naloxone and Dysmenorrhea

Dysmenorrhea is a common condition among women in childbearing age. An increased uterine contractions, resulting among others from increased vasopressin and oxitocin secretion, is considered as a main cause of the primary dysmenorrhea. The endogenous opioids play the important role in the control of oxytocin and vasopressin release from the pituitary gland. Naloxone is a selective opioid receptor antagonis. So far, there is not much data on naloxone effect on uterine contractions. The aim of study was to determine the influence of naloxone on uterine contractions in patients with primary dysmenorrhea.. There were 10 female patients with primary dysmenorrhea included into the study. The uterine contractions had been recorded for 30 minutes before and 2 hours after injection of naloxone at the first day of menstruation.. The intrauterine pressure recordings revealed a severe spontaneous uterine contractions, with high frequency and amplitude, at the time of dysmenorrhea. An intravenous administration of naloxone decreased uterine contractile activity and pain intensity.. Naloxone acting on central nervous system decreases the uterus contractions in the patients suffering from dysmenorrhea. Unexplained mechanisms and multiple factors involved in the pathogenesis of primary dysmenorrhea indicates a need for the further studies on this subject.

Topics: Adult; Dysmenorrhea; Female; Humans; Naloxone; Narcotic Antagonists; Uterine Contraction; Young Adult

In this study we describe the use of high-frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) (100 Hz) and low-frequency TENS (lf-TENS) (2 Hz trains) as compared with placebo-TENS (p-TENS) in a group of 21 patients suffering from primary dysmenorrhea. Naloxone, a relatively pure opiate antagonist, was an additional test administered to 6 volunteer patients who had experienced an alleviation of pain with TENS. As will be seen, 14 out of 21 patients receiving high-frequency TENS (hf-TENS) experienced a pain reduction exceeding 50% of its original intensity. During lf-TENS or p-TENS, only 7 and 5 patients, respectively, obtained pain relief exceeding 50%. In 4 out of 6 volunteer patients, the relief of pain obtained with lf-TENS was counteracted by naloxone, whereas the relief experienced with hf-TENS in the same patients was, in general, unaffected by naloxone.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Clinical Trials as Topic; Dysmenorrhea; Electric Stimulation Therapy; Female; Humans; Naloxone; Pain; Pain Management; Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation; Verapamil

Beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity was studied in 7 patients with algomenorrhea during pain attack and 15 minutes after alpha-tocopherol administration with a therapeutic aim (till the analgetic effect was reached). There was an increase in beta-endorphin-like immunoreactivity after alpha-tocopherol administration. Naloxone administration to 9 patients with algomenorrhea of various etiology resumed the pain. The effect of alpha-tocopherol application for pain relief depended on the pathogenesis of algomenorrhea. At the same time naloxone administration failed to resume the pain in patients, in whom alpha-tocopherol had a strong analgetic effect. It is assumed that the endogenous opioid system participates in alpha-tocopherol effect on pain relief in patients with algomenorrhea.

Topics: Adult; alpha-Tocopherol; Analgesia; beta-Endorphin; Chronic Disease; Dysmenorrhea; Endorphins; Female; Humans; Menstruation; Naloxone; Tocopherols; Vitamin E

Topics: Analgesia; Dysmenorrhea; Electric Stimulation Therapy; Endometriosis; Female; Follow-Up Studies; Humans; Naloxone; Peripheral Nerves