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From: sam@phs.UUCP (Sherry Marts)
Newsgroups: net.women.only
Subject: pain relievers and periods
Message-ID: <978@phs.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 5-Dec-84 09:19:10 EST
Article-I.D.: phs.978
Posted: Wed Dec  5 09:19:10 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Dec-84 02:10:22 EST
Organization: Duke Physiology
Lines: 41


     On occasion (once every three or four cycles) I suffer from
uterine cramps so intense m leg muscles cramp, I have diarrhea and
vomiting, and I faint.  I used to try to use aspirin to control the
cramping, but I had to take eight at once for any significant relief,
and my stomach didn't like that.  Four years ago a nurse practioner
(who now does all my routine gyn exams) prescribed Motrin (ibuprofen,
now available over the counter as Advil), which is basically super-
potent aspirin (it is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, like aspirin
in that it inhibits prostaglandin synthesis).  I call them my "miracle
pills".  They aren't psychoactive - they don't leave me "blissed out".
They work, with no apparent side effects, and I only take 3 or 4
over a couple of days at  the start of my period.  I highly recommend
this drug to anyone who suffers from cramps.  I'm not ashamed to admit
that I get cramps and that I take pain relievers for them. 
(Perhaps I should mention that I do not take any other drugs and
prefer to deal with minor health problems using a combination
of massage therapy and herbal medicine.)
I think the attitude that menstrual pain is imaginary or that it is
not significant enough to warrant medical attention
is part of the mythology of fear and disgust surrounding menstruation
perpetuated by the male medical establishment.  
Women are supposed to suffer, remember?  It's our punishment for
having committed Original Sin.  When anesthesia was new, a lengthy
debate took place within the (male) medical profession as to the moral
implications of using it during childbirth.  After all, the Bible
commands that women bring forth children with suffering and tears
(or something to that effect).  Therefore, to use anesthesia during
childbirth would be unChristian, immoral, unethical.  What changed
this attitude?  Queen Victoria demanded she be  given anesthesia
when giving birth to her umpteenth child (her 8th or 9th, I think).
Of course, the medical profession then acted like it was their
idea all along, and in the past 20 years we've had to fight like
mad to convince them NOT to anesthetize during childbirth when it
isn't necessary.
Enough flaming.  I think ibuprofen is one of the best things the
pharmaceutical industry has done for women in 50 years.
Now if they can just develop a safe, reliable contraceptive...

Sherry Marts