Yeah this is me I never take any. And I also never tell anyone when I am on my period and so I act like I am perfectly fine always. Even tho fr sometimes I wanna collapse on the ground and just lay there 💀
@@_Host_7900 What? If you feel like you need it, you should be taking it, ask a teacher or a friend. You shouldn't wait for permission to take meds, it's torture, (unless your allergic to all of them), but even so, you could drink tea, there are plenty that could reduce the pain, like oregano, ginger, rosemary, cinnamon, lavender, peppermint, fennel, green tea, mango leaves tea, or agnus-castus.
Uhh remember girls that some cases need the doctor, not pain killers. I know girls that would take pain killers EVERY HOUR and still suffer, it's not worth it. I actually wonder how did we came to normalising the whole pain while many of us that are healthly don't feel anything
healthy people don't feel anything??? We normalize the pain because most women go through a lot of pain from what I know, and I sure hope most women don't happen to also have serious health issues
@@caitlyn189 I mean, it is normal to feel pain during a period, yes. But in many cases from what I've heard there are some illneses or other stuff that make the pain so intense. I know some women and I am one of them who don't feel the period cramps for me it's just sometimes but not enough to take pain killers or something since later it dissappears after couple minutes. But not many people know about it and many women think it's normal if it hurts so much they even pass out.
You ask how it’s normalized? I told my Registered Nurse Practitioner (doctor shortage in Canada) that it’s so bad I can’t stand up and regular painkillers had no effect. You know her response? It’s different for everyone. This is normal for you, and she refused to refer me to a specialist. I got no special prescription. It was 5 years later when I finally found a doctor and I was referred to a specialist right away.
I had normalized my pain until someone around me mentioned it isn't normal for me to be bedridden. I told my doctor, they tried me on a scheduled pain med and it didn't touch the pain. That's when she knew there was something medically wrong. Unfortunately after 4 or so years we still haven't found conclusive evidence since I refuse to have exploratory surgery. I can't take pain meds anymore because my body became vulnerable to them, and the one supplement that helped ease the pain slightly, stopped being produced by the company. It is true that as a society pain has been ignored as a symptom for too long. Unfortunately medical science is still being explored and we don't get the answers we need sometimes
mint tea, you guys!! a cup of warm mint tea helps with period cramps and bloating. whether it be peppermint tea from the store or fresh picked mint, ive found that both work well !!
This is something I just can't do.....cause I passed out once cause I refused..... Now I take pain killers even when its not horrible and its just uncomfortable........
Thats concerning, have you consulted a doctor about that? Period cramps at an extremely high intensity can be a sign of illnesses, such as endometriosis
@@isbahfatima4451as someone who did ask, I wish it were that easy. I just got told to take more pain meds before my cramps started as a preemptive attempt to make them more bearable.
Taking too much ibuprofen can cause problems and even worsen headaches. I like to be conservative with how often I take painkillers. I also use the pain as an additional signal for if I'm likely to need to change my tampon soon or not. I'll take painkiller on the worst days so it helps but it doesn't actually do a lot. And sometimes it's nice to have something to direct the emotions from all the hormones towards. Heat seems to help most anyway
taking 2 every hour is fine, but if it doesnt work after 3 hours you either need to just sleep it off and take more the next day like 4 every hour and a half, or get prescribed meds. or advil, tylenol, midol.
@@ambrosesky No, do not ever do this. The typical dosage for a tablet is 200mg, you should not be exceeding 1200mg in a 24 hour period, so that is two tablets every 4-6 hours.
@@ambrosesky At least where I live doctors (and google) tell you not to take one more often than every 4-6 hours. And preferably not more than 3 per day. Though they can be mixed with other types of similar pain killers to make the effect stronger. Also never take them on an empty stomach.
I was one of those people two. Because my dad was a hater and called me weak and a drug addict for wanting painkillers. Years later of no contact, confirmed i have endometriosis, i take my pain-killers in peace with my birth control so i don't think i die all the time.
Okay but I'll literally text my friends about how I'm gonna die and they'll be like "did you take anything for it?" And I'm like... "Oh, I forgot I was allowed to do that." If you're neglected growing up you start to get weird about self care lol, especially if you add in poverty trauma... Medicine like pain pills are "expensive" (POV you get told not to waste medicine while your parent smokes in front of you inside your home). Turning the lights down and suffering is probably what her mom made her do when she had cramps as a teenager and now she literally has just internalized her toughness as a point of pride because to admit that she's perpetrating a cycle of abuse on herself would be realize her parents abused her, and "my parents beat me and I turned out just fine" is the level of denial a lot of people have.
I usually only take meds when the pain is absolutely unbearable. When I'm just uncomfortable I tend to wait for it to get better on its own, partially because I absolutely hate taking meds but also because I don't want my body to build tolerance to the meds, so when I do need to take something it works the best way possible (I know this doesn't make any sense but in my head it does, so don't judge me please)
No actually it makes sense as I read somewhere since nowadays we take antibiotics for even trivial things we're becoming drug resistance which is also scary.
It makes sense, as the amount of painkillers every woman would take in the course of years is definitely not healthy. Try Pineapple instead. My gyn told me that it helps with the pain and feeling of bloated abdomen. Start to eat or drink pineapple juice about 1 week before your period starts and continue it during your period. It helped me. I'm not sure if it helps everybody, but it's worth a try. It's definitely the healthier option.
I think youre actually right and its a well known thing you can build tolerance to drugs. As well as becoming addicted and it having negative impact on your health. I follow the same mindset. I have seen a few articles actually being worries about people using painkillers too much. But I get some people truly need them
Bruh it totally makes sense. I used to take cramp meds before, and afterwards it felt like it didn't even work. Now I have to take higher doses but only for unbearable times (・∀・)
I remember as a student I was doing this internship and I got period cramps but I stubbornly didn’t want to take a pain killer. Well I must have looked miserable because my supervisor started asking jokingly whether I have done something wrong. I tried to reassure him I hadn’t but he was like, “No, you have this weird expression on your face, I can tell something’s up, just tell me what you did!” Anyway, that made me realize that even when I *think* I’m handling it well I probably look miserable, and should just take pain killers and stop scaring people 😂
I don't take pain killers for periods unless I have a migraine. Fetal position actually makes the pain worse, doing a squat with your legs as open as they possibly can be is the most helpful position for period pain
@@cassandrabelyeu2419 Yeah, personally I find that this is GENERALLY true for me, but I always have to keep shifting positions every now and then no matter what position I try, and sometimes the position that helps for a bit before I have to shift again even happens to be fetal.
2 things. 1) if your period is actually this painful, go see a gynecologist or at least your primary care dr. Make them listen. If they don’t, get a second opinion. And 2) ladies, if your period’s normal, drink SO MUCH water on your period. Like double what you normally do. The cramps will be less, the bloating will be less, the headaches will go away. I’m serious, if you’re painkiller-averse like I am, just drink so much water
What if one is absolutely terrified to see gynecologist? Gynecologists caused me possibly the worst pain I have ever experienced when trying to install IUD some years ago and Id legit rather die than go through even 30 seconds of that same pain again. Cant even be in the same setting without panicking. Im lucky to not have severe menstrual problems, but for some seing a gynecologist may not be an option for similiar reasons
It's not about being "weak" for me. I don't take pain meds either, and I do have those days where the cramps and the ocular migraine decide to hit at the same time. For me it's more about knowing how the pain meds work, knowing how they affect people long term, and understanding that that's not a road I necessarily want to start down. A lot of painkillers if taken somewhat regularly, begin to lose their effectiveness. I'd rather have that effectiveness available in case of an injury or surgery. Although, to be fair I didn't take any painkillers after my laparoscopic abdominal surgery either.
Try magnesium, It Is not a medicine and It can take away most of the pain by relaxing your muscles and also helps during Summer when It Is hot and you loose liquids
@@estyria777You're welcome! Be careful with the quantity, It usually one dose only a day and It would be Better to take It for a week before cramps but sometimes I just take some when needed during trips. Bye, stay healty!
IMPORTANT - IF YOU'RE PERIODS ARE LIKE THIS RESEARCH YOURSELF THEN SEE A DOCTOR. THIS IS NOT NORMAL! as someone who suspects endometriosis (diagnosis takes average 8 years in England) my doctor told me to take 2 paracetamols every 4 hours and then when I'm in pain take an ibuprofen on top of that cause I told her painkillers don't work. I refuse to listen to her😭 my cousin is taking morphine based medicines and even she says they don't help her.
@@_kaleido they do that so often. Don't listen to them. Do your own research, be your own advocate and demand your own treatments. Thankfully the doctor I got this time listens to me, especially because I have a family history of endometriosis and I'm writing an academic paper on it but she's asking me to choose my own methods of diagnosis and treatment but mostly pushing for birth control you need to know what you prioritise, not what the doctor prefers
@@_kaleido also when I was younger, all they used to do was feel my stomach and then tell me it's in my head and that I must have anxiety. One doctor said it's normal. The most they ever did was one doctor gave me ibuprofen and another, he was the best, gave me an ultrasound. Unfortunately he didn't do it so that I had to not eat before and drink water he just did it on the spot. Now that I'm older,I've had another ultrasound with the four hours not eating before and chugging a lot of water. I used to always get rushed into A&E. Know that u know best if something is wrong with you
@@-brxken-7789That is really interesting, I didn't even know there were alternatives to birth control when pain killers don't work. If you have the time, could you maybe share a few options?
I'm also an endometriosis suspect, and yeah, the pain is just terrible. The issue is that a lot of doctors are not taking it seriously when you tell them about it.
Lol, that's my reaction to my period cramps WITH painkillers (I have PCOS, so my cramps are downright awful, and no painkillers touch it, including ibuprofen, Tylenol, advil, mitol, etc. My flow is also super heavy, so I'm basically constantly curled up in a ball, lol
@@IronRalts It's possible you do have something and don't know it. A classic theme with endo sufferers is that painkillers do little to nothing for the pain. If pain is bad enough to stop you functioning normally then it is *abnormal*. It took me 16yrs of suffering, being gaslit and having to fight to be taken seriously before I disovered I have endometriosis. Codeine, tramadol - even a brief stint on morphine - nothing touches the pain for me. Paracetamol and ibuprofen etc are a joke. It may be worth you exploring the possibility of having endometriosis or a simialar condition (adenomyosis, pcos etc). Remember that even if you've had an 'all clear' on a scan that doesn't mean you don't have endo. It rarely shows on ultrasound etc. Mine didn't, I only had it confirmed with a laparoscopy. I hope you find relief and answers
If that only occurs with period pain, it might be endometriosis or adenomyosis, not just normal period pain. Worth checking out, because it only gets worse over time if it's left untreated. If painkillers don't work for you in most/all cases, you might not respond to them and might need opioids for stronger pain, also worth talking to your doc about.
Y’all do know that this can be a trauma response, right? Like, growing up being denied basic needs or just not having them met, possibly due to poverty or negligence of their parents. It’s also associated with ADHD in women.
I literally can’t without painkillers… I once threw up and passed out from cramps in like, December and since then I cannot get through day 2 without it
I‘m so mad I only just discovered that I can use painkillers against period cramps in my early twenties. I‘ve been having torturous pain since my first period at 11 and no one ever told me I could just take a pill. I always felt like I had to suffer through it because it’s „natural“. Funnily enough every time I had a headache or something my parents‘ first reaction would always be „take a pain killler“. I still don’t understand it.
What is the need for avoiding modern medicine. Modern medicine is incredibly effective and works, hence why our life expectancy has more than doubled since its inception.
@@alpheendomination I am not opposed to modern medicine, just some painkillers such as ibuprofen are not good for your liver and shoulder be taken sparingly. That being said, you have to have other pain management methods in their place or else you will end up immobilized with pain😬
And acetaminophen depletes your glutathione. Yes, it works, but these drugs are not good for your health long-term. It's good advice to only take them if you need them.
@alpheendomination Besides what was already stated, a lot of painkillers tend to destroy the stomach and create ulcers. Patients in need of painkillers are getting usually stomach protection medication along with the painkillers, which is not the case with period pain. And do not forget the risk of addictions. Modern medicine recognises risk and effectiveness too, which means that the doctors usually are talking to the patient if the side effects do not overshadow the benefits.
I am 45 and have always had horrible cramps. I alternate between ibuprofen and midol. I also lay on a heating pad. My 17 year old has PCOS but still refuses pain meds. I feel so sad when she's in pain. 😢
I remember taking a lot of painkillers when I was younger that I was scared I was gonna get addicted 😭 I had chronic headaches too but now they’re better.
My pain is so unbearable that I don‘t ever go to school on the first day of period and sometime I cry so much more often than not and I hate it so much.
I don't like taking them because chugging water to make them go down makes me feel like I'm just going to throw them back up anyway. I started taking them early so the pain doesn't have time to hit, but then it just feels like it's stuck in my throat. I still take them, but I hate them either way.
Some people want to let the pain pass instead of putting something unnatural into their body. I'm one of those people, and I can respect anyone who takes a different approach, but don't see why my choices shouldn't also be respected. I'll take medicine if I really need it, but I don't take it lightly since a lot of medicines can mess with your body if you take them frequently.
idk why i do this but its so true. if i get a headache on any other day i will chug a bottle of pain killers(not actually) but the minute its because of my period (or sometimes i just don't wanna) i will refuse pain killers
I've found that if I drink coconut water/electrolyte heavy drinks other than just water on the first day of my period, I can lessen period cramps which usually appear on day 2. Idk if that helps anyone but thought I'd put that out there.
Same for me - the more hydrated I am (and zero caffeine/sugar) in the day or two leading up to the start, the less pain there is and sometimes the faster the heaviness is over. It’s a lot of bathroom breaks, but that’s way better than hurting.
Every time I'm so thankful that I'll only be slightly uncomfortable at worst. On the other hand. I have had so many accidents because I have forgotten about my periods. 😂
I truly believe we were not designed to be in the workforce full time BECAUSE of our periods. All i want to do when bleeding is just sit on a toilet. Its so hard to be at work during that week.
I’m a person who doesn’t get periods regularly, (It might be because I was a four sport athlete and trained all the time and I barely ate anything.) but when I did get periods, my cramps would be terrible. I usually didn’t take pain killers because I was afraid to mention it to people because of anxiety. Idk it was just weird that I hesitated to ask. But you know, whatever. Lol
Yes and each month is different, sometimes I am in full on pain for two days and sometimes it's just a few hours. But I do take painkillers when I have to work or be very active.
As a transgender man who had PMDD, and whose testosterone finally ended that hellish nightmare; I can attest to any AMAB individuals who are complaining about their beards... ... Periods are a LOT worse!!
For me it's best to walk. I struggle with it since some days just waking up is too painful but I have learnt that walking will decrease the pain for me so even when it's hard I'd convince myself to walk to make it better. I don't do this when I'm clearly needed to rest. Just learn to read my body's signal. If I know I won't passed out I'll walk. May not be for everyone of course. When I'm at school I would asked to go to the bed room and walked slowly there, around a bit, then come back. 😊
I used to be like that, legit it would seem like if I suffered the most on the first day, the rest of the days feel like nothing as long as I dont push myself.
This reminds me of when I was 15 and to ashamed to ask for pain medication( Second year of having a period it was “normal” with cramps and a everything else now)
I used to think the painkillers would stop working if i took them too much, turns out 1-2 days (luckily i only hurt like hell in the beginning) out of a month wont do that so i learned my lesson✌️
I once had a tooth that rotted out because I wasn’t really taking care of myself. Constant agony. Didn’t actually tell anyone about it until after a month of pain, because I wanted to see if it’d get better on its own. I am now very willing to take pain medicine.
Except painkiller overuse causes all sorts of issues down the line that can be major - GERD and various reflux related conditions, damage to the stomach lining, ulcers, heart problems, interaction with thyroid medication… ladies, don’t let the doctor just throw a pill at you. If it hurts there is a reason and you deserve to know so that you don’t spend a whole life band-aiding with pills whose side effects you soon have to mitigate with MORE pills.
I was like this for a few years. In hs tylenol didnt really work so i switched to ibuprofen, but a few years later that started to stop my period, after only one pill. So i just stopped taking painkillers. I've made some changes and now im good with Midol.
Also found that I had I high amount of Omega 6 in my diet, and low Omega 3. I increased my Omgea 3 because both Omegas are needed for the hormones to shed the lining. My pain had been steadily increasing and once I started the Omega 3 it went down to totally manageable levels. Also instead of being drawn out 6-8 days it was only taking 4-5.
It’s like I’m playing a game with myself, ‘how long can I survive without pain killers?’ Because in all honesty if I do take meds I often just feel worse....anyone else? And can you just let me in agony in peace is a mood
Honestly for me after I change me pad after my bad cramps the pain comes down a bit and I personally feel alot better. The pain really does act like a timer which tells u when 2 change
I’m so happy My period stopped. My periods were pure toture..Heavy bleeding, throwing up from water retention, painful cramps.. Menopause was a breeze for me. One hot flash and my period completely stopped..
Ibuprofen creates stomach ulcers and is bad for the kidneys (and probably the liver) while Tylenol is bad for the liver. Aspirin is a blood thinner. Every medication has side effects, if they didn't they also wouldn't work. You and your doctor have to decide if it's worth it and if the pain is bad enough that you can't function it usually is. From personal experience as a chronic pain patient there's a point where you don't care about the risks anymore, you just want the pain to go away.
I used to take pain killers because I suffered so much, I couldn‘t even live my life anymore. Just going to school was pure torture. The weight of my own blanket was too much to bear. I remember a week where I managed to finish the whole 5-hour school only once, despite trying every day. The problem? This was while I was on pain killers slightly stronger than people with my weight back then should take. I was able to stop taking painkillers, so my body eventually wasn’t used ti the constant medication anymore and actually responding to it when I really needed it, once I started taking the pill, and nowadays I never take pain killers. I may sometimes have to bend because the pain is too much, but I remember how bad it used to be. This is nothing compared to what I used to endure. And I never want my body to get used to medication ever again. I would only take pain killers if the constant pain would be too much, but it’s okay enough for me to go about my day. The really horrible pain comes in waves for me, about a minute a couple of times during the first day I’m on my period. This is not a lot of time, it’s something I can live with. Especially if the alternative is regular medication for simply a few minutes of pain relief per month. What I want to say with this, is that even though people who need pain killers should obviously take them, there can be reasons not to, even if it might look like the only logical decision for somebody else. And sometimes it might look worse for others than it actually is, because we are used to the pain (if it’s that bad though go to a doctor to check this out. It shouldn’t be this bad. Personally I hope I’ll find an answer to my own pain soon) and because just ranting about our period really helps sometimes xD
I used to only ever take Advil if I absolutely could not tough it out with my heatpad or couldn't use it, but nowadays Advil doesnt even help. So I just have to suffer if I don't have my heatpad. Heatpads are the best.
This is exactly me. I always refuse to take painkillers because I don’t want to be weak and my parents keep trying to convince me to take them. I’d much rather distract myself from the pain by getting so focused on a project that I can’t feel my body anymore.
I remember that i didn’t meds to help my cramps when i was on my period (5th grade till high school) till 9th grade because my mom never told me I could have taken them but luckily my older sister told me and i felt so much better taking some for my cramps.
I think if you can handle not using the painkillers its probably best not to use them because they do damage your health, and its even a health concern nowadays that people use too much, too often. Its good to learn some general pain tolerance also. But I get it if the pain is truly unbearable. Im a woman who dont take painkillers for mensturation either. I did take it one one day my entire life (Im not 28) when the pains were really extreme. But they havent been quite that bad ever since (have been somewhat bad at times to the point where I cant relax), was probably sick in addition.
My mom always told me to take painkillers and suck it up and not have children if I couldn't handle the pain. Turns out I have a hormone imbalance. Girls are raised to just deal with it, it's normal, and you're weak and dramatic if you can't handle it.
I have a tilted uterus that has to do extra work while shedding, and I can't comprehend that someone can suffer through their first period day without meds. If I don't take them before the cramps fully kick in, it gets so bad I'm almost passing out (my mom had the same condition and she actually did)
NSAIDS can cause ulcers over time. Once you get a stomach ulcer, you won't be able to take NSAIDS for a long time, if ever. When you are able to take them it will be in very small doses like 1 pill a day for three days a month or something. Obviously, this isn't going to happen to everyone but NSAIDS are useful for a lot of things not just period cramps so people sometimes take more than they should without noticing.
The only reason I don’t is to keep my pain tolerance higher just in case there’s the day that I don’t have painkillers available. I’ll be able to function better if I’ve built up the tolerance
I have always had irregular periods, and maybe the past 7 years I've been taking 2 ibuprofen tablets on the first day of a heavy period when the pain starts coming in (bc I can get full body chills + cramps are so bad), but after I take the pills, I'm fine and don't need to retake them or anything for the whole cycle. Is this good? I don't want to feel like I'm overdoing...
shout out to all who have prescribed meds for your ungodly period pain, and every month you go for the refill the pharmacist calls the doctor asking why this woman needs tranquilizers, only to overhear “Just Give Her the Meds!” and watch every month the pharmacist be screamed at by your doctor
I don't take pain killers even though I have really bad cramps at 14 years old. Too much medicine can cause side effects, especially at young ages. Ultimately, YOU SHOULD PICK WHAT YOU WANT TO DO..but people have their own choices.
I dont feel any cramps. My whole life, i can remember only 5 times where i actually had cramps and it was the most gut wrenching toe curling pain ive ever felt. Id stay on the floor of my bathroom with my mind going blank unable to get up. These cramps were stress induced, i was graduating high school by then... but its not like the gyno i went to was of any help, i figured it out myself. I dont wish cramps on anyone. If you feel anything at all you deserve a gynocologist that will take you seriously. Treat yourself, your uterus is supposed to be part of you not trying to kill you
People do this?? I be taking ibuprofen like it's candy while using a heating pad on high 24/7. They must be a masochist cause it's beyond miserable to not be on ibuprofen, either that or their periods are not super painful (I had a childhood friend who didn't get cramps, lucky bastard lol), some people have them so painful that they throw up and pass out...
For period pain I've found that a heat pad can make the pain so much more bearable and the combination of buscopan and either ibuprofen or paracetamol help me the most.
Women don't understand what red flags these things can be. Not always, but often enough to take it seriously and look into medical advice. I used to think massively heavy bleeding and pain that took my breath away on days 2 and 3 of my period was normal. Turned out I had a myoma the size of a softball in my uterus and it required an open abdominal myomectomy and I lost part of my fundus during the procedure. Thankfully, I could still carry two pregnancies to full term afterwards, but I required medically necessary planned C-sections for both. 😕
It’s more complicated than this! Before I was on the pill, if I didn’t catch the very beginning of my period and take ibuprofen exactly then, it was 5 hours of pain. And the difference between different types of painkillers and which ones are effective or not and when is a whole thing too. Sometimes the answer is just bed with a hot water bottle.🤷♀️
This is me (except for the light sensitivity, I think). My periods only hurt for one or two days out of the seven usually, so I thug it out all the time. My parents ask if I want pain meds anytime I mention it and I decline. I don't want my body to get accustomed to taking pain meds every time I'm hurting because I'm worried it will lower my pain tolerance without meds. 😅 As much as the first day or two sucks, I'm back to feeling fine (but plus more extreme chocolate cravings) for the rest. 🤪😂
I am this person. I get cramps, but ngl it’s a 6 on the pain scale. I feel like it’ll train my pain tolerance and it’s a good thing. I don’t know, it never gets too severe. A normal level at most. The usual clenching your middle and under-eating, but never more than that.
If my cramps are okay or just uncomfortable, I usually say no to meds, but I sometimes throw up from how bad my cramps are, so having medication during those times is not a choice for me. (I should honestly probably get checked out for that, but I don’t wanna bring it up)
