondering if anyone got some feedback from their doctor if it is indicative of anything else? Say something like endometriosis or any other uterine "disorders"? The LPN mentioned possibly having me come in to have an ultrasound of my uterine wall! =\ I really just wish my doctor was in so I could talk to her because she is GREAT! *sigh*

[[I also edited the post. I'm sorry! I honestly did not even think about it being gender-neutral before I pressed submit. I was in a panic. :( I sincerely hope no one was offended. I meant no ill harm.]]

Edited 2012-05-03 03:48 (UTC)

I've got endometriosis and have never heard of uterine casts being associated with it.

For what it's worth, I'm also going back through our archives RIGHT NOW and adding "uterine-lining" to a bunch of other posts that have discussed it (including photos and feedback from doctors), so it might be worth browsing that in a bit.

As for gender-neutral terms - no worries, at least from my point of view. I understand that people don't think to do it; I understand that this is especially likely if you're in a panic because something unusual's going on with your body; and I just really, really appreciate that you changed it so quickly <3

Belatedly -- I don't recall this being any kind of issue for anyone else, in the sense of the doctors getting wrought up about it. Much more in the "this happens" and the fainting part was definitely an "EEK!" (But, well, cervixes don't like having large things comin' through...)

(And also belatedly, thank you for the edit!)

My best friend had this happen to her back a year or two ago. She had been on a really strenuous hike the day before and the next day she had really intense cramping. She said she went to the bathroom and it was like she had an entire week long period in about 2 minutes. It freaked her out a lot because it was a lot of blood at once and the same type of fleshy uterus-like piece, but after that, she was fine. the cramps subsided and the spotted for the rest of the day and it was over.

its not funny, but my daughter always said "if they invented something to where i could sit there for even up to an HOUR and get my period over all at once, i would SO do it!!"

so your friend's story made me smile.

yes, i've had uterine casts, too.

The thing that is weird is, my period wasn't incredibly heavy. It was pretty normal -- if anything it was a little less heavy! Just with this uterine cast... I swear I learn more and more about my vagina every day! lol

That sounds like a decidual cast. Weird, yes, but not serious.

Thanks, birthingway! Is a decidual cast indicative of something else? I only have read about decidual casts being associated with eptopic pregnancies? Do you know what causes decidual casts?

They can be an entirely normal phenomenon in some cases. I have seen them with people on hormonal birth control.

That makes sense. I've been on some form of hormonal birth control since I was a teenager (always had irregular periods and a lot of pain). So maybe it's time to go off it if this happens again? Maybe it's my body's way of telling me it's time to let it do it's own thing.

If this helps, all ectopic pregnancies that I've heard of from friends and other sites all recall serious pain to the point of nearly passing out and going straight to the ER, since the embryo is attempting to implant and grow in the fallopian tube. So if you had one at all, you'd know is what they all told me. You mentioned that it seems like a normal withdrawal bleed, so you're likely fine.

As for the cast? My first reaction was "COOL!" And then it was, "Wait, I don't get one of those until this baby is born Sept/Oct. and it's going to be a LOT bigger than that." Disregarding that, I've had a little cast of the uterus before come out at once. Major cramping, comes out, everything settles down.

Totally normal! Unpleasant maybe, but it's totally okay! If you look through the menstruation/periods (http://vaginapagina.livejournal.com/tag/menstruation%2Fperiods) tag, you'll find several posts with other folks who have experienced the same thing.

Thank you!! I was looking under the wrong tag. I should have looked under the obvious instead of panicking.

This post looks almost identical to what mine looked like: http://vaginapagina.livejournal.com/20529756.html

Ahhhh thank you VP. You all are the best!

It's all normal to get clumps, that's just larger pieces of the endometrium. I'm one to get 'em after having some heavy duty crampage. Though still worth going to the gyno, especially if it's not something you get most of the time.

I'm not sure if this is helpful to you at all, but when I was a few years younger (I'm 22 in a couple of days) I experienced very intense cramping and then later went to the toilet and a chunk of grey, thick, rubbery, wrinkled tissue about as big as my thumbnail was there when I wiped. My cramps settled down after that. I wasn't on birth control at the time, either.
I know mine was definitely just a great big chunk of lining - decidual cast apparently! - and it sounds like yours was too.
I think it's fairly normal to experience. Granted I had quite problematic periods when I was younger, but the chunky matter didn't do me any harm except some monster cramping, and I was no stranger to that at the time.

I'm so glad I found this site - I have PCOS and am on Loestrin 30 Birth Control, I recently took a break off them for about a month, having used 3 packs in a row before that, then started taking them again - after finishing that 1 month pack, I started bleeding a little bit yesterday and then had the most intense cramping ever at work today and when I got home, discovered I had passed what I now believe was also part of my uterus, having tried searching for it and only getting a few hits, most of them being on here. This is the first time this has ever happened to me - I've had lots of clots before, but nothing like this before ever, so it really freaked me out at first.

Help! Shedding entire uterine wall at once???

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