Really awful period symptoms in the middle of the night

[Prinnie]

Hi everyone, I was just wondering if anyone had experienced what I did last night. I woke up to find that my period had started and I had my usual moderate level of period pain. I got up to sort myself out, but once I put my tampon in the period pain shot up the scale and everything down there, my back etc. was cramping so badly.

The pain was so bad all I could do was lie on the floor. My arms and legs were shaking and I couldn't stand up - the pain was just so strong and continual and intense.

TMI Alert!

Then I couldn't stop pooing - I must have gone to the loo (still in excrutiating pain) 3-4 times, then I went really hot and cold and was sick.

I finally got some paracetamol down me after 30 mins, but the whole expereince was both terrifying and wholly unpleasant.

DH was an absolute star though, but I'm now really scared as we are about to start TTC and now I'm wondering if Childbirth gets any worse than the pain I experienced last night because if it does I'm going to be terrified!

Just needed to get it off my chest and see if anything similar had happened to anyone else! Thanks for reading

As soon as you said period type pains that were really bad plus shaking I thought 'upset tummy/food poisoning' then got to the pooing and hot/cold bit and thought yup 'upset tummy/food poisoning'.

I think labour felt exactly like the stomach cramps/spasms you get with an upset stomach.

Unfortunately, labour goes on for longer and ime is more painful. However, it's a more positive pain. It has rest periods inbetween. You may not be vomitting and pooing everywhere at the same time. There is pain relief available. You are prepared for the eventuality of it. You get a baby at the end of it!

I get periods like this, the pain is actually contractions which make me vomit and need the loo

I have the sweating from heat followed by shivering from cold

I would see your dr if not ttc as they are medicines that can help

I found active labour quick and simple (my body had lots of practice runs ) though i had long latent stages, but i also had developed zoning out tricks and knew the bath helped me

Thank you both, I'm pretty sure it wasn't food poisoning as the no 2's were proper iyswim!

Litte Ducks - your experience sounds very similar to mine - I can't tell you how relieved I was to read your post!

You see I do have painful period cramps sometimes which irritate my bowel and make me go more often but it's something I'm used to.

Not being able to stand with continual and intense pain, never having experienced it before suggests to me that it might be more of a one off and attributable to something else.

Perhaps keep an eye, see if it happens again or during your next period and check with a GP.

Have you recently come off any form of hormonal contraception? Your hormone levels can be a bit unbalanced from that, causing odd periods etc

Prinnie
i had periods exactly as you describe when i was a teenager
it got so bad that i had lots of time off school
they stopped when I started the pill
I also got them years later after having 2 children and having to come off the pill for health reasons
I have the mirena coil which has stopped them, but no good to you if you are TTC
I think it must be hormonal, as I had horrendous sickness in both pregnancies
But, labour was a breeze
With DS I only had gas and air and it lasted a couple of hours from start to finish
with DD I had no pain relief and it was over in an hour
remember, that during labour you won't be rolling on the floor in the middle of the night on your own (hopefully)

Thanks everyone for your replies, I'm not on any contraception - we just use condoms as the pill gives me migranes (tried loads of types) and didn't want to investigate anything else for the time being as want to TTC soon. I think I might go to the Drs though to see if there's anything they can do - and keep my fingers x'd for tonight - have kept majoy pain at bay with painkillers today and I think the problem is when they wear off in the middle of the night.

I think it is almost definitely hormonal as have had milder versions of this before and was very very hormonal yesterday! (Cried because the pizza DH made for tea was so nice! lol)

I used to get very bad Period Pain,similar to what you describe,but I had them like that since I was 11 yrs old.

Twice I have had much much worse than the normal pain,when I was TTC.I believe I was having a very very early miscarriage each time.I had ben about 5 days late each time,and the period was extra heavy with clots(TMI?).

I think that can be very common,but goes unnoticed by some people.No chance your contraception could have failed?

I've had similar and in my case endometriosis was the cause. Bowel involvement can also occur with endo.

If it keeps happening get your GP to refer you to a gynae and do not take no for an answer. Many GPS are ignorant when it comes to such problems.

Attilla- did yours occur from puberty or start later?

littleducks

I have had problems with my periods ever since I was 14 when I started to menstruate.
It was only when ttc that the real cause of my painful periods was discovered - endometriosis, it is a very much underdiagnosed disease.

Any symptom that is cyclical in nature and gets worse during menstruation should be further investigated to see if endo is the underlying cause.

I found labour pains to be far easier to manage than endo pains - they seemed to have no start, middle or end!

I'm afraid it sounds rather like endometriosis pain to me, and you should get it looked into if it happens again. If it's just a one-off, I think a small cyst can also cause problems like this, and may well regress on its own. Any severe or persistant bowel problems that co-incide with your period should be checked out.

Actually, it sounds like half the people on this thread should get looked at - it isn't normal to suffer that badly, even for teenagers. Despite what people say.
Mine kicked in at 13 at the same time as I started to menstruate, but it's possible for it to start later.
There have been other threads on this recently - can anyone link? I put some useful links on the last one. Try here to start with.
Hi Attila [waves]. Is Geordieminx anywhere around?
Sorry for incoherent post, I'm very tired and just off to bed. Goodnight.