When Periods Are A Pain

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Pain is a pain—and some women experience pain on a fairly regular basis. There is overwhelming evidence that, on average, women experience more pain than men do. Women report greater prevalence, frequency, and duration of clinical pain and pain-related distress than their male counterparts, on average. Always overachieving, aren’t we ladies?!

Unsurprisingly, women also deal with extra special doses of regular pain thanks to the menstrual cycle. But that pain drain does not affect all women equally.  Why is it that some ladies breeze through their cycles without any pain, while the rest of us curl up and binge watch Netflix, doubled over in agony during our periods? Well, there are a lot of factors at play.

First, cramps. An estimated 90% of women experience painful periods at some time in their lives, and  20% of women suffer from severe period pain every dang month.  The risk factors for cramps aren’t really within one’s control—cycle irregularity, early onset of puberty, family history, and being younger than 20 are all potential causes. Home treatments (our friends, the pain relievers) and medical treatments can sometimes remedy these symptoms. But not always. And Netflix often proves to be the only consolation.

But cramps aren’t the only type of period pain—how ‘bout them tender breasts? If you’ve ever had tender breasts during your period, hormone changes that occur throughout the cycle are the likely culprits. As estrogen levels rise in the first half of the cycle, the breasts ducts enlarge. This is great when wearing a push-up bra, but in general, pretty uncomfortable. Additional risk factors for tender breasts include family history, a high-fat diet, and too much caffeine. Since ⅔ of these are in your control, do yourself a favor and take some measures to protect the ta-tas :)

Life’s not fair, and some women are just more prone to pain in general.  There are a few reasons for this.  To begin with, pain perception depends on the brain, and brains vary from human to human because of differences in physiology, genetics, life experiences, and emotions. One person’s “ouch” could be another person’s “[insert four letter word here]!” simply due to biological variability.

Also, pain tolerance can be affected by a whole host of non-biological variables.  For example, in a recent study, a woman’s romantic relationship status seemed to affect whether or not she had differences in pain sensitivity throughout her cycle. In a population of 135 women, a correlation was seen between stages of the menstrual cycle and pain sensitivity for women in romantic relationships, but no such correlation was observed among women who were single.  The world is a strange place.

So what’s a girl to do to keep her pain in check? The best action you can take is to pay attention to your body and the timing and severity of the pain you experience, whether it be period pain, headaches, or the pain of seeing acne on yo’ face :) The new Ruby by Glow app helps you visualize pain and symptoms that you experience alongside your cycle, which could help you find patterns to your own pain tolerance.  Hop to it and start logging—before too long, you’ll have that pain pinned down.

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17 notes

  1. periodhelpaustralia reblogged this from ps-sharkweek
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  4. alderrr said: Fluff. Total fluff. Thanks for nothing. You got big data here folks. Tell us something we don’t know.
  5. cutiepie1088 reblogged this from glowhq
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