After three months without having her period and after gaining a little weight around her waist, Julia Champion became convinced that, at 53 years old, she must be in menopause.
“I wasn’t particularly happy with my swollen belly, but I decided to cut back on calories and exercise more when I had time,” says Julia, now 55, a publicist from Sydenham, south-east London.
But then, during a three-hour drive to Suffolk during the summer of 2022, Julia had to stop five times to use the bathroom.
“Sometimes I didn’t even make it to the gas station and I had to stop the car and run into the bushes,” he says.
‘My sister Jenny and my niece Carrie were with me and said they had noticed I was urinating more than usual lately. Carrie said it could be a sign of diabetes and that I should get checked out by my GP.
Julia Champion was left speechless when her GP told her she was pregnant at the age of 53.
Julia made an appointment for the following week and, 24 hours after taking a urine and blood sample, she received a call from the surgery.
“They told me that the results had already arrived and that I could come to the appointment to discuss them as soon as possible, which immediately made me fear that it was something serious,” says Julia, who is married to Matt, a 54-year-old businessman. , and has two teenage daughters.
Julia was completely unprepared for what her family doctor told her. “She told me, ‘The good news is that you’re not diabetic and it’s not a thyroid problem, but you’re pregnant,'” Julia recalls.
‘I was stunned. For a few seconds I couldn’t say anything. Then I said, “I can’t be pregnant, I’m 53 years old!”
“The GP nodded and said, ‘It’s not as unusual as you think.’
In fact, more than five women aged 50 and over gave birth each week between 2018 and 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics.
“Matt and I hadn’t been using birth control because I thought I couldn’t get pregnant anymore,” Julia says. “I was surprised, but if I’m completely honest, I was also a little excited.
“My daughters, Rosie and Bella, are now 18 and 15 and although Matt and I had agreed not to have another child, I always wanted more.”
Julia went straight home and broke the news to Matt. “I was so shocked and very worried that we couldn’t afford to have a third child,” he says. Since Julia had not had her period for months, her doctor sent her to have an ultrasound to check how far along the pregnancy was, and this brought her more surprises.
After passing the tube through Julia’s stomach, the sonographer said he had just called an obstetrician.
“Then they said, ‘Can you get out of bed and do another pregnancy test?'” Julia says.
“They gave me a stick to urinate and a few minutes later it was negative.
He had a positive test but further examination revealed the real problem.
“They told me I wasn’t pregnant, but that I had a large cyst on my ovaries, which was putting pressure on my bladder, which explained why I was urinating so much and had gained weight.”
Instead of preparing to have a baby, Julia had to prepare for surgery the following week to remove the cyst.
“I have to admit that part of me was disappointed that I wasn’t having another baby and I was a little upset.”
Ovarian cysts (also called tumors) are surprisingly common (according to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, around 10 percent of women will need surgery at some point to remove them) and can lead to positive pregnancy tests (another cause of false positives ). pregnancy tests is menopause, but we’ll talk about that later).
This is because certain ovarian tumors, including benign teratomas, like Julia’s, which form from cells within the eggs of the ovary, can release human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), “which is the hormone that can give a positive result on a pregnancy test,” explains Dr. Sangeeta. Khinder, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynecologist at London Private Gynecology Clinic and Whittington Health NHS Trust.
This hormone is usually released by placental cells during pregnancy, but its levels can also increase in women with ovarian cysts or who take medications, including certain antidepressants and, perhaps less surprisingly, fertility medications, adds Dr. Khinder. This can cause confusion, as the resulting increase in hCG can stop periods, as the hormone causes the lining of the uterus to thicken in preparation for a baby and tells the body to stop shedding as it does during periods.
“I’ve had young women who miss their period, then have an ultrasound to detect pregnancy and show an ovarian tumor instead,” says Dr. Khinder.
‘About 8 percent of menopausal women may also have a positive pregnancy test, either in the presence of a cyst or even randomly.
“This is because during menopause estrogen and progesterone levels fall and this has negative feedback on the pituitary gland, which in turn releases hCG at a small level, but it is enough to give a false positive on a blood test. pregnancy”.
Dr Khinder adds: “We see women in their 50s getting pregnant and it’s usually through IVF or sometimes spontaneously, but it’s not what I would call common.”
Typical symptoms of an ovarian cyst are swelling, pelvic pain, a swollen belly, urinary symptoms such as frequency and incomplete emptying, change in periods, and pain during sexual intercourse.
They can sometimes grow up to 12 cm and put pressure on the bladder, which can give you a feeling of fullness and make you look pregnant.
Julia, now 55, thought her missed periods two years ago were part of menopause.
Dr. Khinder advises that women with these symptoms request an ultrasound. “If left, these cysts can grow and the concern is that they will twist and cause acute pain or that the ovaries will die due to decreased blood supply.”
In premenopausal women, the risk of these cysts being cancerous is one in 1,000; It is three in every 1,000 for women over 50.
“Letting them grow does not increase the risk of them becoming cancerous, but we typically recommend removing cysts if they are large or causing symptoms,” adds Dr. Khinder.
Julia had surgery three days after her ultrasound to remove the cyst, which was found to be non-cancerous. A biopsy taken during surgery also ruled out endometrial cancer, variants of which can also cause increased hCG levels.
Although her operation ended her urge to go to the bathroom and her bloating, Julia suffered heavy bleeding afterwards.
“The next week I had the heaviest period of my life,” he says. “I called to see a friend and she had to give me some incontinence pads because I couldn’t stop bleeding.”
Dr. Khinder says that type of bleeding can occur after a cyst is removed.
“The hCG hormone stops your periods, so when the cyst that hCG creates is removed, you’re likely to have heavy bleeding if you’re premenopausal,” she says.
Julia was recommended to have a Mirena coil, which releases the hormone progesterone into the uterus to help thin the lining and reduce bleeding.
“It was agony having to put it on, but I’ve been fine since then.”
She’s been warned there’s a 4 percent risk of the cyst coming back, but this time Julia knows what to watch out for.
She says, “I was sad that I wouldn’t be a mother again, but I know it’s probably for the best.”