Thanks to everyone who posted concerning the danger of not menstruating - or 
rather the lack of danger.  It seems to me a safe assumption that using our 
bodies the way nature intended is always healthier.  It is great to have all 
of you and the research you cited to back up that assumption.
All the best,
Chayn Fogelman Israel (finally back to the computer after the holidays)
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Morgan Gallagher" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 7:14 PM
Subject: Re: danger of not menstruating


> Many many years ago, when I was but a young thing, Dr Jack Cohen, the 
> noted reproductive biologist, who regularly talks at sf cons and other fan 
> type meets, regaled us all with stories of how we as women, didn't know 
> how our bodies worked and how we didn't question enough (he never did this 
> in a negative way).  His point was exactly about how as females, we were 
> unaware that it was more dangerous to come on and off the pill every 
> month, than it was to stay on it continuously.  How we sat in biology 
> classes, with illustrations of the vagina as an 'opening' like a tunnel - 
> wide and full of air - and yet we sat on seats with closed legs as we read 
> looked at those illustrations, and had no 'opening' to speak of, just warm 
> flesh touching warm flesh.  How we could accept statements about who we 
> were, and how we worked, from people who couldn't even draw accurately.
>
> His point was very much that menstruation was a rare thing, with most 
> women only doing it every now and then, as pregnancy and breastfeeding 
> spaced it out for years at a time.  He'd read up on some female hunters in 
> some tribes who hunted whilst menstruating (can't remember the exact 
> details) , and about how they'd learned to cope with having menstruation 
> whilst hunting, including a famed female huntress who had labia that would 
> close over in a cup and retain bleeding until she washed in the evening 
> (that one always fascinated me).  But the point was very clear: it was not 
> part of the normal biology of the female to menstruate every month for 
> most of their adult life and it caused all sorts of health issues - not 
> least of all the emotional and psychological problems associated with what 
> we then called PMT and now call PMS.
>
> He also explained that the reason why we come off the pill every month, in 
> order to menstruate, is that the physicians at the time of the original 
> pill development, complained that lack of periods every month would 
> psychologically scar all women and was a therefore a serious threat to 
> mental health.  So it went into stone that you had to come off it every 
> three weeks to allow menstruation, which was a far greater risk to actual 
> physical health.  I did try to argue this with my GP, who was having none 
> of it, and carefully regulated my supply of tablets to stop me doing this 
> 'dangerous' thing.
>
> And whilst we are on this subject, can someone please explain to me why it 
> hurts to breastfeed during ovulation?  Is it the same as why it hurts to 
> nurse during pregnancy, or something different?  (And yes, is there 
> anything that can stop the pain!)
>
> Morgan Gallagher
>
>> Here's a couple of links I found relating to menstruation & cancer.  I 
>> found it interesting to read in the first article that when the birth 
>> control pill was being developed, they originally were intending to 
>> orchestrate it so that women only had one or two periods a year but 
>> changed it to a monthly cycle b/c women would see that as more "normal" 
>> and be more accepting of the pill.  So the makers of the pill clearly had 
>> the right idea that we shouldn't have periods so often but unfortunately 
>> that's now how it worked out in the end.
>>
>> http://www.seven.com.au/sunrise/fact_060309_menstruation
>>
>> http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/14/4/799
>>
>> There are tons of links but I just don't have time to go through them all 
>> and find the most relevant/scientific ones to post here.
>>
>> --
>> Margo
>>
>
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