To think women are expected to put up with unusual amounts of pain?

[EilaLila]

I am irritable due to being up to 2am with pain, so perhaps if men had periods, they’d experience the same. I do wonder though....!

I’ve had awful PMT, bloating to the point of gaining up to 7lbs in fluid, heavy periods, extreme pain alongside bladder and bowel problems during periods since the age of 12. I saw a gyno as a teenager who did a scan, found polycsystic ovaries and put me on the pill. Any time I’ve seen the GP over recent years, they’ve changed my contraceptive and prescribed pain relief. I learned to put up with it. Many years later, I decided that actually this isn’t ok and I’d like more to done. Apparently “period pain is normal”. What the actual fuck?! I know pain, I live with chronic pain for another condition. I’m on the maximum daily dose of paracetamol, maximum daily dose of naproxen, gabapentin and a morphine patch. Yet, I am still getting ‘period pain’, except it’s not just during my period and I have painful bladder and bowel symptoms. I’d suck it up and say that ok, maybe this GP wasn’t very sympathetic if it had only happened once but I’ve had multiple push backs from doctors over the years.

Definitely go in and request the tests! I have a health condition that the doctors failed to diagnose for 6 years. In the end I did my own research, went in and said I think it's this because of x, y and z. Turns out I was right. I had a discussion with the doctor at the time saying I felt bad doing it and they must get so sick of people coming in quoting Dr Google but he said that, actually, if it's research done properly it's helpful. Although they have regular training, they don't know everything and patients often have more time to do research than a GP.

The other thing I was going to ask is - have you thought about the mirena coil? I have PCOS and have had a lot of problems with periods in the past. I spent years on a pill that controlled the issues to an extent but affected my mood in a way I decided had become unacceptable to me. I had the mirena coil put in in February, for the first 2/3 months had truly awful periods that were near on constant but then they lightened up and now I don't have them at all and, although I notice slight hormonal changes, it is way better than being on the pill. I feel much calmer and don't have a day a month where I spend the whole day in tears convinced life is terrible. I wish I'd done it years ago!

Just to add - I have no idea if the coils is compatible if you have endometriosis so sorry if it turns out to be that and it's not! Just an idea if the tests came back negative

”But yeah, I'm going to work today with period pain that I would stay in bed with if it were a stomach bug causing it.”

Such a good point. I remember going to work having woken at 5 am, flooded period and I fainted in the bathroom, bruised my shoulder as I fell. I know this isn’t normal. Why do I feel that it’s ok? It’s not! It’s taken many years to reach this point.

Mrs TP is right; today my period got heavy, made me constipated and caused pain in my hips making it hard to walk. If a back injury had affected my walking, I probably would have sat down (am in retail, much standing) or eventually asked to go home as I wanted a hot bath. I felt I couldn't!

YANBU. I've had extreme period pain since age 12. Screaming, blacking out, morphine, projectile vomiting and incontinent with diarrhea. I'm 27 in 6 months. Been seeing gynae since 2008. Never had a proper diagnosis. Just told periods are painful and to get on with it whilst handed 100 codeine tablets. Had needles shoved in my cervix whilst screaming, scans done by 3 different people at once. Major Vulval surgery carried out in a way that left my dignity in tatters at 19. Left to walk down a ward soaked in blood as nurses said if I wanted a pad had to get out of bed and ask for one.

I've been told its the way I am and I have to learn to cope. Only person to fully get it was my GP who also has horrendous gynae shit going on, agreed that the female gynaecology consultant surgeons were bullying abusive butchers and stuck up for me enormously dozens of times.

I think if I were a man such things would never happen. As it is I have no emotional connection to my body, I despise it and couldn't allow another human near it for sex or anything.

I had a mirena, in constant agony until I conked out at work 2 years later (in hospital). Told pain was normal with a coil and to carry on. Removed that day I collapsed. It was too big, twisted and causing uterine contractions as body tried to expell it and eventually cervical shock hence collapse. Two fucking years that lasted.

This is what I thought when my DD and her DH both suffered from kidney stones within a couple of years of each other. As you probably all know,kidney stones can be extremely painful. So why was my DD only given paracetamol for the pain,and made to feel like she was making a fuss when they didn't help,yet her DH was immediately given a shot of morphine? I mentioned this on MN about 18 months ago and was shot down in flames by several posters for suggesting that he would get superior pain relief because he was a man!