From: vpaf5@jane.uh.edu (Kal)
Subject: Re: Women in groups
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: University of Houston
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 15:41:00 GMT

In article <1bda95INNg1b@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, rxh6@po.CWRU.Edu (Randall Holt) writes...
> 
> 
>In prev. art. PCT601%SIRIUS.UKC.AC.UK@ib.rl.ac.uk (Robryche) says,
>>From: johnston@fys.ruu.nl (Helen Johnston)
>>References: <1992Oct9.003931.6772@nezsdc.icl.co.nz> <Bvz6ED.FwG@world.std.com>
>>>Being one of three sisters, I can also vouch personally for the effect.
>>>When you have four women in the house menstruating at once, you
>>>certainly go through sanitary napkins in a REAL hurry! And last time
>>>this subject came up on the net, someone posted that her very irregular
>>>cycle was stabilised by her roommate being on the Pill, which is VERY
>>>interesting, considering that the Pill prevents ovulation and
>>>(presumably) alters the pheromone cycle substantially.
>>>
>>>--
>>
>>But the pill doesnt prevent menstruation, (oh that it did). It does however
>>make it lighter and less painful. And since it goes for 21 days on the pill and
>>seven days off, it is obviously going to be more regular. Presuming the same
>>smell or pheremones or whatever are being sent out, this person had no choice
>>but to become more regular in step with the person taking the pill.
> 
>Hmm. An' I thought that it was because if one 'em got bitchy, then everybody
>else naturally wanted to join in.
> 
>-- 
>Randall W. Holt - rxh6@cwru.po.edu     |   
>Dept. Radiology MetroHealth Hosp.      | 	- Bibo ergo sum
>Dept. Biomedical Engineering, CWRU     |    	
>(216) 778-8296                         |	


Well, there is a drug that is on the verge of being approved for birth control
called Depo-provera, that *does* stop menstration most of the time. Depo
provera has been used for *years* in most countries outside the US. Studies
here have shown it to cause ovarian (I think, maybe breast) cancer in beagle
dogs (and only in beagle dogs, the enclosed literature implies). There are
quite a few doctors and clinics who are already using it despite it not being
approved for birth control. A friend of mine has been on it for two years,
she has had two "periods" in that time.
There are non-medical objections to this shot. The birth-control effect lasts 
for up to three months. People who worry about things (tm) worried that it
would be used on some women without their consent, like prisoners, retarded
women, teenagers, the poor, etc. I'll keep my opinions regarding this for
myself.
The ObUL here is that during the Carter administration, when the drug was about
to be approved by the FDA, Jimmy Carter consulted a (or a group of) christian
minister(s) on the ethics of Depo, and the following day he issued a directive
to the FDA that it was not to be released.
There is at least one clinic here in Houston that *openly* advertizes for
Depo-provera shots for birth control. It is available, by the way, as a 
treatment for heavy or irregular menstral cycles, among other things.
I think Depo will be approved as a method of birth control in the very near
future. It's a godsend, as far as I'm concerned.
ObUL2 This drug is used by transsexuals as part of their regimen to become
more feminine.


Kal    vpaf5@jane.uh.edu            My opinions are almost, but not quite,
                                    entirely unlike those of my employer.