What kind of suffering is dysmenorrhea? How can people who have never experienced it understand?

There is a hot topic on Weibo: "What kind of suffering is dysmenorrhea?" Some people say "Every time I have my period, I feel like countless oversized trucks are rolling over my stomach." Some people "want to tear my stomach apart and crush it before throwing it into the trash can." Some people feel "mountains are collapsing, tsunamis are erupting... the pain is so severe that it makes me cry." Some people "feel so painful that I doubt my life and don't want to be a woman in my next life."

Headache, backache, lower abdominal pain, fatigue, nausea, vomiting... Severe "menstrual pain" will directly affect work and life. In order to relieve dysmenorrhea, some people use brown sugar water, warming patches, and painkillers. They don't wash their hair, take a bath, eat cold or spicy food during menstruation, but in the end, they find that the pain is still there...

Is there really nothing we can do about dysmenorrhea?

Your pain may be different from her pain

Depending on the cause, dysmenorrhea is divided into primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea.

Primary dysmenorrhea usually has no organic lesions and is more common in young women. With age or pregnancy, dysmenorrhea will be alleviated or disappear. The onset of primary dysmenorrhea may be related to the following factors:

Tips

If you have had regular menstrual pain every month since puberty and it has not gotten worse, you are more likely to have primary dysmenorrhea.

Secondary dysmenorrhea may be related to disease, common causes are as follows:

Tips

If you experience worsening pain, longer menstrual cycles, and more menstrual bleeding every time you have your period, you may be suffering from secondary dysmenorrhea. At this time, you should seek medical treatment in time to treat the primary disease.

Can you just endure menstrual cramps? No, these methods can help you relieve "menstrual pain"

Dysmenorrhea is related to mood, excessive stress, irregular work and rest, etc. It can be dealt with by regulating stress, exercising properly, and adjusting work and rest time. If lifestyle adjustments are not effective, you can seek drug treatment.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs

Representative drugs include ibuprofen, acetaminophen, diclofenac, etc. These drugs may cause adverse gastrointestinal reactions. If you are worried that you cannot tolerate their irritation to the gastrointestinal tract, you can choose enteric-coated drugs.

This type of drug should be taken 2 days before menstruation, and continuous use generally does not exceed 3 days. This is because the "culprit" that causes dysmenorrhea - prostaglandins - is released the most in the 2 days before menstruation. Taking the drug 2 days before menstruation can prevent excessive synthesis and release of prostaglandins. If dysmenorrhea has already begun, it will be difficult to achieve analgesic effect if the drug is taken. Patients with active peptic ulcers/bleeding, or a history of peptic ulcers/bleeding, should not use this type of drug.

Short-acting oral contraceptives

This type of drug is mainly composed of estrogen and progesterone, and representative drugs include ethinyl estradiol cyproterone acetate tablets, drospirenone ethinyl estradiol tablets II, drospirenone ethinyl estradiol tablets, etc. The first two drugs can not only effectively relieve dysmenorrhea, but also have a certain effect on acne.

However, this type of drug is not suitable for women with diseases such as arteriovenous thrombosis, severe hypertension, endometrial hyperplasia, and women who smoke.

Before taking the medicine, you should ask your doctor to evaluate your physical condition to decide whether to use this type of medicine. At the same time, you should have regular breast examinations during the medication period.

Chinese patent medicine

The main drugs include Honghua Xiaoyao Tablets, Xuefu Zhuyu Soft Capsules, Sanjie Zhentong Capsules, etc. These drugs are dialectically administered based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, and play a therapeutic role by regulating qi and removing stagnation, warming the meridians and uterus, and replenishing qi and nourishing blood.

Because traditional Chinese medicine divides dysmenorrhea into multiple types, the medicines selected for different clinical manifestations vary greatly. Therefore, before taking any medicine, you should see a traditional Chinese medicine doctor to conduct a diagnosis of the symptoms and then prescribe medicine suitable for the individual.

Other drugs

The main drugs include nifedipine, phloroglucinol, levonorgestrel sustained-release intrauterine device, etc., which work by dilating blood vessels, relaxing smooth muscles, and regulating local progesterone concentrations.

Similarly, before using such drugs, a specialist should be consulted for evaluation. The choice of treatment for dysmenorrhea should be determined based on the patient's age, fertility requirements, primary disease, pain severity, and compliance. During treatment, the patient's pain symptoms and auxiliary examination results should be monitored and the treatment plan should be changed as appropriate.

In addition, other medical treatments can be used for some patients with intractable dysmenorrhea, such as laparoscopic nerve transection to block the pain signal transmission pathway from the pelvic cavity. This is also a new option for patients with primary dysmenorrhea. The final treatment method requires the clinical diagnosis and decision-making of a specialist.

Author: Lu Yang, Chief Pharmacist of the Pharmacy Department of Chunliu Branch of Dalian Women and Children's Medical Center (Group)

Review expert: Li Xin, deputy chief pharmacist of the Second Hospital of Jilin University

Ren Yanli, Chief Pharmacist of the Gynecology and Pediatrics Group of the Henan Pharmaceutical Association Hospital