Word: womens
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...Pill on the U.S. market today contains two synthetic chemical components, one resembling the natural female hormone estrogen, the other a progestin that resembles progesterone, which women secrete chiefly during pregnancy. Some are combinations in which both the estrogen and the progestin are taken for 21 days a month; others are "sequentials," in which the estrogen alone is taken for 14 to 16 days, and estrogen with progestin for five...
...BLOOD AND CLOTS. Hormone components of the Pill appear to "rev up" the chain reaction of yet other hormones that regulate blood pressure. Columbia University's Dr. John H. Laragh has seen 20 women whose blood pressure skyrocketed while they were on the Pill; presumably they were unusually sensitive to the hormonal effect. Women with kidney disease are especially susceptible. A related mechanism, said Laragh, explains some complaints of "feeling bloated" and gaining weight, usually during the first three or four months that a woman is taking the Pill; some of the hormones involved cause retention of salt...
...estrogen component of the Pill is known to increase the coagulability of blood and therefore the risk of clot formation. British researchers have shown that women under 40 risk a clotting problem that is seven to nine times greater than the minuscule risk among nonpregnant women of the same age not on the Pill. Clots may form in either superficial or deep veins of the legs (thrombophlebitis), and may travel to the lungs, causing pulmonary embolism, which carries a high death rate. Or they may form in the brain, causing strokes. There are also a few cases in which...
...three weeks after a normal pregnancy and delivery, the risks of thromboembolism (including pulmonary embolism) are greatly increased, and even during pregnancy may be slightly increased. Northwestern University's Dr. David Danforth calculated for the College of Physicians that there are .55 cases of thromboembolism per 1,000 women a year among Pill takers compared with .74 per 1,000 during pregnancy and three to ten cases per 1,000 after delivery. Clotting problems aside, pregnancy carries other risks, including fatal complications associated with high blood pressure and kidney disorders. And unwanted pregnancy involves the risk of illegal, septic...
...BRAIN AND EYES. High blood pressure increases the risk of strokes of both major kinds-the thromboembolic, caused by traveling clots, and the hemorrhagic, in which a blood vessel bursts. Strokes are uncommon among women under 40, but several neurologists say they have seen as many as ten cases in a year among women on the Pill, where they used to see only one or two before the Pill. Both the increased blood pressure and the estrogen's effect on the clotting mechanism may be responsible. There are a few authenticated cases of severely impaired vision, even...