- Kitty Palmai
- Money and Business Correspondence
Paula Fisher participated in experiments with a garment intended to relieve menstrual pain
When 33-year-old Paula Fisher first read about the development of a special garment worn by women to help relieve menstrual pain, she was excited to try it.
Like many women, Paula suffers from severe menstrual pain, and she was hoping to find an alternative solution to painkillers that only lasted for two hours.
“Usually I was in so much pain that I couldn’t get up from my couch to go to work,” says Paula, who lives in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. “It affected everything – my mood, my enthusiasm for work and my ability to achieve.” .
Two years ago, Paula saw a notice on social media posted by a Hungarian startup called Alpha Femtech asking for volunteers to help test and develop a new garment aimed at reducing menstrual pain.
The applicants had to fill out a questionnaire about their menstrual cycles, and then a doctor specializing in women’s health would select the most suitable participants, and Paula was one of them.
The suit, called Artemis, will go on sale in the UK and EU for the first time later this year. It contains heat panels and a transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS) device. ).
image copyright Marton Martos
Two models dressed as Artemis, and the Tenz device and the charging battery can be seen on the waist of the woman on the left of the photo
The Tenz device, which women often use to relieve labor pain, works by sending electrical impulses, which are supposed to block pain signals from reaching the brain. As for the thermal panels, they live in the uterus and the muscles surrounding it.
To operate the dress, it is connected to a small box the size of the palm of the hand containing a battery and a portable device. It can be placed in a small pocket in the dress itself, or it can be attached to a woman’s pants or skirt. The device communicates wirelessly through Bluetooth technology with an application that the user downloads on her phone, and heat and electricity levels can be adjusted through that application.
Paula says that when she put the dress on during her probationary period, her periods were a “completely different experience” than she was used to, with only mild pain, and sometimes no pain at all. Made from a blend of soft merino wool and synthetic fibres, she adds that the dress is “comfortable and cute”.
She notes that the only side effect she’s noticed is heavier periods than usual. “I assume it is due to muscle relaxants.”
The dress is the brainchild of Alpha Femtech co-founder, Anna-Zofia Kormos, who has a Ph. D. in smart apparel technology with a specific focus on women’s health during their menstrual cycle. As for her partner in the project, Dora Peltzer, her main field of work is marketing.
“We talked to 350 women about their menstrual cycle habits so we could develop a product that was as easy to use as possible,” says Beltzer. She adds that she and her partner, Kormos, wanted the €220 ($240, £194) gown to look like an elegant gown rather than a medical device.
Rebecca Powderly, from Dublin, Ireland, suffers not only from period pain, but also from the pain of having a condition called endometriosis.
This condition is believed to affect one in 10 women, and occurs when tissue similar to endometrial tissue grows elsewhere in the body, such as around the ovaries or bladder, for example. This leads to internal wounds and scars, and results in pain that can be excruciating at times.
To try to ease the pain, Rebekah says she used to walk carrying a hot water bottle all the time. Rather, the 28-year-old took that closeness with her when she went out to spend evenings or attend parties outside her home, and she says that this was causing “a few surprised looks.”
But since last September, Rebecca has swapped her hot water bottle for another technical product she wears to relieve period pain.
image copyright Rebecca Powderly
Rebecca Powderly says using a Tenze has helped relieve her pain
This product is called Myoovi, and it’s a small, cordless aspirator that sticks to the skin either below the navel or lower back.
The device contains a central unit in the form of a disk with a diameter of 8 centimeters (3 inches) with a gel pad, a battery that can be charged through a USB connector, and buttons for operation and control. This unit is housed in a replaceable butterfly-shaped tape that sticks to the skin on one side, and the tape should be used 20 to 30 times before it needs to be replaced.
Rebecca says: “The Tenz makes such a strange sensation that it is difficult to describe. When I set the settings so that the machine works at its maximum capacity, the pulses become very intense, but it manages to relieve my pain.
image copyright Myoovi
The Mayovi device works wirelessly, and it can be operated through the buttons on its surface
“As soon as I start using the device, the pain immediately subsides. It does not completely eliminate the tingling pain of endometriosis, but it reduces it. What the device succeeds most in achieving is relieving the pain of the constant contractions that I suffer from.”
The Mayovi device was put on the market in October 2021, and its price starts at 60 pounds sterling. For this price you get one disc and two adhesive strips.
The product is manufactured by a newly minted company with the same name. The CEO of the company is Dr. Adam Hamdy, who came up with the idea when he saw the effectiveness of the devices on nature while working in hospitals affiliated with the National Health Care Authority in Britain.
He wanted to develop a portable version that could be worn inconspicuously so that women who suffer from menstrual pain, endometriosis, or another condition called polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) could use it anywhere.
Dr. Karen Morton, a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology and founder of Dr. Morton’s Medical Helpline, explains how the TNZ devices work: “They use what’s known as the ‘gateway control theory of pain’ – by stimulating the spinal cord at a point higher than where it comes from. Pain, these devices block the way on [إشارة] Pain so that it does not reach the brain..and heat can do the same thing.”
But she stresses that any woman who suffers from menstrual pain or other female pain should consult a doctor first to discover the causes.
Dr. Steve Older is a consultant neurologist who specializes in treating diseases of the brain, spinal cord, and nervous system in general.
He says that while studies have shown TenZ devices to be effective in relieving pain, there are potential problems with their use: “It’s not clear exactly how long, how often, and what frequency patterns are ideal for them, as there is a possibility of getting used to them and not responding to them with repeated use.”
However, Dr. Hamdi, Executive Director of Mayofi, confirms that there is no maximum period for using Tens devices, because that depends on each person’s ability to tolerate electronic impulses.
Back in Budapest, Paula says she can’t wait to buy the Artemis dress without having to return it this time, as she did after her participation in trying it on: “I can’t wait to see it on the market so I can finally use it regularly.”