My monthly "ow"

[Der Cute]

Ibuprofen is wonderful, innit?

[kibbles]

Yes, yes, yes!! I used to be able to take care of it with simple Advil or Tylenol, then I went to Midol and one month that didn't even work. So I bought Maxidol for next time LOL!!

I do find that the pain is much worse since I have lost weight.

[MoonCat]

Midol used to make my stomach hurt. I used acetaminophen for a while, then ibuprofen.

My sister used to swear by Valerin, which is a brand name for a drug that contains valerian (herb). Said it really helped with the pain.

Thank gods that's over with...

[mharbourgirl]

Regular Midol contains caffeine. Guess what caffeine does? Yup! It makes cramps worse. An NSAID, such as ibuprofin (Advil/Motrin) or naproxen sodium (Aleve) or muscle relaxer works better for cramps. I find a hot water bottle or heating pad also helps a lot. Try to consume as little caffeine and salt during your menses as possible (smoking also makes cramps worse) and make sure to drink plenty of water and consume iron-rich foods, especially if you experience heavy bleeding.

Caffeine doesn't necessarily react that way for everyone, though. I agree that Midol is useless for me and ibuprofen was the magic pill that made everything better sooner than just riding it out. But black coffee actually helped a LOT in my early teens when it was really bad. Chocolate made things a million times worse, but I wasn't aware of my special sensitivity to a chemical in chocolate back then. I just knew that my mood swings and my cramps would be hell if I ate chocolate within a week before my period started or during it.

Going on the pill turned things around for the long term. My periods became much shorter and lighter and the cramps went away almost completely.

I don't mind being female, but there are some things about it that completely SUCK.

[Joyius]

I regularly missed school too because of intense menstrual pain. Even had a school nurses assistant tell me that menstrual pain can never get as bad as mine. Now I don't go to school anymore, and it still gets so bad that I just want to curl up and cry my eyes out.

[Zaiida]

I worship naprogesic (aleve I think for the northern hemisphere) I tend to get mid cycle pain rather than period pain due to bitchy cysts. Nothing can be done about it other than popping a pill + hot pack. Surprisingly, napro is also very good for me when I get gastro or have intestinal spasms (never been right after ecoli at 18) so I always have a pack on me. Last nasty bout was food poisoning from McD's last week yay. It's funny though months can go by without me needing anything then I'll go through a pack in 5 weeks because everything hits at once. Oh well the joys of getting older and watching the warranty run out

I was regular then I had implanon in. My first 2 rounds were ok apart from rapid weight gain (hello stomach strech marks) but this 3rd round knocked me sideways. My cycle is between 28 and 45 days and I never know if it's going to be nice and light or OMG NEED SUPERPADDING AND CRUNCHY FOODS!. Oral BC or patchs make me awfully sick and they don't work because I don't process them properly and Mum's advised me against using IUD or the coil. It was really, shockingly bad with her and so far I have been following in her BC side effects footsteps so I won't risk it. Honestly, if there was no implanon on the market I may have been looking at a hysterectomy before I was 40.

[agirlfromnowhere]

I guess I'm lucky. I only get cramps one day out of my period and it's nothing an ibuprofen can't take care of. Sometimes the cramps can be unpredictable though. This one time I was fine before I left for work and about an hour into it I started hurting bad. And of course I left the painkillers at home. I tried to tough it out but after a little bit I had to call my dad and have him bring me something.

[dragon_wings]

This one time I was fine before I left for work and about an hour into it I started hurting bad. And of course I left the painkillers at home. I tried to tough it out but after a little bit I had to call my dad and have him bring me something.

That's why I keep some pain meds in my purse at all times (naproxen sodium is my otc pain med of choice and I keep a couple sumatripans and some tums). Last week I was at work (overnight shift) and my head was bothering me, not quite a migraine but definitely a headache and I couldn't fine my little meds tin. I freaked out cause I was too broke to buy more naproxen (and I work at a drug store). I found it a couple days later in a little used pocket of my purse. >.<

[fireheart]

I regularly missed school too because of intense menstrual pain. Even had a school nurses assistant tell me that menstrual pain can never get as bad as mine. Now I don't go to school anymore, and it still gets so bad that I just want to curl up and cry my eyes out.

It used to be that if my period started while I was at home, I would be fine, feeling normal. Same with friends. Just having the usual crampiness and pain.

Although if I was at school (and my job later on) and my period started, I would feel extremely lethargic, weak and feeling like I wanted to pass out. Usually this would end with me going home sick either at school or at work.

Now I'm on the Implanon and my cramps just feel more like I'm constipated (with no lethargy or faint feeling). I think yesterday has been the only time in around 2 years where I've had to take something for the cramps.

[Pagan]

I tried a number of medications over the years, and have now finally settled on Amethyst for the time being. It's not perfect- I've had multiple incidents of cramping and spotting over the last 3 months I've been on it - but not a single full day of Ye Olde Hell.

I love Amethyst. I started off on Lybrel not too long after it came out and when the FDA forced Wyeth to let Watson make a generic for about half the price? Hell, yeah! I haven't had a single side-effect with either brand or generic.

Haven't had a period in 4-5 years, which means no migraines for the first two days, no god-awful cramps, no heavy bleeding that left anemic, no fatigue, no nausea, no diarrhea, no mess in the trash can.

[cindybubbles]

Also, because I have anaemia, even though I took one iron pill a day. I lose a lot of blood during my "ow", leaving me feeling frozen like a Popsicle and totally drained.

I saw my doctor yesterday about my blood test. She told me that my iron and vitamin D levels were low, so I now need to double my daily iron dosage and up my daily D dosage to 2000 IU.

Hopefully, when my "ow" comes back this month, I won't feel so bad.

[telecom_goddess]

Makes me glad I take iron and Vitamin D every day already.

[DeltaSierra]

I started getting visits from Aunt Flo when I was 9. The pain would be so bad I'd end up having to stay home 2-3 days a month. As I got older, it got worse. When I was 30, the pain was so bad that I went to see a Dr. Mine was out of country so I saw the guy who was his replacement and he said it was all in my head and said I needed to see a psychiatrist (which ended up being a whole 'nother ball of wax.)

This culminated with me finally being able to see my primary physician after I'd been bleeding for 27 days straight, was anemic and in so much pain I could barely walk. He immediately referred me to a gyno and after looking at me, the gyno scheduled me for emergency surgery 5 days later.

I ended up having a partial hysterectomy - found out I had endometriosis, fibroids and adhesions so bad that I was nothing but a mass of scar tissue inside. That surgery was the best thing that ever happened to me. I actually freaked him out when he came to check on me the next day and found me walking around the floor with a smile on my face - I told him the pain I was experiencing from the surgery was 1/10th what I'd been dealing with before, I was in heaven!

[Pagan]

Mine was out of country so I saw the guy who was his replacement and he said it was all in my head and said I needed to see a psychiatrist (which ended up being a whole 'nother ball of wax.)

"In your head" my ass. That has always infuriated me. This day in age they damn well know it's not in our heads.

He's got to have been around women at some point in his life.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

"In your head" my ass. That has always infuriated me. This day in age they damn well know it's not in our heads.

He's got to have been around women at some point in his life.

It doesn't count if they're on a computer or he has to inflate them first.