2024-01-17 09:39:40
It is an “extremely rare” condition and there are few medical publications about it, but it exists. This is vicarious menstruation, an international term for when a woman, in addition to bleeding through the uterus during her period, also bleeds through other parts of the body, such as the eye, the skin -through sweat-, the nose, or the ears, among others.
It is a pathology about which there is more data collected in history books than in medical books, according to EFEsalud the professor of gynecology at the University of Granada and member of the Spanish Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics (SEGO), Nicolas Mendoza. And vicarious menstruation is a phenomenon “for which medicine has not yet given a very convincing explanation.”
In this sense, it is a condition that is cited throughout history because it was linked to religious concepts of superstitions, described in some cases as legends and historical stories.
What is vicarious menstruation?
“It is a menstruation, because we are talking about menstrual bleeding outside the uterus. “The woman menstruates through the uterus but also through other parts,” says the gynecologist, who points out that the most common thing in these cases is tear bleeding. Also because of the sweat, but it’s even stranger.
It has also been described from the ear, nose and anus, but “many times they are bleeding from another source,” especially the last two.
Given that there is very little scientific literature on the subject, why vicarious menstruation occurs today is not clear.. All published clinical cases come from India and the United States.
Because?
Thus, the expert affirms that when it comes to attributing a cause to vicarious menstruation, it must be done with caution. “great caution” and clarify that the explanation is based on a clinical situation “not yet too well defined.”
Mendoza points out that the cause could be the same etiology as endometriosis, a highly prevalent disease in all countries of the world, which is also difficult to diagnose.
EFE/Silver Young.
“Endometriosis is a disease where there are endometrial cells outside the uterus and could be the explanation why there are women who could be menstruating through the ear, nose, tears or sweat glands,” explains the SEGO gynecologist. .
It emphasizes that there are descriptions of endometrial cell implants outside the uterus and they can be in almost all organs.
“Let’s say that the medical publications that exist go for that explanation, it is the most plausible, that there are endometrial cells growing outside the uterus, in those areas where bleeding occurs,” adds the professor at the University of Granada.
Young women and adolescents
Most of the published cases of vicarious menstruation correspond to young women and adolescents and also describe an additional psychological condition since bleeding from tears or sweat generates great anxiety.
Likewise, if its link with endometriosis were demonstrated, most of the consequences of vicarious menstruation would involve pain, reproductive impossibility or difficulty, and pain during sexual relations, among others.
The stigma of the woman who suffers from it can affect such that they do not even consult with their doctor.
Due to the scarcity of publications on this pathology, prevalence figures cannot be given. The gynecologist only assures that it is “extremely rare.”
If the theory of a link with endometriosis is proven, vicarious menstruation could be treated with hormonal contraceptives.
“With hormonal contraceptives it could be regulated or it could disappear,” says the gynecologist at the BLESSINGwho insists that this would also be a theoretical assumption.
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