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Pharmacy Links

DRUG TREATMENTS FOR EXCESSIVE BLEEDING

May 8, 2009

Numerous pharmaceutical treatments have been developed to stop excessive bleeding. Not only do they avoid major surgery which, until quite recently, was the only treatment option for these conditions, they also preserve a woman’s fertility, a factor of increasing importance with current trends to deferral of childbearing until after the age of thirty.

In general, these treatments are best used in the short-term (that is, for no more than a year) because prolonged use tends to result in side-effects. This drug-induced respite from heavy bleeding secures time during which women and their doctors can examine the situation carefully before settling on a strategy. For women approaching menopause, medical treatments may provide just the sort of stopgap needed until their bleeding problems disappear spontaneously.

Drug treatments can shrink tissues that may be responsible for bleeding. According to some doctors this makes subsequent surgery easier; although practitioners whose approach is to cut out or excise the aberrant tissue say it makes the surgical removal of unwanted tissue more difficult because it is less visible in its shrunken form.

The cost of drug approaches compared with surgery depends on the duration of their use, whether their price is subsidised through a national health scheme (such as through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in Australia) and whether there is a need for regular medical checks or examinations.

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