You should read what you provide.

[morgana]

I once described it to a male friend as follows: "Ever seen someone pull down old wallpaper? On an old wall with the horsehair plaster? Seen how it pulls off part of the wall in strips and strings and you have to drag and twist to get it to come down? That's the inside of your gut."

[BrenDAnn]

My aunt Leisha used to get "curl up into a ball and lay there sobbing all day" cramps. Pretty sure she'd tell your NA where to go and how to get there. As for me, I've never really had cramps, or ay least no major ones, knock on wood. Mine seemed to be lower in my body, instead of directly in the abdomen, but still...ouch.

[Ellain]

I hear you. I would be in the fetal position, bawling. I couldn't go to school, and I would occasionally vomit. Luckily, Mom took me to the doc. She wouldn't let him give me birth control (that would change me from a Good Christian Girl into a whore, apparently) so he gave me Vicodin. As soon as I moved out, I got the B/C, and haven't had problems since, thank god.

[Sparky]

I never had cramps in my life.

What does that have to do with you? Nothing. Unlike your nursing assistant from hell, I realize that not every woman has the same experience. Therefore, what did and did not happen to ME has nothing to do with what does and does not happen to YOU.

Your NA is a stupid cow.

[Mikkel]

Good gods, and I thought I had it bad with my back pains (arthritis). I have tried blacking out when moving wrong, but being in that much pain for days every month . You are heroes all.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

When I was in school, we were shown old films. In one of them (which I have seen recently), a doctor tells us that girls who complain of menstrual cramps are simply doing it to get attention. It really exists.

Yes, it was 1975. However, I know for a fact that they were making educational films back then that were realistic. We got to watch stuff from the 50's and 60's.

[wheeitsme]

I had a friend who had such bad cramps that they put her on the pill and large amounts of codiene. I knew she wasn't faking, but I had no idea how that must have felt.

Until I had them that bad. I've had them bad twice. I call them "curl up in the fetal position and just let me die" cramps.

Somebody once asked me what they felt like. I told them it was like someone was trying to cut their way out of my abdomen with a broken plastic serrated knife at irregular but very frequent intervals.

NA was an idiot.

[Aethian]

I had an ex who I could call, he would bring me a teddy to hold and then push some pressure points on my spine. I would be knocked out for at least three hours.

[CalyCoRose]

Kanalah - my mom was like this when I'd complain about my cramps to her.

Actually, they weren't bad when I was younger. But now that I'm older, they are incredibly bad. And now I get migraines during my monthly. And having a migraine AND cramps at the same time? Just shoot me, please.

My sister doesn't get the cramps, but she does have a heavy flow (just like me). Which is just as much as a pain in the you-know-what.

Oi.

Tell me again why men can't have the babies?

[Andara Bledin]

I'm lucky in that I almost never have really bad cramps. But for the times when I do, I think it's my ovaries going to war with my uterus as their battleground. >_<

Thankfully, a little ibuprofen does wonders. I've also noticed that if I drink a lot more water the week before I feel much less awful.

^-.-^

[Treasure]

my cramps intensity would vary from month to month - some it was... "oh, right... bleeding" others it was.. "OMG! Why does my uterus hate me!?!? Plz make it stop tying to claw its way out!"

additionally I get my cramps across the small of my back - it also tends to cause my sciatica to flare up... I've had cramps that went down my legs to where I could barely stand.

when my cramps are bad: lying down - no good, standing - no good, sitting - no good, curled up - no good, pressure against - no good, no pressure - no good,
and as far as meds go - if it didn't knock me out and let me sleep through the worst of it - It didn't really do anything for me...

[bhskittykatt]

That's nice, NA. Now STFU.

I get really bad cramps. I will be doubled over, and Hubs will be "I thought the Pill was supposed to help with that?" At which point I glare at him and, through gritted teeth, growl "the Pill is helping!" Before the Pill, I would be pretty much completely paralyzed when they would hit sometimes. Now they're still very painful, but not quite paralyzingly so.

[Joyius]

My little brother would roll his eyes at me whenever I'd complain about cramps, and call me a baby...of course he's a male, he wouldn't understand.

[Kanalah]

In HS I used to have cramps so bad that I couldn't walk.

My mom's cramps were never really bad, so she would just tell me that I was a wuss and to deal with it. One day my cramps were so bad all I could do was lie on the floor in the fetal position and cry. My teacher went to the office and called my mom, telling her that I wasn't faking it and I needed to go home and rest.

My mom yelled at me the whole way home about how I was a big baby and couldn't handle real life.

Can you tell my mom is crazy?

[morgana]

I actually tried in my early twenties to get a doctor to do a hysterectomy. Didn't work, of course.

I've had cramps so bad that if I could have gotten up off the bathroom floor and reached the medicine cabinet, I would have slit my wrists. I was convinced it would hurt less.

And ibuprofen was a godsend . . .