Before addressing the causes of menstrual pain, it should be clarified that there are two types of dysmenorrhea, primary and secondary. Primary dysmenorrhea is the pain that causes the period and is very common. Secondary dysmenorrhea is menstrual pain due to some abnormality or health disorder, such as endometriosis. In this article, we will refer mainly to primary menstrual pain.
What causes menstrual pain
Why does the period hurt? A fundamental aspect in the appearance of pain is the presence of ovulation; for this reason, the usual thing is that it does not arrive with the first period but within the following year.
In painful menstruation, the leading cause has been identified: increased production by the uterus of substances called prostaglandins. These substances are similar to those produced during childbirth for uterine contraction and are released by the uterine lining (endometrium) when it is preparing to detach. Prostaglandins cause the uterus to contract and relax so that the endometrium detaches and leaves the body (the period). An excess of this substance is what can lead to aches and pains.
On some occasions, this compound can enter the bloodstream and reach the intestines, causing the small intestine’s muscle tissue to contract and cause diarrhea.
What menstrual cramps are like
They are described as dull pressure associated with spasms or cramps inside the pelvis. It usually affects both sides, reaching the lumbar region and sometimes the upper thighs.
- Mild cases: the discomfort lasts for a day.
- Moderate cases: symptoms last 2 or 3 days and only occasionally alter daily activity.
- Severe cases: lasts between 3 and 7 days, significantly interfering with daily activity and sometimes presenting unbearable menstrual cramps. Other symptoms such as vomiting, tiredness, headache, and pain in the lumbar region may also occur. In this-case, it would be necessary to visit with a specialist since there could be some health problem.
Menstrual pain is more frequent than it may seem since it affects women between 30 and 50%. It is more common and intense among those who have not given birth and, in general, decreases as age increases, regardless of whether you have given birth.
Other factors associated with painful periods are: having heavy bleeding, having long periods, having had your period at a very young age, or having irregular periods.
How to relieve menstruation pain
To remove paint from the period, it seeks to achieve one of these: reduce inflammation, limit the production of prostaglandins, block pain or increase blood flow in the uterus. For this, we have different remedies and treatments to apply according to the intensity and response of each patient to them:
- Basic measures:
- Local heat
- Regular moderate exercise
- The first line of treatment
- Analgesics such as NSAIDs and Paracetamol
- Hormonal treatment: Combined contraceptives or only based on gestates
- The second line of treatment:
- Electrostimulation (TENS)
- GnRH analogs
- Surgery
- Supportive therapies
- Acupuncture
- Diet and food supplements
Heat for menstrual pain
The heat helps relax the uterus and, at the same time, improves blood flow. It can be applied with a hot water bottle on the belly or a bag of cherry bones. Some studies match their effectiveness to that of treatments such as Ibuprofen, with the advantage of combining them since they have no side effects.
Regular exercise practice
There is evidence of the benefit of exercise in reducing menstrual pain. The mechanism by which it occurs involves the increase in the production of natural progestogens and the decrease in the production of pain mediators, contributing to improved dysmenorrhea, especially in sedentary women, while improving other aspects of patients’ health.
What medications to take when our period hurts
Anti-inflammatories, such as Ibuprofen, are an effective way to relieve menstrual cramps because they inhibit the production of prostaglandins, which cause uterine contractions and inflammation.
Paracetamol can also be effective as an analgesic, but the absence of anti-inflammatory action makes its effectiveness less.
Electrostimulation (TENS) for menstrual pain
It consists of a small machine that sends a soft, low-voltage electric current over the skin. This alters the body’s ability to perceive pain signals and stimulates the natural production of endorphins. TENS is typical in rehabilitation, physiotherapy, and other pain units.
This treatment can be associated with pharmacological therapies increasing the effectiveness of both.
Surgery
This is the final step of menstrual pain treatment. There are times when-surgery will be indicated as a diagnostic method to find the cause of dysmenorrhea (diagnostic laparoscopy), and at other times, it will be the method to eradicate the organic cause of that pain (hysterectomy, endometrial ablation, excision of foci of endometriosis )
Usual treatments of menstrual pain
As for the treatment of menstrual pain, women with mild symptoms who have not started sexual activity are usually prescribed anti-inflammatories and do not need to go to the gynecologist to undergo a genital examination.
In moderate or severe cases or women with sexual activity, it is advisable to visit the specialist since he will carry out a complete pelvic examination, being desirable the realization of an ultrasound. As we have mentioned before, sometimes pain can be a symptom of pelvic diseases such as endometriosis, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, complications of previous surgery, etc.
In almost all cases, except in women who wish to take contraceptives, anti-inflammatories are used between 3 and 6 months. Most respond to treatment (70-90%), and its effect begins to be noticed in 30-60 minutes, so the lack of response should make suspect the existence of an organic problem.
Finally, it is essential to underline the need to reassure the patient because most of the discomfort is related to ovulatory cycles and has a good prognosis in the medium term.
Detox diet: is it good to change your diet for smoothies?
The detox diet is one of the miracle diets that continues to gain popularity. The arrival of summer means a boom in this supposedly effective, miraculously fast, and very unhealthy diet, even though health professionals have reiterated their danger and dismantled the supposed benefits they promote.
The star slogan of the detox diet is based on the supposed need to detoxify or purify our body based on fruit and vegetable shakes, proposing an exclusive intake of this type of preparation several days a week so that they become substitutes of the usual daily diet.
Likewise, the detox diet encourages you to combine this practice with the consumption of water with lemon to purify the liver or tea combined only with fruits and vegetables until you reach the desired weight. Added to this is the dangerous practice of adding substances such as activated carbon, used for gastrointestinal washes, in some juices prepared for the detox diet, alluding to greater effectiveness.
In addition to categorically rejecting these potentially dangerous practices for our body, it is necessary to eliminate the belief that our body needs to detoxify itself and replace a healthy diet with a detox-diet based on smoothies and juices will achieve this.
Our liver, along with other organs such as the kidneys, is responsible for eliminating toxins and filtering metabolic waste to stop them, for example, through urine. Therefore, the only valid definition of intoxication when we talk about the human body refers to chemical substances, such as alcohol or other drugs.
Under normal conditions, our body cleanses itself and eliminates the toxins we may have. Otherwise, not even the detox diet would be able to stop them.
Detox diet: what happens to our body
Following the detox diet for a long time is dangerous for your health. In addition to the restriction of the food groups necessary for the proper functioning of the body, the detox diet is an excessively hypocaloric diet that will cause an immediate rebound effect on our weight when we return to our usual food intake.
But, in addition to this dreaded consequence, the detox diet has other effects on our body that can be very dangerous:
- Dehydration: When we eliminate such primary products as meat, fish, or legumes from our diet and replace them with shakes as proposed by the detox diet, we are ingesting an excess of liquid that can cause intestinal problems and make us dehydrated.
- Excess oxalic acid: Oxalate or oxalic acid is present to a great extent in some vegetables such as spinach, chard, or beets. This organic acid prevents some essential minerals in our body from being absorbed correctly, such as calcium or magnesium. In addition to the fact that the lack of absorption of these minerals poses a danger to our health, the excessive intake of oxalic acid in the detox diet can cause serious consequences such as the formation of kidney stones.
- Nutritional imbalance: This diet does not provide the sufficient and correct proportion of carbohydrates, proteins, and fats to meet daily energy expenditure with guarantees.
- Loss of muscle mass: When the body does not have the energy to function, it uses the glucose reserves first and our muscles’ fat and protein reserves later. The restriction of food in the detox diet slows down the functioning of the metabolism. It produces a rebound effect in which fat accumulates more quickly when we return to our usual eating patterns.
There are no miracles when it comes to losing weight.
The rapid weight loss promised by the detox diet is achieved by acquiring dangerous habits for our health, as is the case with all diets that restrict eating to a single food group and promise miraculous effects.
Highly hypocaloric diets should only be carried out under medical prescription, as in the case of severe obesity or pathologies that require food restriction.
The type of fruit and vegetable intake promulgated by the detox diet has nothing to do with the eating habits of a healthy diet. These products must indeed be present, but never as the only option to lose weight or attribute false properties.
The restriction of fundamental food groups in the detox diet means that we do not consume the nutrients necessary for the functioning of our body, which can have severe repercussions on our health.
Suppose we want to lose weight healthily and avoid the dreaded rebound effect. In that case, it is essential to consult a nutrition specialist who can advise us on the eating plan that best suits us based on our lifestyle and physical condition.
How can i help you