Women only know what their own period feels like. They can't compare it with their friend's period pain. Sometimes they wonder if their periods are really normal and they are just weak in some way. It's a dreadful feeling to wonder if 'its all in your head'.
Normal period pain should only last 1-2 days, and it should go away almost completely on the oral contraceptive pill and period pain medications like ibuprofen or naprosyn taken early before the pain is bad.
If your period pain lasts longer than this, or if these medications dont help you, then it is not normal period pain.
An ultrasound scan is usually normal in most women with endometriosis.
I used to have severe period pain each month. I excluded dairy products from my diet for other reasons and was completely surprised to find that with my next period there was no pain. That was seven years ago and I've been dairy free and pain free ever since.
ReplyDeleteDear Judith, Its lovely to hear from you. Your situation sounds a little unusual, but its great that you have found something that stops your pain. I am sure that its a bit more trouble making sure that you have enough calcium and protein in your diet to replace the dairy products, but worth it if it works for you.
ReplyDeleteSome women find that cutting down on lactose helps their irritable bowel symtoms too.
Best wishes,
Susan
I have had the same experience as Judith with regards to dairy products - when I avoid them (which I have done for years at a time periodically, and for various reasons) my period pain is absolutely minimal. When I take dairy again, the pain is pretty excruciating, waking me throughout the night, only relieved by ibuprofen+codeine.
ReplyDeleteI have read that dairy contains arachidonic acid which raises levels of prostaglandins which cause the uterus to contract and also play a role in inflammatory responses. Might this be a mechanism as to how dairy could exacerbate period pain?
You say that Judith's situation sounds unusual, but I am wondering how many good-quality studies have been conducted to investigate a link between dairy or other foods and period pain? Such studies are notoriously difficult to do reliably are they not?
Furthermore, according to the Harvard Nutrition website, in their summary on the subject of calcium for health and the best sources of it, although it is conventional advice, it is far from proven that milk is the best way to consume calcium in order to prevent osteoporosis, or even that consuming more calcium can even reduce fracture risk.
My sketchy understanding is that some foods create a measurable acidic effect in our bodies which requires calcium and other base ions to be used to neutralise this in our urine - this means that if we eat more of those acidic foods, we may need to consume even more calcium in the first place in order to "break even" - and one of those foods which cause us to excrete more calcium is actually dairy!
Since green vegetables, for example, are also relatively high in calcium but are alkaline (so should according to this theory lessen the amount of calcium we need to excrete) this may explain why a study of the bone density of vegans reported the surprising result that their bone density was perfectly normal, despite consuming less calcium than most of the population.
I am not a medical doctor, although I have a PhD and work in the field of medical technology - I'd be very interested indeed to know your thoughts on all of these issues, and if you know of any studies which corroborate or contradict the things I've mentioned.
Best Wishes,
Abi
Dear Abi,
ReplyDeleteThere are two things in dairy products that could be making the difference for you
1. The fat in milk.
Eating different types of fats, certainly change the types and quantities of prostaglandins formed in our bodies, including the uterus. So, its logical that cutting down on animal fats, including milk fat could help period pain in some women. Its also a healthy eating habit for other medical conditions.
Adding in different types of 'good' fat might also make a difference. Women with arthritis often have less pain if they take 10-15ml of liquid fish oil every day, probably by changing the type of prostaglandins their body makes. For some women, I expect it could also help period pain.
The difficult thing is that the many different chemicals made in the uterus at period time are quite complex and variable. It seems like a new one gets discovered every year! This means that something that works for one person might not work for someone else and can take a lot of frustrating time and effort to work out what helps and what doesn't.
One day, we will be able to do blood tests to tell women what type of diet and which medications will work for each individual woman to take the guesswork out of it.
2. The 'sugar' in milk (lactose).
Lactose can aggravate bladder pain in a few women (but not many) with a painful bladder. It can also aggravate bowel pain in some women with a sensitive bowel. Both of these pains can feel like period pain.
I'm glad you have found something that helps.
Susan
I've also had a similar experience - I completely cut out dairy from my diet about 10 months ago, and was surprised to find that my period pains have virtually stopped.
ReplyDeleteFor approximately 20 years I had been in severe pain every single month, with ibuprofen the only thing that helped, and even then I often had breakthrough pain. If I didn't take the tablets in time the pain would be unbearable.
Since cutting out the dairy I have hardly any pain, and I haven't taken a single tablet of ibuprofen. It's been a really dramatic change, and I wonder how many other women could benefit from trying this?
I'm only 20 yrs old, since I was 12 and started my monthly I have had enormous pain everytime! This pain I found unusual but everybody was telling me that ill have some type a pain from time to time. Like I said now being 20 I'm not convenience this pain is normal. the day, the very fist day I have my period each month I start to feel it I know I'm on it. Then an hour will pass and the pain will rise too an extream level. Lets just say on a scale of 1-10 its a HIGH 10 and it last for an exact 4 hrs long each time, this pain hurts so bad I'm force to cry. I usually need
ReplyDeletehot heat but heating pads don't work I have to go to extremes like putting a blow dryer to my lower stomach area, wear 40 items of clothing at once and ext ... I can't deal with. It anymore sometimes the pains so bad I'd rather be dead then to go through it! But I'm not a crazy so don't worry ill never do that .. but please someone tell me, is this type of pain natural?!