Tag: Period

Period pain or dysmenorrhea: solved!!

Hello everyone!!

In this post I am going to tell you how I have managed to control my period pain (also called dysmenorrhea). In a previous post I talked about how it always comes to annoy me in the best moments and how I got rid of pain for a few years with contraceptives, but how when I left them the same pain and the problem of managing it returned.

Although ibuprofen (some people use other anti-inflammatories) is the best solution to menstrual pain, I also had to deal, for a while, with the fact that it was too strong for my stomach. Many times, the pains started in the morning, when I got up, and I couldn’t eat anything. Then I would take the ibuprofen with an empty stomach, and that’s not good, several times I even vomited. I solved this by always taking an omeprazole (stomach protector) before taking ibuprofen. I recently read that ibuprofen works faster on an empty stomach, but if you take it on an empty stomach it is very strong and can cause ulcers more likely than if you have eaten. So, in short, what I did was to start taking omeprazole always before taking ibuprofen, whether I had eaten before or not (although it is more necessary if you have not eaten before).

However, the big problem was still that the ibuprofen was taking too long to work. At least half an hour and even until 3 hours is the time that I have been lying in bed, writhing like a lizard with my contractions, until finally it took effect. And what if all this happens when you’re not at home. Aside from the comfort, one of the reasons I moved to live next my job, literally five minutes away, was in case I had to rush home at the slightest sign of pain (and I had to do it twice).

As always, I continued investigating but could not find a better solution than ibuprofen with omeprazole beforehand and the electric blanket while spending the moment in bed. Something that I did not do either, but I had my reasons, is to take a dose of, for example 600 mg every 6-8 hours since period stains began. And I did not do it because what I found is that when, for work reasons, I took ibuprofen as a preventive measure (without any pain yet), the period took much longer to come. Once I spent up to 5 days taking ibuprofen for nothing because I had stained a bit, and I tried that method until my period finally started. Normally, from the time I start to stain  until my period finally starts, it takes a day or a day and a half, not five. And taking into account the cardiovascular risk of ibuprofen, and that when I am on my period I reach the maximum recommended dose (1200 mg) or even exceed it, I did not want to unnecessarily add more. So I did not adopt that method, but may be for someone it works well. I am not sure what relationship may exist between taking ibuprofen in a preventive way and the delay in the period once the process has already started, but I suppose that since it is an anti-inflammatory, if you have some “obstruction” there, not having that kind of initial contractions due to ibuprofen causes the whole process to take longer.

Anyway, what I discovered this summer, by pure chance while watching YouTube, is that there is ibuprofen with arginine, a component that makes it act much faster than taken alone. Just what I needed! According to the advertising and the leaflet, ibuprofen alone takes half an hour to work (many times longer for me), while ibuprofen with arginine takes only a minute!! This month I almost wanted to have my period to check if this was true, hahaha

I bought ibuprofen + arginine in 400 mg sachets. And it has worked! Finally I have not squirmed like a lizard for at least half an hour in bed. I took a 400 mg sachet and waited 10 minutes, and as it kept bothering me I took another one, and in another 10 minutes it was over. The other times (I took the medicine 3 times, after 6-8 hours the effect wears off) I already took two sachets directly. I usually took between ibuprofen 800mg-1200mg at once, but this time I didn’t go over 800mg. Another important point is that the medicine in a powder format, diluted in water, also accelerates the effect, and is less harsh on the stomach than pills. Also, although it is not my case, there are people who cannot swallow the capsules. The disadvantage of sachets is that being around it is more difficult to take them, because you have to find a glass and a teaspoon. And they taste really bad! This month I did not take the omeprazole before the ibuprofen because I forgot it, but it did not hurt my stomach. Regardless, I will continue taking omeprazole before taking the medicine.

Ibuprofen with arginine is available in both sachets and capsules. Since the effect is faster in sachets, I recommend them more, although it can be good to have capsules on hand if one does not have access to a glass and a spoon. In Spain there are several brands that sell ibuprofen with arginine, and all have the same list of ingredients, among which is aspartame. I didn’t like this because aspartame is a sweetener that has been found to be a carcinogen. But since I could not find any brand that does not use it (they are supposed to put it to remove the bad taste of arginine, but even so it tastes really bad), I’ll use this medicine anyway. Hopefully with time this ingredient will be removed (I already wrote to the company to ask for it).

I hope this will help those who suffer from period pain every month, I am very happy with this product that I found by chance!

*To buy the products I speak about (I only recommend products that I’ve tested):

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

*From the United States:

·Electric blanket: https://amzn.to/32IwSox

*From Mexico:

·Manta eléctrica: https://amzn.to/3ceuF7n

*From Spain:

·Espididol (de venta en farmacias, sin receta): https://www.farmaciabarata.es/medicamentos-sin-receta/espididol-400-mg-18-comp.html

·Manta eléctrica: https://amzn.to/2ZQYru5

The period (menstruation)

This month’s post is dedicated to the period or menstruation. It is a subject that I would like to address from my experience, in case it can serve others who go through the same thing and if the people who read it can provide some valuable insights.

I had my first period quite late, when I was 14 years but only three months before turning 15. So I was quite excited, since it was the last of my friends and I was beginning to worry. From my third period I began feeling pain, the famous “menstrual cramps”, and from there the ordeal began (apart from the hair/acne problem that I have already treated in other posts). I have to say that I think my period pain is genetic, since my mother also had menstrual cramps and I remember when I was a child and she stayed in bed one or two days a month. I think it can also be related with the fact that she did not give birth, but had a C-section. Some people say that those who had painful periods and have given birth stop having painful periods, but I’ve seen this is not always the case.

A second issue is “timing”. My periods comes with me to all good times: New Year’s Eve, trips, etc. It comes also on weekends, of course, but I almost prefer this because, as I feel so bad, I can stay at home during the weekend. To give some examples, the first year I had my period it came with me to my high school study trip, in which we spent all day doing water activities. I had never used a tampon because I had hardly had five periods until then. So it was very uncomfortable because I didn’t put it well, it bothered me, it stained everything… At New Year’s Eve I had to stay at home because my period came just that night. It also came with me to a transatlantic flight, and I had previously taken an aspirin for the traveler syndrome (to avoid clots doctors recommend taking aspirin before long hours of travel, and also wearing compression stocks). Since aspirin avoid clots, on that trip I bled like an open tap, great.

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You never know when your period is coming?

But the worst part is pain. I have fainted twice. One of them it was at home. It was a weekend (of course). I got up for breakfast and noticed that it was starting to hurt, but I wanted to wait until I finished breakfast to take my ibuprofen. Suddenly it started to hurt a lot and I noticed that I was getting dizzy, and I just had the time to run to my bedroom and throw myself in bed before I passed out. When I woke up my parents were looking at me super worried. The second time it was on the city bus, the one I took to go to work when I lived in Belgium. That day was a working day, and I had an ibuprofen after breakfast, I had some discomfort, but I thought it would disappear in a while, when the ibuprofen I had taken made effect. I got on the bus (maybe the bus rattle made it worse) and I began to feel very bad, I was thinking about arriving at the office and being able to lie down even on the table…and when I woke up the bus was empty and an ambulance had arrived. They put me in the ambulance (first time in my life) and took me to the hospital, I told them that I was fine, that I just needed a little water … but they refused to give me water! Already in the hospital they took me on a stretcher (as in the movies, haha) to a room and there they made me some tests and they pricked me on a finger to draw blood (the issue of fear of needles I will treat in another post, but that day I was so stunned that I didn’t notice that they punctured me). After one hour lying there they told me that I could go home, but that it had to be on my own (on the bus again, I expected them to at least take me home in the ambulance).

During the nine years I took the contraceptive pills I totally forgot about the issue of period pain, and that is another reason why I took them so many years. But when I stopped my pain returned. Luckily my pain crises (one hour or two) have been almost all at home in my bed. Sometimes I think that the time to give birth, the contractions, must be something similar. A problem that I think I have solved is that of ibuprofen damage. Ibuprofen is very hard for the stomach and should not be taken lightly (a friend ended up with an ulcer because she took ibuprofen like chewing gum). But I have test many medicines and for my period pain (a pain that is inflammatory) ibuprofen is what goes best. My problem is that most of the time the crises start when I wake up in the morning (maybe going from horizontal to vertical position?) and with an empty stomach. Also, with the pain, my appetite is totally taken away and I can’t eat anything. So, of course, ibuprofen does even more damage to an empty stomach. I had hydrocutions and vomited (also on an empty stomach), and really wanted to go to the bathroom. And, I am ashamed to say it, but I had to do my thing in a basin next to the bed, because I was so bad that I was afraid to go to the bathroom and pass out there. A doctor told me to take omeprazole before ibuprofen, because it acts as a protective layer on the stomach and then ibuprofen no longer hurts you. Omeprazole can be taken on an empty stomach. This way, when I have morning crises I also take it on an empty stomach. In times of crisis I usually take up to 1200 milligrams of ibuprofen, which I fear is quite a lot. I already know about cardiovascular risk and such, but what else can I do? On top of that, I am half a day groggy and afraid of having an overdose or something. It also used to help having an electric blanket on my stomach during my crises, which last about two hours (although the longest was 4 hours, I thought it never ended). Ah! An important issue is not to drink milk when taking ibuprofen, milk does not go well with medication.

My problems with period pain made me afraid to travel (and my mother was also afraid of me traveling). But I decided that it was not going to affect me, and I have not stopped doing anything for that (although in the days of crisis I had to stay at home). The problem with this is that it is like a Russian roulette, there are times that from when I notice the first cramp until my period starts, five days can pass, and I spend those five days scared and taking ibuprofen because I don’t know when the crisis will start. The truth is that it is a horror. And it seems to me that if I take ibuprofen (to prevent pain in advance), I delay my period more, so during the wait I take more than I should without need.

Another issue in which I am a bit special is that I only like to put on compresses. I think that for those who have period pains it is better not to wear tampons, because it could affect the pain issue. In addition, someone told me: How do you empty a water bottle better, dropping the water, or putting cotton in it to absorb the water? I have only used tampons if strictly necessary. And the menstrual cup, I think it’s a great invention, but I don’t use it, at least as long as I still have period pain.

Well, that’s my experience, you can see how beautiful.

Until next month!!