Menstruation is a period that often causes discomfort for women, including cramps, headache, irritability, swelling, breast pain and mood swings. These symptoms accompany the menstrual cycle, which normally occurs every 28 to 30 days and is part of the female reproductive process.
During the menstrual cycle, the body prepares for pregnancy. Menstruation occurs when the egg is not fertilized by the sperm, resulting in shedding of the endometrium, the inner membrane of the uterus. The thick layer that forms during pregnancy preparation detaches from the uterine wall, causing menstrual bleeding.
At this stage, important changes occur in the female organism due to hormonal oscillations. According to Dr. Walter Pace, specialist in gynecology, hormones can cause a series of clinical manifestations and influence women’s emotional changes due to variations in hormone levels throughout the month.
These factors have led some women to seek treatments to stop menstruation, aiming to balance their behavior, which is naturally affected by the intense hormonal variations that occur from the ovulatory phase to the premenstrual period.
Understanding the health benefits of menstrual suppression for women
Menstrual suppression, that is, the interruption of menstruation, is still a subject surrounded by taboos for many women. Resistance associated with cultural factors and lack of information can influence the decision to block menstruation or not, even when symptoms that affect quality of life appear.
The theme gained prominence in Brazil and in the world through the studies of Dr. Elsimar Coutinho, renowned scientist and specialist in gynecology, who pioneered the idea that menstruation is unnecessary bleeding. His contributions to science include works such as “Is Menstruation Obsolete?” (Is Menstruation Obsolete?) and “Menstruation, the Useless Bleeding”, in which he reveals how menstrual suppression can contribute to women’s health.
One of the main benefits of menstrual suppression is maintaining hormonal stability in the body, which helps to minimize behavioral impacts. In addition, menstruation can cause health problems when it occurs in excess, such as anemia and infectious diseases.
It is important to emphasize that there are hormone-dependent diseases that can be aggravated or evolve more quickly when there is not an adequate hormonal balance, mainly estrogen, which stimulates the development of diseases such as endometriosis, myomatosis, hyperplasia and breast diseases.
Menstrual suppression should be considered when the woman has symptoms that impair her quality of life, such as excessive bleeding, premenstrual tension (PMS), significant mood swings and hormone-dependent diseases mentioned above.
The Doctor. Walter Pace explains that suspending menstruation has no correlation with damage to women’s health, on the contrary, interrupting this process can prevent diseases that prevail when women menstruate. Also, unlike what many people think, it does not interfere with women’s fertility, and in some situations, it protects.
What are the methods to stop menstruation?
There are many ways to suspend menstruation, the best known is through the use of birth control pills. In many cases, women resort to this treatment in order to get rid of the characteristic symptoms of this phase, with cramps and premenstrual tension, PMS. However, there are also situations in which menstrual suppression is indicated in order to reduce the risks of more serious hormone-dependent diseases, such as endometriosis, uterine and ovarian cancer.
Today there are numerous drug alternatives capable of reducing the side effects provided by the daily use of pills. The most effective are hormonal implants and the IUD, which have drugs that do not initially pass through the liver, minimizing risks and side effects.
“Hormonal implants are nothing more than a route of hormone delivery,” says Dr. Walter Pace. It is common to use these hormones to block ovulation, treat hormonal imbalances, as well as in cases of hormone dependent diseases. In addition, treatments can be individualized, with specific substances and doses for each patient.
“When we talk about contraception and suppression of menstruation, we use progestogens (synthetic progesterone) with different characteristics and that can be adapted to the clinical situation of each woman. The amount of hormones is infinitely smaller and there is a constancy in the release of these hormones when the implants are non-absorbable”, reiterates Pace.
About Dr. Walter AP Pace – Graduation in Medicine from the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Master in Human Reproduction – Assistant Ètranger from Paris V René Descarte University and PhD in Gynecology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Professor-PhD and General Coordinator of the Post-Graduation in Minimally Invasive Gynecology at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of Minas Gerais – Member of the Academia Mineira de Medicina – Vice President of PHD Pace Hospital and gynecologist at the Endometriosis Center at Hospital Santa Joana – SP.
