CERTAIN MENSTRUAL DISTURBANCES: ASSOCIATED WITH LOW BASAL METABOLIC RATES WITHOUT MYXEDEMA

In 1933 we 1 reported the results of treatment, by the oral administration of desiccated thyroid glands, of twenty-seven patients who had amenorrhea or marked oligomenorrhea and low basal metabolic rates without evidence of myxedema. We found that, of twenty-two patients who had had periods of amenorrhea, 59 per cent menstruated more normally after treatment than they had before. At this time we report the results of similar treatment of seventy-four patients who had amenorrhea, oligomenorrhea or menorrhagia and low basal metabolic rates. These patients were seen in the years 1929 to 1934 inclusive. The cases that were reported in the original paper are included in this study. Since 1917 H. S. Plummer 2 has recognized a group of patients who had low basal metabolic rates without clinical evidences of myxedema. Litzenberg and Carey 3 noted that menstrual disturbances which could not be accounted for by any pathologic condition in