Spotting Following Cortisone Injection

I've been Postmenopausal for over 23 years. I've never before had any breakthrough bleeding.
I was diagnosed originally with Fibromyalgia; but last year that diagnoses was deemed incorrect and I have Post Lyme Disease, as diagnosed and treated for last year. The bad thing is that Lyme is already everywhere in my body, and I've suffered greatly with so much pain, in various areas of my body, which rarely lets up.
Unfortunately, medical doctors and staff these days simply don't fully understand what Lyme Disease is, even though it's rampant in this area where I live. I became very ill with an underlying infection in an old root canal in a front tooth. It took nearly seven months of surgeries and treatment to resolve. The anxiety and stress on top of yet more pain, was not diagnosed originally by my NP, because most of the infection had already gone into the right side of my face. The NP told me she didn't know what was wrong, so she simply gave me a big Cortisone shot in my rear.
Gradually, not only did I suddenly have raging hot flashes and night sweats, but I felt as if I was going to have my period, but I did not bleed at that time. Steadily, I felt "something was affecting my hormones" and blamed it on the Lyme Disease.
After many months of severe and delibitating pain in my left knee, when I finally got to the Orthopedic doctor, he did even more x-rays, said I had simple "arthritis" and gave me a shot of Cortisone right into my knee. That was on October 7th. By October 24th, I was bleeding vaginally, and it's bad enough when your my age, at 79, to have some incontinence issues, but to bleed vaginally on top of that is just a bit too much.
On October 30th, I made a decision to get an appointment with my old GYN, only to be told he had retired. The nice lady who makes appointments said they could not get me in until after January of 2026!! I explained to her, that if she didn't get me in any sooner, that I'd have to go to the ER. Suddenly, she said she found an opening on Nov. 6th. (Imagine that!), so I'm set to go in for a full GYN experience. They will no doubt want to do every test in the book on me (according to the huge healthcare giant locally), but although I have had Fibroid Tumors in my thirties and forties that required the standard several D & Cs, I've not encountered any such issues since menopause ended. This is just another case of patients doing their own research and finding answers and finding sites like this where others have gone through the same thing after a Cortisone shot, I felt I needed to share with you, that I definitely know that after having a Cortisone shot, does affect a woman, and can cause her to bleed again for many days, no matter how old she is. We need to be heard and not ignored by medical professionals. The facts are out there, and if you have a GYN who does not honor what you tell them, then you need to find another doctor who keeps up with medicines and their affects upon us. This is just another example. I read so many of other comments on here, but none that related to someone as old as me. I really do understand, and hopefully, none of you will or have had to go through a series of unnecessary testing and procedures, which only drains Medicare and other Supplemental Plans we have for our care. Just my two cents worth. Thanks for reading.

I'm post-menopausal, 63 and this symptom is absolutely as a result of the steroid injection. It has now happened twice, following an injection (I'm in the throws of it right now, with not spotting, but bleeding as if it were a period). The first time I spotted then bled for a total of 2 months. I got an ultrasound and biopsy and it was all clear, the first time. There are studies published about this phenomenon. It seems very few doctors even know about this, which to me, is further proof of the lack of education for doctors, regarding menopausal and post-menopausal women. Maddening. Here's the only thing that helped the bleeding for me (suggested by my Integrative doctor who does my hormones and the compounding pharmacist). I go way higher on my progesterone and drop the estrogen to nearly nothing, temporarily. I have to ease the estrogen back up very slowly (it took many moths to get it back to normal, but I'm super sensitive), or I'll start spotting again. I hope this helps someone out there! Glad to read other stories! I will not be going to an OBGYN for this again, ever. I do not want to do invasive tests when this is clearly the culprit.