I am a woman who has had serious cramps ever since my first
period. (even to the point of throwing up) There are a few
tricks that I have learned:
1. Midol does not work (at least not for me)
2. Advil does work. Especially if you start taking it about
3 days before you expect your cramps to start. That way is
is in your system. And it has no bad side effect other than
your body becomes used to it if you take too much.
3. Heating Pads, hot water botels and the fetal position
help to aleviate some pain
4. Avoiding Salt and salty food lessens cramps
5. So does Avoiding caffine. I know this is hard but it
includes anthing chocolate, coffee, tea (unless it is
herbal) and pop.
Any other advice?
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For me and my sisters the answer to the misery of cramps is
a prescription drug called Anaprox. I take it as soon as
soon as my flow begins (because for me cramps are soon to
follow). No other drug, herb, exercise, diet worked for me.
It's safe and MDs have no qualms about prescribing it if you
ask for it.
.
Now that I've had a baby I don't have cramps anymore (I'm
not suggesting you do have one for that reason :) ) and I
realize that my cramps were as bad as some of my early labor
pains.
Try Evening Primrose Oil Capsules. They're a natural
remedy and also counteract the signs and symptoms of PMS.
Of course it won't work for everyone. We're all individuals
you know. I find, avoiding caffeine, salt and yeast at
least 3 days before I get my period helps in decreasing the
discomfort of cramps....
Starflower oil contains the same stuff as evening primose
oil but is cheaper.
I give another thumbs up for Anaprox. It works wonders when
4 advils won't do a thing.
calcium tablets. When my daughter started menstruating she
used to get cramps. One day she was particularly bad, and I
mean bad. Nipped up to the chemist to get something for her,
and he gave me these calcium tables. Try them he said, and
if they don't work in an hour, get back to me. Put one into
a 500 ml beer mug of water, and got most of that down her.
Within about 15 min, she was feeling much better, and within
a hour it was as if there had been nothing wrong with. Now
about a week before "that time of the month" she drinks a
lot of milk, with the result of no more cramps. All I can
say is try it. It works for her.
I think the other suggestions are great but for me the
solution was the birth control pill. I've been taking it
for 18 yrs and have no problems whatsoever. My periods last
2-3 days and are very light, I have no cramping at all and
it comes on exactly the same hour of the same day every
month. I know it's not for everyone but you might want to
discuss it with your physician. Good luck.
PS I don't know if you are american but Anaprox is now sold
without a prescription here it is called Aleve. Probably
the prescription Anaprox is stronger but you might want to
try Aleve first it worked wonders on my serious toothache.
The health keeper is a rubber device that is placed in
the vagina and used to collect menstural fluid. Some women
have reported that it has reduced their cramps although this
was not the reason they started using it. To get more info
on the keeper email them at order@keeper.com or try
Webhttp://www.keeper.com
I got my first period when I was 12 and until i was 16 i was
plauged with excruiciating cramps. i would faint from the
pain, i would vomit and get diahhoreah. I would constantly
miss school, and my flow was very heavy. In OZ we have
ponstan and another period pain reliever - they dont work.
Panadol doesnt work either - unless you have about a dozen
of them.
Primrose oil was fantastic. i used to take it for a week
before my period, and then right through. It rleieved a
great deal of my pain, but in the end I got fed up with any
pain and went on the pill. It TOTALLY got rid of the pain -
well I had slight cramps, but NOTHING like what i was
experiencing before, and it cut two days off my period.
Whars funny now is that I often go off the pill, and ive
found i get no pain at all now when im using no pain relief,
and I get more pain when im ON the pill. But Its the most
convenient method of birth control for me now, so i stick
with it. Im 20 by the way.
Hi!
I am studying Physiology at University and one of the more
interesting things I have learned in school is that orgasm
can lessen menstrual cramps by relieving the vasocongestion
in the pelvic area. Although sex isnt high on my priotiy
list during that "special" time, a drug free, side effect
free and fun remedy deserves at least a try
Right Girls?
In case any of you are interested, many of you are
describing endometriosis symptoms - contrary to what a lot
of doctors seem to believe, excruciating period pain isn't
"normal". If your symptoms are under control with whatever
treatment you're using, there's not much reason to get
checked for endo, as it takes a laparoscopy to find
out for sure and there's no sure-fire cure and they're not
even quite sure what causes it. They will laser the
lesions that are causing pain, which can help - some woman
(myself, unfortunately, not included) stop having pain after
that laparoscopy. If you're not successfully treating your
pain, suggest to your gyn. that you should be checked for
endo. The Endometriosis Association has a website if you
want more info on the disease - don't have the URL but any
search engine should find it. I don't want to scare anyone
(and cramps dont necessarily mean you have endo!) but it
helped me a lot to know where my pain was coming from.
For cramps you might want to try serious amounts of
magnesium, since magnesium is an anti-cramping agent. Start
a few days before you expect your period.
I like the calcium and magnesium suggestions, and there are
other ways that could help sort out the congestion so that
periods don't have to be painful. Maybe see an
acupuncturist-herbalist.
i had the exact same problem for years. i'd gone to the
hospital with debilitating cramps and took enough motrin to
give myself gastritus. at 28 years old, a doctor finally
gave me a laperoscopy and found i had endometriosis. this
is a treatable disease present for about 10% of women. left
untreated, it can cause sterility. if you think you have
it, see your doctor immediately!
For any of you interested in more 'natural' remedies,
Raspberry leaf tea may be of help. A member of my family is
a midwife, and she regularly suggests mothers-to-be start
taking Raspberry leaf tea a month or so before their
delivery date, to help lessen labour pains. Having never
given birth myself (!) I can't vouch for its effectiveness,
but I have read that it can help women with painful periods.
Any good health shop sells it. Good luck!
Drink only hot water or tea. Take a little nap after
medicine to allow time for muscles to relax. Chinese
advice: DO NOT DRINK ANYTHING ICY COLD -- IT IS SURE TO
WORSEN THE CRAMPS!
I used to have brutal cramps to the point that I thought I
would faint. That got old. Finallly, I worked at looking
at the process of mensruation differently.
I reframed my thoughts about the cramps as actually being
the uterus contracting in an effort to expel the unneeded
tissue at the end of a cycle, and that the cramps are
similar to the sensation felt in the muscles when one is
exercising.
I think that I had been tensing up when I would feel the
sensations in my pelvis at the beginning of my period, and
that being tense would make the cramping worse. It was a
vicious cycle.
I am not saying that cramps don't exist, but I found that
choosing to think about them differently was VERY helpful.
Couldn't hurt...
I'm working on developing a short questionaire
about menstrual pain. At the moment I am trying to find the
best way of gathering the information. I have put a
prototype at
www.geocities.com/southbeach/jetty/4476/painquest.html
(which is linked to the homepage of a friend). I have
pestered all of my friends beyond endurance about this thing
and need some responses from real life women strangers. It
would be most helpful to me if you would fill out this form
(honestly of course.) The purpose of the final question is
so that I can see how well the summary data you supply at
the top matches your prose description in the last box, so
that last box is important to me. In case I need to say it,
I am NOT making any attempt to identify the responders,
capture email addresses or in any invade privacy. Once I
have looked at the responses enough to help me improve the
questions I will destroy all of the answers I receive. Thank
you for your help.
Try if everything else fail.
Get a product from Enrich - on Perform and Nature's Tea. I have friends who have similar problem and Perform helps to regulate the condition. No guarantee that it will work and if it doesn't you get your money back.
The price is Perform 60 capsules RM 56 (USD 15) and Nature's Tea 30 teabags RM 56 (usd 15).
All herbs. Hope that helps.
Eric Oh ericoh@pc.jaring.my
1000 mgs Calcium daily one week before your period and then lots when cramps come then stop when theyve gone.
Calcium for the cramps, and extra B-vitamins a week before to lessen that
exhausted no energy wiped out feeling
life is cool~! but -when I did have cramps I found that
doing the exact opposite of "curling up into the fetal
postion worked best - ie : putting your hands on your hips,
your feet a bit apart and "bouncing" backwards -it seemed to
force the cramped muscles to stretch out again ..
I'm a female gyencologist who travels. I have one thing to
say about painful periods: the birth control pill.
I used to have horrible cramps that doubled me over, made me
vomit, gave me headaches and made me miss work. That all
changed, maybe because I got older, but more likely because
I started thinking about pain differently as a result of
following a meditation practice. Now when I feel cramps
come on I don't tense up or freak out (which is what I think
I was doing before). Instead, I calmly breath through the
cramp until it disappears. I don't even take muscle
relaxers or analgesics anymore.
.
For anyone who's interested, the type of meditation I follow
is described on the Net at: http://www.dhamma.org/
It lessens the cramps and shortens my periods, which are still pretty bad. I'll have to take into consideration the Pill option, but I've heard it causes pimples and weight gain (???).
Do you get Evening Primrose as a pill or as tea or what?
I get horrid cramps. While I wait for the four Advil to
work, I press my fingertips into either side of my navel
until I can feel my pulse in my abdomen and hold it for
about 15 seconds. It really works (although you should do
this before the nausea and sweating starts)! Good luck!
I don't know how old you are; but I had awful cramps until I was 23 or 24. That's when I began regular exercise (I hadn't had a regular exercise routine until I finished college).
Just a suggestion.
HOT WATER BOTTLE AND SMALL DRINK OF GIN IN HOT WATER AND
TEASPOON OF SUGAR.
Pls read Anne Marie Colbin's Food & Healing. She has a
pretty spooky theory about commercially produced milk.
She's studied about how all the steroids and antibiotics
pumped into cows (and thus into our dairy food chain) are
wreaking havoc on women's reproductive systems. Tons of her
students, readers, clients have benefitted from getting away
from dairy products. Definitely food for thought.
I'm a big fan of hers if you couldn't tell, I haven't had
the discipline to go for the no-dairy concept, but her other
philosophies have changed my entire eating habits, and I
feel better.
...well, not all the time, anyway. I used to take mefenamic
acid, which is really for pain and swelling, but have found
that certain muscle-pain meds contain both analgesics (for
pain) and other substances that prevent clotting (which is
dangerous if you're involved in heavy physical
activity). These days, though, I try to prevent cramps by
upping my calcium and magnesium intake for a week before my
period.
I get really bad cramps, too, but thankfully, the extra
activity of being on the road seems to help keep the cramps
away.
It can be a pretty big shift in your eating habits, but try
cutting out all refined foods. That means no white flour,
no sugar of any kind (a wee bit of honey or maple syrup is
OK), no sucrose, dextrose or any artificial sweeteners.
(Read labels!) Eat whole grains, lots of vegetables, a bit
of fruit, beans, legumes, tofu, etc. I did this a while
ago and not only have my blood sugars stabilized
wonderfully (I'm diabetic) and my energy levels gone way
up, but I have no more cramps!
will help eliminate or lessen the pain very effectively.
This must be done before you get to the really bad stage
i.e. when you just start to feel something. If you're not
at home go to a public washroom. Try it even if you're not
in the mood; it works!
i was hoping to get some information about dealing with my
periods while travelling overseas... what to take, what to
expect (yuky toilet stories) tips and tricks.
I had severe cramps, to the point where I would miss
school/work... I would have to tell my employer that I had
bad cramps in the interview for a new job b/c I would at
some point be unable to get to work. I couldn't walk,
couldn't do anything for the first couple days... and that's
not even mentioning the horrid mood swings, my friends would
stay far aways from me till my 7days were over. I tried
all kinds of over the counter and prescripted drugs, I went
on the pill, I took all kinds of drugs while I was on the
pill, I tried anaprox, I was tested for endometriosis.
Nothing. Finially my doctor put me on Toradol, it's a
pretty heavey drug. Several years later I decided to go to
a homopathic doctor for something else. She made me totally
change my diet to low carbs, start taking some chinese
herbs, and using progestrine creme. I have to say that I
think it was the creme that did it, but I can get by now
with just midol on the first couple days... it's been
absolutely amazing for me. Just thought I'd share!!
I have had awful cramps forever. Yes, the doubled over in
pain, throwing up cramps. Nothing helped (Asprin, Tylenol,
Midol...) I was on the pill for a while and loved it (cramps
cut in half & lighter period), except for the fact that it
worsened my depression and caused me to gain weight. So, now
I use ALEVE. One tablet in the morning banishes all pain for
about 12 hours. So I can function like a normal person and
forget about my period for a while. I also love hot water
bottles and long naps, but are they really f
Are they really feasible? was what I was saying. I got cut
off. :)
As a Chinese, I have some alternative (?) ideas which are
very traditional.
1. Don't have any colded food such as ice cream, soft
drinks, at least not few days before and during periods.
2. Don't eat fruit or salads during periods. Only hot
dishes and hot drinking water. No tea.
3. Don't eat food made from soy beans before and during
periods.
4. Don't eat shelled seafood during periods.
5. Be careful, don't catch colds or flus during periods.
6. During periods, if it is NOT heavy and you don't have a
cold, strew some slices of ginger (with the skin), add
some brown suger, then drink when it is hot.
7. If possible, eat some dried Chinese dates (they
are red and sweet).
8. Don't wash you hair within the first three days.
Maybe it sounds weird, but I'd like to explain
traditional Chinese medical ideology. Medicine is the
last way to make you feel better. People pay attention
to their daily diet and habit. Each kind of food has its
own "nature" -- it's cold, cool, warm, or hot. "Cold" food
like ice cream, raw fruit and vegetable, soy beans, seafood
may obstruct the circulation of the blood (I am putting it
in the Western way). On the contrary, "warm" food like
ginger, brown suger, Chinese dates can help blood
circulate, and the later two contain a lot of iron which is
good for femal.
Blow dry your hair whenever it got wet. Don't just leave it
alone.