The ‘In & Outs’ of Period Pain

Most women are brought up believing that menstrual pain is completely normal, it’s considered our right time of passage. However while mild cramping, bloating, nausea and irritability are within the norm severe debilitating pain is not.

Your periods should never affect your quality of life or prevent you from doing things that you would ordinary do if you weren’t on your menstrual cycle, and this is often a sign that you should have a gynaecology assessment.

Often the cause of painful periods (dysmenorrhea) lie either "inside" your uterus or "out".

Commonly inside

• fibroids

• Adenomyosis

• Pelvic Inflammatory disease

• Structural defects

Commonly outside

• endometriosis

• Ovarian cysts

There is an entity called Primary Dysmenorrhea which is experienced by 30% of women, in which there is no structural cause to their pain but merely a response to a hormone called Prostaglandin and its resultant affect of uterine contraction.

It’s always essential to have painful menstrual cramps assessed, as if left unchecked may lead to issues with fertility at a later stage.