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Getting your period is a normal and necessary part of becoming a woman. For most females, the menstrual period is a mild inconvenience; but for some, periods can become a nightmare. Excruciating pain and discomfort during your cycle can disrupt your life with no end in sight, as the cycle repeats, stealing your joy a week at a time each month.
While some girls are lucky to experience painless and seemingly easy periods, there are others who endure shockingly painful periods every single month. If you’re having painful periods as a teen, you may also have a lot of worried, sleepless nights. If you’re up awake, in excruciating pain, wondering if it means something is wrong — you’re not alone.
Some girls have described their menstrual experience as sharp pains up the back and spine or twisting in the ovaries. Other pains include throbbing, cramping, and aching. Are these symptoms something to panic about? Painful periods are no fun for anyone, but especially in the teenage stage of a woman's life, it’s confusing and scary to experience this discomfort for the first time. It can bring a lot of fear and stress to a young girl whose body is changing.
Luckily, there are ways to manage painful periods. You’re in the right place if you are looking for guidance on coping with and relieving your period discomfort. Many young women experience pain during their periods and symptoms are different for each body. Do you need help figuring out if the pain you’re experiencing is normal or something more concerning?
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Tracking your level of pain experienced during your monthly menstruation is important and can be done by keeping a diary or downloading a menstrual tracking app. Sometimes painful periods can be a sign of a more serious problem, such as endometriosis or uterine fibroids. On the other hand, your painful periods might just be your body’s normal.
If you’re unsure, there is no harm in reaching out to an online OBGYN to discuss your pain and find out if there is an underlying cause. When you schedule an appointment, your physician can also help you manage the pain with treatment options. It is always better to be knowledgeable and inquisitive about your body as a growing girl, rather than assuming that everything must be fine.
Let me start by giving this condition a name: dysmenorrhea.
Dysmenorrhea is the medical term for painful menstrual cycles, or periods. It can be diagnosed as a primary or secondary condition:
Primary: starts with a person’s first period and is present for the vast majority of cycles
Secondary: caused by a physical abnormality or disease, such as endometriosis or fibroids
When treating primary dysmenorrhea, there is not a physical cause that can be pointed to for the pain. The pain is thought to be caused by abnormal uterine contractions; likely hormone-related. Secondary dysmenorrhea has an obvious cause that once addressed, should reduce or resolve the pain.
If you experience menstrual pain that interferes with your daily life, it is important to discuss this with a healthcare provider. If the pain is manageable, but uncomfortable, it is typically okay to try over-the-counter medications such as ibuprofen or other nonsteroidal anti inflammatories (NSAIDs).
Heating pads may also help with discomfort. Many young people may benefit from keeping a menstrual cycle journal on paper or using one of the many phone apps available. This may allow them to see if they have any triggers that worsen their pain with their cycles, such as caffeine or alcohol. It may also allow them to identify patterns about when their pain appears so that they may be able to premedicate with NSAIDs.
Besides NSAIDs, another medication that is recommended is oral contraception, or the birth control pill. The birth control pill works to prevent surges in hormones that are normal during a menstrual cycle and to suppress ovulation. Many times, this ovulation suppression will be enough to help with the pain; but if not, the pill may be taken continuously so that bleeding does not occur.
If these methods do not help the pain, or the pain is unbearable, it may be time to speak with your gynecologist. My Virtual Physician's Las Vegas OBGYN can provide virtual evaluation including ordering additional tests to see what is causing your pain. Tests may include imaging like ultrasound, CT scan, or MRI.
If these imaging tests do not show a cause, your doctor may recommend more drastic measures, like hysteroscopy, to get to the root of the problem. Additional medications may also be prescribed to help treat the underlying condition. Finally, surgical treatment may also be an option if all other conservative methods fail, but it is usually a last resort. Whichever treatment you decide on, keep your desire for future fertility in mind as it can be affected by some treatment options.
Painful menstrual cycles can be difficult to deal with and can also be scary. It is hard to know what normal pain is versus an underlying problem. If the thought of going to a gynecologist for the first time seems intimidating, consider scheduling a virtual doctor appointment, so you can skip the speculum and have a positive first experience.
The trusted Las Vegas OBGYN Specialists from Virtual Gynecology can discuss these types of issues along with a multitude of other important health measures. It is also wonderful to establish a relationship with a provider who will be able to answer these types of questions for you in the future and who can hopefully help to remove some of the anxiety surrounding these questions.
Thank you to Dr. Danielle Prentice and Dr. Jocelyn Fitzgerald for being guest bloggers for this series of blogs, Things Teenage Girls Always Wanted to Know About Gynecology. To learn more about painful periods, schedule a virtual doctor appointment with our Las Vegas OBGYN.
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