period pains any relation to labour pains?

[iloveknitting]

im going through a phase of paniking about labour. i was wondering if anyone knows if period pains are any indication of how bad labour is going to be, ive always suffered from horrific period pains and im terrified of what labour is going to be like.

Personally I found that, because my period pain was so bad, labour pains weren't so much worse. And since having the kids I no longer get period pain at all!!!

You will have a high level of pain tolerance then. It could be not much worse. Problem is all experiences are different. Good luck.

They are effectively the same thing, your uterus muscles contracting, but labour pains are different in that your uterus is much bigger, the contractions stronger and more intense and they are regular. As the other posters have said you probably have quite a high pain threshold anyway but there are loads of ways you can get pain relief in labour (work for period pains too) from natural things like getting in the bath or a pool, tens machine, relaxation techniques, to drugs, gas and air and an epidural.
Remember there are no awards for the amount of pain you can tolerate, it isn't a competition. There's no getting round the fact that it hurts but there's no reason to suffer if you can' tolerate it.
Try not to worry too much, have you been to any classes yet or talked your options through with you midwife? I;m about to do it for the second time, not looking forward to it at all but the moment bub is in your arms it all fades away, I'll be focusing on that
Good luck

My period pains were always hideous so when it came to labour i managed it without pain relief. I don't think period pains reflect what sort of labour you're going to have but you will certainly find the pain more bearable

i have always suffered really bad from period pain and was told by my gp what i experience was similar to labour pains and i must say it was painful but managed to go with just gas and air dont panic to much i was petrified but because i was afaid of the unexpected

lady in room next door was a screamer and it scared me so much but i went through without swearing at dp screaming or opleading for pain relief lol its suprising how your mind and body just take control i thin k it helped as i stayed calm and just listened to what i was being told and was excited about seeing baby and believe me my birth was not easy but i'm proud of myself the only thing i found hard was pushing lol pain was ok pushing was just hard work

When I started labour it felt like I had really achey period pains!