Dealing with bad cramps?

Well, I suppose I am fertile enough 😢

though it can be quite a relief when the cycles aren't quite so punishing—for instance, this one was significantly less agonizing (only two cramps instead of the usual three little devils 🤣).

Jason Morgan said:says this:

I've been cycling through Voltaren, Ketolac, and for the last few months, mostly Advil.
During that first day and a half of my period, I’m basically incapacitated. 😁 It isn't a joke—if I don't take two pills at once and then a third one a few hours later, I actually feel like I might pass out from the pain. I am effectively out of commission for two full days.
On a monthly basis, I probably take maybe four or five Advil or Ketolac tablets and nothing else, but I noticed yesterday that my digestive system has become quite sensitive to them. I start getting this low-level nausea that radiates from my stomach downwards whenever I take them.

Has anyone actually managed to find a substitute for this constant pill-popping? And please, spare me the "try a heating pad" or "take some magnesium" suggestions, because those don't come anywhere close to the efficacy of actual medication. I need something—even if it takes longer to kick in—that can at least offset part of the dosage I have to swallow just to remain functional. I should mention that physical activity, staying sedentary, food, sex... absolutely nothing has changed the intensity of these cramps in the last 12 years. They are always exactly the same.

I completely agree! The pharmacist recommended some tablets starting with N (I honestly can't remember the name), and recently I was taking 600mg Ibuprofen granules; I’ve tried Voltaren and Neofen and all sorts of things, but Ketonal capsules are definitely the best for me. Almost all of these medications take about two hours to start working (not to mention how I spend those two hours tossing and turning in bed from the pain 🙂).

Is there anything, anything at all, that works faster? Would it help if I took two Ketonal at once? (In my logic, it won't, I'll just be taking a double dose I don't actually need).🤔

Kate Foster12 said:There were rumors that belly dancing helps manage the pain. Have you ever tried pills? Because—well—I’ve been on Yaz for eight months now, and I still get cramps. Not as bad as they used to be, but enough to break out in a cold sweat. Honestly, when the pain hits, just wrapping myself in a blanket helps. 😬

I once threw up after taking two Voltaren Rapids. It knocks me out—I fall asleep, and two hours later, the pain is just gone... 😁

I don't believe any of it! No exercises, no pelvic tilts, no whiskey, and certainly no magnesium... when it hurts, it truly HURTS.🙂

Thomas Roberts9 said:I completely agree! The pharmacist recommended some tablets starting with N (I honestly can't remember the name), and recently I was taking 600mg Ibuprofen granules; I’ve tried Voltaren and Neofen and all sorts of things, but Ketonal capsules are definitely the best for me. Almost all of these medications take about two hours to start working (not to mention how I spend those two hours tossing and turning in bed from the pain 🙂).

Is there anything, anything at all, that works faster? Would it help if I took two Ketonal at once? (In my logic, it won't, I'll just be taking a double dose I don't actually need).🤔

I don't believe any of it! No exercises, no pelvic tilts, no whiskey, and certainly no magnesium... when it hurts, it truly HURTS.🙂

Of course you will. 😉

Personally, I usually reach for three, 😬 though I only do that as a one-off when the pain hits hard enough to be debilitating. Otherwise, I try to stay disciplined. But if the flare-up lands on a Monday morning, I don't exactly have the luxury of staying home to suffer through it; I have to function.

neonnomad18 said:...well, my partner and I are currently in the middle of a spat—so I really shouldn't be commenting on my own situation here—but from what I've managed to dig up online... apparently, those pains can be quite intense during ovulatory cycles, whereas they might be less noticeable during anovulatory ones... though, of course, that isn't a rule and might not apply to you at all... but I did come across this specific bit of info recently 🤷

I suppose I won't comment on my own case either, though if I go by what people say on the internet—I seem to be almost the exact opposite of the standard narrative—but then again, we're all incredibly different when it comes to this stuff. Since I’m planning to start trying for a baby soon, and because I have PCOS, I track my ovulation pretty religiously; it turns out I tend to have much less painful (or even no pain at all) periods when I actually ovulate compared to when I have an anovulatory cycle or one of my "lazy" cycles—I've actually "caught" ovulation on day 20 of a cycle before, even though the cycle itself wasn't longer, just exactly 30 days 😳. 🙂

goldenwolf4 said:I’m dealing with some absolutely brutal pain right now. For the first two days, I was throwing up like crazy—I couldn't stand, sit, or even lie down... it’s enough to drive anyone insane!

Look, just drink some tea—I usually go with chamomile—take two pills (I personally stick to Advil or Naproxen), put on some soft music like Andrea Bocelli, light a few candles, and just soak in a hot tub. Give your stomach a little massage too; trust me, you'll feel better...😉 😉

Not sure how smart it is to soak in a tub while you're on your period... during those days, I’d much rather just take a quick shower than lounge in a bathtub.

I picked up some Advil Liqui-Gels. They are specifically designed for painful menstrual cramps, and they really work for me. 🙂

Jason Morgan said:Of course you will. 😉

Personally, I usually reach for three, 😬 though I only do that as a one-off when the pain hits hard enough to be debilitating. Otherwise, I try to stay disciplined. But if the flare-up lands on a Monday morning, I don't exactly have the luxury of staying home to suffer through it; I have to function.

Alright, I think I'll give that a try, especially since Ketonal has honestly been my saving grace in the past. Thank you so much. 👍

So, I woke up today with my period starting, and honestly, fine—I was expecting it.
I’m just going through my usual morning routine, minding my own business, when suddenly I realize I’m flat out on the floor 😕. Just totally blacked out. And then? The absolute torture starts. We're talking unbearable cramps, diarrhea, throwing up... it was gruesome.
Up until now, my symptoms have always been pretty standard. Nothing crazy.
I’m just wondering if anyone else has dealt with something this intense? It actually freaked me out quite a bit.

Sorry if this has already come up, but I’m gonna start scrolling through the whole thread 😁

neonnomad18 said:...well, my partner and I are currently in the middle of a spat—so I really shouldn't be commenting on my own situation here—but from what I've managed to dig up online... apparently, those pains can be quite intense during ovulatory cycles, whereas they might be less noticeable during anovulatory ones... though, of course, that isn't a rule and might not apply to you at all... but I did come across this specific bit of info recently 🤷

And those who don't have dysmenorrhea don't have kids. Unrealistic, perhaps?
I think that's a pretty narrow-minded take, honestly. It feels like something straight out of the Middle Ages.

Susan Jones6 said:So, I woke up today with my period starting, and honestly, fine—I was expecting it.
I’m just going through my usual morning routine, minding my own business, when suddenly I realize I’m flat out on the floor 😕. Just totally blacked out. And then? The absolute torture starts. We're talking unbearable cramps, diarrhea, throwing up... it was gruesome.
Up until now, my symptoms have always been pretty standard. Nothing crazy.
I’m just wondering if anyone else has dealt with something this intense? It actually freaked me out quite a bit.

Sorry if this has already come up, but I’m gonna start scrolling through the whole thread 😁

Have you seen a gynecologist? A doctor? Don't look for answers here. Go talk to a professional.

Does anyone have recommendations for period pain relief that won't absolutely wreck my stomach? 🙂
Because of acid reflux and gastritis, I have to stay far away from things like Advil, Aleve, or Motrin.
Tylenol just isn't strong enough for me. The same goes for regular Acetaminophen.
I can get some relief if I take effervescent Tylenol or a 1000mg dose the second the pain hits.
My doctor prescribed Spasmex Forte. It works wonders for my stomach issues, but it does nothing for these cramps.
I also tried Buscopan, which works similarly, but it barely helps at all.
Today I took two effervescent Tylenols, and they worked for a bit. But by this evening, the effect wore off and I switched to Spasmex. It’s been over three hours now and the pain hasn't budged—honestly, it feels like it's getting worse. 🙂
😠It's a struggle every month, but I think this one is extra brutal because my college group had to help clean out a warehouse. We were hauling boxes weighing 30 or 35 lbs for the first three days, and since those were my first three days of my cycle, I don't even want to imagine how much that added to the misery. 😠 😠

I’ve been relying on 600 mg ibuprofen to deal with my period cramps. Yeah, I know—that’s a heavy dose. But honestly? Every once in a while, they actually give me a bit of relief. Just a tiny window of it, though. And because these pills are so strong, half the time they just make me feel even worse and end up making me throw up. It feels like they only work for a few hours before the pain comes crashing back anyway. It’s like the medication just delays the inevitable, leaving me totally useless for the next two days.
My cycle always starts incredibly early, and it’s been painful since I can remember. For the longest time, I was popping massive amounts of standard over-the-counter pills because they actually seemed to do the trick. For the first two or three months, every single pill worked wonders. But then? My body just got used to them. They stopped being effective, which is how I eventually ended up escalating to these 600 mg ones.
Now, I’m slowly trying to wean myself off the pills altogether. I’m basically attempting to just ride out the first day if I can, mostly because I’m out of ideas at this point. I’ve tried everything—different herbal teas, tweaking my diet—but nothing seems to touch the pain. I’ve realized that if I just stay in bed, bundled up in a warm blanket without any meds, everything usually settles down by the next day. No more debilitating pain preventing me from actually living my life.

jadepuma75 said:Have you guys ever tried using some brandy? Seriously, I know it’s worked wonders for me!
Just a small shot, and after about half an hour, things start feeling a bit better (sometimes they clear right up), though you really have to keep in mind that alcohol can increase bleeding!
Anyway, isn't it actually a pretty decent method? It seems like it helps with the ovaries, and honestly, it probably helps clear your head too.😂

Wow, so it's actually possible that alcohol helps!!! I once downed a whole liter of beer the day my period started, and the cramps were way more manageable than usual. 👍
Well, hey, sounds great to me. ^^

cosmicsurfer49 said:I’ve been relying on 600 mg ibuprofen to deal with my period cramps. Yeah, I know—that’s a heavy dose. But honestly? Every once in a while, they actually give me a bit of relief. Just a tiny window of it, though. And because these pills are so strong, half the time they just make me feel even worse and end up making me throw up. It feels like they only work for a few hours before the pain comes crashing back anyway. It’s like the medication just delays the inevitable, leaving me totally useless for the next two days.
My cycle always starts incredibly early, and it’s been painful since I can remember. For the longest time, I was popping massive amounts of standard over-the-counter pills because they actually seemed to do the trick. For the first two or three months, every single pill worked wonders. But then? My body just got used to them. They stopped being effective, which is how I eventually ended up escalating to these 600 mg ones.
Now, I’m slowly trying to wean myself off the pills altogether. I’m basically attempting to just ride out the first day if I can, mostly because I’m out of ideas at this point. I’ve tried everything—different herbal teas, tweaking my diet—but nothing seems to touch the pain. I’ve realized that if I just stay in bed, bundled up in a warm blanket without any meds, everything usually settles down by the next day. No more debilitating pain preventing me from actually living my life.

My doctor prescribed those granulated ones to me as well; they are decent enough, though I still experience occasional bouts of discomfort in my lower abdomen while they are working.
Ketoral is definitely the most effective option for me, even the 50mg version, although it does take about two hours before I actually start to feel the effects. 🙂

Every single month my period is different—different pain levels, different flow, different everything—but this month, something really weird happened 😳

Basically, I had some light spotting for a few days, kind of like a pink discharge. It actually spooked me because my period has never started like that before. It took forever for the actual bleeding to kick in, and now I’ve hit a snag. On top of the usual abdominal cramps I deal with every month, I’m having this strange, hard-to-pinpoint pain, almost like it's coming from my urethra 😕. I've noticed that applying heat seems to help a bit
.
Has anyone else dealt with anything like this?

Jason Morgan said:Taking shots of whiskey is basically like doing cardio for me—it just ramps up the bleeding and the pain levels😬
Magnesium used to give me a slight edge if I took it before a heavy workout to stave off those nasty leg cramps the next day, but it’s doing absolutely nothing for this specific issue.

However, I did stumble upon a non-pharmaceutical remedy for fungal infections, and I figured, hey, there’s probably something similar out there for this too🧐 😁

Honestly, I deal with really intense period pains myself, and while I was scrolling through this thread, I came across your post, so I was wondering if you could please, please share that fungal remedy with me—or well, with all of us! 🙂🙂

Please elaborate more on this particular topic. 😉

I was just sitting here thinking about how much things seem to shift when you aren't looking, almost like how the tide pulls everything away from the shore before you even realize the water has receded... it’s that strange, quiet feeling of realizing something is gone, only to find out it was actually just moving somewhere else entirely. I spent most of the afternoon wandering through some old shops downtown, just letting my mind drift between the shelves and the faces passing by, and it hit me how easily we lose track of the small, meaningful moments because we're so busy bracing for the big ones... sometimes I wonder if we spend too much time trying to hold onto the pieces of ourselves that were never meant to stay still in the first place, you know? It’s funny how you can feel so lost in a crowd of people who are all searching for the exact same thing, yet everyone is walking in such different directions... it makes you want to just stop, take a deep breath, and see where the wind decides to blow you next... kaže:
Does anyone have any recommendations for tablets that help with menstrual cramps, specifically something that won't absolutely wreck my stomach... I find most things just leave me feeling so nauseous and uncomfortable... 🙂
Because of my issues with GERD and gastritis, I have to be so incredibly careful about what I take for pain, especially since I’m strictly forbidden from using anything like Ketonal, Voltaren, or Neofene... it just isn't an option for me anymore...
It’s just one of those things where everything feels like it's spiraling out of control, you know... the sheer chaos of it all, and then there's the medicine to deal with, which honestly feels like more of the same struggle...
I’ve found that if I’m feeling absolutely run down, those little effervescent tablets—you know, the ones that fizz up like crazy—really do the trick for me, especially when I take them at the very first sign of a headache starting to kick in... they just seem to settle everything right down...
My doctor recently prescribed me some Spasmex Forte, and I have to say, it works wonders whenever I’m dealing with those nagging gastritis pains... it really hits the spot there, but for some reason, it doesn't seem to do a single thing for my menstrual cramps at all...
I tried using Buscopan, which works in pretty much the same way, and while it did take the edge off just a little bit, the pain is still definitely there...
So, I took two doses of Sumetacin earlier today, and for a little while there, things felt alright enough... but then, just as evening was rolling in, the second dose seemed to completely lose its edge. I ended up reaching for some Spasmex to try and get ahead of it, but it’s been over three hours now and the pain hasn't budged at all... honestly, I have this sinking feeling that it’s actually getting even worse... 🙂
My back has been absolutely killing me every single month lately, but I honestly think this particular bout of pain is hitting so much harder because my college group was assigned to help clear out some warehouse space... For those first three days, we were hauling these massive boxes that weighed at least 70 or 80 pounds each, and since those initial three days were my very first time handling anything like that, I don't even want to get into the details of how brutal those specific days felt for me... 😠😠😠

I’ve been dealing with these absolutely awful cramps lately... and I am honestly trying my hardest to stop poisoning myself with all those oral pills. A friend of mine who’s actually studying medicine mentioned there are these suppositories you can use instead, so you aren't constantly taxing your stomach and liver with tablets, and she said they work wonders... I’ve honestly never used anything like that before, though... 🙂

I got my first period when I was 12—and man, it was brutal. Honestly, every single month after that just got progressively worse. I’m talking about feeling like I was actually dying. My principal used to drive me straight to the ER every 28 days just so they could hook me up to an IV and give me some shots... and honestly? Nothing ever really worked. Ketoral, Voltaren, you name it—they’d dull the edges a bit, but they never actually fixed anything. My whole life basically revolved around counting down the days until my next cycle, and the panic would set in every time a new month rolled around. Things were slightly more manageable once I started on birth control pills—which was great at the time, though obviously, those aren't exactly "healthy" either. Then I had my baby at 23... everything was fine for about six months postpartum, and then—bam—the pain came back with a vengeance. It wasn't just "drive me to the ER for an injection" anymore; I was literally passing out in the emergency room. Eventually, on my gynecologist's recommendation, I went with a Mirena IUD. Since then? Not only is the pain gone, but the periods themselves have vanished. Seriously, anyone who has been through the absolute hell I went through with my cycles can understand what a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like a completely different person. I don't spend my days dreading the next one, wondering if it'll kill me, or praying someone is home to call 911. I don't know how old you guys are, and look, I'm not here to preach or tell anyone what to do—I just wanted to share my experience. I'm 36 now, and I can finally say I'm living like a "normal" woman.

Nicholas Morris6 said:I got my first period when I was 12—and man, it was brutal. Honestly, every single month after that just got progressively worse. I’m talking about feeling like I was actually dying. My principal used to drive me straight to the ER every 28 days just so they could hook me up to an IV and give me some shots... and honestly? Nothing ever really worked. Ketoral, Voltaren, you name it—they’d dull the edges a bit, but they never actually fixed anything. My whole life basically revolved around counting down the days until my next cycle, and the panic would set in every time a new month rolled around. Things were slightly more manageable once I started on birth control pills—which was great at the time, though obviously, those aren't exactly "healthy" either. Then I had my baby at 23... everything was fine for about six months postpartum, and then—bam—the pain came back with a vengeance. It wasn't just "drive me to the ER for an injection" anymore; I was literally passing out in the emergency room. Eventually, on my gynecologist's recommendation, I went with a Mirena IUD. Since then? Not only is the pain gone, but the periods themselves have vanished. Seriously, anyone who has been through the absolute hell I went through with my cycles can understand what a massive weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I feel like a completely different person. I don't spend my days dreading the next one, wondering if it'll kill me, or praying someone is home to call 911. I don't know how old you guys are, and look, I'm not here to preach or tell anyone what to do—I just wanted to share my experience. I'm 36 now, and I can finally say I'm living like a "normal" woman.

I totally hear you... I went through the exact same thing. When I first started my period, everything was fine and I didn't feel much at all, but then after a little while, it started happening every other month, and eventually, it became absolutely every single month. It was pure torture... we're talking diarrhea, vomiting, aching in my kidneys, my back, these intense cramping sensations in my front... I don't even know how to describe it properly, but nothing helped. The pain would always be at its worst for the first two days before slowly tapering off, but it was a monthly nightmare. When I turned 20, I started using contraception and the pain actually stayed away for about a year and a half, but then it came roaring back, and I've been dealing with those horrific cramps every month ever since. I never went to the ER though, mostly because I couldn't explain to my mom just how much it hurt—you know how it is, if she isn't feeling it, then she thinks nobody is... so now, since I know exactly which day it's coming, I just take a pill first thing in the morning so I don't have to wait for the pain to kick in, and that helps keep things somewhat okay...
I asked doctors if something was actually wrong, but I've done all the ultrasounds and tests and everything comes back normal... no issues with my liver or anything else. They just told me it happens because my uterus is slightly tilted, so when the blood flows, it causes those intense spasms...👎 👎😠