Cramps Cramping Your Style? New Relief for PMS
A patch offers a drug-free way to treat monthly cramps
By MARIANNE FAVRO
Updated 1:30 PM EST, Tue, Jul 28, 2009
There are a lot of great things about being a woman, but most will tell you a monthly period is not one of them.
"I used to get cramps to the point I would cry," said Jennifer Schreck of Martinez, Calif. Looking for drug-free relief, she enrolled in a clinical trial testing out a new PMS patch.
During her period, she tucked the Allay Period Relief Patch into the waistband of her jeans, and withinhours her pain subsided. " I didn't notice my cramps," said Schreck.
Dr. Sheen Kong at San Francisco Internal Medicine Associates conducted the study, looking at 91 women with moderate or severe cramps. She says the patch, originally developed to treat swelling in plastic-surgery patients, uses electromagnetic therapy to create cell-to-cell communication so it facilitates healing.About 71 percent of the women she studied had a favorable response -- either complete resolution of pain or some reduction.
Other studies have shown the Allay Period Relief Patch reduced menstrual cramps by 31 to 73 percent in test subjects The patch does not treat other symptoms of menstruation such as bloating. Patients like Schreck say it is comfortable, painless to wear, and discreet.
The FDA has not yet approved the treatment for PMS relief, but it is expected to make a decision sometime this year. A patch, which typically lasts three months, can be purchased online for $40.
First Published: Jul 14, 2009 6:54 PM EST
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