Contents
Painful periods: what treatment?
By contracting to detach the superficial part of the endometrium, the uterus can cause more or less severe pain. We are talking about dysmenorrhea. Fortunately, treatments exist and are generally sufficient to relieve the pain. Classically, all painkillers based on paracetamol (Doliprane, Efferalgan) are effective. Aspirin should be avoided (except in case of slight losses), which causes more bleeding. The most effective treatments remain the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, based on ibuprofen or derivatives (Nurofen, Antadys, Ponstyl etc.), which stop the production of prostaglandins, responsible for pain. For more efficiency, do not hesitate to take them very quickly, even if it means anticipating the symptoms, and then needing them less.
Painful periods: when to consult?
Strongly painful rules, which handicap on a daily basis, for example by forcing them to take days off or to be absent and miss classes must encourage consultation. Because a painful period is one of the first characteristic symptoms of endometriosis, a chronic gynecological disease that affects at least one in ten women. They can also be a sign of a uterine fibroid.
Heavy periods: what causes, when to consult?
In case of occasional abundance and which does not give cause for concern, we often recommend the pill or the IUD for their progesterone contribution and their anti-haemorrhagic quality. Corn when you have been bleeding too much for a long time, it is anyway better to consult. Because one of the first possible consequences is theanemia, causing fatigue, hair loss, split nails, but also increased sensitivity to infections.
These heavy periods can also be a sign of a more general bleeding problem, which only a medical consultation can determine and treat. They can also signal an ovulation abnormality or hormonal imbalance which would cause an exaggerated thickening of the endometrium. It can also be a polyp, which must then be withdrawn, or a adenomyosis, endometriosis affecting the uterine muscle.
Irregular periods or no periods: what it can hide
Most women have 28-day cycles, but as long as it is between 28 and 35 days, the cycle is considered regular. However, there are extreme cases. Menstruation then occurs barely three or four times a year or, on the contrary, twice a month. Either way, it deserves a consultation. We can indeed discover a ovulation or hormonal problem, such as polycystic ovary syndrome, or the presence of a polyp in the uterus or an ovarian cyst.
One exception, however: on the pill, if you don’t have a period, it is neither serious nor dangerous. Since there has been no ovulation, the body does not have a thick endometrium to shed. Thus, periods on the pill or between two platelets are more withdrawal bleeding, and not real periods.