MENORRHAGIA – A Woman’s Curse

10 million women in the U.S. suffer from menorrhagia. This malady of the monthly “curse” goes beyond just a nuisance and becomes days of excruciating pain and misery causing lost time from work.

(SALEM) - Through the eons of time women have suffered their monthly “curse.” It is the one thing which will bring forth moans from women all over the world; it is this phenomenon of being a female – the monthly cycle of menstruation. This is something we, as women, cannot escape through our childbearing years unless a medical/physical reason prevents this from happening.

For most women, thier "time of month" causes slight inconveniences for a few days, but for one in five women in the United States alone, this monthly occurrence is agony, with severe abdominal cramps and excessive bleeding. The excruciating pain incapacitates these women to the degree they cannot get out of bed to perform daily duties and sometimes miss up to a week of work.

The majority of women experiencing these severe complications avoid sexual activity, feel tired, nauseated, depressed, moody, and have bad headaches. Some say they experience homicidal/ suicidal feelings, and just plain want to end the world. Am I exaggerating? Just ask any woman who suffers from this malady and if you're familiar with these symptoms, you know how disruptive they can become to your life.

There is a name for this affliction and it is called menorrhagia (excessive menstrual bleeding) and it is one of the biggest health issues facing women today.

A study from Whitehall-Robins Healthcare, makers of Advil, found that almost half of women in the United States who are menstruating experience cramps severe enough to interrupt their daily activities. Shari Brasner, an obstetrician and gynecologist at Mount Sinai Medical Associates in New York City and adviser to the study, said the study suggests menstrual cramps result in 600 million lost work hours and $2 billion in lost productivity each year. Results also indicated that 18 percent of women say they have missed work or school due to pain associated with cramps.

In this case, cramps are more than a mere nuisance; the are downright debilitating.

This is such a “personal problem”, that most of the time, women do not even like talking about it, not to their loved ones or even to their doctors. In the past, women suffering from this dreaded monthly affliction had only a few viable options, including a hysterectomy, which is the surgical removal of the uterus or other female reproductive organs, or hormone therapy, which is taking the female hormones estrogen and progesterone and sometimes testosterone.

It is imperative to obtain all the information from your physician when embarking on making any decision. A hysterectomy, for example, is an extreme medical procedure and studies show it is associated with many risks and complications, including sexual dysfunction, long recovery times and chronic pain.

This reporter elected to have a partial hysterectomy back in the early 1980s. I already had given birth to four children and after the fourth child had the doctor “tie” my tubes (tubal ligation). Even though I could not get pregnant again I still suffered the monthly “curse” and it became unbearable with extreme pain, excessive bleeding, and extreme mood changes with almost homicidal tendencies – especially toward my husband. Fortunately, I didn’t suffer any of the feared after-effects from the partial hysterectomy, but it was an invasive procedure and it took a while for me to bounce back to normal. Luckily, I did.

Recently, I heard about a new procedure called NovaSure, a method for treating menorrhagia. NovaSure is a 90-second procedure which eliminates excessive bleeding by removing the endometrial lining of the uterus requiring no incisions, with minimal recovery time.

It almost sounded too good to be true, so I decided to interview a local Salem OB/GYN who performs this procedure, Dr. Michael Murphy.

SNC: I have just read about the effects women suffer from a condition known as menorrhagia. Can you tell me a little more about it? Dr. M: Menorrhagia is when heavy menstrual bleeding exceeds the norm, which means the bleeding lasts longer than seven days, the pads have to be changed every hour and there is heavy clotting. SNC: What is the average age for a woman to start experiencing the effects of this condition? Dr. M: This condition occurs mostly in women between the ages of 35 to 50 but can occur with women in much younger ages, sometimes even teenagers. SNC: Does childbirth cause this condition to worsen? Dr. M: Yes, this condition is more common after childbirth. SNC: Is hormone therapy or a hysterectomy a viable option for most women? Dr. M: In the past, hormone therapy or a hysterectomy was the options given. The hysterectomy is a major invasive surgery and there is longer time for recovery with the possibilities of more serious complications post surgery. SNC: There is a treatment called endometrial ablation method, NovaSure to treat menorrhagia. From what I have read, this procedure is FDA-approved, minimally- invasive and allows women to return to their normal activities. Can you tell me more about this procedure? Dr. M: There are several different techniques to perform the endometrial ablation; NovaSure is just one of them. This procedure may be done either in the doctor’s office or a surgical center. Some local anesthetics or anesthesia is necessary, compared to needing a painkiller such as Novocain when going to the dentist. The actual procedure for NovaSure takes about 90 seconds but a little more time for preparation is needed before the actual endometrial ablation method is applied. This method destroys the lining of the uterus and the lining where the embryo grows. This is either done by cauterizing or freezing or some doctors may use a microwave technique. SNC: Are there any serious side effects that could be experienced after having this procedure performed? Dr. M: There can be some side effects such at perforation of the uterus, but the NovaSure techniques has a built-in protection procedure that will let the doctor know when this has occurred and it can be taken care of the moment it may occur. This is a very rare occurrence. As with any medical procedure like this, a 100 percent success cannot be a guaranteed, but there is 90 percent or more chance of success. SNC: If this treatment recommended for everyone? Dr. M: As with any medical procedure this should be discussed with your physician, then an educated decision on what is best for you can be made.

Next, I interviewed one of Dr. Murphy's patients, 42-year old Cary Fuhrmeister, concerning the endometrial ablation method she had. SNC: Cary, how long did you experience this painful condition? CF: I experienced it for about a year. I had always been by the clock, but then I began having irregular, heavy cycles and they started coming more frequent and were heavier. I talked to the doctor about it and he told me about this procedure. I made the decision to have it done. SNC: Was the procedure very long? CF: No. It was performed at the doctor‚s office and I had an IV sedation. I was told it took about 10 - 15 minutes. I didn’t feel any pain during or afterwards, I even went shopping with a friend afterwards. I did miss one day of work under the direction of my employer, as they felt this would be best for me. SNC: Of course every woman is different so effects could vary, right? CF: Of course. SNC: Did you try any other forms of treatment before trying this one? CF: No I really didn’t. When my symptoms persisted I contacted Dr. Murphy and he told be about the NovaSure procedure. SNC: How do you feel now that you have been treated with the NovaSure procedure? CF: I feel great. It’s wonderful! I feel a lot better now but I do experience some of the symptoms every month that I normally did during my cycle, such as breast tenderness and tiredness. SNC: Have you experienced any side effects? CF: None to speak of. I did experience a little spotting the first two months. SNC: Do you feel this was a better decision for you than choosing hormone therapy or the partial hysterectomy? CF: I didn’t consider either one of those treatments. When I talked to Dr. Murphy about the NovaSure treatment I decided to go with that procedure.

Ten million women in the United States are affected. Every day someone is in pain, and there may be a solution, a new lease on life if menorrhagia has been disabling to you. Be an informed woman, and then go see your doctor for a thorough discussion of your alternatives.

There are several sites on the internet that address the above mentioned issues. Below are several links for you to access to gain more knowledge about this widespread medical condition, and to learn what can be done to help women suffering from menorrhagia.

www.salemhospital.org/healthsource/ www.novasure.com www.acog.org www.nlm.nih.gov www.4women.gov www.gynalternatives.com www.healthywomen.org www.hormone.org www.menopause.org www.aboutheavyperiods.com/

For information concerning hysterectomies and hormone therapy follow these links:

http://www.4woman.gov/faq/hysterectomy.htm http://www.jeanhailes.org.au/issues/hrt.htm

Organizations National Women’s Health Resource Center The Society of Women’s Health Research Center for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists American Academy of Family Physicians