How much blood is too much?

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved tranexamic acid tablets as treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding more than a year ago, but you probably haven’t seen much of this television commercial to promote the drug (brand name Lysteda). Matthew Arnold reports in Medical Marketing and Media that television network executives are put off by the ad’s explicit mention of “periods” and “bleeding” combined with the symbolism of fall red rose petals.

(The article appeared in the December, 2010, print issue of MMM, but online October 20, 2010.)

Clinical Trials for Lysteda

Nearly a year ago, we shared news of FDA approval of tranexamic acid tablets as treatment for heavy menstrual bleeding. Today we learned of successful clinical trials of the drug this purpose: The current issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology includes the results of a double-blind placebo-controlled study of tranexcmic acid tablets, in which the drug “was well tolerated and significantly improved both menstrual blood loss and health-related quality of life in women with heavy menstrual bleeding.”

Teens and the IUD

Art by Flickr user Buhny | CC 2.0

A new study published in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology has found that adolescents are usually able to tolerate the Mirena® IUD rather well. The mean age of girls in this British study was 15.3 years, and they were prescribed the Mirena® for painful and/or heavy periods that did not respond to oral medications. 93.4% of girls in the study (45 young women) reported “significant improvement” within four months. The researchers conclude “that Mirena is a well tolerated and effective alternative for heavy periods±dysmenorrhoea in adolescents who do not respond to oral therapy.”

So will this finding make it easier for young women to obtain an IUD if they’d like it for birth control, now that there is evidence that it is well tolerated?

Period Sex is a Bloody Good Time (says college newspapers)

Back in November, we commended a bold student columnist for taking on menstrual sex in the student paper at Chico State University. In yesterday’s edition of The Faster Times, columnist Veronica Mittnacht advises a reader about how to broach the subject of period sex in a casual relationship, and works to normalize menstruation – even heavy flow.

Fortunately, most men, even if they don’t really like it [menstruation], know enough to pretend not to mind, because, after all, most women do it, and there’s not much men can do about it.  And for your purposes, for now, pretending is enough. There’s still the occasional guy who can’t handle blood, but the bell curve compensates by giving us the occasional fetishist or enthusiast to make up for it.