Period symptoms no one talks about

OMG this thread.....I thought I suffered alone. As a teenager is used to get extremely heavy periods and they'd last 10+ days, never had any sort of period pains or anything though and wondered what other girls moaned about. I had a friend that moaned about pain but managed to use a panty liners all the way through her cycle while I had no pain and kept flooding through the the biggest pads.

Now I'm 28 been on the pill about 8 years after problems with the implant, I still get heavy periods but they last 5-7 days, I get headaches throughout, awful aches like I've been kicked in the stomach, pain where my ovaries are, period poo for 1 day then constipated for days and the newest problem that seems to be called.........javelin arse. I didn't even know that this was a thing. It's been happening to me for about 6 months or so and it's fucking awful. I thought there was something wrong with me. I just want it to go away, I'm used to suffering the other problems now because they gradually started to happen over years but the pain of javelin arse takes my breath away. I fucking hate men.

Fooffloof that's exactly the kinda thing the studies I'm talking about in my thread about women not being diagnosed properly were looking at.

If you'd been a man I bet you'd have been given a more thorough examination and the pneumonia found quicker.

I've a family history of thyroid issues (which I HAVE told them) I've been 'tested' 3 times for this and only been told I'm "fine nothing to worry about" but I've read on mn and other places that

A they only test one chemical
B the range considered "fine" by the nhs with lower levels of TSH would be considered too low in most other countries.

I've recently been tested again (in relation to my mh) and again just been told "fine" I'm going to ask what the actual result was I think and do some more investigation/querying.

That we have women that don't know there's 3 holes "down there", who don't understand menstruation/ovulation/conception properly is truly shocking and unacceptable.

More discussion. More openness definitely a good thing.

I get really emotional and get angry over nothing and terrible self loathing I literally can't walk past a mirror without slagging myself off. I get bloated really badly and my boobs turn into bowling balls that feel like they are burning.

Yes, @MNHQ, could this thread be moved to classics please?

A friend of mine worked in the hospital of a woman's prison and reckoned that PMT played a major part in most of the women being in prison.

I forgot the flu-ey feeling too. Cold, shivery, sore throat, aching. Starts a day or so before and lasts a few days after bleeding. It's horrid.

wanting to killl someone the week before...
Feeling savagely hungary
The smell
The draining feeling.

One day of vicious diarrhoea followed by a week of constipation; terrible clumsiness and no hand-eye coordination; restless legs; awful mood swings. I once cried because I knocked over a bag of dog biscuits and when DH suggested I just pick them up, I shouted at him that I'd miss my train if I did that in the time it took me to shout at him about it, I could have just picked them up and left!

I get javelin arse but only during ovulation. I came off hormonal contraception for the first time in ten years to give my body a break and the first time I got javelin arse I thought I was going to die. I woke up in the middle of the night, sat up halfway and gripped the sheets until it passed. I'm back on depo so thankfully that's gone!

I always had horrid PMT the day before. Poor DH couldn't do anything right. Then major headaches and fatigue.

After my 4th c-section, my periods became incredibly heavy. The clots were enormous (as big as my thumb) and numerous. When a big lump passed, the only way I can describe the flow that followed is as a similar feeling to your waters breaking. It literally gushed. And this would last for 8-9 Days out of 28 day cycle. I hated going out as I always seemed to leak despite using incontinence pads and it really brought me down.

I put up with this for 2.5 years (just thought it was my lot) until DM made me go and see my gynecologist. I had an Endometrial ablation in December and whilst I still have very light periods, it has changed my world. Can't believe I put up with it for as long as I did.

Just to add, my PMT moods have always been dreadful and life affecting - ranging from being in floods of tears and just so unspeakably sad • some months, to terrible awful rage other months.

It was never, ever taken seriously by doctors. I was dismissed and made to feel stupid for even considering that my cycle may be affecting my mental health and weak for not just putting up with....for years.

4 years ago my doctor changed (to a young man actually!) who listened patiently when I listed the mood symptoms I was getting with PMT (it had taken a turn into really, badly dark moods, suicidal thoughts etc). He offered me a low dose of Prozac and couldn’t believe nobody had ever offered it to me before as it has decent success rates with treating PMDD. It has totally transformed my life! I still feel like a sack of cold shit for a week before my period, but my moods are manageable...no more terrible dark thoughts or tears or rages.

It’s a travesty this isn’t talked about more and that women are made to feel stupid for raising the issue.

Can this thread go into classics please? It's such an important one as this isn't talked about nearly enough.

Yes to all the above symptoms. I suffer from endo and low iron and 2/4 weeks have symptoms. I find the crushing fatigue, cramps and back pain, bowel issues and migraines to be so dibilitating. I used to get migraines once, maybe twice a month but they've tripled in the last year- one two days beforebleeding, then on day 1, 2, last day and then 2&3 days after bleeding finishes. Then again on day of ovulation where I again get cramps and back pain also.

Back to comments about period symptoms begin something else
I have been to doctors for years and been tested when I’ve said something isn’t right - maybe thyroid, hormones. etc and all I get
is a blood test and then told everything is normal. So frustrating

Yup, ages ago I went to the Dr with terrible back pain, in general I luckily don't get back pain often or for long, I knew something was really wrong with me.
I was told its a pulled muscle, here take these tablets, 6 weeks later still in agony and now breathing is hard work too, plus stabbing pains down my legs, he offered physio?
I had pneumonia, I was in hospital a week.
If he had just listened and not written me off as being a woman, sigh, just bloody get on with it eh.

Back to comments about period symptoms begin something else. I have been to doctors for years and been tested when I’ve said something isn’t right - maybe thyroid, hormones. etc and all I get is a blood test and then told everything is normal. So frustrating

I feel like my insides are being scooped out with a giant melonballer.

Javelin arse???? Finally a name for that stabbing pain up my bum??!! (Anyone else also get it when their DC are hurt or upset? )Also get the shits and honestly don't know where to start the paperwork some days. Also the need to eat: one sharing bag of Maltesers, one of Giant Buttons plus 2 slices of toast with butter and peanut butter. Period faithfully arrives next morning. Pains in my thighs and a very full and swollen vulva.

Lovely!

This thread has made me angry all over again. I've had all these symptoms and had a female GP tell me it was 'psychosomatic,.

If it was - a) how come so many women have the same symptoms and b) that every month I thought I was going mad and my bowels exploding, then my period would start and I'd think 'oh of course!' ?

This thread has been really useful, not least because I have learnt that I have something called a Pouch of Douglas?!

Yes i get the suicidal thoughts as well, i am a bit that way inclined anyway, but the lower mood of that time as well as taking everything personally just makes it that bit worse

The aching restless legs, i thought it was just me as well! It really hurts to change gear.
I get my javelin arse around ovulation time, why save all those great period symptoms to just once a month ay?!
Migraines for the few days before, I've also just re-joined the fainting club so thats also a treat.
I also clot and flood too. Last week was bad as it was half term so i was out and about, i try to work from home on those bad days and just sit on the loo for most of it.

I am meant to be going glamping without a proper toilet and I'm due on around that time, i literally don't know what to do about it.

OH BOLLOCKS I fluffed my typing. I meant to say:

PMT is the worst bit for me, rather than my actual period. Once my period comes, I usually feel much better bar a day or two of the shits and the flooding and clotting that has come with hitting 40. angry

I get slightly manic in the day or two before my period is due. If I drink, I get really drunk, really quickly.
I get boiling hot at night, twitchy legs, insomnia. Often a sign my period is coming in the morning.
I get paranoid and lose my confidence for things like presentations or leading in meetings at work, which fucking pisses me off, as I'm usually confident.
Body dysmorphia - I think I have gained a stone and aged 10 years overnight. Im fine about how I look a few days later hmm.

PMT is the worst bit for me, rather than my actual period. Once my period comes, I usually feel much better bar a day or two of the shits and the flooding and clotting that has come with hitting 40.

I get slightly manic in the day or two before my period is due. If I drink, I get really drunk, really quickly.
I get boiling hot at night, twitchy legs, insomnia. Often a sign my peI get paranoid and lose my confidence for things like presentations or leading in meetings at work, which fucking pisses me off, as I'm usually confident.
Body dysmorphia - I think I have gained a stone and aged 10 years overnight. Im fine about how I look a few days later .