Period pain tips

[witchypaws]

I'll take any advice, no matter how random!
Taken paracetamol, dihydrocodeine, mefanamic acid regularly
On day 5 and still at the point of vocal pain in my stomach going down my thighs and wanting to rip my uterus out

I know I have severe endometriosis and on a wait list but it's a year. Pain lasts all 7 days of my period and I've at least 11 more to get through before I'm even seen let alone operated on

So yeah.. any ideas?!

Cocodamol on prescription is the only thing that fully gets rid of mine. My periods went terrible after I got my tubes tied. Other painkillers don't touch the pain.

I'm on dihydrocodeine already 30mg tablets 4 times a day

Following. Mine have been getting steadily worse and the pain last for my whole Period now as well. The pain makes me lose my breath sometimes and I keep waking up in the night.

Naproxen helps me - it's like ibuprofen. I used to buy it as Feminax Ultra OTC but it's becoming impossible to find so the GP prescribed a generic version.

I take 2 tablets at onset of pain and then one every 6-8 hours.

It's awful
The mefanamic acid or whatever it's called takes it from yelling in pain on all fours and unable to form a sentence to just... shit

It affects everything like sometimes I really need the toilet, I know if I go it helps the pain but I can't go because of the pain and worry about fainting

Had an ultrasound but need a laparoscopy

I did use naproxen but had to come off it when I started on the mefanamic acid. Not sure which works best to be honest but it's probably similar

exersize & ibuprofen.

gosh that sounds awful. is there any chance you could be seen privately?

I have been, sort of
They offered (after ultrasound) spire hospital so I saw a consultant there. He said they can't do the laparoscopy at the private hospital because it seems my bowel/bladder are involved so it needs a specialist

There are 3 local endometriosis specialist centres which I could pick from but all have a years wait so I just went for the closest. That's a referral to see a consultant again so god knows when they can actually operate

that is so so awful

have you tried a TENS machine?

One thing I haven't tried! I saw this but it's just out of my budget
I could stretch to £30-40 ish

https://myoovi.co.uk

I used to have painful first days and found that if I took the max dose of cold and flu tablets the day before and on the first day, it kept the pain at bay.

Of course, you need t be very regular and not miss a dose. Worked for me, don't know about anyone else.

Diclofenac helped me plus CBD Tampons Daye brand

Lying on my electric blanket. Tens machine.

Do you put the tens pads on your stomach? I've never used one before

So sorry you're suffering like this. I find heat brilliant and even though its the last thing you wanna do movement really does help, even a gentle walk. Hope you feel better soon.

@witchypaws mine has 4 pads. I put two on my stomach and two on my lower back. It can help sometimes but honestly the best thing I did was to get the mirena coil which means I don't get periods any more. No periods, no pain. I have endometriosis. The pain is ridiculous. Sorry you're in such discomfort.

I had a Mirena coil fitted. Stopped my periods after a few months.

Fellow endometriosis sufferer here, at my worst I used to have prescription anti inflammatory pessaries which were the wonder drug - don't know if they're still about. Hot water bottle also helped.

Raspberry leaf tea. Surprisingly.

Going low carb got rid of mine entirely. I suspect it was wheat that was aggravating it. I went from three days of solid painkillers to not even realising when my period had started because there was no pain.

I have endometriosis too - like a PP, diclofenac (voltarol suppository for me) and a hot water bottle are the only things that help. Codeine didn't really touch it and makes me constipated so the bowel pain got worse - sounds like that's something to consider for you too. I take magnesium supplements to keep things moving through my period or it's awful.

I'm also on a waiting list and sympathise massively!

I avoided the mirena coil for years but finally gave in and it's been incredibly helpful for me (no periods, minimal pain). Are you on any hormonal contraception? I was on the pill before and used to (on advice from medical professionals) run packs together so I could go approx 3 months between periods.

If you're waiting for an endo centre surgery they're likely to have an endometriosis specialise nurse you can call, and they may be able to advise with painkillers (that's how I got voltarol, hadn't been suggested before).

There will be a lot of well meant painkiller suggestions on here that won't touch the side of endometriosis pain - ideally you need to speak to the experts (hence my suggestion of the endo nurse) or go to a specific endometriosis support group (Facebook is quite good I've found!). That isn't meant to diminish anyone else's experience of period pain at all - it's just that once you've got endo and bladder and bowel involvement (I have both too) it's different and harder to control.

Oh - and if you haven't already, call the centre you're under and ASK TO GO ON THE CANCELLATION LIST (if you have enough flexibility for this). You're more likely to get an appointment brought forward than the actual surgery, but if you can see people sooner then the timeline for everything is brought forward.

I’ve just bought the boots tens machine for period pain. It’s ok enough that it takes my mind off the pain whilst I’m using it. It has 20 min cycles and probably 2-3 of those cycles at level 6/15 will take the pain down a notch so I can rest whilst i am using the tens machine.

I will give that a go
Can't have diclofenac unfortunately as it gives me the worst stomach pain ironically