Pain killers for cramps and tampons

[Jennifer89]

Okay, first: what pill helps to eese cramping the best? advill, tylonal (and one other who's name I forgot) don't work for me, and my cramps over the past three months have been getting worse.

Two: Do tampons make you cramps worse? It may be that my period is (finally!!!) setting in, or it may be that I'm now using tampons: but eather way, I'm just starting to get cramps.

Note 1: I'm not talking about birth controle, I'm talking about general pain relievers, something that you might use for back pain or the sort.

Note 2: I do use organic tampons! I use medium/normal absorbansy. I also use pads at night, and sometimes during the day.

[Vegankat]

My gyno said to use ibuprofen, or a painkiller that is also an anti-inflammatory, and to take it as soon as you feel the slightest twinge of a cramp, and take it every hour or two hours as directed for however many days you usually have cramps. Then she told me if the cramps do not subside by the end of the first day of cramping (and I absolutely DO NOT recommend this unless you have yuor doctor's permission and supervision) to take up to 800 mg at a time. I don't do that, though. I'm on BC now and rarely get cramps.

Do not take aspirin, by the way. It thins your blood.

And yes, tampons would probably be a cause for worse cramps. I know they do that to me. It makes sense, too, because most of the time cramps are caused by the swelling of various the uterus, which causes it to press against pretty much everything else. So sticking a wad of cotton up there would probably create more pressure. I also found that tampons made my entire pelvic area hurt, as well as my upper thighs.

If your cramps are really bad, you should really see a gynocologist. They offered me prescription-strength painkillers (which I declined because the BC has been helping me immensely) and free samples of those single-use heating pads.

[rainbow_clouds]

I agree with what Vegankat said. I have a cousin who has cramps so bad she couldn't function, so she got on some medicine from her gyno that helped her completely.

[VeggieFaery]

I used to get horriblr horrible awful cramps.So bad I wouldn't go to school or work,end up with a migrain and puking.When medication wouldn't work,a heating pad sometimes dulled the pain,and/or exercise.I would ride my bike.There were days I would ride for 3 hours because if I stopped it came back,but usually about a half hour or so of exercise would help.

[hazardbliss]

I second the heating pad. It really does numb the pain.

I used to take women's Tylenol, and it would provide immediate and complete relief, but I found myself taking it every month, sometimes when I wasn't even feeling symptoms "just to be safe". Eventually I decided I didn't want to depend on a drug. So now I either use a heating pad or just tough it out. I also reduced my soy intake to tofu once a week, and my cramps have calmed down considerably. When I consume a lot of soy during the month my cramps are absolutely crippling.

[IamJen]

Another :up: to the heating pad and watching the soy. Ibuprofen would be my drug of choice, for somethin mainstream Most of the gals I know say that it's *far* superior to Tylenol/acetominophen. I've not had troubles in some time, but when I was in college and felt like I was going to die :no:, I started using Valerian Root, and works great..it basically acts as a muscle relaxant. Ibuprofen is safe, but if you use it too often/too much, it can have some bad effects on your stomach.

[Jennifer89]

I already have a heating pad, but at camp it'll be much easier to just take something then it will be to sneek down to the kitchen and heat up the heating pad... also to make it unnoticeable. I could buy the one use kind, I've tried the icey hot cream on my ankle once (I have a really bad ankle as the result of multible broken bones and 2 surgeries in 3 years) and it didn't help, but I can try it on the cramps, I don't know how that'll work, anyone try that before? (yum, that cream smells minty!)

Other then things that are just main streem (which I am always sorda weary to take), what are some things that I might find in my health food store?

Thanks, you gals are great :)

[rabid_child]

You could get those Thermacare patches for heating pads. They stay warm for a hella long time!!

When I used to get bad cramps, my doctor said to start taking advil every 4-6 hrs the day or two BEFORE my period, that there was something in advil that helped control the hormone that may contribute to the cramping. What I would end up with in the end though was either 3 advil every 4 hrs, or two advil, wait two hours, one advil, wait two hours, two advil etc... I did eventually go on birth control because taking 24+ advil a day for a week was just going to destroy my stomach and liver, and even prescription strength Aleve didn't do anything for the pain. Even with all that advil I still had cramps, it just made it so I could walk. I never noticed a difference cramp wise between tampons and pads. Now, I occasionally need 2 advil on the first or second day of my period, and thats it.

[DancNSpin]

Ibuprofen works the best, because it reduces inflammation. Heating pads work really well also. I used to have such bad cramps that I was forced into the fetal position for the first day of my period. Actually, birth control really helps with that also.

[VeggieFaery]

Also caffiene can make cramps worse.

[LQQK]

Ibuprofin is the best and i wouldnt do it all the time but 800mg is a prescription strength i think if you took that once a day as long as you dont drinl booz with it you will be fine. Drink plenty of water and also make sure you take your Vitamins. calcium and V- D help to balance the system when it comes to mother nature. Yes tampons do make you cramp more. Your body cramps becuse it is trying to push all the stuff off your walls to get rid of it. so if you have something suck up there it makes it a lot more work .... So i would try to where pads when ever you can .... and make sure you drink plenty of water!!!!

[ynaffit]

tampons do seem to make my cramps worse.

i didn't start getting cramps until i'd had my period for three years.

[Vegankat]

My period started yesterday for the month, and for the first time ever I do not have cramps. It's also so light, it's practically a trickle, where it used to just gush, and I would lose so much blood that I was horribly anemic all the time. I understand that hormonal birth control doesn't work for everyone, but it has really changed my quality of life.

[Tofu-N-Sprouts]

Have to agree with above posters... I was literally disabled for one or two days at the beginning of my period with horrible cramps, backache and migraines...

Advil/iboprofin DID help a bit - but I was taking two reg. strength EVERY hour (with my Doctor's approval) for those two days... while you can't get "dependant" on iboprofin OR Tylenol/aceteminiphin they DO do a number on your stomach OR your liver after a while... and I didn't want that...

Starting Birth Control was the best thing I ever did - I feel a million times better!!!

Obviously it isn't right for everyone... just my two cents...

[CaptainSwab]

Birth control also completely took care of cramps for me. I forgot to get my prescription refilled a couple of months ago and went a month without the pill and boy was I sorry when my period came! Ouch!

Before I started on BC, tylenol seemed to make my cramps worse.

Somebody else mentioned caffinee above. Drink diet coke on that day, that really made my cramps worse too.

[MRSSHF]

Back when I was an omni, I used to have horrible cramps. I would roll up into a fetal position and cry. I often had to take prescription iboprofin, and when I didn't have prescription stuff, I often took 50 OTC tablets per cycle.

Not eating meat helped a little. Dumping dairy made a huge improvement, since it turns out that dairy was causing a mucus build-up in my system, and this was aggravating the cramps. Smoking cigarettes was also causing mucus build-up, and I stopped that as well. Eating lower fat foods, drinking plenty of water, giving up caffeine and increasing my activity level (more exercise) has improved the situation to the point where last month, I took no pain relief drugs at all.

I went to doctors several times about menstrual cramps over 15+ years between starting my period and going Vegan. I was never given any valuable advice. One doctor told me that if I had babies, the cramps would go away.

Tampons used to make cramps worse for me. They don't now, but they seem to mess up my body chemistry in other ways, so I stopped using them.

[down_to_earth]

Thanks!!

I am one who has horrific cramps to the point that I just curl up in the fetal position and eventually pass out from the pain. The past couple of peirods (not necessarily in succession), I've noticed that if I upped my dairy milk consumption, my cramps were tolerable. I use ibuprofin, but on the first day, it doesn't do much. Usually, by the second day, they're gone.

MRSSHF helped me realize that my periods this year (sicne I've cut out meat and fried food and heavy consumption of overly processed foods) that my cramps are better as well. Go figure.

I'm still late, but Saturday and this morning, I've been feeling crampy, but nothing yet. Blah. I hate when it teases me. Luckily, today, I have no plans, except to do some cleaning out of the kitchen. (There are a few benefits to being an unemployed bum.:rolleyes:) Unfortunately, I've been eating more veggie burgers and dogs in the past couple of days, which probably hasn't helped. Also, I was at the in-laws' Saturday evening through yesterday afternoon, and had a few Diet Pepsis and maybe too much coffee in the last couple of days (they have them there for me and it's about the only time I drink soda). Blah.

Thanks for the advice, everybody.

[down_to_earth]

PS: Tampons also seem to make things worse for me, so I avoid them on the first day. Hopefully, though, my period will hold off for another day since my husband metnioned going to Wal-Mart tonight to get a tire replaced and I'm going to tag along. I don't necessarily care for Wal-Mart, but they seem okay with what little business I give them.

blah

[porvida]

im gonna jump on the birth-control bandwagon....not that im suggesting it, just saying that it really really took down the pain level of my cramps (i would have to leave school or stay home pretty much every month on the first day of my period because they got so bad...and I'd often throw up or stay curled up in the fetal position) my period is now REGULAR too...it used to just kind of show up and I'd never know when I'd get it. now it seems to always come on the wednesday after my hormonal pills end for the month. and the flow is so light and lasts maybe 3 days.
I HATE periods and see them as a total inconvenience because all they ever did was hurt me and ruin underwear and were always really heavy. i'm in love with my birth control, its relieved me of a big nuisance.

when i still got bad cramps, there was a pain reliever i'd sometimes take called Naproxen. it always seemed to help more than the other ones...i dont know much about it, though, or how bad it is for you, but my mom used to swear by it for pains like that.

[mommyof1]

REALLY REALLY HELPS: My prescription:
If your dots are regular, you will know when they are coming.....
A few days before them, Like 3 or 4,
1. UPTAKE your amount of water... by A LOT!! Litarally.... a gallon a day
2. WORK OUT 3-5 days before your dot, every day!!
This should significantly reduce your cramps...
When the cramps come,
1. TAKE A HOT BATH and sit in there for at least 30 min. Epsom salt in the bath helps a lot.
2. And yes, I also suggest Advil.
3. And yes, tampons make cramps worse. Dunno why, but they do.

:) Happy menstruation! :)

[crystalteacup]

Birth control helps me with so much stuff. I just recommend being off of it one month a year at least to flush out your system. I worry about that kind of thing.

[HappySmile]

My sister used to have cramps that were so unbearable. She got them even before she started and while she was on her period. ( I used to feel sorry for her I never had problems with cramps) In the latter part of November she and I both started taking all-natural liquid vitamins and essential minerals. She noticed that she wasn't getting cramps anymore. She now feels fabulous. I was happy that she finally found something that stopped her cramps. She was also happy about that it was all-natural because she always wanted to take something that was natural. Also, the vitamins and essential minerals both have boosted our energy. So, my sister got a double gift. :)

[April]

I've repeatedly read that raspberry leaf can help with menstrual cramps, by 'toning the uterus'. I'd suggest trying a raspberry leaf tea at the health food store.