FDA testing of Endometriosis and cup link.

[babybloodheart.livejournal.com]

I'm a little confused, I've been having a discussion with someone about cups, in particular the concerns over cups - pressure (possibility of damage from suction and forces against vagina walls), TSS and endometriosis. We've gone a little further on the discussion of endometriosis.

I don't understand much about endometriosis, simply I seem to understand it as being an illness that comes from the endometrial tissue going off outside the uterus where it causes problems after having no where to go (please correct me if I am incorrect).

I posed the question of the cup - endometriosis theory to the_keeper a little while ago and the reaction was that it was nothing more than a hypothesis, which I think I would have to agree on given that there is some questions concerning how endometriosis is brought about. As I see it the theory of the cup - endometriosis link is a result of a theory that the tissue and fluids can wash back into the vagina where it is not supposed to go, which I suppose it fair enough however there is the suction of the cup and a risk of that regardless of what is used or not used, even in smaller amounts - surely?

Along comes the FDA after a petition to research into the link between cups and endometriosis, inform users of the risk and to stop the sales of The Keeper and Instead cup from the US, despite the advantages of cups over other menstrual products available. What strikes me in particular was the following from the Armand Lione, Ph.D., President of Associated Pharmacologists & Toxicologists, Washington, DC (for one of the groups whom petitioned against cups);

"Women who use these products as an alternative to tampons need to be warned that endometriosis is a real risk associated with the menstrual obstruction caused by the menstrual cups."

Here's me thinking, for one the use of the word 'obstruction' could perhaps be better suited to other forms of menstrual 'protection' considering that although it is an obstruction it does not obstruct the flow of blood and tissue as much as with tampons, all it obstructs is the blood leaving the body totally. Secondly although I am sure there could be a risk involved, why the big concern over cups and the move to ban sales when the other options are considered?
In a perfect world I am sure we would all use the likes of lunapads, although it is not always practical, as long as we are aware that there may be a risk involved of endometriosis (little as we know about it and the larger potential for risk from tampons) why the need to go so far as to ban cups, surely they are the lesser of two evils?

It was this link that sparked off this confusion - it's a few months out of date so is this a topic that has already been discussed and has anything come of this yet?
Excuse me if I am not up to date on these things.

Comments

[strand3d.livejournal.com]

I'm rather skeptical about the entire thing. I'm not sure if i read the orginal article written about this, but the one i read said that they're just now doing studies to find out whether or not women who endometriosis have also used menstrual cups in the past, or do currently use them. I've never asked my gyno if they're safe, but i don't really see how they can be unsafe. If the vagina can withstand extreme rough sex, why can't it handle a tiny cup?

[babybloodheart.livejournal.com]

Mind, I see a bit of a problem with doing reseach on this, endometriosis isn't understood.
I'm not sure there will be a large enough sample group of women with enometriosis who also use cups, I would think doing research on women with cups and endometriosis without suitable knowledge about causes of the illness is pretty much dooming cups.
Lastly without testing the risks of the illness with other forms of menstrual product they may find cups do cause/contribute to enodemtriosis but in comparioson to tampons I would bet the statistics would be nothing.

[minniemoonshine.livejournal.com]

I totally disagree with this article.
It says "The Keeper...sits intravaginally to occlude menstrual discharge"
Occlude means block.
The keeper does not BLOCK your blood. It collects it: hence the name "keeper".
The principle they are explaining about blocked blood cells migrating back into the uterus seems like it would only work with something like a plug that worked like a cork in a wine bottle that blocked blood from leaving your cervix for an extended period of time.
Most people change their keeper often enough that it never really fills up totally, so I don't see how the blood flow back up enough to go back through the cervix into the uterus. If anything a tampon works more like a plug than a keeper. The keeper can be thought of essential like a hollow tampon (that is non-absorbent).

I don't buy it.

My 2 cents.

[rockstarbob.livejournal.com]

I was just going to make a similar comment about tampons, but you beat me to it.

I think you're entirely right on.

[elfbabe.livejournal.com]

The quote from Lione really pisses me off. Not because he asked the FDA to investigate, which is reasonable, but because he's trying to say that these actions (warning people, banning things) MUST be taken, when I haven't seen any really good, peer-reviewed studies on this.

[ide-cyan.livejournal.com]

What I want to know is on whose payroll he is, and what's a supposedly serious scientist doing with a frelling HOTMAIL address.

[babybloodheart.livejournal.com]

Exactly, there has been nothing to sugest cups can cause endometriosis as far as I know, for them to ask to outright ban them all (warning is sort of fair enough) but agin it's a matter of...well aren't tampons more risky and no one has made them give out warnings or banned them from sale.

[ex-eatmybox612.livejournal.com]

No one knows for certain how endometriosis comes about. Some say it's a genetic birth abnormaltiy and others say it's menstrual tissue backup.

My mom has/had endometriosis and she's never used a cup or tampons and she still got it.

I think it's something that just happens.

[tree]

i'd be more inclined to believe this theory if cups were more like diaphragms that sit up high at the cervix. but women have been using diaphgrams regularly for decades and no one's concerned about linking them with endometriosis.

[dyfferent.livejournal.com]

Don't buy it. I use the Mooncup, which is similar to the Keeper but made of silicon instead of rubber (fewer allergy problems). The Mooncup has been around for many, many years with no discernable side effects--unlike tampons, which were never banned despite TSS!

If big tampon & pad companies in the states succeed in getting the Keeper banned (after all, it will put them out of business) then you can still order Mooncups from www.mooncup.co.uk!

[caberfling.livejournal.com]

Anyway, the endo is living tissue that grows, right? So sloughed-off tissue/cells (menstrual fluid) wouldn't even be able to propogate and grow on stuff. So even if you did headstands and your blood sloshed back up through the uterus and tubes and all, how would it be condusive to endometriosis developing?

Or is my reasoning off?

[babybloodheart.livejournal.com]

I figured that if blood got into areas where it wasn't suposed to go it wouldn't all be able to get out again - kinda like a shapoo bottle neck, you get most of the shampoo out however there is still a little bit that can't get over the shoulders of the bottle and gets stuck - then it causes scar tissue.
That was my guess on how it worked anyway.