Painful periods are something that many women go through to the point where they can become debilitating. If you're unable to accomplish your daily goals because you're cooped up in bed trying to cope with the pain, then you need to make a change. No woman should have to go through agony every month. Here's what you should do to get help.
The first thing you should do is visit your regular doctor and talk to them about the problem. Make it clear how badly you're laid up by the pain and how it gets in the way of your daily life. Your doctor should start working towards finding out what's wrong right away.
Usually, this involves physically palpating the abdomen, performing a pelvic exam, and possibly using screening tests like ultrasounds to take a look at the inside of the abdomen, pelvis, and uterus. These tests should all be painless and relatively brief to get through.
While the cause of your period pain could be one of a number of things, many women who report this kind of pain have one of two main conditions: endometriosis or ovarian cysts.
Both endometriosis and ovarian cysts are abnormal developments of tissue where they don't belong. Endometriosis tends to form in the uterus, while cysts grow on the ovaries. Don't panic: these conditions are both benign and pose no major risk to your health. However, they can cause a lot of pain.
Endometriosis causes pain because the extra tissue is actually uterine tissue. So when your uterus naturally cramps at that time of the month, so does all the endometriosis. Cysts, on the other hand, can swell with fluid especially during your period, and become painful as a result.
Treatment for both of these conditions usually starts with birth control. Birth control can prevent cysts from getting any bigger and can actually help to shrink endometriosis tissue.