Why do aspie girls suffer horrible period pains?
not as bad now that I'm 48, but as a teen I suffered beyond words, couldnt get out of bed, lay with my forehead against my knees. It was like being stabbed with a knife deep inside, over and over again, non stop.
Is this because we're more sensitive to some pains? Is it because so many aspies have stomach aches, and I read someplace that women who suffer stomach aches will get more painful periods?
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Blogging about childhood and adulthood with Asperger and my own personl experience with rage attacks, shutdowns, social phobias etc. https://aspergerlifeblog.wordpress.com/
btbnnyr
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Sweetleaf
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Mine tend to vary, sometimes I have little to no noticeable cramping and d it ends up being really light and doesn't last long. And sometimes its quite unbearable and I really wish I had some strong opiates forthose instances or just some opium would work....but usually end up settling for calming herbs like chamomile, valarian and lavender to help relax things and there is this herb called feverfew that works like ibuprophin fever reducer/pain reliever but I actually think it works better. Cannabis can help to but not so much if i happen to have a more sativa strain, indica is better for that.
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We won't go back.
My periods were horrendous though now after having had two children they aren't as bad.
I had cramps down my legs, huge clots, stripping/ripping pains in my uterus and abdomen, migraine with aura usually on the first day, sharp and intense pain in the vagina.
One thing that helps is to not eat meat, specially red meat, in the week prior to your period. Also avoid dairy that week if you aren't already avoiding dairy. Taking a magnesium supplement also helps with the cramps. There have been times where I lived with a heating pad for those few days. If you have issues with anemia around your period, make sure to eat red meat the week of your period and the week after, not to excess for health reasons, but just to give you an iron boost. Also, cook as much as you can in an iron skillet; they leach iron into your food. I gave blood one time and was horribly anemic for nearly 8 months afterward so I know how sick anemia can make you and the stupid iron pills don't work. Eat leafy greens especially kale; it has huge amounts of vitamin K to help regulate blood clotting and most leafy greens also have a good amount of iron if I remember correctly. I also do not eat wheat because I have a neurological intolerance to it.
If you can, get checked for ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and endometriosis. I have had both cysts and there was evidence that I might have had fibroids once and there is suspicion that I might have some endometriosis too.
Another thing, ditch those tampons if you are bothering to use them. If you really need to use tampons, get the 100% cotton ones from health food stores and use only natural fibers in your pads. I don't really know why, but avoiding synthetic materials as much as possible in hygiene products for menstrual products makes a difference.
I still get ripping/Stripping pains on the first or second day that I dread happening in a store because it is so bad that I cannot move, breathe, and my whole body can't move. Kind of embarrassing when you don't want to attract attention for something like that.
I recently figured out that I am lactose intolerant and since I no longer have constant stomach pain since I am avoiding dairy as much as I can tolerate, my periods don't hurt as much. I can attest to the stomach pain/menstrual pain connection.
I also think some people have bodies that are more prone to inflammation and stress so there could be a loose relation there between period pain and the oversensitive body some people with AS have. The inflammatory and neurological systems are very intertwined and depend on each other.
I'm NT and I've always had awful periods too. It's very painful and it makes me feel almost feverish and has done since I started (I'm really cold and sweaty and then suddenly hot and then cold again), and frequently I throw up too. I do not suffer from stomach aches though. Anyway, I would be surprised if it is related to being on the spectrum- it's just that the experiences varies for females in general.
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Mum to two awesome kids on the spectrum (16 and 13 years old).
Unfortunately, nothing helps me... pills dont work on me very well, and i've tried chamomile, and it only helps if i have mild pain, and even then only sometimes. everybody responds differently to pills and herbs.
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Blogging about childhood and adulthood with Asperger and my own personl experience with rage attacks, shutdowns, social phobias etc. https://aspergerlifeblog.wordpress.com/
I had cramps down my legs, huge clots, stripping/ripping pains in my uterus and abdomen, migraine with aura usually on the first day, sharp and intense pain in the vagina.
One thing that helps is to not eat meat, specially red meat, in the week prior to your period. Also avoid dairy that week if you aren't already avoiding dairy. Taking a magnesium supplement also helps with the cramps. There have been times where I lived with a heating pad for those few days. If you have issues with anemia around your period, make sure to eat red meat the week of your period and the week after, not to excess for health reasons, but just to give you an iron boost. Also, cook as much as you can in an iron skillet; they leach iron into your food. I gave blood one time and was horribly anemic for nearly 8 months afterward so I know how sick anemia can make you and the stupid iron pills don't work. Eat leafy greens especially kale; it has huge amounts of vitamin K to help regulate blood clotting and most leafy greens also have a good amount of iron if I remember correctly. I also do not eat wheat because I have a neurological intolerance to it.
If you can, get checked for ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and endometriosis. I have had both cysts and there was evidence that I might have had fibroids once and there is suspicion that I might have some endometriosis too.
Another thing, ditch those tampons if you are bothering to use them. If you really need to use tampons, get the 100% cotton ones from health food stores and use only natural fibers in your pads. I don't really know why, but avoiding synthetic materials as much as possible in hygiene products for menstrual products makes a difference.
I still get ripping/Stripping pains on the first or second day that I dread happening in a store because it is so bad that I cannot move, breathe, and my whole body can't move. Kind of embarrassing when you don't want to attract attention for something like that.
Thanks for the very informative post. I'll try that, and i never use tampoons. i imagine it'd be extremely painful just to put them in, ouch.
_________________
Blogging about childhood and adulthood with Asperger and my own personl experience with rage attacks, shutdowns, social phobias etc. https://aspergerlifeblog.wordpress.com/
I personally feel like I get more cramping pain when I am stressed. I tend to really tense up all over when I'm stressed. I find that I get less pain when I exercise regularly, especially when I do stretching exercises that work the psoas muscles and the core, like Pilates or Yoga. If I have less tension in my body I don't suffer as much pain.
This varies with any woman. Some women have bad pains with their periods, others have moderate pains, and others don't really suffer much pain at all. Some women have really heavy periods that overflow several times a day and cause problems, other women don't have such heavy periods like that. I was the type to suffer awfully painful stomach cramps with my periods but they weren't as heavy as some of the other girls said their's was. I've been on the pill for about 6 years, and I still get periods but they are very regular, and I still get those cramps but they are more bearable and don't affect me at all; I can still go out and enjoy myself or go to work without worrying about being in agony with cramps.
How your periods affect you has nothing to do with having Asperger's, even if it may seem that way.
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Female
hmmm....I don't know a whole lot about the correlation between being Aspie and bad periods but mine were horrible, not to mention I got my period when I was 10! I stayed home from school a few times because they were so bad (I had fainted one time, and another time the pain caused vomiting). Birth Control pills helped when i was in my late teens and early 20s, but I got my tubes tied at 30 and no longer need those. I am now in Peri-menopause (at age 44!) and my doctor says that my hormone levels were that of a 55 year old! I am on hormone replacement therapy for the awful symptoms of peri-menopause (hot flashes, insomnia, depression and terrible mood swings) and that was helping the hot flashes and depression, but it also makes me have a period every month AND bleed halfway through my cycle. When I do bleed it's HEAVY! What fun!
I am seeing my doctor next week actually so I am going to ask to go off the HRT for now and see what happens.
But anyway...I had always thought my period problems were inherited from my mom's family (her sister and mother had problems like mine but my mom did not), but then again Autism is also inherited so.....lol
And I already KNOW I have a LOW pain threshold - is that an Aspie trait?
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DeeDee327
~having Asperger's is an advantage I think. Because I do not understand social "rules" or the "proper" way to behave, then I don't take myself too seriously!~
How your periods affect you has nothing to do with having Asperger's, even if it may seem that way.
I agree. Don't think it's an aspie thing. How many children did you have? Vaginal births usually improve or cure period cramps, as uterus becomes "experienced" with contractions. It might also be genetic. I'm not aware of anyone with period cramps in my family, of course currently all female members have been mothers, no teen/youth girls.
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nerdygirl
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I had severe cramps through my teen years & into college, for 2-3 days at the start of my period. I had to just deal with it because I couldn't miss that much school & work every month. I didn't vomit or have migraines, but I would be up in the middle of the night in agony. Basically, it was a lot like labor pains. I would curl up on the floor in a fetal position, crying. Sometimes I would sit on the toilet for an hour in the middle of the night just because the position of it gave some relief. I took prescription-level meds. Some helped, some didn't. The muscle relaxants helped the most.
I tried birth control pills around age 19 or so. They were a miracle drug for the first month, then caused the worst PMS I ever had in my entire life which lasted non-stop for about 2-3 months until I realized this "side effect" was not going to go away and I quit taking the pills. My body permanently changed during that time to give me a more "womanly" look.
I had kids in my early 20s. Two C-sections (the first one was after hours of labor.) But still, my cramps just about disappeared after having kids.
I started to have cramps again at age 35, and they are progressively getting worse.
Overall, I have a very high threshold for pain, so my cramps were out-of-control bad. I was checked for various problems, but none were found.
My period pain severity varies month by month, one month I can have no pain and the next it might be unbearable. One thing I do notice is that PMS and period pains seem to alternate. If I suffer PMS (usually evidenced by maniacal homicidality ) I don't get pains, whereas if I don't suffer PMS and my periods totally come by surprise I have bad pains.
My periods have been really weird over the last 6 months or so however. They've been extremely heavy to the point I have stains on most of my bedsheets now (and that's despite going to bed with a pad on). These last two months they've been heavy but only lasted for 3-4 days (compared to the 7-8 they usually last for). My last period started a full week too early.
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