Abdominal Pain during Menstruation
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Do you have extreme abdominal pain but you make sure you eat clean food during menstruation? After menstruation, you have no symptoms, but at the next menstrual cycle, they come back. This means you have menstrual cramps.
What are Menstrual Cramps?
Menstrual cramps (dysmenorrhea), is a type of common gynaecological symptoms, is caused by abnormal uterine contraction, accompanied by symptoms of abdominal pain, pain in the waist and discomfort of the whole body during menstruation or in the premenstrual and post-menstrual period. Severe dysmenorrhea, which affects normal activities for several days, should be treated with adequate rest in bed or appropriate treatment. Dysmenorrhea can be divided 90% into primary dysmenorrhea and 10% into secondary dysmenorrhea. The latter is usually caused by tumours of the reproductive organs or pelvic inflammation.
Common symptoms:
1. Primary dysmenorrhea occurs in puberty and usually begins 1 to 2 years after the menarche (beginning of menstruation).
2. Menstrual cramps can range from mild to severe pain. Usually, 12 hours before menstruation, the abdomen begins to have cramps, is swollen and feels severe pain. On the first day of menstruation, the pain can occur the most.
3. Sometimes other symptoms that are caused by dysmenorrhea, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, dizziness, and tiredness, may appear. In the severe period, people are always pale and suffer from cold sweats.
What triggers menstrual cramps?
1. Causes of menstrual cramps according to western medicine
The direct cause of menstrual cramps is the abnormal contract triggered by excessive prostaglandins in the uterus. The triggers of uterine abnormal-contract are as follows:
• Hypoplasia of the uterus narrows the woman’s cervical canal, which leads to deficient blood in the uterus. Under the condition of ischaemia (inadequate blood supply) and hypoxia (lack of oxygen) the uterine contract increases, inducing menstrual cramps.
• Mental and neural factors such as anxiety in learning or social activities.
• Genetic factor: The daughter’s dysmenorrhea is closely related to her mother.
• Gynecological diseases such as endometriosis (ectopic lining of the uterus), pelvic inflammation and myoma. Sometimes, the use of an intrauterine device increases susceptibility to dysmenorrhea.
• Other factors: Huge pressure, preference for cold drink or food and poor circulation due to long sitting in the same place. During the menstrual period, cold wind and damp weather can induce dysmenorrhea.
2. Causes of menstrual cramps according to traditional Chinese medicine
From a TCM point of view, the main pathogenesis (cause) of dysmenorrhea is the hidden pathogenic qi and lack of essence and blood in the body. In the premenstrual and post-menstrual period, qi and blood abruptly fall off in the uterus due to the physical change, that means the qi and blood can not flow normally, or the lack of nourishment in the uterus causes menstrual cramps. Women always ignore some habits, illnesses and other factors that may affect the inner workings. These factors can be divided into the following four parts:
• Damage to kidney qi: Caused by fertility and a long illness.
• Deficiency and weakness of qi and blood: Weakness after a long illness damages qi and blood and injures the spleen and stomach.
• Qi blocked by blood stasis: Depression or anger can damage the liver, induce blood stasis and block the normal circulation of qi and blood.
• Pathogenic cold condenses and forms blood clots: Frequent intake of cold or raw foods leads to blood stasis.
What’s the treatment of menstrual cramps?
Depending on the extent of the menstrual cramps, the treatment can be divided into four parts: general therapy, western therapy, Chinese medical therapy and other therapy.
1. General therapy
• In order to alleviate the nervous emotion of menstruation, it’s necessary for dysmenorrhea patients, especially adolescent girls, to learn that menstruation is a normal physiological process for a woman growing into a mature age with some physical changes like a sore waist and a slightly swollen belly.
• Avoid anxiety, fatigue, and cold.
• Supplement your diet and do more exercise, thus building a strong body.
However, if you have obvious symptoms of dysmenorrhea that do not improve after general therapy, you may try therapies from Western or Chinese medicine.
2. Western medicine therapy
Usually, western medicine treats menstrual cramps with steroid hormones to inhibit ovulation, which can disrupt the normal menstrual circle. Other drugs such as analgesic and prostaglandin antagonists have the efficient function of relieving menstrual cramps, but you can not use them over the long term.
3. Other therapy
• Dietary therapy: Consumption of Mugwort porridge before or after menstruation helps with menstrual problems caused by weak and cold habitus.
• Acupuncture treatment: A type of Chinese medical treatment
• Ear acupuncture: A type of Chinese medical treatment
Doctors often recommend combining western medicine with Chinese medicine as the main therapy that accompanies nutritional therapy in daily life.
How to prevent menstrual cramps?
Women can be attacked by pathogenesis through menstruation, fetus, and childbirth, thus easily inducing menstrual cramps. Therefore, the key measure to prevent menstrual cramps is to respect personal hygiene in daily life.
1. Familiarise yourself with personal hygiene during menstruation.
Some women lack the awareness that menstruation is a physiological process with the phenomenon of bleeding. They may experience some mental changes such as anxiety, tension, and embarrassment, which may disrupt bodily functions if they endure these emotions for a long time and can cause menstrual cramps. Some scientists believe that the main measure to prevent menstrual cramps is to gain more knowledge about physiological hygiene, which can help women to eliminate misunderstandings about menstruation and reduce mental changes.
2. Keep a regular lifestyle
During menstruation, the woman should have a well-balanced lifestyle and work rhythm. For example:
• Avoid eating raw or cold food.
• It is inappropriate to stay in a damp and cold environment.
• Overload or excessive comfort should be avoided.
• Avert extreme stress and physical strain.
3. Enhance exercise
Frequent but moderate exercise helps women to reduce or prevent gynaecological diseases. A Chinese medical doctor in the Han dynastic has recognized that certain sports can stimulate circulation, nourish the joints and smooth out qi. He recommended that women take part in physical training to enhance their body and treat cramping during menstruation.
4. Cultivate a positive attitude towards the treatment of gynaecological diseases
Accepting a gynaecological examination and treating relevant diseases with a positive attitude is an essential step in preventing menstrual cramps. However, women should avoid undergoing gynaecological tests or surgery during menstruation, because the bacteria may attack during the test or surgery.
In general, measures to prevent menstrual cramps in menarche may avoid attacks until menopause. Especially middle-aged women can not afford to not take precautionary measures even if they have not experienced menstrual cramps before. Secondary dysmenorrhea is common in middle-aged women who always ignore it. They should pay attention to personal hygiene and take preventive measures.
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