TREATMENT FOR THE ACHING MISERIES: PROGESTERONE

admin — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 08:25:41 +0000

Both Dr Dalton’s researches, which have been going on since 1953, and the more recent studies carried out at St Thomas’ Hospital, London, show that some women who suffer from premenstrual tension have low levels of progesterone in their bodies during the last half of their menstrual cycles. In other words, at the very time of the month when you would expect the level to be high. Dr Dalton treats her patients by giving them extra progesterone during the last half of the month. This treatment often has a marked effect on the whole range of symptoms. It may reduce the bloat, lift depression, remove those alarming mood swings and also have an effect on the sort of epilepsy, hay fever, cystitis, asthma and migraines that are linked to an approaching period. If you want to know more about this treatment, I suggest you read Dr Dalton’s book, Once a Month, and you’ll see if it could be for you.

Unfortunately there are only two established clinics that have followed Dr Dalton’s lead and will prescribe pure progesterone. So if you want treatment at either of them, you will have to go on a waiting list, I’m afraid. One is at University College Hospital, London, and the other is in the Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield. It will not be easy to find a GP who is willing and able to prescribe progesterone suppositories (trade name ‘Cyclogest’) either. There are some, but at the moment they are rather rare. The trouble is that unlike the contraceptive pills, which have been on the market for over twenty-five years, progesterone treatment is relatively new. An added difficulty is that pure progesterone can only be given as an injection or in the form of suppositories. Some women are so glad to receive some treatment that will stop their symptoms they don’t mind where the treatment has to be put. But others are put off by the idea of suppositories, and would much prefer a pill. Unfortunately there’s no way, at the moment, that progesterone can be made effective in pill form.

*82\177\2*

THE ACHING MISERIES (CONGESTIVE DYSMENORRHOEA): FATIGUE

admin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 11:55:42 +0000

Some women lose all their energy before their periods are due. They wake up tired and have to get behind themselves and push if they are to start the day at all. Little jobs like making beds, wheeling the pram down the road or vacuuming a room leave them so exhausted that they have to sit down to recover. A shopping expedition in the lunch hour is a chore to be dreaded and often results in the most disastrous purchases—food that isn’t wanted or needed, clothes that don’t suit or fit. As one woman put it, ‘I feel as if I’ve lost my judgement.’

Obviously all the things I have said about avoiding difficulties apply here too. Don’t go shopping if you can help it. Wait until you’re in a better frame of mind. Let your husband or your colleagues do chores for you. At home, see how many jobs can be done sitting down—like washing up or preparing vegetables or ironing. And don’t iron anything that doesn’t really need it — shirts and blouses only need ironing where they show. It’s hard to lower your standards, especially if you’re houseproud, but try. You need the rest more than that immaculate shirt.

Take a rest whenever you can. Allow yourself to potter and don’t feel ashamed of it. Plenty of middle and upper class Victorian ladies lay around on their chaises longues during off days, and nobody thought any the worse of them. They called it ‘having the vapours’. This applied only to well-off women. The poor and the servants didn’t get the same sort of consideration at all. They just had to get on with it, as most of us do today.

*40\177\2*

The blog is about health and gives useful information on health and disease. » Pain Relief-Muscle Relaxers

TREATMENT FOR THE ACHING MISERIES: PROGESTERONE

THE ACHING MISERIES (CONGESTIVE DYSMENORRHOEA): FATIGUE