To ask what does your period pain feel like?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I have difficult periods, thanks to adenomyosis. Currently alternating between lying on top of the bed with my knees tucked up, with going to sit on the loo every 20 minutes or so to pass reasonably large clots that I assume are causing the weird wave-like cramps that make me want to push

I have never had a child, so I can't compare it to labour of course, but the rhythmic build to the top of the wave of pain, which then rolls back down for a few seconds before building again, makes me wonder if the muscles involved are kind of doing a diluted version of what happens in early labour.

It's interesting, but I only find it interesting because I've had Feminax and cocodamol to keep the really brutal pain at bay So, it doesn't feel like sharp pain now - it's more a desperately bizarre stretching and pulling sensation that makes my head spin and want to sob at times. I know my blood pressure's really low with it too, I'm very light headed, but pleased as I think I won't throw up this month, because I took the meds quick enough.

It got me wondering how other women would describe their own period pain? Does mine sound at all familiar, or is yours completely different?

Pain is so individual and difficult to get across in written or verbal communication, and women's pain is overall treated pretty disgracefully by the medical profession - but thought it's be interesting to see what other women's pain is like.

Mine used to feel exactly the same as labour pains ( I have given birth) I've had dozens of periods that were as painful as giving birth. I think people who don't have terrible period pains don't realise how painful it can be. It's not a diluted pain compared to giving birth at all. It's the same sensation and the same pain.

The only plus side, if you're planning on having kids, is that I'm able to give birth on just paracetamol as I'm so used to having this same pain it was totally fine.

They told me I wasn't in active labour due to the way I was presenting (managing pain) . When I tried to insist I was they finally checked me and I was fully dilated and pushing the baby out.

Horrific. The rolling waves of pain are very familiar. I frequently black out if I don't control the pain in time.

3 ibuprofen on the exact 4 hours for 3 days are my only solution. I am never more than an arms length from at least a 16 pack.

Similar feelings of waves of pain - exactly the same strength as labour pains for me. I was 9cm dilated when I arrived at the hospital to have my daughter because I also assumed the pain wasn't as bad as it was going to get

That sounds horrible. I’m really lucky because I have only had period pain about 5 times in my life and even then it was very light cramps for about half an hour.

Ovulation hurts so much though. I get strong cramps up and down my legs that make me want to cry.

Labour - peri menopause is a bitch!!

@georgialondon snap!
I had exactly the same experience. Midwife thought she would be sending me home!
OP my pain sounds like yours.
I also get javelin arse and pains going down my thighs

Mine feels the same as when I have the runs, that cramping feeling . The only way to describe it is like a fist inside my lower abdomen grabbing and squeezing my muscles tight . It's also got worse as I've got older and I'd say now at fifty, I often have to sit down due to the waves of pain. Nurofen helps.

Really it's similar to the stomach cramps I have if I have the shits

I get the same waves of pain that you describe. My thighs and hips really ache too. I often feel abit nauseous and I have to lay on my back and to bring my knees up and rock them side to side to ease the pain :(

Very similar to the pain that the runs cause so I end up sitting on the loo a lot. The pains are in stomach, thighs and back. Also have looser bowels with the extra fun of javelin arse!

If you have clots you’re probably having contractions as you womb tries to expel everything. I get quite large clots, once on day 4 I was suddenly gripped by awful pain and nausea. I was sweating and shaking then I had a flooding sensation and the pain died away. When i went to the loo I had passed a major clot the length and thickness of two fingers.

Before I had my baby I had really painful periods. Though I guess I was lucky as it was only the first day or so then it didn't hurt as bad.

After having my baby though, I don't have any pain at all. Perhaps some extremely mild cramping for a little while, but sometimes I don't even know I've got my period until I see blood on the toilet paper. So weird. Though I'm not complaining!

Perhaps there's hope for you, OP, if you have children in the future!

I get ovulation pains, then period pains are like severe cramps before you’re about to have horrendous diarrhoea, I get back ache, pains all down my legs, my whole abdomen blows up and is tender to touch. I get a really dull and constant ache coupled with stabbing pains. Not normal I’m sure. I suffer with diarrhoea throughout. My periods are very heavy, soaking through a super plus tampon and onto a pad within an hour. It’s normally like that for 2/3 days before slowing down, they last for at least 9 days.
Every time I go to the dr I’m told it’s “just” heavy periods. Need to insist on further investigation.

My periods since giving birth are easily as painful as labour on the first few days and the last day, it's debilitating after years of light pain free periods. They also make me nauseous, and I had HG when pregnant. There are a lot of similarities between childbirth and menstruation for me.

I get a mixture of two pains. The first is a sharp stabbing pain in my lower right stomach which feels like I've got a fork stuck in there and it's being twisted around. The other pain is the aching of stomach, hips and thighs. Both come in waves, but the stabbing is only on the first, occasionally second day. The aching lasts for 3 days or so. The pain on the first day is that bad that I'm frequently sick and just want to curl up in a ball in bed.

@AlmostAlwyno was crippled as a teenager by period pain, the GP said ‘having. Child can help!’ My mum just screeched ‘she’s 14!’

For me they can be really bad and I actually thought my contractions were better than some of the period pain I have suffered. When I was younger it was crippling. It's got better but can still be quite bad.

It's like an ache but a deep ache. The first day is the worst by far. I hate when it comes on in the evening or at night, because the first bit is so much worse (flow a lot heavier then gets less). I.e. the first few tampons don't last very long, then they go to lasting a more reasonable length of time. If it starts in the morning I can deal with that a lot better and it's under control by the time I go to bed. It's the deepness of the pain I don't like. I find wearing restrictive clothes makes it worse.

Oh god, for those peri menopausal years I have no words.

Well I do have words. .... excruciating, pain that made me cry and gasp, pain that went from my waist to my toes, pain that 2 ibuprofen and two paracetamol couldn’t shift. Pain that made me wonder whether life was worth living.

I used to have painful periods until I had kids. Once my first was born I had no more painful periods.

The cramping is from the cervix opening to let the blood come out. Once you've had a kid it is wide enough so cramping should be less.

I feel for you - painful periods is one thing I don't miss pte kids.

My periods have gone awol at the moment (44), but when they were here since kids, I'd generally get a low stomach ache and a feeling of being kicked in the foof. Quite manageable.
Pre kids, I had suspected endometriosis and they were awful. I'd feel like a knife was twisting around my left ovary and I couldn't breathe through the pain. I'd rock back and forth crying at times... mefenamic acid helped slightly but not for long enough at each dose.

So so painful that I just wish and wait for it to end sometimes. Prescription morphine level pain thanks to endometriosis. Absolutely excruciating pain. I do wonder how bad labour will be in comparison.

The same sort of discomfort that I get with diarrhoea. Waves that make me feel hot and cold and nauseated, mainly in my back and bum, and down into my thighs.

Sallyisstarstruck might be worth asking for a scan. I used to have strong aches for the first couple of days of my periods but about 5 years ago I started to get very painful stabbing pains just on my left side just as my period was starting. The stabby pains got worse each month until I was frequently vomiting as the pain was so bad. The GP referred me for a scan and it turns out I had a fibroid about the size of a golf ball on that side in an awkward position which meant it was getting squeezed as my uterus contracted which was causing the pain. The one and only joy of menopause is that as my oestrogen levels have dropped it has shrunk and is now rarely painful.

I've had two babies with back to back labours and I would take labour 2 over some of the periods I used to have. At least I didn't have to attempt business as usual and 10 hours of labour was shorter!

I got the waves of contractions and the pains used to radiate down my thighs. My periods were very irregular so I couldn't get medication into my system ready, so by the time the period showed itself, I was rapidly consumed by the pain.

Fortunately they have been so much better since having had babies. Maybe like the skin on my abdomen the muscles exceeded their elastic limit On a worse period, I can get by with some ibuprofen and get on with my day.

I'm peri menopause and it's a bitch. Luckily( 🙏) my periods are still regular but my God the pain is horrendous. The only way I can describe it as if a brick is tied to your vagina & pulling it down!! And don't get me started on the blood clots 😫😫
Mother Nature is a joke!

Feels like my whole lower abdomen is squeezing tightly and the pain radiates into both sides of my lower back.
I get the urge to double over when walking or standing and when lying down I curl up into a ball.
I also get diarrhoea and nausea, sometimes I also vomit.