Tips for coping with period pain? - for the girlies

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Cura-Heat packs are quite good - put one on early though, as they take a while to warm up, and not directly on your skin as they can get really hot! Exercise is meant to be good for relieving period pains but, really, who amongst us feels like going jogging and doing star jumps when we've got crippling cramps, honestly?!

Lots of hot drinks - tea, hot chocolate, water with lemon. Ibuprofen, eating chocolate!

Reply 61

amy.dd

My osteopath once taught me really simple exercises you can do to relieve the pain. It does help a bit, makes it more bearable. Basically you just breathe in, then push your stomach out, then pull it in and repeat 4 times, then breathe out. Your only meant to push it in and out fairly quickly (you dont want to be holding your breathe for too long).
My friend says it doesn't help her, so I think it just depends.

For me, a boyfriend as a slave, dvds, wrapped up in a duvet on the sofa and tea.

This mefenimic acid sounds interesting. I may ask my doctor about it because I often have to take days off of work cos of the pain.

Reply 62

Yezi

Exercise really does help! (although most of the time I am too lazy to do it and would rather suffer in pain)

Reply 63

thepinkpowerranger

Period pains are horrible when you're at work for 8 hours :frown:

The last few days haven't been fun!! And also, I know when I\m gonna get my period because the day before I end up crying!! How bloody weird (And annoying) is that lol. I swear it screws up a lot of my thinking!! Is there anything that helps with the pain (feels like my insides are being ripped out) and to stop being... er, so emotional (and/or stupid?)?? lol :frown:

Reply 64

EvilSheep

Yezi

Exercise really does help! (although most of the time I am too lazy to do it and would rather suffer in pain)

I think that if you have light period pains, exercise might work. However, if they are very strong, it's not that effective / you just can't do it. If I was capable of doing exercise in such a state, I wouldn't need to be asked twice!

Like today at work, I couldn't stand up, it was almost unbearable.Then I nearly fainted when driving back. Just got in and had to lay down on the sofa with a hot water bottle, taking some paracetamol (the only thing we had - not really strong enough) and trying to go to sleep.

The pain is so bad that it almost makes you pass out (sometimes you even do), might make you vomit, and (in my case) makes your lower back hurt too...

Reply 65

Kimbolina

I'm lucky enough to only get period pains about 1 in 12 periods.

But when I do get periods, tends to be that hot things make me feel better! Like drinking hot chocolate, having a hot bath, keeping snug and warm wrapped up in the duvet :biggrin:

And obviously the good old paracetamol :smile:

Reply 66

catzrin

I eat ridiculous amounts of toast. And drug up on one paracetemol every two hours.

Reply 67

tinkerbellejess

Surprise

my p.e. teachers always used to say exercise helps but that is an outright LIE.
go to your doctor and ask them to prescribe you mefenamic acid tablets as soon as you can, they work really well if you take the first dose literally the second you feel the first twinge of a cramp coming on.

edit: oh and if you don't have a water bottle try soaking a face towel under the hot tap and using that instead, it works almost as well :smile:

I had experience of the exercise lie yesterday. Went to the gym, period pains were reduced and bearable during the workout. Half an hour later when I was on my way home, I was bent double in pain again! What am I meant to do?! Spend a week solidly working out?! :frown:

When I was younger I used to get faint and be sick form my periods, and eventually my mum took me to the doctors because I was taking too much time off school as I just couldn't go in. I was put on the pill which has helped in the sense that In don't throw up anymore, but the pain is still awful! Feminax helps, but is pretty expensive :frown:

Reply 68

amy.dd

I get really bad pains up and down my legs...like literally the cramps go from where my ribs end down to my shins but when I spoke to my friends about it they said they had never got that.

Does anyone else or am I a bit of a weirdo, haha. I thought it was pretty normal. Erghh and lower back pain! I hate periods!

Reply 69

suek

My legs go quite numb. It's not a pain as such, and not PROPER numbness, but really numblike discomfort, I hate it :frown:

Trink viel Wasser.

amy.dd

I get that! :O and no one seld i know does, it feels like someone is like pulling down on my muscles of my legs, really really uncomfortable :frown:

glad we can be weird together!! :P

Reply 72

nanananabatman

amy.dd

Oh, let's not even go there! I get the leg thing, I don't get the back pain, just the legs. And it hurts so bad, and heaven forbid I don't take those painkillers early when I know it's going to happen...I will curl up in bed, almost wishing for death. Usually I find if I take the painkillers and get into bed and force myself to fall asleep for a bit, when I wake up, the painkillers would've done their job and I'm a happier person.

Reply 73

Yezi

EvilSheep

Very true, exercise only works in certain situations.

I am not sure about this, but I think there may be alternative herbal medicines which help period pains. I took some herbal medicines once to treat it, and for a while after that I didn't get period pains at all when I was on. However after that while I started to get period pains again, but they are considerably better than before when I would get really bad cramp every time.

I don't know how safe these herbal medicines are though or how they work, but I think there are possible ways to treat period pains permanently. Don't take my word for it!

Reply 74

daisyc

Thowing up helps me for some strange strange reason.

Reply 75

grape:)

lay on your stomach on the floor and stretch out in a star shape :smile:

Reply 76

Jendaline

pain killers... bed... duvet... and sleep... best...

Reply 77

Pink_face

Okay, once i had terrible period pain, i couldnt breathe, and i didnt have any money for paracetamol, and no hot water bottle... it looked like i was in labour to people i didnt know!

Anyway i got home, and sat on the loo. Honestly it works, just sit on the loo with your pants down...and read a book or something.. For some reason it eases the pain, might be cuz of the way you are sitting...but obviously you would have to sit there all day if u wanted the pain to go! But anyway, it eased the pain at the time....try it?

Also, if you have a boyfriend get him to sit or lie on top of you, if he is sitting, get him to sit on your lower stomach, this puts pressure on the pain, and therefore eases it.
WARNING: this could cause hornyness :P

Reply 78

Pink_face

Might i add... i get real bad pains..
I get:
Severe stomach cramps (as do most girls)
Leg aches,
Lower back ache,
dizzyness
and sometimes sickness...eeeeekkk!! Its so exspensive for painkillers tho!

Reply 79

blue-libra-runes

Lavender oil on a tissue, to sniff (to relax)
Hot water bottle/hot wheat bag (even better)
Heat Lotion
Curl up in bed
Or if your stuck on the floor - i often am, just curl up as tightly as possible and hug/apply pressure to that area, it seems to work