What do You Do?
 

...To relieve cramps? Do you get them strong or light? Mine are very light...but they are annoying. I usually drink hot tea and take an advil or sit around the house. Thankfully everytime I come on my period ....its either early in the morning during the week or on a Saturday :)

TMI!!!
 

Now, Dreamful, you know this TMI, but I'll post anyway!!!! I'm not scurred. lol I don't always experience cramps. I don't take medication unless I absolutely can't take the pain. I find that walking around helps me more than sitting, sometimes a heating pad works, and I stay away from caffeine beverages. Also, I always break out one week before so I have to keep the acne medication handy. :D

My cramps are semi strong. They come the first day I come one my period. Usually I just take to Aleve and 30-45 minutes later, my cramps are gone. That the easiest part of the whole process. The worst part for me is the PMS before hand. This last time, the day before I started, I was eating like it was going out of style. Now if they could find a cure for PMS, I'd be one happy girl :D

YOu aren't lying about that! I have to agree w/ you. I can definitely go without all that comes w/ your cycle! The bloated feeling, cravings for chocoloate, cramps (when I get them), headaches, etc.

I usually take a warm bath and drink a hot drink.

I also turn on some relaxing music and get in my favorite PJs and just get into my own zone. Once I relax they disappear!

This thread was meant to be because MY cycle came on today and I feel like ABSOLUTE CRAP. I have a hernia (which is the result of my two pregnancies) and it bothers me a lot. So whenever I have my cycle, the light cramps seem that much worse because of the discomfort that I have because of this hernia. Usually for the first 3 days of my period, I don't want to talk, be bothered, be touched, or anything. My husband is good about it however. He KNOWS that he doesn't want to get on my bad side when I'm going through this (and ususally EVERY side is my bad side). :) :) :) :) :) My doctor prescribed a pain medication to be used as needed. So usually I take that, take a nice hot bath, put on my cotton GRANNY DRAWS along with a semi-tight black girdle (to keep my pads in place), put on my cotton pajamas, and TRY to SLEEP my way through the first 3 days (which is impossible because I work).

I ALSO suffer from PMS and THAT ain't no joke. Sometimes I even get on my OWN nerves when going through PMS. But I just can't help my moods and/or cravings of chocolate (which I don't normally eat) and caffeine.

I tell you, Ladies, MEN will NEVER be able to understand all of the trauma that a woman's body goes through (pregnancy, cramps, child-birth, periods, bloating, cravings, mood swings, and I'm not even mentioning the REGULAR health issues).

Guuuuuuurl, I know what you mean...
 

This is why I did not go out tonight...my cramps are usually bad the first couple of day...sometimes I even throw up. I tend to have very heavy periods, which last for 4 or 5 days...this is probably why I am very Anemic and have to take iron tablets all the time.

The pains of being a woman sometimes...

Hooooo, Honey Chile, let me TELL ya!
 

I was just going through this THIS week! I'd grabbed a handful of hershey's kisses out of the candy jar at work before I left for the day....I got on that train & commenced to unwrapping them & popping them in my mouth, one right after the other...I was really into too, until I looked up & saw this man watching me with a frightened look on his face..http://www.plauder-smilies.com/sad/smhair1.gif...I was embarrassed a little & slowed my pace...but, of course, kept eating the chocolate..:D

I think we've been around each other too much because our cycles are beginning in the same week if not same day! I have to eat chocolate, too. Korkscu, I know what you mean about the granny underwear, but I just can't wear any old thing. I still have to wear my Vickie's products, but I use the briefs for three to four days. I'm glad mine are short (3-4 days), and my cramps are only for the first half of the first day or night.

That's why I started this thread because I was going through that then. I'm much better now as far as the cramps...but now I have this awful, God-forsaking pain behind my left eye which always comes the day before or after my cycle.

HI there is a new product out on the market that claims to releive cramps. It isn't a pill it is a creme that you rub on. I just read about it its called Menastil. Check out the site at www.menastil.com

Well, AKAtude, I would be so lucky to have a cycle for 3-4 days. My cycle usually lasts for 5-6 days and they are heavy for the first 3-4 days. I've also noticed that my PMS and cramps have gotten relatively worse since I've had my tubes tied. It's almost like I can FEEL myself ovulating---NO JOKE.

I was just thinking. After having my daughter at age 23, my choice of birth control was the Depo shots. I stayed on those shots for 5 years (I got off of the shots one year before getting pregnant with my son). And when I was on the shots, I had NO cycle at all. Just think about it. I didn't haveto worry about buying pads, cramps, bloating, stomach pains, headaches, or cravings, or anything like that. Boy, THAT was the life!!! :) :) :) :) My mother and mother-in-law feel that my body may be preparing itself for "the change" (I'm 32-years-old now) and this may be the reason that I'm starting to feel so strange.

Anybody else know what I'm talking about or am I the only SENIOR, senior Sisterfriend in the house?

LOL...You are not a "Senior"...I laugh at my Mom every time she starts that mess...Old women don't get asked if they are my "Sister"... :rolleyes:

"32=Old"??? I don't think so...I'll be at least 28 yrs. old (Hopefully 30 though) before I have my first child...That's the best time of a person's life, IMO, b/c you still look youthfull, yet you possess more "wisdom" that you did when you were 20 (my age)...

I have other freinds my age whose cramps are as bad as yours (and mine) or worse--and I'm only 20!!! Dayum, at least you're almost done...:mad:

Thanks Sugar_n_Spice. Usually I'm not down on myself about my age. It's just around that time of the month that I get this way. And, I must admit, on SOME occasions I feel older than I am because I've got an 8-year-old daughter that asks ATLEAST 100 questions a day and a 2-year-old son who can often be a HOLY TERROR. My husband and I are ALREADY planning what we're going to do when we retire (now ain't THAT a kick in the head?). Sisterfriend, if I could be 20-years-old AGAIN, boy oh boy!!! I was living the life back then. :D :D :D :D You'll better understand what I'm talking about whenever you have children (even ONE child will do). All I'll say is don't wait too late to have kids. You don't want to be 60-years-old with a 15-year-old. :) :) :) KIDS AIN'T NO JOKE!!!!!

OK. I get them bad enough to be disabling. I have to take Naproxen Sodium prior to it, during it and after it, in conjunction with Tylenol. The drs. claim this can be somewhat normal (and I've gone to plenty), but I still don't think so. And let's not talk about PMS. I get that about a week and a half before, and it seems the older I get, the worse it gets. Anyway, I can't wait for menopause! :eek:

Well Tickledpink, if it's going to be like THIS, ME EITHER!!!!! :D :D :D

thanks be to birth control pills
 

Prior to getting on the pill, I had the 7day stretch with severe cramps the first two days. Now that I'm on the pill, my menstrual is only 3-4 days with medium to light flow.

My issue is the PMS. Not only do I want to stuff everything down my throat but I'm so freakin EMOTIONAL!! I wasn't like this in my early 20's. I often wonder if it's because I'm rapidly approaching 30??? Anything and everything will move me to tears a week prior to going on. What to do???

Now that depropovera (?sp) shot was a hot mess for me. I started taking that right after I had my youngest daughter (so I had to be about 23) and it BLEEEEEWWWWWW me up! I gained weight instead of losing weight after having that child. Then my period would never leave when it did come! Did not work for me! :eek:

This thread is TMI, lol, and we don't care, lmao. Anywho...

The pill made my cycle shorter and lighter with less cramps. Now, I still have them, but I can live. Before, I was shut DOWN: no school, no work, just sleep. But now, I can go bike riding, horseback riding, lol, lemme stop. I stopped the pill, and started again, and my cycle is even SHORTER!! Originally, it was 7 days, cramps at least 5 of them. Then it was 5 days, cramps for 3. Now it's about 3-4 days (YAAAAAY!), but I still have cramps for about 3 days.

When I was in Spain, my senora made me drink warm milk (YUK) and she put a thin blanket on my lower stomach, and ironed it. Oh, it was heaven. Better than a heating pad.

What we NEED to figure out is a way to alleviate the PMS. Do you think that if the cramps were gone, the binchiness would leave too? Nah, I doubt it. I'm just irritable. I think it's the inconvenience of the whole thing. Gotta take longer in the shower (which I really don't mind, lol), gotta go to the potty more often in the day, can't crank. It really is an inconvenience (sp?). Thank goodness we can have kids from it, lol, otherwise, it'd be a str8 waste.

Does anyone else feel completely fatigued at that time of the month? I always feel so tired that it feels as though I have been drugged or something. On top of that, my sense of smell changes. Everything takes on this really odd smell. I also get a headache on day two, that usually lasts until day 5 or 6, that no pills can get rid of. All this added to the cramps and back aches makes it a terrible, terrible time.

Hot baths and hot tea offer some relief, but there is nothing better than a lower back massage, where the pain hits me the hardest.

Re: thanks be to birth control pills
 

This is what I'm saying! I reeeeaaaaally thought PMS was a bunch of propaganda until I began approaching 30. Now, I'm not emotional, as in tears, but I want to snap over every little thing.

I tried the pill, but after I had a 30 day cycle, I bid the pill bye bye. I thought about the shot, but I don't have time to deal with side effects. Wihout Naproxen Sodium, I was like Ideal, no school, no work, shut down. I couldn't walk, move, or anything. Men have it lucky. :p . Hey, this thread is TMI! :D I bet the guys have been avoiding it like the plague!

Oh, and I'm LMPGBO @ U, korkscru. :D

1. Get a prescription of Anoprox from your doctor
or
2. get a prescription of Motrin, like 500 mg or so
3. drink warm liquids (hot tardi to know you out):p
4. get on the pill to have your cycle regulated


Back in the day I had #1 and #4, now I only use #4.

Yes. Midol is supposed to help with this, but hasn't so far. Does anyone know why this happens?

It could be a number of things, really:

-- carrying around extra water, and for what?
-- people saying ignorant stuff, when you done already told them, today is not the day
-- you couldn't sleep comfortably the night before, trying to be all in the fetal position so that the cramps will go away
-- you took too many pills (I was guilty of this back in the day, anything to stop the pain. i would actually tell my friends, "If I pass out, this is why...")
-- you've cried, cuz you're emotional, and you know crying makes you wanna lay down
-- everything seems bigger, harder, longer, more annoying, etc., than what it really is
-- it could be psychological :rolleyes:

Ohh my
 

When I was younger, I used to have hospital stays because my cramps were so severe... I found later that I had a tipped uterus and Endometriosis (Scar tissue in my uterus and other places.) I had to have lazer surgery to remove the scar tissue and stop my cramps...even today I take 800+ milligrams of motrin to stop the pain of cramps. But the pain has been significantly reduced since my preeteen days!!


Oh to be me!

Try Vioxx....
 

Also my doctor told me to try vioxx... it works as well but is pretty expensive, but you only take one a day. It is normally used for athritis of infammation (which is the main cause of cramps) Try it!


I was addicted to Aleve to, but just 2 pills a day was not working and I didn't want to od on the pills, so I went back to prescription Mortrin, still the best ever cramp fighter in high milligram doses. :)

Well, I know, for me and like others, things seem to be coming to a head now that I'm 30+. I think that once you get your tubes tied, things kinda change. It's just hard being a woman. THANKS EVE!!! :) :) :)

I didn't really believe in that PMS stuff either UNTIL I started having it. My family is always like on eggshells around me when I'm going through this. I'm not "emotional" either (crying and carrying on) but, Sisterfriends, I'm like a mad-man at times (very cranky and irritable, tired, critical (mainly of myself), bloated, etc.). MY sense of smell is also heightened during this time (I could probably smell a fly's fart a mile away). :D :D :D Now also around the last two days of my cycle, I'm like EXTREMELY...SEXUALLY AROUSED (I'm NOT kidding). My husband LOVES that, but he knows that IT AIN'T GONNA HAPPEN because my cycle is still on. :D :D

Gosh this thread is great. It's a wonderful way to relax, relate, and release.

LMNHO @ the shout out to EVE!!!!! Chit, where would we be without her! :eek: