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Every girl knows firsthand what kind of pain and discomfort in the lower abdomen begins and is accompanied by menstruation. According to statistics, every second girl experiences such severe pain on the first day of menstruation that she cannot work or study normally on this day. For many girls, it has already become common practice to stay at home or take time off from work in the first days of menstruation. Pain before menstruation seems quite familiar and doesn’t particularly bother me, but pain after menstruation should attract your close attention.
Symptoms that should alert you:
- Cramping pain in the lower abdomen.
- Pain in the lower abdomen, radiating to the lower back.
- General weakness, lethargy.
- Nausea, vomiting.
- Temperature rises to 37°C.
- Nervousness, irritability, depression.
- Insomnia.
- Dry mouth, cravings for food (especially sweets).
- Swelling of the arms and legs.
- Sensitivity of the mammary glands and nipples (a brown halo appears around the nipples).
- Pain when urinating.
- Pain during sexual intercourse.
- Purulent or bloody vaginal discharge.
Pain after menstruation has a different nature than pain before menstruation: it is more intense and has an inflammatory onset. Such pain may indicate inflammatory diseases of the female reproductive system, such as endometriosis, vulvitis or adnexitis.
If the stomach hurts after menstruation a week to 12 days later, this may indicate that ovulation is occurring in the woman’s body: in this case, the lower abdomen usually feels tight and a slight tingling sensation is felt in the lower back. But there is also a positive side to this condition: during ovulation, a woman’s skin condition noticeably improves, she becomes cheerful and sexy. In order to make sure that it is ovulation and not a pathology of the female genital organs, it is enough to buy an ovulation test at the pharmacy. If it is positive, then there is no need to worry and the painful sensations will soon stop.
Sometimes pain after menstruation may indicate a disease such as inflammation of the ovaries and inflammation of the fallopian tubes. Initially, such diseases proceed unnoticed, and only after some time, when pathogenic microorganisms penetrate the uterus and fallopian tubes and begin to multiply there, the disease makes itself felt with pain. Inflammation in the fallopian tubes can lead to abnormal functioning of the ovaries and further to infertility, therefore, if you experience pain after menstruation in the lower abdomen that does not go away, but on the contrary, intensifies, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Chest pain after menstruation
Pain in the breasts and nipples after menstruation is one of the unfavorable symptoms that you should definitely pay attention to. Such chest pain is called mastalgia. At a young age (11-17 years), such pain is often caused by the growth of the mammary glands and goes away over time. In this case, you should not worry too much: the formation of the menstrual cycle, the growth of the skeleton and bone structure, hormonal changes in the girl’s body – all this contributes to chest pain during this period of the girl’s life. But if chest pain after menstruation appears at an older age, when the menstrual cycle and hormonal levels are already stable, this may indicate inflammatory processes in the mammary glands or even the presence of neoplasms.
If after each menstruation a woman suffers from prolonged pain in the breasts and nipples, her hormonal balance is disturbed. One of the causes of postmenstrual chest pain may be pregnancy, so you need to take a pregnancy test or donate blood for hCG. If pregnancy is excluded, you should look for the following reasons:
- Recent surgeries.
- Injuries to the chest or chest area.
- Problems with muscle or bone tissue.
- Taking certain sedatives.
- Climax.
It can be very difficult to independently determine the cause of pain (other than pregnancy, which can be easily diagnosed using a test or blood test for hCG). That is why if you experience the above problems, you should immediately consult a doctor.
Pain in the uterus after menstruation
During menstruation, the uterus constantly contracts, which is why girls experience the usual pain sensations, pain in the lower back and ovaries. Pain in the uterus after menstruation can be caused by hormonal imbalance and an increase in the level of estrogen in the blood (usually in girls after 30 years).
Sometimes the uterus is not positioned correctly, that is, it is located in the wrong place in the abdominal cavity. Where it should. Such an incorrect position of the uterus will certainly cause nagging pain after menstruation. The use of an intrauterine contraceptive device often causes such pain, because being located inside the uterine cavity, it prevents its normal contraction during menstruation. Also, postmenstrual pain in the uterus can be caused by stress, nervous tension and insomnia.
If pain in the uterus stops 2-3 days after the end of menstruation, there is no need to worry, because a woman’s body is unpredictable and does not always work like a clock. If such pain recurs after each menstruation and does not go away within a week or more, you should definitely consult a doctor to rule out possible uterine pathology.
Pain during sex after menstruation
If you feel discomfort after menstruation, this may be due to the fact that in the first couple of days after menstruation, the lubricant secreted by the Barthollin gland is released worse than in the middle of the cycle. The same thing happens a couple of days before the start of menstruation. This fact is explained very simply: in the middle of the menstrual cycle, ovulation occurs – the most favorable time for conception, so the lubricant is secreted more actively and in greater quantities – in order to better transport the sperm secreted by a man during sex into the woman’s genital tract.
If the pain is accompanied by itching of the genitals, this may indicate a fungal infection of the woman’s genitals. Vaginal candidiasis or thrush is treated quickly and goes away almost immediately, but if you do not pay attention to this and start the disease, then candidiasis will rise higher and cause more serious complications.
Also, pain during sex after menstruation may indicate inflammation of the ureters. The female urinary tract is extremely short (only 4 cm), so any infection penetrates without problems, causing itching, burning and inflammation. When having sex (especially without a condom!) this path is shortened to the point of impossibility.
In all of the above cases, you should consult a doctor: a gynecologist and a urologist. Doctors will conduct the necessary diagnostics and prescribe treatment.
Treatment of pain after menstruation
First, you should try non-medicinal treatment methods, and if they do not help, only then move on to the “heavy artillery.”
- Yoga will help. To relieve pain after menstruation, you need to take the “cobra” pose. To do this, you need to slowly lower your face down to the floor, and then just as slowly raise your head and chest, but without using your hands. Then continue to lift the thoracic spine using your hands until you feel a tingling sensation in your back, while moving your head back as far as possible. Breathing mode when performing the exercise: inhale when raising the body and exhale when lowering the body. You can repeat the exercise no more than 3 times. Perform slowly (so that each exercise takes 4-5 minutes).
- Another yoga pose called “bow”. When taking this pose, you need to lie face down, raise your bent knees and squeeze your ankles with your hands. If you are flexible enough, you can allow yourself to roll back and forth while holding your breath.
- It’s no secret that orgasm is pleasantly relaxing and has a pain-relieving effect. Therefore, having gentle and slow rhythmic sex will help get rid of pain. You can also resort to masturbation, but you should not do this if the pain is too severe.
Painful sensations quickly disappear with regular use of oral contraceptives (which often have a therapeutic effect). To select the correct OC, you need to consult a doctor and undergo the necessary tests.
To eliminate pain after menstruation, antispasmodics and painkillers available in pharmacies without a prescription (no-spa, analgin, baralgin, baralgetas, tempalgin, paracetamol and analogues) will help.
Hot herbal tea with valerian will calm you down and help you relax. During such pain, it is necessary, if possible, to stay at home and observe bed rest.