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Symptoms of pubertal dysmenorrhea
Last reviewed: 04.07.2025
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Currently, the onset of dysmenorrhea in 75% of cases coincides with menarche, and only in every fourth patient do symptoms of dysmenorrhea occur 1-4 years after menarche.
The main symptom of dysmenorrhea is pain syndrome. Monthly expectation of pain affects general well-being, emotional and mental activity. Questioning patients often helps to establish family cases of dysmenorrhea - the presence of the disease in the mother or close relatives.
With the predominance of sympathetic vegetative tone, girls, in addition to painful sensations, complain of:
- heart pain and palpitations;
- mood changes (internal tension and anxiety, insecurity, obsessive fears, pessimism, up to the development of depression);
- intense migraine-type headache;
- intestinal dysfunction (intestinal colic due to spasm of arterioles, constipation);
- sleep disturbances, including insomnia;
- general weakness and dizziness;
- increased body temperature with chills or internal trembling;
- increased sweating and the appearance of red spots on the neck in the form of a vascular necklace;
- nausea;
- increased frequency of urination;
- feeling of heat.
Skin pallor and acrocyanosis, pupil dilation are noted. With the prevalence of the parasympathetic type of response to menstrual pain, a different clinical picture develops. Patients complain of:
- bloating and diarrhea;
- noticeable weight gain before menstruation;
- swelling of the face and limbs;
- decreased performance;
- drowsiness;
- the appearance of itching or allergic reactions;
- decrease in body temperature and blood pressure;
- vomiting and increased salivation during an attack of pain;
- increased chilliness during an attack of pain; attacks of suffocation accompanying the pain;
- convulsions and fainting during an attack of pain;
- the emergence of passive-defensive behavioral reactions.
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