Read also Menotoxin: a short,
incomplete introduction to the "poison"
in menstrual discharge.
Menstrual toxin: An old name for a real thing?
by Dr. Nelson Soucasaux
The formation in the menstrual or even premenstrual endometrium of a
group of substances named "menstrual toxins" or "menotoxins"
was postulated many years ago. They would possess toxic properties and would
be fundamentally responsible for the causation of dysmenorrhea. While not
entirely eliminated with menstruation, their systemic absorption would be
able to cause some of the general symptoms that often accompany the menstrual
flow. Though this is still hypothetical, I believe we must also consider
the possibility that a premenstrual absorption of such postulated substances
may also generate some of the symptoms of the premenstrual syndrome. With
regard to this hypothesis, a very curious fact is the usually quick disappearance
of the edemas and many other premenstrual symptoms with the beginning of
menstruation - that is, with the necrotic endometrium desquamation and elimination.
On this subject, see my article "Tensão Pré-Menstrual:
Discussão e novos enfoques sobre a sua etiologia" ("Premenstrual
Syndrome: Discussion and a new approach on its etiology"), published
in "Ginecologia Brasileira," vol. 8, nº 5, September/October
1976.
In 1965, in his book "Enfermedades del Aparato Genital Femenino"
(Editorial Científico-Médica, Barcelona, Spain), Botella Llusiá
had already observed that not only dysmenorrhea, but also other premenstrual
and menstrual symptoms, were attributed by Smith and Smith to an "intoxication"
by the "menotoxins" produced in the endometrium. Though presently
nobody speaks about "menstrual toxins" any more, this old hypothesis
still seems to be, at least in part, true. It is widely known that, at the
somatic level, the uterine menstrual contractions are really caused by substances
produced in the endometrium during its regression and necrosis, substances
that integrate the group of the prostaglandins. (Because of this, one of
the best treatments for menstrual cramps is the administration, during the
menstrual period, of the modern anti-inflammatory drugs that inhibit the
synthesis of prostaglandins.)
Therefore, there is some relationship between these prostaglandins and
the old "menotoxins." Besides, indications suggesting the production
of other still non-precisely identified substances in the regressive and
necrotic endometrium continue existing. Among them, we can mention substances
that cause proteolysis, vasoconstriction and vasodilation and that participate
of the so-called local mechanisms of menstruation. Since they produce lytic,
ischemic and hemorrhagic phenomena in the endometrium in order to cause
the menstrual disintegration and elimination of this tissue, we cannot avoid
attributing them some "toxic" effect - even being entirely physiological.
In this way, the negative meaning inherent to the terms "toxic"
or "toxin" must be regarded here from a different point of view,
since these postulated "menstrual toxins" (if they really exist)
are physiological - at least when produced in normal levels.
Now, an important remark must be made. If we want a new approach to
the old "menstrual toxins" subject, this concept needs urgently
to get rid of its negative archetypal content. We must consider that the
complex signs and symptoms that characterize the premenstrual syndrome and
the dysmenorrhea result from physiological alterations that, in turn, can
often stimulate the emergence of negative archetypal contents existing in
many women's minds in relation to this cyclical uterine bleeding that is
menstruation. Therefore, this concept of "menstrual toxins" cannot
be used, by any means, for reinforcing the debatable new idea of artificially
suppressing menstruation. We must remember that many toxic substances are
continuously produced in the human body, from which they are also continuously
eliminated in order to keep their levels within normal or acceptable values.
© Nelson Soucasaux, 2001
Nelson Soucasaux is a gynecologist dedicated to clinical, preventive
and psychosomatic gynecology. Graduated in 1974 by Faculdade de Medicina
da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, he is the author of several
articles published in medical journals and of the books "Novas Perspectivas
em Ginecologia" ("New Perspectives in Gynecology") and "Os
Órgãos Sexuais Femininos: Forma, Função, Símbolo
e Arquétipo" ("The Female Sexual Organs: Shape, Function,
Symbol and Archetype"), published by Imago Editora, Rio de Janeiro,
1990, 1993.
Read also Menotoxin: a short,
incomplete introduction to the "poison"
in menstrual discharge
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