Do teenage girls get period type pains before their actual periods begin?

[Perspective21]

DD is very nearly 14 and I've got my eye on her, she's become very hormonal with fairly severe mood swings between a bit manic with giddiness and then wafting about looking totally morose. I'm sure periods are on the way but for several days she has complained of stomach pains.

Now she is having a spell where she's getting anxious about being heard in the school toilets, so I'm sure this is on her mind. She can be a bit tearful setting off to school, always ok when she gets there and texts at break to say she's eaten and feels better.

She is a really lovely girl but this anxiety building is driving us all a bit mad to be honest. I've tried to take pressure off and she has been to chat to lovely pastoral support ladies at school and they've told her that they are convinced this is what is happening to her. She has all the kit, we talk a lot about all sorts but I know this is really a worry for her, she's worried she's not normal, I reassure her she is!!

Anyone any experience to share of girls this age, just as those hormones kick in? Is a GP trip worth it to chat generally, or will it stress her out, adding to her argument that she is indeed not normal!!

She's a slender little thing, fairly muscly and eats healthily but is perhaps a little underweight if anything. She is eating normally still.

Thanks...

Yes, yes they do! Dd1 started getting pains and mood swings pretty much once a month for the year leading up to starting hers.
See if you can dose her up with a multi vitamin, it really helps with period symptoms. Although, I must confess my dd has a crappy diet (not my doing, she just refuses to eat the healthy food I provide!) so nutrition may not be an issue for yours!

Absolutely everyone worries they're not normal at this age :)
Bring her to the GP if she'll agree to it. My mum started at 14, she was really slim too.
Teenagers do drive the whole house mad for a few years. Yours sounds so lovely though, it's sweet that she texts you from school and sounds like you have a great relationship.

Thank you, I might just try a teen vitamin, will have a look tomorrow. I have always had bad period pain myself and so I'm not too surprised if it's going to happen to her too. I do feel for her.

However, it's not easy watching her in her sad times...a few short years ago, she was such a giggler! Poor girls having to go through this xx

I think she's feeling self conscious as she's the last of her group to start...not helping her confidence.

Thank you AlfAlf, my DH only had a brother, so he's looking a bit puzzled by it all!

I feel better with a plan, vitamins and calm support whenever possible.

Her youngest sibling has SEN and just got a full statement for support when he starts school in Sept..it's funny that just as I'm feeling really so much better now that's all sorted and she's falling apart emotionally on me! I was looking forward to a bit of a breather but I can see that I can't postpone the teenage years

Oh, also no harm offering her some pain relief when you gets cramps. I got dd1 some feminax (a blast from the past for me!) and they worked very well. She only used them when she really needed them, but she found it reassuring just that there was something she could do when it got really sore :)
I suffered terribly , too, but I think that has made me empathise well with dd1 - I can remember very clearly writhing around on the floor in agony. My parents were very anti any kind of pain relief and just left me and dsis to suffer (until I got savvy and scored my own Feminax!)

Oh god, yes I remember this. Crippling pain made 100x worse by the feeling that I was abnormal and the pain was a sign something was horribly wrong.

Poor girl.

Reassurance and painkillers :)

Yes, ime.

DD started getting cramps and internal type pains from being 9y (ish). Sfter a little while I realised they were pretty much monthly.

She started her periods at 10y, a year or so after the cramping pains started.

Thanks everyone, she's been taking nurofen but I'll get some feminax in for the more painful days. She'll find it reassuring that this happens to others too.

I'll do the old, hey, I read on MN, without letting on it was my thread!!

Thank you