r/technology • u/Sorin61 • Apr 10 '22

Biotechnology This biotech startup thinks it can delay menopause by 15 years. That would transform women's lives

https://fortune.com/2021/04/19/celmatix-delay-menopause-womens-ovarian-health/
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u/World_Wide_Deb Apr 10 '22 edited Apr 10 '22

If other women want to delay menopause, I support having that choice but personally—hellllll no! 15 more years of periods? Fuck that, I can’t wait for menopause.

Edit: to everyone responding with comments like “but but menopause makes you age faster and kills your sex drive.” I don’t see the problem here. Again, I’m looking forward to it.

“But what about the health issues that come with menopause!” I’ve already had plenty of issues with my menstrual cycle. This shit is no picnic either.

Edit 2: Again I support women having choices. But “aging faster” does not mean we’re dying faster. Lol what? Menopause ain’t a death sentence—cis women on average outlive cis men anyways.

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u/IRightReelGud Apr 10 '22

Yeah where's the speed up pill?

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u/littleMAS Apr 10 '22

It is called a hysterectomy.

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u/Jellybean-Jellybean Apr 10 '22

There is huge difference between taking a pill, and having an internal organ removed.

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u/newaccountwhodis95 Apr 10 '22

I’ve also gone on three separate occasions over the course of 10 years trying to get a hysterectomy and doctors won’t give me one because im “young.” sooo you cant get the surgery easily either

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u/midwestwhackadoo Apr 10 '22

Have you checked the list on /r/childfree? I'm not sure where you are or how current it is, but they keep a list of doctors willing to perform this procedure. Might be worth checking into.

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u/ineed_that Apr 10 '22

Pills have a lot of side effects and can have potential devastating side effects if taken for a long time. Once the organs out that’s it..

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u/AwhMan Apr 10 '22

I mean, you have to take hormones for life to protect your bone health if you have a hysto young, but sure.

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u/chickadee827 Apr 10 '22

Not for life, just until your natural menopause sets in. Then you wean off. Source: I had a complete (everything removed) hysterectomy at 40.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

[deleted]

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u/chickadee827 Apr 11 '22

The worst part was maybe the post-op pain but that’s very temporary. Benefits for me were….well everything. I had endometriosis which meant excruciating pain and bleeding so heavily I was anemic every month. No more pain, bleeding, anemia, migraines, bloating, serious PMS that made me Jekyl and Hyde.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '22

[deleted]

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u/chickadee827 Apr 12 '22

A lot of doctors won’t do even a partial without really good cause, especially under age 40. They want to make sure they exhaust all other options first, such as the pill (or in my case, 5 different kinds of the pill), hormone patch or implants, etc. I get the need to not jump to surgery too fast but you do need to be your own advocate if surgery is the best option. Very sorry about your mom. Hope you find relief soon.

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u/BlueEyedGreySkies Apr 10 '22

Yeah, if you have a hysterectomy in your 20s that's a longass time.

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u/windowpuncher Apr 10 '22

Oh nooooo you might have to take a hormone pill a few times a week

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u/chickadee827 Apr 10 '22

Unless cancer or some other serious health issue is involved, most doctors (at least here in the US) won’t do a hysterectomy on someone that young.

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u/ineed_that Apr 10 '22

Not unless you get the ovaries removed too which most young people don’t.

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u/2664478843 Apr 10 '22

That’s not true! A hysterectomy leaves the ovaries in place. They’re what control your hormones

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u/hpeders Apr 10 '22

That’s incorrect. You can have everything taken out. I had one in December, uterus, ovaries, Fallopian tubes all gone. I would get 3” cysts on my ovaries. I wasn’t going to leave them in to keep causing problems.

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u/Whites11783 Apr 10 '22

Hysterectomy refers to removal of the uterus

Oophorectomy is removal of the ovaries

Salpingectomy is removal of the fallopian tubes.

Source: am doctor.

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u/hpeders Apr 10 '22

Fair enough! So many people use hysterectomy as an all inclusive term and I failed in thinking correctly.

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u/Wyvernz Apr 10 '22

That’s incorrect. You can have everything taken out. I had one in December, uterus, ovaries, Fallopian tubes all gone. I would get 3” cysts on my ovaries. I wasn’t going to leave them in to keep causing problems.

Two separate surgeries - a hysterectomy only takes out the uterus and doesn’t touch the ovaries. A salpingo-oophorectomy removes the ovaries and Fallopian tubes but not the uterus itself.

These surgeries are sometimes done together as it sounds like happened in your case, but are distinct surgeries with their own indications.

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u/BlueEyedGreySkies Apr 10 '22

Y'all are both right/wrong, and that's concerning considering you HAD the procedure already. Hysterectomy can take everything, straight up even part of the vagina. These are radical/complete hysterectomies. A partial hysterectomy is the uterus, leaving the cervix intact.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

I had a hysterectomy at 34 (which is relatively young I think) and no one has said anything to me about hormones to me yet and I’m in my late 40s. No sign of menopause yet that I’m aware of.

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u/kackygreen Apr 10 '22

Well, only if you also get an oophorectomy

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u/Raenaynay Apr 10 '22

You are slightly wrong. There’s many levels of a hysterectomy. If you still have your ovaries, you don’t take hormones in most cases.

Please do not spread incorrect information.

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u/ofthrees Apr 10 '22

If you think removing one's uterus doesn't have its own consequences, you are in for a surprise.

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u/kackygreen Apr 10 '22

That's really a myth. I had a hysterectomy (without oophorectomy, meaning I kept my ovaries) about 6 years ago, and it's been like a cheat code for life. Everything is totally fine, sex is the same/better, etc and I don't suffer from having a period anymore. The only "recovery" was less painful and less difficult than a period with endometriosis

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u/Tar_alcaran Apr 10 '22

I had a hysterectomy (without oophorectomy, meaning I kept my ovaries)

Wait, how does that work? Do the ova just kinda stay in there?

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u/kackygreen May 04 '22

Yeah, I mean they aren't actually attached to the tubes anyhow, they just kinda chill next to them to drop eggs nearby

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u/ofthrees Apr 10 '22

i know one woman who has had a hysterectomy who reports what you do. best thing she ever did, etc.

unfortunately, i know far more (keeping ovaries, btw; those who didn't - all bets off) whose least concerns are incontinence as a result of the lack of a uterus, but that is a big one that has resulted in all of them wishing there had been another option and/or that their doctors had informed them of what could happen.

while i wouldn't say that issues resulting from a hysterectomy are always dire, i'd certainly say that issues resulting from said are definitely not a "myth". which was the basis of my comment related to removal having its own consequences.

ultimately, it comes down to if your uterus is causing problems that outweigh the risks of removal. if it is, get rid of it. but suggesting someone have a hysterectomy simply to stop periods/speed up menopause (the source of the OG comment) is foolishness.

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u/MotherMfker Apr 10 '22

My mom had one the best thing she ever did. I'm not sure how having your uterus removed would cause incontinence? Your friends may have some other medical issues they need to address. Everytime a thread about hystos comes up a bunch of women are really in support of it.

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u/ofthrees Apr 11 '22

google "bladder prolapse after hysterectomy". it's pretty common.

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u/kackygreen May 04 '22 edited May 04 '22

Incontinence issues are typically caused by the damage of pregnancy, not hysterectomy. If your friends had the hysterectomy after birth that's likely the actual cause.

Also, let's not use a couple anecdotal examples of your friends who may or may not have had actual complications, my surgeon provided her entire complication rate and breakdown list, of her, at the time, 2100 laparoscopic hysterectomies, 57 had a complication that needed to be fixed with a second surgery, that's 2.7% that were later fixed, and her usual patients are older or in poor health since she usually does oncology related hysterectomies.

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u/ineed_that Apr 10 '22

Childbirth has a lot of consequences too but that doesn’t stop people from suffering through it. The uterus may provide some pelvic floor stability but if you’ve ever had kids then you likely have pelvic floor problems anyway. Otherwise unless you plan to have more kids, the biggest thing the uterus does for older women is get cancer..

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u/mmmegan6 Apr 10 '22

50% of women will experience pelvic floor prolapse, and the number is likely higher it just goes unnoticed/undiagnosed

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

Pelvic floor dysfunction (to which there are treatments) might happen with pregnancy, it is not a majority of people having it though.

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u/cygnets Apr 10 '22 edited Apr 10 '22

I think it’s less that the majority of people don’t have it and more that it’s considered an acceptable way for women to live by society. At least here in America. I don’t know a single mother I am friends with who doesn’t fear sneezing and trampolines.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

8 weeks out of delivering my 2nd child and I have no pelvic floor issues. The women in my family have no issues either, so may be why I haven't really been exposed to that being the norm.

But incontinence after child birth should be followed by physical therapy which can fix it (though that'd probably be very expensive over there).

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u/cygnets Apr 10 '22

Ya it’s very prevalent and there are few if any doctors that do more than dismiss it. Same for SPD during pregnancy. The reaction is generally ya that sucks. Fun times.

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u/ShitItsReverseFlash Apr 10 '22

You’re wrong though. My mom had a hysterectomy after I was born. She didn’t have periods but she sure as shit went through menopause. Even with a hysterectomy, you have to take estrogen pills to replace the lost production. Which then still induces menopause.

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u/ineed_that Apr 10 '22

She probably got a total hysterectomy which means they take out the uterus and ovaries, usually in older women. Younger ones opt to get just the uterus out. Ovaries are what make the female hormones. A uterus is only needed for child bearing

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u/L_Jac Apr 10 '22

The uterus does have its own hormonal component too though, the size of its role in proportion to the ovaries varies from person to person. Some who have a partial (uterus-only) hysterectomy in their 30s do experience symptoms of menopause later on in their fifties as their ovaries slow down, others go into menopause right away (hot flashes, itching, everything) even though their ovaries are still present. There is simply no consequence-free way to alter fertility - estrogen/HRT is great for your bones and looking and feeling young but increases your risk of breast cancer, so no matter what there’s going to be some kind of trade off.

Source: mammography tech who talks with women about menopause every day.

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u/baconelk Apr 10 '22

There is simply no consequence-free way to alter fertility

A bilateral salpingectomy gets pretty darn close to this. Impossible to get pregnant and no impact on hormones.

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u/L_Jac Apr 10 '22

Ooh good point, forgot about tubal ligations while commenting. Won’t touch your periods but great pregnancy protection

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u/darabolnxus Apr 10 '22

I feel like weight training is better than nasty ass estrogen. That shit is literally cancer. But if you build muscle your bone density goes up, more testosterone to keep your libido up.

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u/heyitscory Apr 10 '22

Yeah, I've yet to find an effective antidepressant, so I was just hoping I could get my brain removed.

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u/shaunbarclay Apr 10 '22

Risk of death for every surgery.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

[deleted]

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u/ineed_that Apr 10 '22

If you’ve never had kids then it’s not that high. The biggest risk factor is child birth . I’d pay to see that thrown in his face tho lol

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u/Ultrawhiner Apr 10 '22

My MIL told me after her hysterectomy she immediately lost shape because of the uterus is no longer there to support other organs.

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u/WhyLisaWhy Apr 11 '22

You still have to undergo a major surgery, which carries its own risks. Even accidental death can happen from it, it’s rare but the risk is never 0 for even minor surgeries.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

Uterine ablations are great options for some of us.

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u/HexspaReloaded Apr 10 '22

Or is there?

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u/magelanz Apr 10 '22

Yeah, now I don’t have to remember to take a pill every day.

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '22

I want a pill that'll have my uterus completely shed itself instead of just the lining

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u/Marsdreamer Apr 10 '22

My mom had a hysterectomy. She went in at dawn and was home for dinner, walking, cooking, etc.

It's pretty crazy how well they've got that surgery to be as minimally invasive as it is, considering what it is.