I was postmenopause and bone dry, but then began getting increasing amounts of cervical mucus.
At first I didn’t think much of it: some small amounts of cervical mucus on my underwear, even though about three months prior, I had completed menopause.
I had also been bone dry down there for a number of months throughout menopause.
But then the cervical mucus began increasing. I found this rather concerning because, why would I begin secreting this fluid when I was postmenopausal?
My gynecological nurse wasn’t at all concerned about this. Neither was my gynecologist. It was like telling them I had a paper cut on my finger.
When I had a Pap smear, the doctor told me that she did not see any more, or any less, cervical mucus that she’d normally expect in a newly postmenopausal woman.
She also wasn’t the least bit concerned that the procedure had induced production of cervical mucus, to the extent that she gave me a box of tissues and a thick sanitary pad.
With the tissue I wiped and lots of cervical mucus came onto the pad (blood tinged from the procedure, which she had alerted me would happen, and that this was normal, since I was not sexually active).
How much had my cervical mucus increased from being bone dry?
Not enough to appear on a panty liner, but enough to make me want to wear a panty liner just in case.
There were several instances in which it came out in a gob onto the toilet paper, or plopped as a white ball into the toilet water from the pressure of urinating.
It was stretchy at one point, too, which made me wonder if I was ovulating.
After maybe about three weeks, I noticed that it began decreasing, exiting as gradually as it had came on.
I no longer felt a need to wear a panty liner, and began seeing less and less of the cervical mucus on my toilet paper. I eventually returned to being bone dry.
The Pap and internal pelvic exam were normal. The external ultrasound was normal.
My googling about this in postmenopause turned up a few things:
1) Vaginal atrophy, a postmenopausal condition, can cause vaginal “discharge.”
Whether or not this discharge can often look exactly like cervical mucus, I was not able to uncover.
2) If a woman is newly postmenopausal, her hormones may still be “settling” and not switching off like a water faucet, and hence, there may be a little resurgence of cervical mucus.
3) An infection can cause vaginal discharge. However, the description of this discharge does not fit ithe description of cervical mucus.
One description is that it resembles cottage cheese. Another is that it’s green.
An OB/GYN Doctor’s Response
As a medical writer, I inquired about postmenopausal cervical mucus to Christine O’Connor, MD, FACOG, Director Adolescent Gynecology and Well Woman Care, Weinberg Center for Women’s Health, Mercy Medical Center, Baltimore.
I also interviewed Alyssa Dweck, MD, a full-time practicing OB/GYN at the Mount Kisco Medical Group in Westchester County, NY, and co-author of the book, V is for Vagina.
Lorra Garrick has been covering medical, fitness and cybersecurity topics for many years, having written thousands of articles for print magazines and websites, including as a ghostwriter. She’s also a former ACE-certified personal trainer.
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