Where have all the tampons gone? Can you really end your heavy bleeding with Endometrial Ablation? And why picking the right devices for uterine treatments is key! Our Q&A gets at improving your relationship with your doctor, and we end on a high note with Mark Cuban. The world of pharmaceuticals could be changed as we know it. Thank you for listening, uterinekind!
Hey, do you have a tampon on you? Me neither! In today’s episode, we cover the reason why tampon lovers may have to make the switch to pads or menstrual cups. Spoiler alert: greedy companies put profit over uterinekind yet again!
AUB (Abnormal Uterine Bleeding) is back this week, but now our focus is on Endometrial Ablation, a two minute treatment for AUB. Take a tour of the 3 most common endometrial ablation devices, hear the questions to ask your doctor if you are considering endometrial ablation and pick your device carefully!
In this week's Hear Me! Hear Me! Q & A segment, we listen to the concerns from a fellow uterinekind about trust issues with doctors and their guidance. How can we really know we are given the best advice for our bodies? Well, you’re in the right place to discover exactly how to build that confidence for yourself.
Lastly, we end on a high note that could change the future of pharmacy as we know it. Pick up your prescriptions without breaking the bank. Big thanks to Mark Cuban and everyone atCost Plus Drugs for making healthcare more accessible to the public and uterinekind.
Thanks for listening, learning, and being you. And join us back here every Tuesday for all things uterus, in service to you, uterinekind.
Carol:
Where are all the tampons? On Amazon, you can buy up an 18 count box of Super Plus tampons for like $120. Can a two minute treatment really end abnormal uterine bleeding? I'm just going to say it the way I say it to people when I'm talking in my daily life. It's kind of like a cattle prod how to trust the guidance of your doctor. The more informed you are, the greater likelihood that you're going to make a really good choice for your body and stay till the end for ending on a high note, getting relief from high priced drugs of the pharmaceutical variety. You need to sit down because I don't want to be responsible for you falling on the floor. I'm your host, Carol Johnson, and this is Hello Uterus.
Carol: Alana Semuels is a writer and she wrote an article for Time magazine about the shortage of tampons. And she is like me in that she goes to the grocery store just for broccoli. I do that a lot. And then when she's there, she makes a beeline for the tampon section. We have two different reasons for doing this. I go to the tampon section when I'm at the grocery store because I envisioned that one day I might run into someone who uses a slim tampon and I can ask them rudely what that life is like. But Alana goes to the tampons section for a truly important reason, and that is to see whether or not they're actually tampons there. There is a massive tampon shortage and I want to smack myself because this has been going on for six months. I should have assumed. I don't really go there all the time, but I wasn't aware that the shelves were depleted of tampons. And apparently on Amazon, you can buy an 18 count box of Super Plus tampons for like $120. Do you know that that would have lasted me a day? A day? A 24 hours day? I don't mean just from sunrise to sunset, but a day nonetheless. Anyway, I would have transitioned over the cup by this point in time because that's ludicrous. Not everyone can use the cup, so we can't make that a shame point. Let's not do that. So anyway, she writes this article and it's a great read. I'm going to link to it in the blog. You need to read it. It is so well written. She lays out what's causing the shortage of tampons. Then she slides in some commentary on the state of affairs when dudes run everything, which we really have to just call it what it is. If guys are creating all the content in Hollywood, it's going to look this way. It's going to cause these kinds of social issues on how women and girls are framed in this content, et cetera. If guys are running consumer products companies, they're just literally not going to ever prioritize products that are for women. They're just not. We're not there yet. They haven't evolved to that degree. I'm going to drop some data on you about pricing here that it's just shocking to me. So Procter and Gamble owns Tampax and the Always brands. And Tom asked for a comment on this about the shortage and a company spokesperson. This is so classic. Blamed increased demand linked to an ad campaign featuring Amy Schumer. Amy Schumer, a comedian, actor, writer, producer, essentially all around insanely accomplished human being, also had endometriosis. Do you ever like, is it in the past tense? I don't know, man. With that condition, I don't think it's ever in the past tense. But anyway, she had a hysterectomy and she's spoken about this publicly. Apparently, they did an ad campaign in July 2020 featuring Amy Schumer. And according to this spokesperson from Procter and Gamble, retail sales growth has exploded. And then it's like, okay, you really did. Wow. That's amazing. That's as amazing as the high school cheerleader during the halftime of the basketball game. Like the only one who can ludicrously tumble and she comes out and does 15 backhand Springs and flips and all that stuff. That's how impressive that Procter and Gamble spokesperson is, in my opinion, because she or he was able to blame a woman for the shortage, a woman who doesn't even have a Uterus for the shortage of tampons. Not only does she not have a Uterus, she also is not a tampon manufacturer. She is also not employed by Procter and Gamble in regards to supply chain issues or raw goods acquisition. None of those things. She is. As we stated, comedian Amy responded on Instagram by saying, Whoa, I don't even have a Uterus underneath the headline of an article that says Why Amy Schumer is getting blamed for the national tampon shortage. Boy, I tell you the things people say, Procter and Gamble, I'm so disappointed in you. I'm not an early adopter of anything. So I wouldn't have been on the cup out of the gate. And I'm not sure how the cup deals with heavy, heavy periods, which I had. So I probably would have still been using tampons if I was menstruating right now. But this would make me change. I would figure out anything that I could use other than a product that is produced by Procter and Gamble or really any of the other major manufacturers of what they term feminine products. And this is why what I'm about to share with you, there's going to be a few tips in this week's episode. This tip is about if you want to get some insight into what's going on with a particular product that you use that you like or that you have an issue with. Listen to the phone call that likely publicly traded company has regarding their earnings. You can find this information online. So you could go and Google Proctor and Gamble Earnings investment call or something like that. And essentially you get on a conference call and you listen to the leadership of the company. One or two or a few executives talk about their state of affairs. Financially, you really get some insight into the methods, the prejudices, the standard operating behavior of these companies. For example, Procter and Gamble in April 2021 said that it would increase prices on baby care, feminine care and adult incontinence products. Then in April of 2022, it said it would again raise prices on its feminine care products. The inflation that everyone's talking about, right? Procter and Gamble posted its biggest sales gain in decades in the first quarter of 2022. And the amount of money it made from sales in its feminine care division was up 10%. It posted its biggest quarterly sales gain in decades. And get this, listen to this. But executives warned shoppers may begin to ball at the ever rising prices for household staples that have fueled the company's growth. So they're not saying we needed to raise our prices in order to cover our cost of goods. Maybe that is part of it, right? Because cost of goods have been increasing. But when you look at a company who's raising its prices and either saying or not stating that it's because of cost of goods or inflationary issues, go check out its profits. Because if its profits are soaring, that's a nonsense statement. Covering your cost of goods would mean that you would break even on those profits year to year. Right? You would have the same around the same profitable state as you had the year prior because you're covering the increased cost of goods. You're not gouging citizens. And what's really nuts about Procter and Gamble, which makes a whole host of things. What products did they say they were going to increase their prices on? Baby care, feminine care and adult incontinence products. Women buy baby care products, feminine care products. They're taking care of the adult population, right? They're elders, so they're buying adult incontinence products for them. They're also buying adult incontinence products for themselves. Because uterine kind often deals with incontinence issues for a variety of reasons, not just having given birth, but other chronic conditions. So all of those products that they raise prices on the money is coming out of the wallets of uterine kind during a time period when, because of the pandemic, women have needed to leave their jobs or work less because they need to stay home to take care of the kids. It's sad that a company like Proctor and Gamble in 2022 can't see the benefit to making life a little bit easier for its core loyal consumer base. And instead it's just this ratcheting up of greed. It's not because they're losing money now. They're raising the prices and their profits, all under this banner of inflation and cost of goods and shipping and all that stuff. Oh, boy, there's some real growth that needs to happen inside corporate America. This shortage will have an end. Of course, it will have an end because it's probably wholly manipulated, not 100%. In the article, they do talk about the fact that less cotton has been grown and there are issues here. But my main point is that a company like Procter and Gamble went first. They blame Amy Schumer. Good God, what a shame. Boom. Procter and Gamble want to know if a two minute treatment can end your period. The answer after this quick break.
Angel: Help bring an end to endometriosis by participating in the Rose Study. The study of menstrual blood may hold the key to the y of Endo. From there, treatments are born. Participate in the Rose Study today. Visit Heliotros.com and click on the Rosette blog for more information. Or simply Google Roastetty for Endometriosis. It's the first link. Please participate if you can. You could hold the key to the future for all uterine kind. Thank you. Now let's get back to the show.
Carol: Last week we talked about the common and horrible condition called abnormal uterine bleeding or AUB. High fives to everyone who's had a clinician tell them that their period hell is totally normal. No, it's not at all. Push back, demand a definitive diagnosis. Don't stop until you get one. So we covered that last week. Go and listen to that episode if you haven't already learned about abnormal uterine bleeding. But in short, AUB is extremely common. Up to one in three women experience it. It has numerous causes, and those causes can be treated in a variety of ways. Some of those causes are structural, things like fibroids, holidays. Some of those causes are not structural. They are caused by things like hormone imbalances and such. Today, we're going to take a look at minimally invasive device enabled treatments for abnormal uterine bleeding, specifically, a treatment called endometrial uplation. Endometrial ablation is a treatment that thins or removes the lining of your uterus. And essentially the way the FDA would describe it would be that it destroys the lining of your uterus. It's removing. It's a method of removing that lining. And that lining is what you shed each month during your period. So sounds awesome, right? Like, just kind of go in and take away that lining and then I don't have a period anymore. Nothing is ever as awesome as it seems like you need to take a close look at this stuff. That's what we're going to do today. The most common endometrial ablation devices are the Novassure system, Genesis HTA, and Minerva. And I say them in that order because that's the order in which the FDA approved them. Nova Shire was approved in 2001. Genesis HTA was approved in 2010, and Minerva was approved in 2015. Each of these devices removes or desiccates or destroys the uterine lining, but they do it in different ways. Novasher is the first sort of modern endometrial ablation device where technology met device before these devices that we're talking about today, you have things like they call it rollerball, which was a device that created extreme heat. And it kind of looks like if you had a teeny little paintbrush and you went into that teeny little uterus, right. Three inches tall by two inches wide by one inch thick. But the inside where your lining is, is even smaller than that. It's a tiny little area. So position would go in there with a little device and they would essentially look like they were painting with a roller, not with a brush. That's kind of what it looked like. And it would just over a period of several minutes, they would painstakingly go through and thin the lining of your uterus with that. And there's also DNC going in and just scraping the lining away, which is not permanent, that the lining will grow back. So these modern devices, I look at them as like technology meeting Gynecology, right? We have this issue in Gynecology and we need to address it. And we've been doing it this way since 1822. And now we're going to go ahead and we're going to look at modern technologies and we're going to determine if we can apply those technologies to treating a uterine condition. It's one of the things that I get so excited about.
Angel: The Hell Uterus podcast is for informational use only. The content shared here is to not be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition. Please speak with the physician about your health conditions and call 911 if it's an emergency. And thank you, Uterine Kind, for listening.
Carol: In the clinical data studies that the FDA relied upon for approving Novassure, the data showed that when someone had a novice or procedure that out of 100 people, 36% of those people after one year would still not be having a period. So their period was completely ended. Zero bleeding. They went in with heavy bleeding. They had the novice show procedure and 36 out of 100 had no period. Again, at their one year follow up overall success rate, because most people don't need to have the period gone, but having it not totally sideline you from life would be cool. And for those people, 77%. So 77 out of 100, close to 78% considered it a success. These are great numbers, right? One of the main issues around AUB and heavy periods is that they are so problematic that people literally feel that they have to get a hysterectomy in order to gain some control over their lives. Specific to Novashire, after three and a half years, only 6% of those people that had Novosure needed to have a hysterectomy alleviated bleeding to the degree that one third of them didn't have a period. At their one year follow up, 78% almost were considered as a success. And at three and a half years, 6% of the people that had the treatment did have to go on and receive a hysterectomy. And I don't know the reasons why. So it seems pretty good. Right. And for 2001. It was probably really cool. So awesome. Great. We have this new treatment. So what's Nova show like? Well, how do I say this? I'm just going to say it the way I say it to people when I'm talking in my daily life. It's kind of like a cattle prod. It's a triangle shaped device that when it's closed, it sort of looks like a tampon. The physician dilates your cervix and inserts the device into your uterus, and it needs to make sure that it's properly placed in your uterus, which is a really dicey thing to have to do. You need to know what you're doing to make that not become a problem. We'll talk about that in a little bit what those problems could be. So they get it placed properly, and then they open it, and when they open it, it's like a V. If you made a P sign with your hands and in between your fingers, it's all mesh. It's metalized mesh. It's a conductor. When the device is properly seated, they flip a switch on a controller, and that thing fires up. It creates significant heat. And in order for the ablation to be really successful, you need to have tissue contact on this device. So they use a vacuum that pulls the walls of the uterus onto the metalized mesh, and then they turn it on. Okay. I mean, it sounds kind of 2001, right? It just sounds like we had stitches to seal a wound, and then we finally made our way to these ceiling compounds that don't require you to actually stitch close to wind. We've had progress in healthcare. Right. Glad that we have a solution, but, God, does it really need to be like metalized mesh? And then you squish my uterine walls onto that, and then you sing the endometrial lining. It's probably not horrible, because if you grill a chicken breast on, like, a cast iron pan, and if you first put it on and you wait like 30 seconds and you try to lift the chicken breast, half the skin sticks there. Right. But if you let it sit and Cook and you try to then turn it over, it will release. Right. So I assume that the longer that this device is in there, the more tissue destruction there is, and hopefully you can remove it pretty okay. But it sure seems like it would be hard to do. When you look at the two devices and you want to see these two devices side by side, you should go to a website called AUB and Me.com. And under the Treatments tab, they show the devices side by side. There the Minerva device, the Genesis HDA device, and the Novaer device. So that's Novasser goes in, they open it, then they electrify this metalized mesh vacuum brings the walls of the uterus onto the metalised mesh. It's about typically anywhere from 90 seconds to 120 seconds, maybe some seconds north of there. For this treatment. That's 2001 20. 10 Genesis HTA Genesis HTA is very different from Novosure in that it is a system that circulates heated saline throughout your uterine cavity. So it involves inserting kind of like a nozzle through the cervix just into the uterus. But it doesn't have to go all the way to the top of your uterus. It just needs to go into the uterine cavity. So that's kind of an improvement here in 2010 that we have an option where you don't have to open something into the uterus that has pointy edges like Novosure has, which can cause issues. And Genesis HDA is a good option if you have an unusually shaped or tilted uterus or something like that, because, again, you're just putting this tiny tip, this nozzle into the uterus. And from that point on, what's happening is just the introduction of saline that flows throughout the uterine cavity. And over a period of about ten minutes, it sends the endometrium. Now we're going to go up to Minerva to 2015. Join me in 2015. Time flies, doesn't it? 2015. Minerva endometrial ablation system. Minerva, to me is a device where they pushed the boundaries of engineering and really tried to create a device that improved upon what was already available in the market. And when they set out to do that, they were actually blown away by how great this device performed in the trials that they conducted for FDA approval. I just want to jump in here and remind you that, hello, uterus and uterine kind. We don't take money from manufacturers. We're not paid by them to produce hello, uterus. This is objective information that we've been able to gather over the last five years of working in women's health, creating content for those who are experiencing uterine conditions and those who are treating uterine conditions. And that content that we create is always reviewed by regulatory individuals. So we have experience in gathering data, analyzing data, being able to compare devices and things like that. And that's the information that we want to bring to you so you can make really good choices about your health care. I just want to make sure that, you know that we're not getting paid by manufacturers. Back to Minerva, it is soft silicone. It's also that same triangular shape. It doesn't have any exposed electrified elements to it. When it's inserted into your uterus, it resembles a tampon. A slim tampon, actually one of those rare slim tampons. And they open it after it's opened. Inside that silicone, it's not a balloon because it's flat. So just a container, let's call it. They create plasma. It's just like those plasma balls that are so cool. I love them where the plasma is inside, and you put your hand on it, and the plasma, it looks like lightning. It will come toward your hand. It does that because it's trying to look for a way to transfer itself out of that plasma. Ball. Well, the same thing happens with Minerva. They create plasma inside of this silicone container, and that plasma is looking for areas where there's no resistance to it. The heat that it's generating can leap from inside the silicone wall to outside the silicone wall, which is where the endometrium is. Minerva does not use a vacuum to collapse the walls of the uterine cavity onto this device. It's not necessary. So that's a big benefit in my opinion, if I'm a patient and I'm able to get a doctor to go into this level of detail with me about these devices, which is what I think everybody should do. But I also recognize that there is no time for that. So we're here to fill that void. So the device is in there. It opens up. It fills with plasma inside of this tiny silicone container, and that generates heat. That heat is transferred to the endometrium, and it also heats the moisture that is present in the uterus and allows that to circulate throughout the uterus, ablating or thinning or desiccating or destroying the tissue that is not in contact with this device. So there's more likelihood that you will have a complete ablation with this device because you don't need to have tissue contact on the device in order for it to ablate tissue. That's essentially how Minerva operates. Two minutes, 120 seconds. And throughout that time, it's a bleeding tissue. And the plasma it's looking for, again, that path of least resistance. So it's moving around this silicone container, and it's looking for thick endometrial tissue. Not literally, but by design. It seeks it out and abates it. After 120 seconds, device is closed. It's removed. Go on your day. So Endometrial ablation does not involve any implants. Nothing is left in your body. It doesn't involve you taking any medication other than, again, just pain meds before and after, and that's Endometrial ablation pretty awesome. So at one year, at the one year follow up, 72% of people who had Minerva had zero bleeding, compared to 36% at Novosure. The success rate for Minerva was 93%, compared to 78% for novicer. And the number of patients needing a hysterectomy after three and a half years, 0.9%, compared to 6.3% for novicer. Incredible difference, right? I'm laboring over this for a really specific reason, so stick with me. I'm not trying to sell you on this, but I want you to pay attention to the difference in these outcomes, because I think it's a really important lesson for navigating a care pathway to treat a chronic uterine condition. So what does it feel like? It depends on the device that you use, but in general, you can expect to feel some cramping during the treatment. You're going to have your cervix dilated a little bit, so you're going to feel that likely you should be given topical and other medications to help you with this pain. It should not be something that you take without any pain medicine this is something that you can actually have done in a doctor's office. While it's probably considered a surgical procedure, it's not something that you have to go into the or for. But there are problems with this procedure, and some of those problems are the result of the device that's used, which is why I'm being so specific about these devices and their outcomes and everything. What to look out for here. The first thing that we recommend is that you focus on whether or not you are a great patient for endometrial ablation. Not a good patient, but the doctor says you are a great patient for endometrial ablation. The second thing so important, the physician has to be an expert in the performance of endometrial ablation, meaning they can't just do one a month. This isn't something that you just kind of do on occasion. You need to actually be with a physician who performs endometrial glacier as a main focus of their gynecologic practice. They're going to be so good at this that they don't need the medical device rep in the room when they're performing this treatment on you. They need to become experts in this. This requires training. And then number three is what device have they selected to use? And that's why I'm being so specific about these devices and their outcomes, because in my mind, using an archaic device when a better device is available, because why cash friends in high places, hospital purchasing decisions? No, man, you can't do that. I mean, you can because you do it. But we're going to make sure that that practice is called out. So if I went to a doctor at age 45 and experiencing what I was experiencing with my period, I would absolutely investigate this treatment. And there's a couple of things that I would want to know. One, I would want a definitive diagnosis. Why am I bleeding so heavily? And that will tell me and them whether or not I have fibroids or I have a thickened endometrium. What is causing this? Because why treat something until you know what it is that you're treating right. And then once you figure it out, treat the root cause. Sorry to get all hardcore on Novasher, but this is one of the problems. We're going to segue right into a conversation about this in a second. But this is one of the problems of having devices to compare to. You can see pretty easily the differences here. I want to jump off of the United States of America for a second, go over to the UK, don't restrict your research on stuff to just what happens in the United States. I think some people might think like, oh, we're the most progressive health care society and we're not. There is real traction and it's global in women's health, and we need to work together to make improvements. So anyway, we're going to hop over there to Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. It's kind of like our FDA they just talked about. I'll link it in the blog post. They're continuing to receive reports of uterine wall injury, which is called perforation. And that's when the device goes into your uterus and actually punctures through the uterine wall, this is not something that you want to experience. You can not only puncture the uterine wall, you can go through that uterine wall. You can puncture your colon, not something you want to experience. This is why it's really important that you go to doctors who have perfected the use of these devices because they are safe and effective in the right hands. Back to the UK. I bring this up because they nailed something that I said earlier. The majority of complications occur due to either poor patient selection or endometrial ablation procedures being performed in difficult situations. So they also said that patients with either retroverted uteruses or fixed uterus due to significant endometriosis or adhesions, or those who have had previous uterine surgery are at a higher risk for problematic ablation. So that to me says, oh, I really need to get a diagnosis because what if I have endometriosis? What if I have adhesions that then maybe thin my uterine walls and make it such that a puncture can happen or that there's some sort of negative outcome. Because of that, you got to know so they can be great until they're not. The concept behind endometrial ablation is pretty straightforward, right? Thinning or removing the endometrial lining so that's our dive into Endometrial Glacier. And after this break, I'll be back with that seems nuts.
Angel: Did you hear about Accessa for Fibroids? Be informed. Check out episode one for an expert led conversation on fibroid removal with Accessa. And for AUB 101, listen to episode seven of Hello Uterus. Remember, Hello Uterus is not funded or supported by manufacturers. We provide objective information and resources so you can advocate for your wellbeing without delay. Thank you. Now let's get back to the episode.
Carol: This is a common practice. That seems nuts. I mean, truly nuts to me. It's one of those times where I wish I had a magic wand and I could just be like, yeah, we're going to fix that because that's ludicrous. Let's make that go away. When a device is approved for use, the older device remains on the market. So you might think to yourself, Well, yeah, that makes sense. It's not like an elimination round. This isn't like March Madness. And so Company A comes out with a device, but Company B comes out with a better device and wins. And Company A has to go away forever. I totally understand that. But it's healthcare. We're not talking about hair dryers here. It's not like, oh, you know, that hair dryer. It's like one of those old fashioned just sings your hair. And then here's this new one with this newer technology, and it's much better for your hair. And it uses less electricity. And whatever. But when it comes to devices that are used on our bodies, I kind of feel like they should. I know that's scary for people who start companies and pour millions of dollars into devices and such, but maybe we need to look at healthcare and the delivery of it and how technology advances healthcare and how we regulate that and do better. Because to me, I think one of the problems with Endometrial Ablation is that we have a really old device on the market that is not as effective and that by design, looks like it's problematic and nobody's going to sink more money into clinical studies to determine if that device is problematic. So you're never going to hear like, well, data shows because they're not going to go get that data. Who's going to pay for it? Companies, not the FDA is not. So then the FDA comes along and approves. We have another company out there, entrepreneurs. They decide to go, we are going to create this device. We're going to spend lots of money on clinical research and studies, building, designing all of it, and all the way through to approval. I get why it would be ludicrous to then have the FDA turn around to company that sells Nova. She says, well, guys, you've got to take that off the market now. Your time is up. Minerva showed up and they're way better. So you gotta go, I understand how that would never happen, but it should. You really should, because it's nuts that a person can walk into a physician's office and have no idea which device that physician is using. If the person decides to get an Endometrial Ablation, they would have to know to ask. And I know I've only given you like a really quick look at these devices, but I'm going to put links in the blog post and you can go and look at them yourself and decide, what would you do in a society that prioritizes bodily well being over profits? They would say, okay, Minerva is significantly better in terms of outcomes, in terms of its design. It's more modern, it's less likely to cause problems based on how it's designed. So that is the Endometrial Ablation device of choice. And all your other guys go and take your creative talents and your money and pivot to other things because this one is the one that we're going for. Now until somebody comes through with something that is better, I kind of wish it was like that for devices, because otherwise it's like a crapshoot. If you're a patient, you don't know which one is being used on you and you know for sure that the physician isn't going to be like, Well, I use no for sure, but I would recommend that you go find a physician that uses her nervous like, that's not going to happen. And physicians don't always have the choice either. If a hospital system decides that they are going to use Novosure over Minerva, and that's what that physician has to use. Now, why would a hospital decide to do that? Right? It's probably money or friends in high places or bundling pricing strategies or whatever. Did you hear patient in that? No, you didn't. But to me, as a person who can step into a patient's shoes, I look at this rundown that I just gave you, and I look at the stats using just a regular, normal brain, and it's like, yeah, guys, maybe we should not be offering Nova sure anymore. Maybe we should just be offering the Nerva or whatever the next best Endometrial Ablation device is. So just keep that in mind that when the FDA approves a product, they don't go and take the older product off the market. But when they approve a product, it needs to be safe and effective. And in the case of Minerva, it was clinically, statistically more effective than any other Endometrial Ablation device that's on the market. That also makes it more expensive by being informed and educated about this treatment and about the devices and about how people make decisions on what they're going to use and on and on and on. The more that you know about this sort of behind the curtain stuff, the more that you can walk in and just say, hey, I want to consider Endometrial Ablation. And there's three things that I want to discuss with you. I want to know if I'm a great candidate. I want to know what device you use, and I want to know how many endometrial Ablation you perform every month. It's just crazy how this stuff works, isn't it? I mean, shouldn't we pull a subpar device off the market when a new one is cleared? I could please. So now you know, endometrial Gllation. There's more. There's always more that I can share with you, but that's enough for us to get started, because we need to take a break and come back with hear me, hear me,
Hear me, hear me. How do I trust that I'm getting the right guidance? Half the month I'm at maybe 50%. My period is literally ruining my life when I need to be at my best from hate my periods, but scared to do something about it. I picked up on the word scared. The issue that you're scared and you're wondering how you can trust things to me speaks to the need for education that the more you know, the more confident you're going to be about information that people are giving you about the choices that you need to make. You're going to be confident all the way around. The more informed you are, the more informed you are. You will also have a more turned-on intuition. So, you will know, oh, man, you know what? This doesn't sound right. Or I think I need to get additional information about this treatment that someone is suggesting I take or just really to have the confidence and know that there is something wrong and have the confidence to go and take action to do something about it. The knowledge that you have about your body, symptoms, and conditions that might be affecting it. All of that knowledge, it is so important. It really is, in my opinion, don't have a study to fall back on to say this, but it is predictive of the potential for success. The more informed you are about your body, the greater likelihood that you're going to make a really good choice for your body. So for you with your question, to me, I think this is really straightforward. You're pointing out an issue with trust and being fearful, and that really seems to point in one direction, education. And so I am here to say, hate my period, but scared. Do something about it. You're here, you're listening to this podcast. So that means that you're getting this information, information that you're not getting anywhere else, and information that's going to improve the level of knowledge that you have about your body, conditions that are affecting it. And you're going to be able to get yourself treated and taken care of. And if you run into a brick wall, reach out and we'll find an expert to help you. So thank you for writing in. For anybody else who has a question or just needs a little Pep talk, hello at Hello Uterus.com. Send us your hear me, hear me questions. Give us a stage name so we give you anonymity and we'll get them answered for you. It's really beneficial to redirect the energy of that fear toward education and be informed. You know, your power to affect your experience lies in the knowledge that you acquire. Stay smart, stay educated. And now we are going to end on a high note.
Mark Cuban's, Cost Plus Drugs I don't know if you have seen this or not. It's been out for a while. Mark Cuban, entrepreneur, Shark tank guy, owner of Dallas Mavericks. A very cool person. Back in my ESPN days, I sent him an email like, Can I really do this? I don't know. I'm like a 40-year-old pregnant chick trying to host a Sports Fox show. And he gave me some really good guidance and a really cool Hep talk and listened to our podcast back in the day. To see him do something like this is just amazing. He's just a great guy all the way around. A great guy. I'm sure he's not perfect, but he looks for ways where he can make an impact and Cost Plus Drugs makes an impact. This is wild. So essentially he took out the middleman and created a platform that can sell and distribute pharmaceutical medicines and he arranged alliances with entities that have the ability to sell to him these medicines and he eliminated Markups. That's my non business person explanation of what he did. The URL is Cost Plus Drugs.com so here's a little explainer from them on how they price your drugs. They tell you exactly how much it costs to manufacture the drug, and then they put a 15% markup on it. That covers their administrative, operational costs. And then they add a charge for pharmacy labor for the person who has to pack up your meds. And that's pretty much it. You pay for shipping $5. You need to sit down because I don't want to be responsible for you falling on the floor. I'm going to break down the cost of a drug called, you know, I'm going to Butcher this imatinib I-M-A-T-I-N-I-B. imatinib. Maybe not a funny drug. I'm not trying to be funny here because this is an oral chemotherapy pill used to treat certain cancers. So the cost to manufacture this drug at Cost plus drugs is 38 point $0.40 for a 30 count supply of 400 mg. So 30 count supply. I think this is a once-a-day pill, but I'm not sure. 38 point manufacture the 30 count supply, $6 for the 15% markup to cover administrative and operational costs, and then $3 for the pharmacy labor. So your cost for a 30 count supply of imatinib chemotherapy drug for cancer patients, $39. The retail price of this drug at other companies for a 30 count supply is 9657 point $30. I said that this was ending on a high note. So I am going to immediately leave behind all the things that I want to say right now and focus on one thing. Cost plusdrugs.com costplus Drugs.com. Go there. Tell everyone that you know about costplusdrugs.com. If you are caring for people, then you can give them some guidance on their medicines that they take. Send them to Costplusdrugs.com. Not everything is there. They add drugs all the time. It's fairly new, but ending on a high note. I'm really glad Mark Cuban is alive and I'm really glad that he decided, you know what, I got to take a pause on you the Mavs or Shark Tank or whatever, because we're going to go and build this company. This was straightforward, simple and efficient, and he made it happen. That's the important thing. He made it happen. And now you have a resource for Pharmaceuticals that can save you thousands of dollars. So thank you, Mark Cuban. Thank you. Cost plus drugs. That is like the best, the best thing ever. And that is ending on a high note. Thank you for listening. Thank you for being here and for supporting this podcast. Please subscribe to be the first to know when the Uterine Kind platform drops. This app is a one stop place to manage chronic uterine conditions and get and stay informed on diseases, treatments, legislation and research. We won't leave any stone unturned in uterine health and make sure that you have access to everything that you need in order to confidently pursue wellness without delay. Thank you, Angel. For producing this podcast and for making it really easy for us to get this information into everyone's hands and so fun and thank you to the team back at Uterinekind for everything that you do. Don't forget to send us your questions to hello at hello uterus.com and I'll be back next week with another episode of hello, uterus till then. Bye.