By all means, there's no possibility that a drug company would EVER try to push us to take something that hasn't been shown to be proven, safe and have no lasting side effects. They do, after all, have our best interests at heart, of course!!

I mean, it's not like Wyeth deliberately deceived us and covered up all those studies for years about Premarin, which was the top-selling drug for years, and marketed like candy to every woman over 40, only to discover that taking it could have serious, even life-threatening effects on our health?

And it's not like Wyeth is currently trying to eliminate our ability to get bioidentical, natural and compounded hormones, by filing a Citizen's Petition to have them all taken off the market. Everything from natural progesterone, to testosterone cream for women -- ADIOS -- to be replaced by high-priced products from, guess who...WYETH! But it will be so much more convenient to get it from the regular pharmacy, than that out of the way compounding pharmacy anyway -- so, what convenience!!

It's not as if the natural hormonal cycle of women has a purpose -- as part of the endocrine system, to regulate stress hormones, adrenal hormones, reproductive hormones, the thyroid, and such. And suppressing that for months or years on end won't have any negative effects, right?

And women don't need periods -- of course. That way, we won't have as much PMS, and so we won't get all irrational and cranky with the men in our lives.

Women don't need periods -- of course. That way, there's no chance that we'll have a couple of days a month when we're not readily available for sex, right?

Women don't need periods -- of course. That way, there's no chance that some dickwad with a hard-on is going to have to inconvenience himself by using a condom ("But baby, they just don't FEEL as good..."), and thereby accidentally impregnate us, which is a TERRIBLE inconvenience to a man, as we know.

Maybe Gloria Steinem actually predicted this when she said:

"If women are supposed to be less rational and more emotional at the beginning of our menstrual cycle when the female hormone is at its lowest level, then why isn't it logical to say that, in those few days, women behave the most like the way men behave all month long?"

When it comes to drug companies, ladies...FOLLOW THE MONEY...

If you think never having a period is normal, natural, and won't have health consequences, then, come on in, do I have some anti-aging pills (Premarin), diet pills (Phen/Fen), pain relievers (Vioxx), and cholesterol drugs (Baycol) for you...

Sharon wrote: "So lets just stop with all the romanticizing of periods."

Who's romanticizing periods? Periods suck. Cramps, aches, bloating, the crazies, cravings, etc. etc.

But it sure beats chemotherapy and radiation treatments -- or a stroke -- 20 years down the road...

Nope, you know you wouldn't, because you're more knowledgeable about the impact of alcoholism, etc.

The compulsive hoarding type of OCD is a disease, an incurable disease, just like alcoholism, that can, at best, be managed and lived with, but never cured.

No one is saying the LW shouldn't have compassion for his wife, but your advice to him should be EXACTLY THE SAME as if he were married to an alcoholic who was endangering his child, or preventing him from having a normal healthy childhood.

Would you tell him the same?

I don't think so.

The man has brought a child into this world, and the child is living in an unhealthy firetrap, (all those old papers and such also breed dust mites and mold, insect infestations, and encourage allergies). If Child Protective Services would walk in and say "This is an unsafe environment for a child" then the father needs to take action now, get the child out of that situation, put in him where he can live in a healthy environment where he can have a normal life (bed to sleep in, clean clothes, place to play, safe, etc.)

He and the son need to have compassion for the mother's illness, and do whatever they can to encourage her to get the treatment that may help her come to a point where she can live with this disease without endangering herself and others.

But until that time, he needs to get the kid out of there.

I like the idea of getting a place for the LW and son to live close by, so that Mom can try to get her act together...

But if Dad isn't willing to grow a pair and take action to protect his son, then I don't blame his parents. Because if their son was letting his wife drive their grandson around drunk, they'd call CPS, and who would blame them, right? How is this different? He's either going to be part of the problem by continuing to enable her, or he's going to be part of the solution for his son...

I found the article valuable, and surprising.

I speak fluent Spanish, I've been to Mexico a half dozen times, and traveled all over South America. It's fairly standard that you can get many drugs without prescriptions at "farmacias" throughout Latin America.

And I'd NEVER heard about any "Have to have a Mexican prescription" law either.

I've done it myself -- stocking up on pricey "Retin-A" cream, for example, which is about $25 a tube in Mexico, compared to $150 in the U.S. Or getting a couple of antibiotic prescriptions just to have on hand. Or, a few times when I actually wasn't feeling well, talking to the pharmacist, and having him suggest this or that prescription drug, which they then hand over without a further word.

So I could very easily have been this woman...

AND...FWIW...it's really something that the pharmacists are making the sales, then calling the police. Mexicans are known for wanting their "mordida" (little bite) but that is really carrying it too far...

As they say in Mexico... "Hijole...pendejos..."