Meftal-Spas vs Meftal-Forte for Menstrual Pain

I was recently asked by someone whether Meftal-Forte is a better drug than Meftal-Spas for menstrual pain.

I hadn’t heard about Meftal-Forte till then. So I looked up. 1mg told me both the drugs are manufactured by Blue Cross.

The page about Meftal-Spas gives us what I knew already – it is a combination of Mefenamic Acid 250mg and Dicyclomine 10mg.

The page about Meftal-Forte told me that it is a combination of Mefenamic Acid 500mg and Paracetamol 325 mg.

Based on this, the quick answer is “No. Meftal-Spas seems to be better suited for menstrual pain in people who find relief by using it. But self-medication may not be the best way to manage menstrual pain.”

The longer answer is that dicyclomine is an anti-spasmodic that is widely used with anecdotal evidence supporting its use in primary dysmenorrhea. Mefenamic acid is an anti-inflammatory drug that is indicated for use in primary dysmenorrhea. Paracetamol is not really indicated for primary dysmenorrhea. Therefore if forced to choose between these combinations, the one with dicyclomine makes more sense to be used in primary dysmenorrhea. But self-medication is mostly not the right thing to do because a lot of dysmenorrhea maybe secondary to things like endometriosis and maybe better treated by other drugs under the guidance of a family doctor or a gynecologist, and sometimes just mefenamic acid (in the right dosage) might be enough to control primary dysmenorrhea.