Almost every woman is well-acquainted with some cramps during her periods. Some have minor cramps that don’t influence their daily routine. But some women experience really severe pain during menstruation.
The uterus itself is one big muscle that actually performs hard work during your period. The lining of the uterus grows during your cycle and the uterus produces cramps in order to control bleeding. If you have blood clots or a lot of menstrual blood, the uterus may cramp to expel it.
But how to distinguish the difference between your usual menstruation cramps and a more serious condition? Everyone has a different pain threshold, so there is no exact definition that would help determine if your cramps are becoming dangerous. But if you cannot even get up and over-the-counter painkillers don’t bring any relief, you need to talk to your doctor as soon as possible. In this article, we gathered four causes of very painful cramps during menstruation that need to be treated.
1. Pelvic inflammatory disorder
Pelvic inflammatory disorder is often characterized by a constant dull pain and vaginal discharge during the whole cycle. This is a dangerous infection that affects the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes. PID is usually caused by untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea.
Make an appointment with your doctor to perform a swab culture that will check for infection or bacteria. Pelvic inflammatory disorder is completely treatable with antibiotics, but without timely treatment, it can cause the formation of scar tissue in your reproductive tract that will ruin your chances for fertility.
2. Uterine fibroids
If you are suffering from debilitating pain and heavy blood flow, you may have uterine fibroids. These benign tumors on the uterus wall are quite common. Fibroids are able to expand the surface area of ??the lining inside the uterus and this leads to severe cramps and bleeding that you experience during menstruation.
If you have these symptoms and know that other women in your family had fibroids, it is better to visit a doctor. Most likely you will need to perform an ultrasound and if there are no abnormal growths, your doctor will prescribe birth control pills in low doses to reduce pain during menstruation. But if the size and location of the fibroids are too bothering, the doctor may recommend you to perform fibroids surgery nyc.
3. Endometriosis
Endometriosis can cause severe cramps with which even painkillers can’t cope. This disease makes uterine tissue grow on the ovaries and fallopian tubes. It affects up to 10 percent of women although many of them often reject this pain as a “normal” part of their menstruation.
Note your menstrual cycles, degrees of pain and bleeding because it will help the doctor make an accurate diagnosis. Hormone treatment can be effective because it is able to shorten the length of your period and reduce the pain you experience every month.
4. An ovarian torsion or ruptured ovarian cyst
Ovarian torsion means that the ovary is twisted and interrupts the blood flow. Ovarian cyst is a common condition that doesn’t cause problems in most cases unless they rupture. Both these conditions are serious, they cause sharp and severe pain. Nausea or vomiting are also common symptoms.
Immediately visit the emergency room for medical examinations. The treatment for ruptured cysts ranges from mild interventions to surgical interventions, but ovarian torsion always requires surgery to fix the problem or remove the ovary if it is too damaged.
