Doctor said period pains likely due to bad takeaway

[Latenightpharma]

AIBU to be a bit miffed?

My period started this morning. After a few hours I start getting the most horrendous pain which comes in waves and feels like I'm in labour, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. This is the third time this has happened (previous time was a few years ago) on the first day of my period, and this time was the worst out of the three. DH and DM both wanted me to get checked out so I used the 111 website after the pain had subsided a bit, and they arranged a call back as the website said it needed investigating.

Call came back from a male doctor about an hour later. After I described the issue, his first question is whether I'd had any takeaways recently, and he then proceeds to tell me that I probably just have a stomach bug, and that my being on my period is a coincidence. I was a bit baffled by that assessment, so just accepted the pain meds he prescribed and hung up. I told him that this isn't the first time this has happened and described how painful it was (couldn't walk, talk etc), but he wasn't taking me seriously at all. I know I don't have a stomach bug, but I wonder whether I'm unreasonable to be a bit angry about my experience or whether I'm just being dramatic.

Just to add - it seems I’ve been luckier than others with my doctor, who has taken mine seriously and investigated fully. His verdict was that bad period pains are normal for some women, and whilst you should of course investigate it might just be about managing them. This is more likely if they have been a pattern over time and other women in the family also experience them. My understanding (and I’m not a doctor!) is that changes and irregularities are more of a warning of something else.

I'd usually agree but presumably you've had hundreds of periods in your like and this is only the third, non consecutive incident of illness over many years. It doesn't really show a pattern.

I agree women's health is overlooked, under researched & often dismissed but I can't see that's happened here. Especially since you did have the takeaway and you spoke to someone not your own GP.

You shouldn't have to live like this OP. Try and see your own GP ASAP and ask about endometriosis. I suffered with it for years and can confirm that giving birth to 3 DC was no more painful than a normal period for me. The midwives couldn't believe how quiety I got through labour with no pain relief, that's because since aged 15 I'd been coping with that every sodding month.
Ask for a referral to a gynae or if you can possibly afford it, go private.

@ShitPoetryClub

You shouldn't have to live like this OP. Try and see your own GP ASAP and ask about endometriosis. I suffered with it for years and can confirm that giving birth to 3 DC was no more painful than a normal period for me. The midwives couldn't believe how quiety I got through labour with no pain relief, that's because since aged 15 I'd been coping with that every sodding month. Ask for a referral to a gynae or if you can possibly afford it, go private.

She isn't living like it! It's only happened three times and the last time was years ago!

Please don't get fobbed off. I used to get period pain so bad that I'd vomit every single cycle. I'd pass out from the pain too. I was prescribed medication (mefenamic acid & codeine) that's helped massively.

During my last period I had excruciating pain and actually vomited because of cramping for the first time in years. I put it down to side effects of the Pfizer jab which has fucked up my periods.

Nohomemadecandles
She is in agony every month....how is that not a pattern?

hi op
i suffered the same pains when young, have you asked doctors for transamic acid and mafalanic acid (check spellings)

one is for spasm pain other to lessen blood flow .
also when much older i was told i had small parts of endometriosis

@Nohomemadecandles

I'd usually agree but presumably you've had hundreds of periods in your like and this is only the third, non consecutive incident of illness over many years. It doesn't really show a pattern.

I agree women's health is overlooked, under researched & often dismissed but I can't see that's happened here. Especially since you did have the takeaway and you spoke to someone not your own GP.

I didn't have a takeaway, where did I say that?

The doctor asked if I'd had a takeaway and then told me that was likely the issue before I'd even answered. When I said no and talked more about my symptoms, he told me it was probably just a stomach bug completely unrelated to my period and me having this issue exactly as I started menstruating was a coincidence. I hadn't eaten anything dodgy.

@spaceghetto

So many of these sound like endometriosis! Periods that are crippling with pain are not normal!

I have crippling periods and have been scanned and checked for endometriosis, fibroids, polyps and cysts - everything has come back clear.

Unfortunately some women just suffer with their periods and there's no underlying reason for it

Sounds awful . Hope you are more comfortable now.

My GP sent me home with gaviscon after id had a heart attack. Said I just had indigestion !! Not all GPs are great. Sounds like you have a dud like I did.

Go to your GP and make it clear you always have very painful periods and sometimes you get extreme gastric symptoms as well. Tell them you want to be investigated for gynae conditions like endometriosis.

Buscopan can help with the cramps /heaviness if you can take it. As a PP said start NSAID before the pain really builds as it will damp down the prostaglandin build up (pain messengers).

I had endo on my uterus which used to trigger a heavy cramping feeling a bit like Braxton Hicks.

I have been going through the same thing for about 8 years with it getting progressively worse in the last two. The pain is crippling and I end up waking up in the middle of the night to sit on the toilet for an hour and to be sick.
I’ve been to the gynaecologist who told me it was either all in my head or IBS. I’ve been in a&e several times with it and been told it’s normal too.
I’ve been fighting so hard to get some answers and I know how awful it is, so I’m really sorry you’re going through it @Latenightpharma

Unfortunately, I don’t have any answers (yet) and I’ll keep pushing despite it being exhausting trying to prove that this pain is unbearable and not being believed.

I hope you get some proper help for it soon

You need to get this properly checked out. And by a totally different doctor because he sounds bloody useless!!

I had appendicitis missed until it nearly burst because the pain coincided with the start of my period. Unusual pain needs investigating

The thing about period pain is that it can be unbelievably painful. So he didn't believe you.

I remember reading on MN years ago a woman who said no one believed how bad her period pain was until she gave birth - she had been told to go to the hospital when the pain was worse than period pain. She was 10cm dilated by the time the pain of giving birth was worse than period pain.

Hi. I’ve had your symptoms twice this last year, and oddly only if I have eaten a curry. I know it sounds crazy but they do advise you to eat curries to induce labour so I thick there’s something to it. Im waiting for ultrasound results but I have fibroids and a thickening to the lining of my womb and I firmly believe my uterus was trying to expel the bulk each time.

Did you happen to have curry or spicy food?

@Desenchanten

Hi. I’ve had your symptoms twice this last year, and oddly only if I have eaten a curry. I know it sounds crazy but they do advise you to eat curries to induce labour so I thick there’s something to it. Im waiting for ultrasound results but I have fibroids and a thickening to the lining of my womb and I firmly believe my uterus was trying to expel the bulk each time.

Did you happen to have curry or spicy food?

Nope, I had spaghetti Bolognese.