Nexus - 0405 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Graafian follicle, out of perhaps hundred of thousands, to matu- rate each month, we still have to proceed with caution on any long-term hormonal treatment of the human female."** Unfortunately, the health of millions of women would be sacri- ficed in the decades that followed as the race for profits silenced Sir Charles' concerns. Graafian follicle, out of perhaps hundred of thousands, to matu- the arteries. Most of the Pill takers had used the Pill for less than rate each month, we still have to proceed with caution on any five years, but those who had taken the Pill for longer had more long-term hormonal treatment of the human female."** — severely affected blood vessels.“” There is an undeniable link Unfortunately, the health of millions of women would be sacri- between Pill use and hysterectomy. ficed in the decades that followed as the race for profits silenced When smaller-dose oral contraceptives became available it was Sir Charles' concerns. hoped that they would cause fewer clotting disorders, but this turned out to be wishful thinking. Dr Christopher Tietze, the sta- BLOOD CLOTS, STROKES AND HEART ATTACKS tistical expert of the Population Council, has said that there is "no The most notorious Pill side-effect reported in the 1960s was evidence" that women on low-dose contraceptive pills have fewer thrombosis, or, simply, blood clot. Indeed, blood clotting is still blood clots than women on higher doses. Brain researchers have one of the most frequent and most dangerous side-effects of the provided suggestive evidence that supports this conclusion. Pill. Clots can form in either arteries or veins, blocking the blood A team of investigators at Whittington Hospital in Manchester circulation. They can cause strokes, paralysis, heart attacks and compared two groups of women, one group taking an oral contra- severe abdominal pain. ceptive containing twice the dose of hormones as the second A common site for a blood clot is the leg veins, and this is group was taking. The researchers reported in the British Medical potentially dangerous because the clot can travel up into the lungs Journal that, after three months, significant rises in blood clotting as a pulmonary embolus. Sudden damage to the lungs can be as factors were found equally in both groups. "Clotting changes do much an instant death as a heart attack. The Pill was claimed to not appear to be dose-dependent," they concluded.’ e safer than pregnancy, but in the 1960s the number-one cause of A review of many international studies on the Pill gave the fol- maternal deaths was a blood clot in the leg, lowing results by 1980: Pill takers had 1.5 to leading to pulmonary embolism, as a result of 11 times more risk of an embolism, one to 14 oestrogen intake. Nearly half of all new moth- times more risk of a heart attack, and two to ers were given oestrogen in the form of stil- A A 26 times more risk of a stroke due to either oestrol (DES) to suppress lactation soon after | """ pathologists studied thrombosis in a brain artery or a haemorrhage childbirth. Some obstetricians at that time the blood vessels of 20 in the membranes around the brain.” used to give large amounts of oestrogens to With newer generations of progestins bein, induce \abour The risk of post-partum throm. young women who had developed, it was hoped that asafer version of osis was three times greater if oestrogen was died while taking oral the Pill would finally be offered. In October rescribed.*”” . 1995, the UK Committee on the Safety of The concern that the Pill was implicated in contraceptives for as Medicines recommended that women should thromboembolic disorders was reflected in the little as 5 weeks to 13 change from Pill formulations containing the medical literature as far back as 1968. In those h third-generation progestins (gestodene and days the researchers attributed part of the months. desogestrel) because these progestins increased risk to an increased blood vis- have been shown to double a woman's cosity and increased platelet stickiness risk of non-fatal blood clots.** caused by oestrogen. These two blood Recent clots were The Sydney Sun-Herald ran this lead changes were "due to the oestrogen com- found in vessels all over story on 22 October 1995: "Warnings ponent of the contraceptive preparations . . . . that low-dose contraceptive pills double and do not occur in patients receiving their bodies including the risk of women developing potential- progestins alone".* i ly fatal blood clots has caused panic It would be years later before it was the lungs, liver, around the world. The specific focus of realised that progestins, too, contributed abdomen and legs Po these public warnings pertained to the newest versions of the Pill—Fermoden, Trioden, Minulet, TriMinulet and Marvelon—which all contained either to the rising incidence of blood clots and heart attacks in healthy young women. Both oestrogen and progestin were final- ly recognised to be a deadly duo and cul- gestodene or desogestrel." pable in creating blood clots which all What may have gone unnoticed too often lead to strokes and heart disease. In addition, this com- amidst the media coverage was the important point that a dou- bination caused dilation and thickening of arteries and veins in the bling of the risk which was reported was actually a doubling of womb, legs, eyes, brain and throughout the body, contributing to the already existing three-to-four-fold risk associated with cur- migraines, palpitations and high blood pressure. rently used second-generation progestin formulations of the Pill. In 1970, three Washington, DC, US Army pathologists studied The low-dose, third-generation Pill could elevate a woman's risk the blood vessels of 20 young women who had died while taking of blood clots six-to-eight-fold when compared to the risk for a oral contraceptives for as little as five weeks to 13 months.*” | woman who has never taken the Pill. Some research places this Recent clots were found in vessels all over their bodies including figure even higher, making Pill users up to 11 times more likely the lungs, liver, abdomen and legs of these young women. Most __ than non-users to have thromboembolisms.“ of the vessels had thickened patches in the inner layers of the "The Pill is far safer today than it was in the early 1960s—when artery and vein walls, sometimes nearly filling the entire vessel. it had nearly four times the amount of oestrogen and nearly 10 In 1977, US Air Force gynaecologists examined the main times the amount of progestin as it does now," boasted Dr womb artery taken from women who had undergone hysterecto- William C. Andrews, President of the American College of my. Nearly all of the 44 patients who had taken the combined Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG). However, back in the dan- Pill, or had taken so-called natural HRT or medroxy progesterone gerous high-dose era, ACOG defended the safety of that Pill with (Provera), had moderate-to-severe thickening of the inner layer of a vengeance. months. the lungs, liver, abdomen and legs ... 22 - NEXUS Recent clots were AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 1997