Guest guest Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 , " " <@h...> wrote: > Ok... I just heard about a new `pill' that is marketed to only give a > woman 4 periods a year. Great marketing tactic. Besides being > abnormal from a TCM perspective what do you think are the risks? I > would say at the consequence of possibly conserving some > jing-blood-essence, one would develop higher stagnation chances than > normal. ANyone dealt with anyone on this one yet? what is the name of > it? Thoughts? > > - I just had a patient at the school clinic that recently started that pill. She was on it for almost 3 months. Her chief complaint was low back pain with secondary complaints involving moodiness. Through question, I found out that the pain and mood issues started just after she started the new pill, but she never made the connection. I tried to explain from a CM point of view, but she did not really want to listen. She just wanted less periods. Brian C. Allen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 7, 2004 Report Share Posted August 7, 2004 It's being marketed under the name " Seasonale. " < wrote:Ok... I just heard about a new `pill' that is marketed to only give a woman 4 periods a year. Great marketing tactic. Besides being abnormal from a TCM perspective what do you think are the risks? I would say at the consequence of possibly conserving some jing-blood-essence, one would develop higher stagnation chances than normal. ANyone dealt with anyone on this one yet? what is the name of it? Thoughts? - Chinese Herbal Medicine offers various professional services, including board approved continuing education classes, an annual conference and a free discussion forum in Chinese Herbal Medicine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Ok... since we are talking about meds. I just heard about a new `pill' that is marketed to only give a woman 4 periods a year. Great marketing tactic. Besides being abnormal from a TCM perspective what do you think are the risks? I would say at the consequence of possibly conserving some jing-blood-essence, one would develop higher stagnation chances than normal. ANyone dealt with anyone on this one yet? what is the name of it? Thoughts? - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Interesting book by Susan Rako MD that deals exclusively with this topic: No More Periods?: The Risks of Menstrual Suppression and Other Cutting-Edge Issues About Hormones and Women's Health http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400045037/qid=1091977335/sr=1 -3/ref=sr_1_3/002-6245907-5511250?v=glance & s=books Jaclyn Oddi Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 , Jamie Koonce <untothewholeperson> wrote: > It's being marketed under the name " Seasonale. " Great name, these guys/ gals are geniuses... - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 " Seasonal " Wow. It's amazing to me how sometimes the advertizement of a thing tries to appeal to its natural source, but really is in conflict with it. I mean trying to overpower the influence of the moon and the tendency toward simultaneous spawning. < wrote:--- In , Jamie Koonce <untothewholeperson> wrote: > It's being marketed under the name " Seasonale. " Great name, these guys/ gals are geniuses... - Chinese Herbal Medicine offers various professional services, including board approved continuing education classes, an annual conference and a free discussion forum in Chinese Herbal Medicine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 , " " <@h...> wrote: > , Jamie Koonce > <untothewholeperson> wrote: > > It's being marketed under the name " Seasonale. " > > Great name, these guys/ gals are geniuses... > > > - Before getting too riled up, consider the logic behind this. Historically, women had far fewer periods than they do today. Why? Because they were pregnant and nursing. That is the biological role of women and until we were able to intervene in this process both culturally and medically, it was a given in all societies. Don't get me wrong. I do not think that is the correct role for women, just nature's prison, IMO. Personally, I'd be happy if no one got pregnant and had kids for the rest of my natural life. :-) Research suggests that many female health problems may be due to excessive estrogen exposure. We have looked to environmental factors life pesticides and heavy metals which can influence hormones. But evidence is mounting is that it may be a women's exposure to an excessive amount of her own naturally produced estrogen as the main culprit. To understand why this would be, a little evolutionary lesson may be necessary. Nature has one drive, to reproduce the species. While there may be higher aspirations that are innate to humanity, nature does not provide for those. So the bodies of all animals are evolved to be fit enough to reproduce. Nature has no interest in longevity, per se. While adults are necessary to raise children in a forager-scavenger society, the elderly are not. The elderly play a vital role in more advanced civilizations, but this has more to do with cultural evolution than natural. If one only has 4 periods a year, then one has cut one's lifetime estrogen exposure by 75%. I suspect it will turn out that there are repercussions to this. But it most assuredly not " natural " for women to have 450 periods in their lives. This has been going on for most women for only about 40 years or less. I don't think the answer is hormonal suppression of menses, but what is it then? While there are plenty of anecdotes about the side effects of OCPs on liver qi, how does one reconcile that studies have shown a large number of women are relieved of their PMS and pain by OCP's. this is not a black and white issue of " OCP causes liver qi stag " . We do need to deal in some way with the fact that it has not been historically natural to have so much lifetime estrogen exposure. I will just mention at this point that daoist longevity and immortality techniques typically involve menstrual suppression as a goal. In this take on CM, the idea is not that one releases stagnation with menses, but loses essence. See Cleary's " immortal sisters " for more on this. Since these techniques do not include starvation and are geared towards optimum health, I suspect they work by naturally altering hormone levels. I can certainly imagine a meditative or yogic process that had this effect. In fact, research has shown that both qi gong and yoga alter hormones and neurotransmitters. Just a few thoughts, no real ideas here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 Agreed. Besides causing qi and blood stagnation, if the person has even a little heat and phlegm, then those tangling pathogens would tend toward cancer. Also the probable biomolecular mechanism being to inhibit hormonal peak and valleys, I would expect a later drying up of essence-source(K yin and yuan qi) deep in the system, and under-utilization of positive environmental seasonal qi (post heaven qi). < wrote:Ok... since we are talking about meds. I just heard about a new `pill' that is marketed to only give a woman 4 periods a year. Great marketing tactic. Besides being abnormal from a TCM perspective what do you think are the risks? I would say at the consequence of possibly conserving some jing-blood-essence, one would develop higher stagnation chances than normal. ANyone dealt with anyone on this one yet? what is the name of it? Thoughts? - Membership requires that you do not post any commerical, swear, religious, spam messages,flame another member or swear. http://babel.altavista.com/ and adjust accordingly. If you , it takes a few days for the messages to stop being delivered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 8, 2004 Report Share Posted August 8, 2004 > > I just had a patient at the school clinic that recently started that > pill. She was on it for almost 3 months. Her chief complaint was low > back pain with secondary complaints involving moodiness. Through > question, I found out that the pain and mood issues started just after > she started the new pill, but she never made the connection. > > I tried to explain from a CM point of view, but she did not really > want to listen. She just wanted less periods. > > Brian C. Allen Brian, I find that a slow introduction to CM is often more successful than telling them they must change right away. You treat their back pain and mood and once they get some relief they are usually more willing to listen to what you have to say and make necessary changes. She could and should improve with your good treatment even if the cause is the pill. Even if you cannot directly relate, a bit of empathy could help. Most women I know would like less periods so she is not alone. Jill Likkel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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