In old English, menstruation was colloquially referred to as 'the curse' for a woman. However, modern science has proved that your periods or menstrual cycles are a boon for you. Your menstrual blood can save your life if it is stored under the necessary conditions, it can be used later in life to cure a variety of diseases by stem cell therapy.
What are stem cells?
Stem cells are cells that can differentiate into any kind of cells. There are many kinds of cells in the body like the nerve cells, blood vessel cells, brain cells etc. Stem cells can grow into any kind of cells. Earlier stem cells were found only in the umbilical cord of a baby. But now scientists have discovered a way to harvest stem cells from menstrual blood.
Why do I need to store stem cells?
Firstly, stem cell therapy is one of the best cures for cancer; especially cancers like bone marrow, can cancer, lymph cancer etc can be cured successfully only by the use of stem cells.
Apart from that, stem cells can be used to cure a lot of nerve-related disorders that were earlier considered incurable. Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases are the best examples. These degeneration nerve disorders are now curable if you store your menstrual blood.
Stem cell therapy can also be used in emergency health situations like cardiac arrests and heart strokes.
How does menstrual blood have stem cells?
Menstrual blood comes from the uterus. And the walls of the uterus have a unique regenerative power of their own. The blood generated from the lining of the uterus passes out of the vagina during menstruation. Many of these cells are stem cells that have the ability to grow into any kind of cells.
So, a woman does not have wait to give birth in order to store stem cells. She can choose to do it at any point of time by storing her menstrual blood.
How does one store menstrual blood?
It is a very simple procedure that can be done at any stem cell bank. A cup like instrument is inserted into the vagina to collect the blood during menstruation. This takes about 3 to 4 hours to collect the necessary amount depending on your blood flow. This blood is then stored in a stem cell bank in a frozen condition for later use.
This procedure is not only quite painless but also very affordable. Storing your menstrual blood stem cells should cost you between Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000. So don't feel lucky that you have periods now?
