Menorrhagia – Medications

Transcript

“Then we go to medication options. This will be influenced by a person’s history and or their desire for child bearing as well. In regards to bleeding, a very common medication option is birth control. If fertility at the time is not desired, then birth control can be an option. And there are several things that have been shown to help with menorrhagia. Birth control pills are an option. There are different dosages of them that are available. In regards to medications. There are various options. There is also the depo provera shot. I often don’t use that as much because it has other side effects, including weight, gain, appetite stimulation and things like that. But it is an option because one of the benefits of it can some be at times, be amenorrhea. I mean, no bleeding at all, but I like to say, it’s like a box of chocolates.

You never know what you’re going to get. You can get amenorrhea, you can get your regular bleeding. You can get against consistent mineralogy or you can have regular periods. So, but it is an option. There is also something called Nexplanon, which is an implantable device, which also is a progesterone only agent similar to depo provera, but it goes in the arm and it lasts for three years. It too is like depo provera in that your menstrual cycles may be amenorrhea, irregular bleeding, and or menorrhagia. A common form of birth control is the Marina IUD. It’s a progesterone agent and it has been shown to help with women with menorrhagia. The first few months, you can have some irregular bleeding, but typically after that you have very light periods or none at all. And this is being said, we often offer this one. We don’t see any significant pathology that would be surgically corrected. You can use it, the Marina for a person that has a fibroid in their uterus, if it’s fairly small. And if they have just dysfunctional bleeding and their thyroid was normal and things like that. So birth control is an option. And another option is a non-hormonal method called tranexamic acid that too can help with menorrhagia. You take it during the menstrual cycle itself.”