Pain during menstruation
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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Pain during menstruation, especially severe - is not normal. To put up with pain, rely only on the power of painkillers and wait for an unfavorable moment - not the best solution. The most accurate step should be considered a complete and prompt examination of the gynecologist, which will answer the main question that reveals the true cause of the pain.
A normal menstrual cycle in the body of a healthy woman occurs with minor symptoms of malaise, which is associated with a natural restructuring of the hormonal background. There may be mood swings, a feeling of heaviness in the lower abdomen. A slight soreness before menstruation and / or on its first day is permissible. Any increase in pain indicates the presence of some obstacle to the outflow of menstrual blood from the uterine cavity, or a spasm formed in the muscles of the uterine walls.
The emergence of severe pain, which can lead to a loss of consciousness accompanied by severe nausea, sometimes resulting in vomiting, an increase in body temperature, leads to a disturbance of the emotional background. The expectation of each menstrual cycle occurs against a background of constant stress. All this can adversely affect the general health of a woman and lead to the development of all kinds of pathologies, including a psychoneurological nature.
[Why does pain occur during menstruation?
There can be many reasons for this phenomenon. The original reason, pointed out by most of the scientists and physicians, is contained in the increased content of specific female hormones - prostaglandins. Then follow the following reasons:
- short or insufficient luteal phase;
- Enzymatic dysfunction of the endometrium, leading to a violation of mucous membrane rejection from the walls of the uterus;
- a low pain threshold at which any pain during menstruation is perceived as the strongest irritant.
All the described reasons are characteristic most of all for primary dysmenorrhea. Among the reasons for secondary dysmenorrhea is:
- anatomical pathologies of the uterus, including myomas, adenomyosis;
- all inflammatory processes in the pelvic organs;
- Adhesive process in the abdominal cavity and cavity of the small pelvis, arising after surgical interventions;
- varicose veins of deep pelvic;
- use of intrauterine contraceptives;
- congenital pathologies of genital development;
Pain during menstruation and its types
In different sources there are several names that characterize pain during menstruation - dysmenorrhea and algodismenorea. The difference between these two terms is the intensity of the pain syndrome and the degree of its manifestation. With dysmenorrhea, painful sensations have a place to be and are tolerable enough. While with algodismenosis, pain during menstruation is quite unbearable, leading to temporary disability, up to loss of consciousness. Dysmenorrhea, in turn, is divided into primary, which is characteristic only of nulliparous women, it is associated (mainly) with hormonal and enzymatic imbalances, and secondary dysmenorrhea. Secondary dysmenorrhea implies the presence of diseases or pathological processes occurring in the organs of the small pelvis and is their consequence, eliminated only by the complete cure of the underlying disease.
Who to contact?
How to recognize and treat pain during menstruation?
At home, it is possible to achieve only temporary relief of the pain syndrome by taking painkillers or antispasmodics. To find out and eliminate the root cause, you can only resort to the help of a gynecologist. Examination of pelvic organs by applying ultrasound methods in most cases makes it possible to identify violations and establish the correct diagnosis. If this method is insufficient, diagnostic laparoscopic methods can be performed.
The results of biochemical and clinical blood tests also inform about the woman's health status. Most often you have to take a blood test for the main hormones. This type of analysis is carried out on a certain day of the cycle, which falls on the 5-7 menstrual day.
Hormonal imbalance is relatively easy to level off and takes a little time in the time period. By taking special medications, under constant monitoring of blood test results, the necessary correction is performed, as a result, the natural hormonal background inherent in this woman is restored and the pain during menstruation, which was the cause of the hormonal disorder, is eliminated.
Other types of therapeutic measures depend on the main causes that provoked pain during menstruation. If these are pathological neoplasms in the uterine cavity or other pelvic organs, they should be removed by surgery. In the case of inflammatory processes, pain will disappear after complete removal of the focus of inflammation. However, we should not exclude the possibility that minor soreness will become a constant companion of each menstrual cycle. There are diseases, for example endometriosis, which are difficult to cure. In such cases, in addition to the treatment of the underlying disease, constant use of painkillers is necessary.
In any case, whatever the reasons for pain during menstruation, it is easier and more reliable to deal with them together with a gynecologist.