Painful Period Vs Broken Bone

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I first had an ultrasound to check my ovaries, which showed I had large cysts. Then I had a laparoscopy to get rid of them and also to see how bad the endometriosis was. After the laparoscopy I had a course of implants for 9 months to stop my sex hormones (i think it was called goserilin) which was to shrink the endometriosis so it would be easier for the surgeon to remove. The surgery involved an incision similar to a caesarian, then he cut out the endo.

I was supposed to stay on the pill after I had the operation, but it stuffed me around with my moods so I stopped. Then I started getting problems again so I tried the pill again after a few years and it's been good since.

I had a similar experience, except that the cyst causing me the pain was in -- not on -- my right ovary. It was the size of a grapefruit and caused my ovary to rupture on Easter moring, 2000. I had a couple on my left ovary the size of grapes, too, but it was the one inside my right ovary that was the big problem. I have polycystic ovaries; I always have a few cysts, although since I started using the NuvaRing they are tiny (like 2.5 millimeters) and usually go away on their own. Sometimes they pop and it feels like I have been punched in the gut from the inside out only worse. The first time it happened I thought I was going to pass out right in the middle of math class.

I had to have emergency abdominal surgery to remove the cysts. I missed the last week of classes my senior year of college! The gynecological surgeon who had performed the operation said I had the worst case of endo he'd seen in 30 years of surgery. They had to wash me out twice before they could see enough to operate. I not only had it on the outside of my uterus, but my fallopian tubes and ovaries, my bladder, even my liver! After the operation it took a couple months for my periods to normalize, but they hurt a LOT less and there was a lot less blood. They didn't last as long, either. Going on the NuvaRing was amazing -- no cramps. From debilitating "I'll throw up if I try to move" periods, I went to "no big deal" periods. My ovulation symptoms are less, too. (Oh, and despite the fact that it popped, I still have most of my right ovary and it works!)

I think that broken bones are an entirely different sort of pain. My period pain was dull, throbbing, with occasional bouts of feeling like someone was stabbing me, or that someone had reached into my get and twisted. I have broken a finger and two toes; I only knew there was a problem from the extreme bruising. They were sore, but with the bones there was an initial sharp shock of pain and then basically nothing; I just didn't want to put any pressure on them. I have a high pain threshold -- both my broken bones barely elicted more than an exclamation. However, the two kinds of pain are so different for me that it's hard to compare.

Hello
My period pain is awful for the 2 and 3rd day! I usually use a heating pad, Vicodin and a beer to dull it. Having had children I can say (for me) it is less painful than labor but right up there with bad contractions. They were much worse before I had kids though., and I would sometimes faint. I still get hot/cold flashes though and get really dizzy!

I'm sorry to see how many other women have bad pain. I'm especially sorry for Lotus blossom's daughter. I know she wouldn't want to be examined or have any endometriosis operated on, but is it possible she could go on Depo Provera to stop her periods?


I'm not sure if it's because I regularly have bad pain and had one small broken bone, but for me they aren't too different in pain level.

When I chipped a bone I was told it was only bruised and I believed it, I didn't make a sound when I did it and I slept with nothing done to it and no Panadol until I was taken to hospital the next day and got a sling and cast. I was surprised at the kind of pain, it was more like a hard gritty cramping than the sharp stabbing I always thought it would be. Broken bones are painful, but usually ok if you stay still.

But for the first few days I get period severe pain in my lower back, abdomen and down my legs. At their most intense the waves of pain feel as though they're clawing, stop me thinking clearly at their peak and make me feel cold and queasy. Heat on my lower back takes the edge off the pain better than when it's on the tummy, and if I don't take painkillers every four hours for the first bit I'm in trouble. But it's a little better now I'm older.

Broken bone, I think, because the pain is prolonged for longer than just four or five days.
I've broken my ankle and it hurt for weeks. Periods just, for me, hurt for two or so days.

Lol I get the 'lasting' thing but I'd still rather have the broken bone. I could function with that cracked rib.

Broken bone. I don't know what is period pain. Ok, I KNOW, but I don't experience it.
My bones are still each in one piece, but I met some people with broken bones and they complained more than when they had periods.


EDIT: The worst pain I experienced was renal colic. OMG! It was worse than torticollis.

Last edited by Valoyossa on 26 Dec 2010, 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

me too

Before I went on the contraceptive pill, I'd have variable periods. Most of the time, I'd barely feel them...at other times I wouldn't be able to move or breathe properly with the pain. I haven't broken a bone or had a baby, but I've had one experience that was worse and one that was about the same.

The one that was worse was an ear infection that busted both my ear drums and made me deaf for a couple of weeks. It felt like someone was taking a chisel to my inner ear. The one that was about the same was a hangover where I couldn't move, or breathe too deeply without vomiting bile and it felt like someone was kicking me in the stomach every 5 seconds.

I've never had a broken bone. I do get cramps, but they're mild enough that they go away with some exercise. I think the worst pain I had was from an ear infection I had when I was 12. (I think that was my only ear infection in my life)

i have had an operation on my toe where they broke my big toe re shaped and pinned it into a new position because the bone had grown wrong. i also broke my other big toe whilst kickboxing, i went the doctors but they said i was fine, went back a few times and eventually got an x-ray 9months later that showed i had broken it, the joint had shattered and then grown back wrong so i had a fragmented toe. i had to have similar surgery, they broke, reshaped and then pinned it in place. so that makes for three seperate broken bone occasions.

i still say periods are worse.

i am now on the contraceptive injection which has completely stopped my periods, no more bleeding, no more pain

I've never broken a bone *knocks on wood* and my periods don't hurt too much, it's afterwards that hurts. Though, I have had back surgery almost 6 years ago.

I have the same problem of not being able to trust my interpretation of the pain. I have endometriosis and it took me ages to work out what was wrong because of this problem but eventually someone was able to point out to me that rolling around on the floor screaming in agony is a good sign something needs to be done and I had the surgery to remove it.

I'm glad you said that the surgery helped you fix it because it sort of helped me but not enough and now I'm probably going to have it done again but havn't heard enough positive stories about surgery to believe that it might help.

Keyhole surgery is required to diagnose (and remove) endometriosis but other hormonal treatments and alternative treatments are available. I think endometriosis is the most obvious cause for serious period pain and if you haven't had a laparoscopy to check it out, it could well be the problem.

The surgery I had wasn't keyhole, he started it that way but "there was too much of a mess in there" so I had a cut like a caesarian.
I'm pretty sure I will have to have a hysterectomy sometime, the surgery just put it off for a while.
And I also have not heard much about the surgery being a complete success.

I am another person with a high pain threshold. I didn't know I was in labour and I'd been having contractions 20 minutes apart for 18 hours before I went to the hospital. I only went because my husband's aunty told me I was having contractions after she saw me rubbing my lower back.
I didn't have any painkillers. I think the worst pain was sitting on the episiotomy stitches for weeks after!

Well, with a broken bone no one seems to mind if you're in pain because it's to be expected and that pain is quite localized and yeah it hurts, but it's not that persistent dull ache that's settled down for a long stay. They also give you lovely lovely drugs for the pain because again, broken bone, they expect you to be howling your lungs out with agony. Whereas with your period you're supposed to be all woman power in touch with nature during the special time blah blah BS and since there's no outward sign that you should be in pain people tend to think you're just making a big deal out of nothing. If I had a choice, I'd take the broken bone. I'm fine with that kind of pain, plus, again, they give you lovely drugs for it. But even without them, still take the broken bone. Also broken bone might make you cranky, but chances are a broken bone isn't going to have any real effect on your mood.

I've never broken a bone and I prevent period pains...I had bad menstrual cramps as a kid, and last year when my IUD went walkies, but otherwise I just couldn't be putting up with pain like that every cycle. I imagine broken bones is going to be less painful, cramps tend to be more achy and effect a much larger area of your body, it's not just the pain but the discomfort of cramps that gets you.

Sorry, I know I'll be hated here but obviously excluding problems like endometriosis in the vast majority of cases cramps can be prevented, it seems most women just take painkillers or stop menstruation all together with the pill, shot, etc. I don't understand why more women don't even try to prevent cramps. Maybe is a social/cultural thing, when the pill is used as a cure all and menstruation is deemed some great evil women must suffer, it seems many women tolerate cramps as 'part of being a woman'. *shrugs*