Vomiting on period

[Orangebadger]

Not sure where to post this.

My daughter coming up to 12 started her periods one year ago. On the whole most have been fine but her first period and now the last 2, she has been really unwell on the first day. Vomiting quite a lot. Quite heavy period and very painful.

I can manage the pain with regular meds but the vomiting is obviously something else and quite debilitating. Has anyone else had a child with this and was anything available to help? Did they grow out of it?

If next cycle is the same I will be taking her to the GP, so just want to be prepared with any options of anti sickness meds than may or may not help.

My DD would vomit everyday for a week before her period. The only thing that helped was the pill from the doctor. Your DD seems very young for this, I think DD was 13/14 when we made the link between the vomiting and her period so slightly older.

Just to make sure she isn’t vomiting because of the pain meds?

Does she suffer from migraines? You can get migraine auras without the head pain. Migraines can often be hormonal and auras can include vomiting.

Definitely have a chat with a sympathetic GP although I suspect some form of hormonal contraception is likely to be the answer and it’s whether she wants to go down that route and at what age (balancing up quality of life) the GP is agreement.

Yes my DD was the same, she went on the pill at about 16 so that it didn't interfere with her exams. She's still on it at 20. When she's had a pill break, the vomiting resumes. I think it's hormonal.

I had this, my periods were so heavy lasted 7-9 days. For the first 1-2 days I would need to be on a lot of pains meds / fetal position and puke from the pain. I soaked through a jumbo tampon in 1.5hrs once.

Only thing that helped was the mini pill, the combo pill made me sick too.

Good news was once I came off if 10 years later my periods were very normal. 3-5 days and minor pains.

I was the same many years ago (along with fainting) and went on the pill at 15 to mitigate it during GCSE's. My neice is the same and I had hoped DD would escape it but she didn't.
GP was pretty rubbish and did give the the pill but not the one my research suggested might help so we saw a Private Gynae and she wrote to our GP and insisted DD be given a certain medication. GP recently suggested she switch but within weeks she was throwing up and fainting again so she has gone back to the previous one.
Your poor DD (and you) may be at the beginning of a long and difficult journey of a lack of understanding/sympathy and well meaning but stupid advice. As DD once said "yes, I think I will do some gentle exercise followed by some mindful colouring in as soon as I get up off the bathroom floor where I have been lying in between vomiting for the last 4 hours"

I had this as a teenager, ibuprofen helped.

I grew out of it but Im 39 and I now have pmdd- I don't know if it's linked.

One if my daughters has this for the first day of her period or day before. GP said it’s due to hormones. Also horrific stomach cramps and sometimes is faint. Went on pill at 17 but was extremely emotional and came off it 6 months later. She’s 22 now & still suffers with nausea and vomiting but the cramps aren’t as severe and some months it’s nausea rather than actual vomiting. Hoping it will keep improving for her.

I had this when a teenager and the GP gave me specific medicine for dysmenorrhea plus an anti nausea tablet. Grew out of it once I had children by that's a drastic cure! Hope she gets sorted.

My periods are 'normal' (not excessively heavy, regular, no gynae issues). But I've always felt extremely queasy on day 1. Never actually vomited but certainly come very close.

This has been the case for me from age 13 to now (38). A gp told me years ago it's just hormonal and feeling queasy or vomiting for a day or two isn't particularly unusual. Definitely worth discussing with a GP but I don't think it's anything to worry about (if you were), just a matter of managing symptoms.

The pill will sort this out op. How are her periods in general? Very painful?

Sometimes vomiting and diarrhoea can be triggered by the hormone (prostaglandin?) that makes the womb contract to expel the lining (e.g the period). Basically if too much is released it acts on the stomach and intestines too and they cramp hence the d &v. I’m not sure if it means there’s endometriosis there. I get it sometimes randomly and it is awful. I am told that paracetamol and ibruprofen work to limit the prostaglandin effect if you take them early enough. It might be worth asking the GP for more info about that (I can’t remember all the details!). Obv ibruprofen needs something in the tummy first so it doesn’t make it worse!

I take them on the day my period is due either before or at the very first sign of a cramp.

Hi,
Unfortunately this is a huge red flag for endometriosis. It's worth looking at getting her referred to a specialist centre (not a general gynaecologist), for proper assessment, because the consequences if not diagnosed and treated can be significant. It's pretty common in teenagers as well as in the general female population.

You'll see a lot of people saying 'I had it and outgrew it' - problem is, these people mostly don't know whether they actually had or have endometriosis, and if they do, whether it will come back to bite them big-style later.

I wish her luck with it.

I had and have this.

I'm 47.

I went in the pill and was advised to run packets together to halve the number of periods.

I was later diagnosed with endometriosis.

You may find anti-histamines help.

I grew out of it. The pill was the only thing that stopped it as a teenager but by the time I came off it in my early twenties it stopped. I would get a "bad" cycle every 3-4 months and would vomit up to 12 times over the course of the first day. I still get "bad" months in terms of pain and PMS symptoms but I don't get vomiting and diarrhoea any more. GP for the pill would be my advice.

I had this as a teen, diarhea and puking in the sink - GP gave me milk of magnesia - but it was the 1960s. 😂
Eventually put on the pill.

DD19 had this from early on. For her it was very pain related so once she worked how to keep that under control (basically started taking ibuprofen when period starts rather than waiting for pain to get bad) it largely went away. Closest she’s got in last couple of years is thinking she was going to vomit.

She still has heavy painful irregular periods but has always refused to see a doctor (really doesn’t want to go on pill) and usually only has 24 hours at most of them bad enough for her to not want to leave her bedroom. Still think she should see a doctor though so if your DD is willing take her.

Same here!! Pill fixed me. I have at least 5 fibroids which caused the pain. Been painfree since giving birth 14yrs ago.

I was like this. I had diarrhoea too. And fainting.

I vividly recall lying on the floor of the school toilets in the fetal position because it was the safest place.

I went on the pill which didn't really help. GP prescribed mefanamic acid which helped enormously so long as I started taking it the day before my period was due.

Many, many years later I was diagnosed with endometriosis.

I'm afraid I never grew out of the vomiting, diarrhoea and fainting. But thank the lord for mefanamic acid.

Ask her GP about endometriosis. It might not be that, but the sooner the question is raised and investigated the better.

Thank you. The vomiting is certainly hormonal, not caused by analgesia. She has the vomiting before the pain and then the meds. She's only 11 so this last year her periods have been very irregular as is normal to start with, so it's impossible to be prepared with this. Most of her periods have been totally fine, just the last 2 and the very first one. I really hope it's not endo, I didn't realise you could get that so young. Not overly keen on the pill, I reacted very badly myself to the pill. It's for one day only, and she seems too young for that and on balance as it's one day, not sure it's worth that. If it was for the whole period then that would be different.

I was hoping an anti sickness drug might work, will see how she is next period. Fingers crossed it's like the other easier ones.

And I am so sorry to read about all the awful experience you have all had or your Dds. It's certainly an early experience of how shit women have it.

This is more or less my experience too.
Feminax helped a lot. Whether the recipe is the same as it was in the 1980s I don't know!

DD had this, also starting a year or so after her periods started. Anti-nausea drugs were useless, and the pill seemed to make it worse, but possibly she didn't persist long enough or it was the wrong kind or started at the wrong point in her cycle.

Mefenamic acid helped with the pain, particularly if she kept track of her cycle and started taking it a day or so before her period was due. She is now an adult and has something similar to the Mirena coil, which does seem to help.

Over time, she also worked out for herself that staying off sugary/junky food and caffeine around the time of her period reduced the nausea and cramps. And it was always worse when she was stressed, anxious, over-tired, or generally not looking after herself properly with healthy food, sleep and exercise.

Yes, I was like this as a teenager and as others have said the only solution back then was the pill, but I was a lot older than your DD, 15 I think when I started the pill after suffering for a couple of years. I was also the same in labour and was given anti-sickness meds...not sure if that is something that can be given to your DD? Definitely speak to the doctors, it's miserable. For managing the pain, try the dedicated painkillers, femax, and the heat pads.