Ashley, what a great, great post. Thank you for sharing it!
I would like to echo your call for women to seek help when they have severe menstrual pain. While it is normal to have cramps, it is not normal to need huge doses of ibuprofen or other medicine just to control those cramps. I endured very painful cramps for years before I finally found out that, like you, I had endometriosis and ovarian cysts. After treatment, my period and my cramps were very different.
If you are on medicine continually for the first couple of days of your period, if you find yourself unable to work or do much because of the pain, or if you realize that you seem to have greater pain than most of your friends do when they have their periods, it's worth asking about. And ask about whether you should be seeing a specialist to figure out why it's so bad. Many general family doctors are not as well-versed on such things as endometriosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome, for instance.
If you need some more information to get started, try EmpowHer's endometriosis page:
Take heart. On a scale of 1 to 10, I used to have cramps that I rated a 7 or an 8. My doctor said that they should be more like a 4 or 5 on the scale. If you'd rank your pain on one of the higher levels, don't hesitate to find out what else might be going on. You shouldn't have to be in that much pain.
Comment Reply
Ashley, what a great, great post. Thank you for sharing it!
I would like to echo your call for women to seek help when they have severe menstrual pain. While it is normal to have cramps, it is not normal to need huge doses of ibuprofen or other medicine just to control those cramps. I endured very painful cramps for years before I finally found out that, like you, I had endometriosis and ovarian cysts. After treatment, my period and my cramps were very different.
If you are on medicine continually for the first couple of days of your period, if you find yourself unable to work or do much because of the pain, or if you realize that you seem to have greater pain than most of your friends do when they have their periods, it's worth asking about. And ask about whether you should be seeing a specialist to figure out why it's so bad. Many general family doctors are not as well-versed on such things as endometriosis or polycystic ovarian syndrome, for instance.
If you need some more information to get started, try EmpowHer's endometriosis page:
https://www.empowher.com/condition/endometriosis
and here's our polycystic ovarian page:
https://www.empowher.com/condition/polycystic-ovarian-syndrome
Take heart. On a scale of 1 to 10, I used to have cramps that I rated a 7 or an 8. My doctor said that they should be more like a 4 or 5 on the scale. If you'd rank your pain on one of the higher levels, don't hesitate to find out what else might be going on. You shouldn't have to be in that much pain.
Thanks again, Ashley. And best of luck to you!
May 11, 2009 - 9:33amThis Comment
Reply