Mini pill for bad period pain. Advice needed

[Trifle66]

My dd has been prescribed cerazette for bad period pain. She has not started it yet (is a bit nervous about starting it) She has her school formal (prom) on Tuesday. She has started getting cramps and fears it's her period starting. Which will mean she will be in severe pain by Tuesday which will ruin the night. If she starts taking the pill now will it help with the pain right away? There seems to be so many different stories about it online (probably one of the reasons she was a bit nervous to start taking it)
I want to be able to give her some reassurance as she is very concerned about missing the formal after so much planning

[AttilaTheMeerkat]

The pill should help and I would take this pill but she also really needs to properly determine why she is getting such severe pain in the first place. The pill will also serve to mask the symptoms and not solve the problem. Severe period pain is not normal and she should not have to put up with it.

I would suggest that she keeps a daily pain and symptom diary as this would give the gynae clues.

Would she now want to see a gynaecologist; this is a person I would consider seeing now and GP should refer her. Do not take no for an anwer.

I did think of endometriosis as a possible cause upon reading your post (any cyclical pain that gets worse up to and including menses should be investigated to see if endometriosis is the cause); its very common (infact its the second most common gynae problem seen in women after fibroids) and very much under diagnosed. Not all GPs certainly recognise possible symptoms. The cause needs to be determined as well as treating the symptoms.

[Trifle66]

Thank you for replying. I did think of the possibility of endometriosis too. She also has chronic migraines stress and hormones are her two big triggers. Will ask for a referal from gp. She has taken the first pill today lets hope it helps right away.