Abstract

PIP: 29 patients received meptazinol 100 mg and 30 received placebo in a randomized double-blind study of the efficacy of meptazinol for the relief of pain following insertion of a Copper 7 IUD. 55 nulliparas and 4 oligoparas aged 18-35 undergoing a 1st insertion of IUD were fitted with Cu 7 devices following standard procedures. Each patient received 50 tablets of either meptazinol 100 mg or placebo and 50 tablets of paracetamol to be used as rescue therapy if they felt the trial therapy was ineffective. Patients were asked to record presence or absence of abdominal cramps and other symptoms and to return for follow-up in 7 days. There were no significant weight or parity differences between the 2 groups. There was no significant difference in the IUD side-effects index in patients taking meptazinol or placebo and in those resorting to rescue therapy. Meptazinol scored better than placebo in an assessment of overall quality of treatment. The patients who used meptazinol as initial therapy did so on 66 separate occasions and resorted to secondary therapy on 19 occasions, while the patients who used placebos as initial therapy did so on 80 occasions and resorted to the secondary therapy on 33 occasions. The trends appear to have clinical significance but did not reach statistical significance. Adverse effects were minor and similar in both groups, indicating that meptazinol is a safe drug for the treatment of IUD pain.