Awake with horrific period pain

[Youngatheart00]

...woe is me 😫

I know this is normal, I’ve dealt with it for 26 years....but FFS. Feel like my body is trying to turn itself out. Just got up to take some ibuprofen after 2 hours of tossing and turning. Posting for something to do until it kicks in.

I had ridiculously heavy and painful periods in my 20s, and eventually had a fibroid removed when I was 26 which changed everything. In your position I urge you to seek help to manage this as it's not normal or necessary to suffer like this each month. If your GP tries to fob you off, just be persistent.

@BogRollBOGOF

Fortunately mine have been much more civilised since having children. (My uterus being stretched to the size of a swiss ball probably means that it can't clench so hard again! 😆 )

I remember being well into my 2 hour pushing stage and suddenly being more lucid when the pethadine wore off, feeling on fire from my ribs to my knees and getting flashbacks of certain periods! I would actually take DS2's 10 hour back to back labour over certain periods as at least it was shortee, and didn't involve trying ti blunder on as normal.

I had a prescription of mefanamic acid, but my periods were very irregular so I had no clue of when I was due, not which week, nor which month, so suddenly I'd get the pains, it arrived and there was no time to get pain relief into my system and I'd just be overwhelmed rapidly in a curling up on the floor at school or work type of overwhelmed.

It's hard when that is your normal from the start. Having them fairly civilised now, on a "bad" month I take a round or two of ibuprofen and then carry on as near normal, it still surprises me how different it was from that level of pain that consumed me.

It is wrong that women are expected to just accept a significant chunk of their life is rendered unfunctional as being normal.

You're last paragraph - 100%

If men menstruated (biological males) then I'm pretty certain that gynae issues would be better funded and taken more seriously.

Women are always told it’s normal to have painful periods but it really isn’t. A bit of cramping and discomfort is not what you’re describing here.

I’m glad you’re talking to the GP. It could be so many things: endometriosis or fibroids being the most common. Don’t let them fob you off. Push for a gyne referral.

Oh @BlackAlys, I’m so sorry - it is awful when things like that happen. It’s over half my life ago now but at this point I’m not sure I’ll ever forget the awfulness of being in a Y9 science class & wanting to cry from the pain (ended up with crescent moon bruises in my palms from digging my nails in so hard) & mad contortions to get my jumper round my waist & to wipe the top of stool before anyone saw, then getting those tissues tucked away unwitnessed... we’d kilts for school that were so expensive I’d only the one, ditto the stupidly expensive jumper (& it was comprehensive!) so when I finally got home I’d to go to work VERY carefully getting the blood out & using the hairdryer so everything was fine before my father got home because I was Not. Having. That. Conversation. with him. Bad enough having to explain to my - horrified - wee sister what had happened & trying to reassure her I was grand & it was grand despite the fact I could barely stand & I fell asleep part-way through trying to help her with her homework. (She nobly skipped her saxophone practice so as not to wake me, thoughtful wee soul that she ever was...)
Much more importantly than my babblings though - please try to summon the courage to go back to your GP. They should be offering you more than just the coil - as in, things that are not that, iyswim? Obviously there’s the pill (you can take it without the break) or the contraceptive implant thingy; then if TXA was making you sick they might be able to give you an antiemetic alongside it - or if it was mefenamic acid not TXA try the other & vice versa. It shouldn’t be “here is the one thing now bog off”. I literally can only have one thing & they’re nice enough not to tell me to bog off. (Well, they could totally stop my periods with leuporelin or one of its little pals, but MDT meeting concluded that’d cause &/or exacerbate more problems than it would solve...)

@Youngatheart00 - how’re you feeling now OP? Were you able to catch up on some sleep? Hope that the co-codamol keeps things manageable; but please do see a GP. (And if you’re finding yourself needing lots of ibuprofen, please invest in some esomeprazole [I think the big brand name is Nexium, but obvs pharmacists will know] - NSAIDs can do a serious number on your stomach & ofc it’s much worse if you’re taking them on an empty stomach.)

Thanks so much for your caring posts. MN really is lovely sometimes.

I made the mistake of letting the first load of cocodamol wear off as I am having a busy day wfh (sadly no chance to catch up on sleep and am exhausted) and now in a lot of pain again but taking a break and just topped up the meds. I need to remember to take consecutive doses so it doesn’t wear off. Bleeding is now very heavy and clotty.

I haven’t called GP today but I will do this week once I’m out of the eye of the storm. I’ve had 2 rounds of failed IVF and investigations through that so I’d be surprised if there is anything super new or strange, but I do wonder whether the treatment itself has caused some hormonal shifts and I’ve also had a couple of pelvic and abdo surgeries which have caused adhesions. I think that May all play into it. Yoga helps with the adhesions but I honestly couldn’t face it right now.

Thanks also for tip re ibuprofen. It’s really not my preferred painkiller but it’s all I had in the house. I’ve had feminax before (naproxen I think?) but that really upset my stomach. Cocodamol works ok but I do wonder whether I need a stronger dose.

Please please chase this up with your Gp, no woman should have to suffer like this every month. I've seen my daughter being not believed ( until we went into the doctors mob handed with pictures of the clots ) and I had to physically help my best friend to the toilet because the pain wiped her out.

Definitely absolute key with pain medication, that taking it before you [think you] need it: much MUCH easier to keep it squished than to have to repeatedly battle it back down to a bearable/manageable level. If you’ve not already done it it’s worth just setting yourself an alarm so you take your co-codamol at the right times - especially if you’ve a really busy day: being reminded you’re a few hours off because you got caught up in what you’re doing & suddenly you are in ALL the pain is never a good game, after all...

I hope you’re at least able to manage an early [enough] night (after a hot bath) tonight so you aren’t trying to deal with feeling wrung out on top of, well, wrung out, I suppose.

I’m sorry about your failed IVF. Sometimes the Donkey of Destiny is a truly awful equine, going round booting & biting people for no reason at all. And “I’m sorry” feels woefully inadequate as a response, but I didn’t want to just skip over it, because, well, see above re: That Dratted Donkey.

Your GP can prescribe the stronger dose of co-codamol - hopefully that’ll do the trick. I hope they’re helpful-useful once you’re able to speak to them.

You’re all stars. Even though I’m sat here still in a good 7/10 pain level, after taking 3 solphadiene max an hour ago (more than the recommended dose out of desperation) your comments and the fact that I’ve technically OD’d on pain meds to desperately get relief has convinced me it’s not silly to call the doctor about. I basically lose two days a month and it’s getting worse, not better.

I'm sorry to hear you're in such pain PP. I have a tried and tested cocktail I use.
Hotteez heat pads. Stick to clothes, really help with pain to abdo.
Cocodamol. GP gave me 15/500 because I cannot function on any thing stronger.
Buscopan. 2 at a time.
Whatever NSAID you can tolerate.

I do this for 3 days. Usually worst preperiod. I've now a coil in too, that just takes the edge off. I regret getting it to be honest so I cannot recommend it.

Another one here with lots of sympathy. I am always in agony, get so much pain before too, I feel like ripping my left ovary out. The bleeding is awful. Have been dismissed so many times my GP I wonder what’s the point.

I take 600mg of nurofen. Couple hours later paracetamol, hot water bottles, water, try not to move too much. Sometimes I feel sick with it.

I have no advice but you have my sympathy 💐

Well I hope you ring the doctors soon. Nothing we can do for you, much and all as I'd love to. You're going to have to take that responsibility yourself. But no, you're not remotely unreasonable is asking for a referral.

Another 3:30am wake up in immense pain, cocktail of pain relief taken, now feel shattered but hopefully that’s the worst of the pain over.

Will be calling the GP today for an appt to sort better pain relief in time for next month. I don’t know what I’ll do if they say no

Were you able to get an appointment with your GP @Youngatheart00? Hope you’re doing ok.

Yes I have an appointment but it’s not until a week on Wednesday. Today is the first day I’ve felt ‘normal’ albeit drained. What a week.

Thanks for checking in, so kind.

Am glad you’re feeling more normal, at least - hope you can catch up a bit this weekend.

Might sound daft, but as well as just doing your list for your GP ready for your appointment, I’d have [a copy of] this thread to hand during it so you can give them a good description of what things were like as you were writing it down at the time. It’s easy to get a bit “I don’t want to make a fuss”/“it can’t be that bad” with the distance of time; so it’s important to have the reminder that yes, it really is that bad & you really do need A Plan to [try to] prevent a repeat when you next get your period.

I hope it all goes ok.

@Youngatheart00 this really is no way to live is it? It is not normal and we shouldn't normalise this sort of pain. I am pleased you have a GP appointment even if it is so far ahead.

I agree with writing down a list of everything you endure, the meds you have taken and how it all feels. Hopefully they will be able to try to get this sorted whether meds or a referral.

I stopped going to the GP, saw different ones at different surgeries over the years, just told everyone had periods and to suck it up. Then a very kind female GP referred me to a consultant after I had almost collapsed in pain and Dh said enough. Turns out I had endometriosis. Even my own mother didn't believe I could be in that much pain on my period. It is sometimes the same as labour pain, that intense, that shockingly painful.

Good luck

[quote ScopeToCreate]@Youngatheart00 this really is no way to live is it? It is not normal and we shouldn't normalise this sort of pain. I am pleased you have a GP appointment even if it is so far ahead.

I agree with writing down a list of everything you endure, the meds you have taken and how it all feels. Hopefully they will be able to try to get this sorted whether meds or a referral.

I stopped going to the GP, saw different ones at different surgeries over the years, just told everyone had periods and to suck it up. Then a very kind female GP referred me to a consultant after I had almost collapsed in pain and Dh said enough. Turns out I had endometriosis. Even my own mother didn't believe I could be in that much pain on my period. It is sometimes the same as labour pain, that intense, that shockingly painful.

Good luck [/quote]
My Mum didn't believe me either :/ Awful periods from the get go (age 12) inc severe pain, fainting and diarrhea. GP did offer me the pill at 15 to try and control things but the side effects were pretty grim and i gave up on it after a few months. When i was 30 sudden, severe pain resulted in a trip to hospital & i was diagnosed with a large ovarian cyst. At the follow up GP appointment (a female GP i hadn't seen before) she suggested i might have endometriosis - had never been mentioned until then - and refered me for a lap. Subsequently diagnosed with stage 4 endo, and had several more surgeries inc removal of left fallopian tube and ovary.

Despite all that i became pregnant at 37 and now have 3 children, all girls. Hell will freeze over before i let any of them go through the same dismissive, minimising bollocks i was, by both medics & family, if they also have unusually painful or heavy periods. The idea that women should be in awful pain every month and suffer such disruption to our lives and health because of it belongs in the dark ages.

Im sorry youve been suffering so awfully and PP are right, you should see the gp, its not right to go through this every month. Really push for a gynae referral, ive had terrible periods right from when they first started and ive been fobbed off for years until i got registered at the gp im at now and they gave me a gynae referral and im now on the waiting list for a womb ablation as i cant have hormonal contraception because of other health issues. hopefully this will be the answer to my issues, which like you include severe pain and im used to pain as i have a chronic nerve disease. good luck and i hoep you get the help you need