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I had worse ones when I was younger. The discomfort would be about like having a muscle kink that takes a few hours to work itself out. Or stomach pains if you've ever had a stomach ache.
I always found that lying down, even if it was only for 20 minutes, did the trick every time. It always worked for me and made the cramping stop.
Midol just made me high as a kite, and I didn't like using that, I'd maybe take ibuprofen if I didn't have an opportunity to lie down anywhere.
First, if you're genuinely trying to be empathetic, don't refer to it as being on the rag.
Second, there is no equivalent. The closest thing might be abdominal cramps from diarrhea or food poisoning. Yes, cramps are real, and yes, for some women they are quite disabling.
Similar but your example is less than for a bad time. When I was about 18 pains were so sharp plus the flow that I went into shock blue lips and fingernails. Fortunately Mom was there and the doctor made a house call.
But I always made sure that supplies were available and don't see why a boyfriend should have to go get them
Wow, it's totally crazy how bad things can get. And to think there are women in the military that actually want to fight in infantry. How could women ever do it? Weeks out in the middle of nowhere without a shower+No extra supplies+No privacy+Any fighting that would happen+period cramps just seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
When I was younger my cramps were unbelievable. Mom always thought I was trying to get out of school, but I wasn't. I had a script for 600 mg of Motrin that I saved just for those days. And I was "lucky" and started at 13!! Add to that being extremely irregular with a heavy flow. It was often 1-2 days of wanting to curl up and die, sometimes with the runs and just general body aches. Then the water retention and wanting to eat constantly.
I went on the pill as soon as I could sneak it (high school). That at least made me regular and while it didn't decrease the flow much, at least it wouldn't last more than 5 days.
For years I made a triple batch of cookies every 4th Monday without really understanding why.... one day I made the link - every 4th Tuesday I started to bleed.
There was exactly one week a month I felt great. Week before my period I started to retain water and get a little achy, week of was hell, week after was recovery and try to lose the weight. That next week though - I was full of energy and fit as hell!
When I was 35, I was more than sure I wasn't going to have kids and asked my gyn how to make it go away. I'm active and like someone said above, putting my life on hold for nearly a week every month drove me crazy. I'm certainly not one of those females who embrace this part of being a women. He suggested taking the pill every day to suppress my period. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. If I forgot to take one though, I'd get some breakthrough bleeding and cramping, but nothing like having it all the time.
Fast forward to my late-40s and I discover I have adrenal fatigue and a thyroid condition. Figuring (hoping!) I'm not far from menopause, I go off the pill completely to get as many synthetic hormones out of my body as possible. I haven't hit menopause yet, but at least my periods have died down a bit. Unregular again, but very light with minimal cramping. The new issue I have is that my boobs get sore for at least a week before it starts. I think a couple of times I've gotten sore and I never even bled. They are so sore that I wear my tightest sports bra - even to bed. When I'm home, I'll hold them while I run downstairs. Something as silly as leaning into my truck will hurt a lot - and I'm small! I can't imagine dealing with this if I was large chested.
There is a good reason this is called a curse OP! And it's for much of our lives - oh what fun!
I got migraines in my teens, but my 20s and early 30s weren't too bad. It's gotten worse over the last five years or so. The achiness and general awfulness is not the worst part. The worst part, for me, is how much I bleed, and it's getting worse. The cramps I deal with (Aleve does work great). I can't really go anywhere on the first day of my period, sometimes the second day. I'm too old for infantry, so it's a moot issue, unless I throw used femine products at the enemy in some sort of horrific shock and awe campaign. I'm horrified and it's my body!
You should try a menstrual cup, the Diva cup or something similar. It holds as much as four tampons. Before I started using one, there were days I was changing a super plus tampon every 30 minutes, which did make it a lot harder to leave the house. Now even on the heaviest days I can go two hours without having to empty the cup. And the cup is reusable and lasts for years, plus there's nothing nasty to put in your bathroom trash, just empty the cup into the toilet and rinse it in the sink.
Man you are a great boyfriend for trying to understand and help your girl.
As for the pain... well I once had what I thought was menstrual cramps that turned out to be kidney stones. No Joke. Boy that Vicodin didn't really help the stones much but it came in handy about once a month for quite a while.
I used to be flat out miserable and incapable of functioning for about the first 24 hours of every period. It is a very difficult thing for those if us who do suffer greatly at that time of the month.
Sitting with a heating pad across the stomach can really help. Soaking in a hot bath, any application of heat really will help to relax the muscles that cause all of the pain.
And speaking as someone who has ridden and trained horses for 35 years.. Horseback riding has never had an impact on the severity of my cramps. Also exercise of any kind never helped me feel better. What works best for me is to anticipate the start and begin taking 800mg of Ibuprofen every 4 hours BEFORE the pain gets going. And keep doing that for 24 hours.
I never had cramping during my periods -- but, then, I had only minimal pain when my two kids were born (in fact, I took a chess game with me to the hospital both times and played chess with my husband during my labor).
However, a friend of mine who had both monthly cramping and a bad episode of gout at one time said the pains were similar. And I've had gout so I can only imagine how bad monthly cramping can be.
So my gf can often get painful cramps when she's on the rag and I do try to help as in I have gone to the store to buy her pads, tampons, midol etc. But really she doesn't like to talk about it which I can understand.
My question is for a man what would you say is the closest equivalent pain a man can get to what period cramps are like? How bad are they usually for you and does it impair your ability to function at all? My gf just stays in bed and covers up not saying much.
On a scale of 1-10 how painful would you rate yours on average? The worst pain I have felt is from an infected tooth, and while obviously not equivalent I can say the pain was something I wouldn't want my worst enemy to have lol. What do you think would be worse to go through, bad cramps or a bad tooth ache?
OP, I suffered from a similar sort of problem. My doctor put me on continuous birth control, the week of placebos is skipped every month, and I essentially don't have periods anymore. If I do take a week break from the pill I'll get one, but that's it.
It's nearly impossible to describe what it's like, it's gross. But for me, the worst part were the headaches and migraines that only got worse when I started taking birth control due to withdrawals during the week breaks. Taking it without the breaks solved both problems.
Didn't read through the 4 pages do not sure if this solution was mentioned, but I'd definitely propose it to your GF.
It can vary. I'm a girl and mine are similar to abdominal discomfort from a mild case of food poisoning. Other girls have severe craps that probably feel like severe food poisoning but I don't get terribly bad cramps.
OP, imagine, if someone had offended you painfully, deliberately, poking into your most tender spot, and then moved far away, and you don't know where, and you don't have his phone number, and the feeling is unbearable but you can't get any revenge, and you are mad, mad, mad, your hands are shaking, you can't think clearly, red blur over your field of vision, - that's a mental state of some women during PMS. A danger for the family, a danger on the road. Don't bug your GF if she doesn't want to talk.
Thanks for the suggestion, Hedgehog_Mom. I am looking into those.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BusyMeAK
OP, imagine, if someone had offended you painfully, deliberately, poking into your most tender spot, and then moved far away, and you don't know where, and you don't have his phone number, and the feeling is unbearable but you can't get any revenge, and you are mad, mad, mad, your hands are shaking, you can't think clearly, red blur over your field of vision, - that's a mental state of some women during PMS. A danger for the family, a danger on the road. Don't bug your GF if she doesn't want to talk.
Being sore and grouchy is not psychosis, geez Louise. A danger to her family and everyone around her? Get a grip.
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