Photo by: Anthony Tran
Do you have painful periods?
Did you know that fifty to ninety percent of reproductive-aged women worldwide describe experiencing painful periods?
That’s most women during at least a portion of their menstruating years!
Painful periods can be severely debilitating and greatly impact activities of daily living. For some women, it is so severe that they wind up in urgent care. It is an incredibly frustrating cycle, especially when too often they leave doctors’ offices feeling dismissed, or are offered less than ideal options (i.e. contraceptives and/or surgery).
When feeling dismissed or invisible, it can lead you to start questioning yourself, which can lead to self-confidence being impacted.
So what’s really going on when it comes to period pain?
Dysmenorrhea, or pain with a menses often dismissed by society and often downplayed by women.
This type of pain can be either due to either primary or secondary causes.
Primary causes
The typical cause of primary dysmenorrhea is much easier to treat.
Prostaglandins, or hormones that make your uterus contract during menstruation and childbirth can cause pain when the lining sloughs off during your period
During menstruation, the cells that make up the uterine lining begin to break down. At the same time, these cells generate a large amount of inflammatory prostaglandins.
They cause cramps by compressing uterine blood vessels and contracting the muscle layer.
Each type of prostaglandin operates in a different way to keep the body in a state of homeostasis. Prostaglandin production changes considerably during an inflammatory reaction, both in terms of quantity and kind of prostaglandin being produced.
So prostaglandins aren’t all bad!
The production of prostaglandins is generally low in non-inflamed tissues, but it increases during an acute inflammatory reaction. Increased prostaglandin levels aid in the recruitment of:
- Leukocytes (white blood cells which fight germs)
- And immune cell infiltration.
Because they help to manage processes that release inflammatory compounds, regulate blood flow, and play a role in the formation of blood clots, prostaglandins are vital for overcoming a variety of health issues.
They can also induce pain and a fever, which are normal reactions to injury, infection and disease.
If your monthly pain is due to primary dysmenorrhea, meaning there is not another underlying cause, this typically can be addressed through an anti-inflammatory diet and lifestyle changes. While these may seem like subtle changes, they can stimulate deep change within the body.
Tips to balance prostaglandin levels and therefore avoid painful periods include:
- Reducing alcohol consumption
- Limiting the use of soy, corn, cottonseed, safflower oils and stimulants
- Avoiding pain-triggering foods (think high refined carbs & sugar) and eliminating food allergies
- Consuming enough omega-3s
- Increasing your intake of magnesium, calcium, and zinc
- Managing your stress levels
- And getting the right amount of exercise and sleep
- Incorporating Beeya Wellness (use code DrDunlap for a discount!) seed cycling products have also helped many of those experiencing pain due to primary causes!
Secondary causes
These types of causes are usually much more difficult to treat and it’s often associated with chronic pelvic pain.
If you’re having chronic pelvic pain, we must dig deep to the root of the problem because it could be coming from one of six different systems:
Musculoskeletal system
Typically pain due to the musculoskeletal system is due to a structural problem. This could be from pelvic floor muscle tension, adhesions, inflammation of the pubic joint (pubic symphysis), or hernia.
Nervous system
Over activity of the nervous system can lead to an experience of chronic pain as it may manifest as an overactive bladder or hyperesthesia that stems from the experience of chronic pain.
Gastrointestional system
Irritable bowel symptoms of diarrhea, constipation, bloating and/or gas can lead to added inflammation and pressure in the pelvis causing pain.
Reproductive system
Ovarian cysts, fibroids, and endometriosis can be a source of pain. Cysts may feel sharp and acute vs fibroids which are often experienced as pressure and heaviness.
Urinary system
UTIs can lead to painful urination but also, painful bladder syndrome (interstitial cystitis) is a chronic disorder characterized by pervasive pelvic pain and urinary discomfort and frequency. It often consists of suprapubic pain related to bladder filling and accompanied by other symptoms, such as increased daytime and nighttime urinary frequency in the absence of proven infection or other obvious pathology.
Immune system
Infections such as vaginitis, pelvic inflammatory disease, and STIs can cause quite a bit of pelvic pain. Endometriosis is also thought to be more a condition of the immune system rather than reproductive system.
Chronic pelvic pain is a vague, difficult symptom to treat because of the many root causes.
We have to think about all of those systems. Save this post to discuss these possible root causes with your healthcare provider so that the treatment is focused on the correct system!
