Effect of Wet Cupping (Hijamat Bil Shurt) in the Management of Secondary Amenorrhea (Ehtebas Tams Sanwi)

Abstract

Secondary amenorrhea is a common distressing symptom caused by a multitude of pathological processes and its incidence due to polycystic ovarian syndrome is 15–30%. The objective of the study was to evaluate the efficacy of wet cupping in patients with secondary amenorrhea. A randomized open-labeled study was carried out at Gynecology OPD of the Institute’s Hospital in Bangalore. Forty patients with secondary amenorrhea due to polycystic ovarian disease, obesity, hyperprolactinemia in the age group of 18–40 years were included and randomly allocated into two groups (A and B), comprising of 20 patients in each group for interventions. For both the groups, one tablet of habbe mudir consisting of Crocus sativus (Zafran), ferrous sulphate (Heera kasees) each 1 g and Aloe barbadensis (Elwa) 2 g was administered orally with butter milk thrice daily, five days before the expected date of menstruation for three consecutive cycles. In group A, wet cupping was applied over the calf muscles simultaneously on first and fourth day of administration of habbe mudir. Two medium-sized cups were applied for 5–10 min over the calf muscles and drawn blood was measured. Primary outcome measures were restoration of normal menstruation and changes in body mass index, secondary outcome measures were changes in pelvic scan and hormonal profile; were assessed for improvement. Results were analyzed statistically by using student ‘t’ test, Chi-square and Fisher exact test. The inter-group comparison showed that group A was more effective than compared to group B in restoration of normal menstruation and changes in hormonal profile. Wet cupping was more effective than compared to habbe mudir in inducing menstruation. Hence, it can be recommended as an alternate therapy in secondary amenorrhea