“It starts with unbearable pain, gnawing ache in your abdomen, cramps clots, and wretched pain” – most of the women reading can relate to this.
Menstruation, or period, is normal vaginal bleeding that happens as part of a woman’s monthly cycle. On average, a woman gets their period every 21 to 35 days and it usually lasts for 2 to 7 days. We know that many women have painful periods. The pain most often is menstrual cramps, lower back pain, nausea, diarrhea, and headaches.
Our mothers persist we will get through it, our friends suggest as a woman we must endure it. No one tells us that periods are normal and period pain is not. The painful period is a disease called dysmenorrhea that can be treated.
Medline Plus, the US national library of medicine states that there are two types of dysmenorrhea. The most common type of period pain is primary dysmenorrhea. It’s menstrual discomfort that isn’t triggered by anything else. The most common cause is an excess of prostaglandins, which are chemicals produced by the uterus. These chemicals trigger cramps by tightening and relaxing the muscles of the uterus.
Secondary dysmenorrhea is a common ailment that develops later in life. Endometriosis and uterine fibroids are two diseases that damage the uterus or other reproductive organs. This type of discomfort sometimes worsens over time. It could start before your period and last until your period ends.
Using a heating pad or hot water bottle on your lower abdomen, regular yoga, and exercise, meditation can give some relief but you must contact a doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment. So, stop thinking that you deserve this pain or some kind of punishment for being a woman. Stop calling something natural just because it happens over again and again. Let us break the wall of silence, and stop faking it as though everything is normal. Let us normalize the period talks. Periods are normal, let’s take a pledge to end the period shame. As a woman, all we need is good health and good vibes!
