Tips To Tackle Menstrual Cramps
When you’re on your period, things can be hard. Exercising, feeling positive, eating healthily-menstruation can make all these more challenging. States like fatigue, mood swings and cramps are faced by most women during periods, making it a dreaded time. And there is disturbed sleep, often caused by period pains in the abdomen, back and thighs.
Even though the symptoms of periods are different in different women, cramps are a common forerunner of that one special monthly phase. While some lucky ladies might just feel an achiness or slight tension in their backs or abdomen at the onset of their periods, other women can get shooting pains that disrupted their lives. Since your uterus is essentially one large, pear-shaped muscle, those pangs can radiate through the entire lower back and belly area and thighs. The pain may start before your period or when your period begins. Menstrual cramps last about 1 to 3 days.
What’s are the most important tips to be followed?
- During this phase, reduce your sodium intake before your period if you deal with regular bloating and look out, especially, for high sodium levels in soups.
- Drinking plenty of water and eating potassium-rich foods and exercising helps with bloating.
- Don’t bring changes in your schedule of sleeping, and aim for a relaxing ritual before bed: chamomile tea, hot shower.
To help alleviate cramps further, you can follow certain yoga poses such as “Cobbler pose”, “Head to Knee pose”, ‘Seated Straddle pose”, “Seated forward bend” and “Supported Bridge pose”.
You could take mild painkillers to reduce the pain. You also can try using heating pads or taking a warm bath.
Menstrual cramps can thoroughly be a painful topic for most of us, we can pretty much expect how bad they’ll be most months. But there are a few things to be taken care of, If your cramps are so bad that you need to call in sick to work on a regular basis, or in case you experience menstrual cramps that are suddenly different from what you’re used to, or they’re accompanied by other symptoms like abnormal vaginal discharge or bleeding or the painful periods started later in life, then it calls for doctor’s intervention.
Some months are more painful than others, it’s important to know what that could mean. Any changes to your monthly menstrual cycle is good to keep track of, and if you’re suddenly in a lot of pain, or a lot more pain than usual, don’t take the risk of turning a blind eye on it, especially if you’re suddenly bleeding more heavily than usual as well.
The wisest option to realize if your cramps might be pointing to an underlying health problem is to notice if they’re suddenly more intense, or if they’re different from what you usually experience during your period. If you don’t feel any difference after taking painkiller medicines for cramps, or if the pain is lingering well past the point where you’re bleeding has stopped especially when your period is over, but the pain isn’t resolving, immediately make an appointment to see your gynecologist.
Always learn that typical menstrual cramps, no matter how painful they get, should be somehow easy to treat. If the pain you’re experiencing isn’t getting better even after your usual medications or a heating pad, or if the pain is unusual and more severe than you’re used to, it’s a good idea to check in with your doctor to realize what has changed. Your doctor will examine you to figure out any probable underlying conditions that could affect your health and fertility moving forward.
Your doctor may want to do a physical exam, pelvic exam, or tests. These can help diagnose or rule out the cause of your pain. An ultrasound test lets your doctor see if you have ovarian cysts. A laparoscopy can check for endometriosis. Learn more about endometriosis here. In this minor surgery, the doctor makes a small cut in your low stomach.
Over-the-counter medicines can reduce pain. If all is well, you may just need a stronger pain reliever. Your doctor may want you to try using birth control pills or a birth control shot. These can help make your periods less painful.