Severe Stomach Pain During Menstruation - What To Do?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

Severe stomach pain during menstruation - what to do?

Abdominal pain that occurs during menstruation is very common. Any woman has encountered such discomfort at least several times in her life. The maximum intensity of pain, as a rule, gains in the first days of the onset of menstrual bleeding, and then gradually subsides.

Painful sensations can range from sharp and very intense, to almost imperceptible and slightly perceptible. If the latter type of pain is a physiological condition, which may well be due to a monthly hormonal surge, then severe pain should not be ignored.

In medicine, severe pain during menstruation is called dysmenorrhea. It also includes general weakness, nausea, headaches, lack of appetite and other signs of malaise. You should not endure such a phenomenon, it is necessary to find out the cause of dysmenorrhea and eliminate it.

Content:

• Why can there be abdominal pain during menstruation?
• How to get rid of severe stomach pain during your period?
• When should you go to see your doctor right away?
• What to do if your stomach hurts badly during your period?

Why can there be abdominal pain during menstruation?

To understand the physiological cause of pain, you need to understand how menstrual bleeding occurs. So, from the inside, the uterus is lined with endometrium, which is actively supplied with blood. When ovulation occurs, the endometrium produces hormones that the fertilized egg needs to attach to the wall of the uterus. If fertilization does not happen, then the old endometrium is rejected, which is expressed in the next menstrual bleeding.

To remove all unnecessary endometrium, the uterus begins to contract. It is these contractions that cause painful sensations during menstruation. Normally, they should not disrupt a woman's quality of life.

However, it happens that each cycle is accompanied by intense pain, the causes of which may be as follows:

• Hereditary factor. Typically, most women do not experience severe pain during their period. They always experience some discomfort, but it is not so intense as to take any pain relievers. At the same time, about 35% of women have severe menstrual pain. They are able to knock her out of the usual rhythm of life, reduce her working capacity. It has been found that the younger the girl, the more pain during menstruation. In this case, the hereditary factor is of no small importance. If mom and grandmother suffered from dysmenorrhea, then their daughter and granddaughter are more likely to suffer from abdominal pain during menstruation.
• Congenital malformations of the genitals. Violation of the outflow of menstrual blood against the background of abnormalities in the development of internal genital organs will lead to severe pain during menstruation. Such defects include a closed accessory horn of the uterus and a closed accessory vagina. Pain in women with such developmental abnormalities occurs already during the first menstruation and will be present with every bleeding.
• Disruption in the production of prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are biologically active substances that are produced by many internal systems of the body. If their concentration in the blood increases, then the strength of the uterine contractions increases. Naturally, this leads to painful sensations.

• Endocrine pathologies. With a hormonal imbalance, all systems of the body malfunction. This primarily concerns the reproductive system. Pain during menstruation occurs more often when the level of estrogen in the blood exceeds the norm, and the level of progesterone, on the contrary, is too low. The more estrogens in a woman's body, the stronger the disturbances in the regulation of tone and contractions of the smooth muscles of the uterus, which means the more intense the pain. Often such a violation is accompanied by a failure in menstrual function.
• Endometriosis The proliferation of uterine endometrial cells in atypical places for them leads to abdominal pain during menstruation. The fact is that the engrafted endometrium behaves according to the cycle. This means that during the period of the next menstrual bleeding, it begins to renew itself, causing inflammation and pain at the site of its attachment.

Endometriosis is a fairly common pathology. It is diagnosed in 7-9% of women of childbearing age and can cause infertility.

• Myoma of the uterus. A uterine fibroid is a benign tumor of the muscle layer of the uterus. Most often, it begins to develop against the background of hormonal imbalance. The larger the fibroid nodes, the more intense the pain that a woman experiences during menstruation will be. In addition, bleeding becomes profuse, prolonged, accompanied by the release of blood clots.

• The presence of an intrauterine device. If a woman has installed an intrauterine device for herself, then she should be prepared for the fact that menstruation will be painful. Sometimes the cycle is completely disrupted, bleeding becomes longer and more abundant. It is worth noting that the intrauterine device provokes such violations infrequently.
• Inflammatory processes of the internal genital organs. Inflammation of the fallopian tubes, ovaries, and uterine lining can lead to severe abdominal pain during menstruation.
• Adhesion process in the pelvic organs. Adhesions are connective tissue cords that are located between the internal organs. They reduce their mobility and can increase painful sensations during menstruation.
• Varicose veins of the pelvic organs. This pathology often develops due to a woman's sedentary lifestyle, or against the background of endometriosis or tumors of the genital organs. Overfilling of blood vessels, their pathological stretching and changes in structure leads to the fact that during menstruation, a woman may experience severe pain.
• Psycho-emotional overload. It has been proven that strong emotional upheavals, stress and depression can affect the work of the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. In turn, this provokes an increase in the pain threshold, which means that menstrual pain will be reflected in much greater intensity.
• Psychogenic cause of pain. If a woman's psyche is very labile, or she has an asthenic-vegetative syndrome, then pain during menstruation may increase. Most often, the fear of menstruation is observed in young girls who have just entered puberty.

So, not always the cause of pain during menstruation lies in the presence of any pathology. Nevertheless, you can make sure that everything is in order with your health only by visiting a doctor and undergoing a comprehensive examination.

How to get rid of severe stomach pain during your period?

If a woman is probably sure that menstrual pain is not associated with any pathology of internal organs or disease, then the following recommendations can be used to facilitate well-being:

• Take a warm shower, or apply a warm, but not hot, heating pad to the lower abdomen. This will expand the blood vessels, making it easier for blood to pass through them. The muscles will relax, which will make the intensity of their contractions less noticeable.
• During rest, you can take a fetal position, which helps to reduce pain. To do this, you need to pull your knees to your chest, curled up in a ball.
• A warm massage helps to relax spasmodic muscles and relieve pain. To massage the abdomen, use grapefruit or saffron oil, diluting them in slightly heated massage oil, as they have an antispasmodic effect.
• You can drink two tablets of valerian or tea with mint, spend time at home in a relaxed atmosphere. This is especially true for women with increased levels of anxiety.

When should you go to see your doctor right away?

In no case should you self-medicate if the following situations arise:

• Abdominal pain is accompanied by an increase in body temperature.
• Pregnancy is suspected, but bleeding and severe pain occurs.
• Previously, during menstruation, a woman did not experience such pain.
• In addition to pain, profuse bleeding is observed.
• Abdominal pain is accompanied by vomiting and a deterioration in well-being.

If one of the listed phenomena is observed, then it is necessary to call an ambulance; it is not recommended to take any medications before the arrival of doctors.

What to do if your stomach hurts badly during your period?

To get rid of the painful sensations provoked by the contraction of the uterus, you can take drugs to eliminate spasms. They are collectively called antispasmodics. These include: No-shpa, Spazgan, Papaverin. Drugs such as Papaverine and No-shpa can be used even while carrying a baby. A single dose to eliminate pain during menstrual bleeding is 2 tablets. Frequency rate of admission - 3 times a day.

It is possible to relieve inflammation and reduce pain by taking drugs from the NSAID group. These are medicines: Butadion, Ibuprofen, Nise, Ketanov. It should be taken into account that non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs irritate the intestinal and gastric mucosa, therefore, before taking them, you need to make sure that there are no contraindications.

When menstrual pains were triggered by increased emotional stress, or neurotic disorders, you can take sedatives. An excellent option is Valerian Root Extract in the form of tablets or in the form of alcohol tincture. Non-herbal medicines with a sedative effect are Trioxazine and Relanium.

To correct pain during menstruation caused by hormonal imbalance, it is possible to take oral contraceptives. It is impossible to choose the drug on your own before starting treatment, you need to undergo an examination. The most commonly prescribed oral contraceptives are: Yarina, Triziston, Ovidon, Diane-35, Anteovin, Duphaston.

To support your body and help it cope with any disease easier, you need to eat right. It is from food that all vitamins and microelements are absorbed in full, However, sometimes doctors may recommend taking vitamin-mineral complexes in tablets. Often, the female body needs calcium, the assimilation of which is impossible without vitamin D3 (Calcium D3 preparation); the deficiency of B vitamins can be replenished by taking Magne B6. It is not superfluous for a woman to take vitamin E.

You should not endure abdominal pain during menstruation. You need to contact a specialist and find out the cause of its occurrence. If any deviations in health were not found, then you can simply take a pill that eliminates the spasm and try to relax as much as possible. In all other cases, treatment should not be delayed.

The author of the article: Lapikova Valentina Vladimirovna | Gynecologist, reproductologist

Education: Diploma in Obstetrics and Gynecology received at the Russian State Medical University of the Federal Agency for Healthcare and Social Development (2010). In 2013 completed postgraduate studies at N. N. N. I. Pirogova.