Equipping People To Make Sense Of What They Are Told
Menstruation.
MS symptoms may appear to worsen at regular points in your menstrual cycle – up to
seven days before and three days into your menstrual bleeding.
Symptoms most commonly experienced may be:
Weakness,
Imbalance.
Fatigue.
Depression.
Core body temperature rises slightly leading up to and during menstrual bleeding
and this increase in body temperature may cause you to be more aware of your symptoms
or even worsen them slightly.
Disease modifying drugs used to treat the symptoms of MS may cause changes to your
menstrual cycle.
Some types of antidepressants have been reported to be associated with menstrual
bleeding irregularities.
Mitoxantrone (sometimes used to treat aggressive
relapsing remitting MS) has been known to cause irregular
menstrual bleeding periods.
The Menopause
There has only been a little research in this area, however
the menopause appears to have no effect on multiple sclerosis symptoms.
.
There is some anecdotal evidence which indicates that symptoms that worsen during
menopause may be responsive to hormone replacement therapy (HRT), and a small pilot
study in 1992 included data on the effects of menopause on MS.
The study consisted of a questionnaire about changes in the severity of symptoms
of MS with the menstrual cycle, menopause and use of HRT which was answered retrospectively
by 11 pre-menopausal and 19 post-menopausal women.
Of the post-menopausal women 54% reported a worsening of symptoms and 75% of women
who had tried HRT reported an improvement.
It is considered that female hormones may have a neuroprotective effect. This is
seen in the third trimester of pregnancy in MS, therefore it is thought HRT may be
helpful.
Many women with MS who have used this therapy report an improvement rather than deterioration
in their condition. However, due to the lack of evidence that oral oestrogen-progestogen
combinations may have an influence on MS, the condition remains a warning on the
drug information sheet for HRT.
