How I deal with my period pains

I’ve been struggling with my period cramps and pains for years now, tried out sooooo many things, saw so many different people and doctors and finally found something that helps me. Of course, everyone is different but maybe these tricks will help you to survive your pains if you have any 🙂 If you have any tips for me and others as well, please feel free to share them in the comments! I’m thankful for any advice that might help. If you have any questions or are unsure about some tips, please write an email or comment down below. I’ll answer as soon as possible!

• I discovered over the time that I’m getting more tummy ache when I eat specific groceries, so my advice is to pay attention to what you eat/drink during these days and how you react to foods. For example my tummy is feeling better when I don’t eat too much with lactose in it or sour things like vinegar. So I keep these things low in consumption during my period.
• Speak with your gynaecologist. Maybe different birth control pill is better for avoiding pain during your period. Changing mine didn’t help a lot, but I’m feeling not as depressed anymore during my period which is also great.
• I spoke with a girl who has almost the same struggles I have and she said she discovered fennel-anise-caraway-tea. Sounds disgusting but it doesn’t taste that bad and it really helps. My cramps are way (!!) better when I drink about 2 cups of tea per day when I get them. If you don’t want to take painkillers, you should give this tea a chance, it’s a good alternative!
• Which brings us to my next option when I can’t help myself anymore. Painkillers. I always thought I don’t need them, the pain isn’t that bad, etc. … But since I have to put much more effort into university and can’t stay at home like in school, I need to take painkillers with me during the day. My highest amount of them were 5 paracetamols distributed over one day because I couldn’t even walk. Of course I’m staying at home, too, when it’s that bad, but then I still need some painkillers because nothing else would help. What I would like to say is that it’s okay to take one or two painkillers but you should really discuss this with your doctor which I did.
• What helps me the most is acupuncture! My dad sometimes acupunctures other people and I always was afraid of the needles, but when the pain was too bad and electric acupuncture didn’t help anymore, I gave it a go. This was the day when I went to my dad crying and said he just had to acupuncture me with real needles and not with electric impulses because I couldn’t stand the pain anymore. Until these days I’m still not a friend of the needles but it helped me a lot, so if you can overcome your fear of real acupuncture, you should really try it out because it helps a lot. (For all those parents or relatives who may know acupuncture, too: I don’t know the exact points but there are two needles in my lower belly and one on each knee. Please mind my advice that when you don’t feel better after three sessions of acupuncture in general, they might the worst acupuncturist ever :D)
• Last but not least: Aspiration. It helps me more to lay down straight on my back and breathe into my pain than lying like a fetus with my hands pressed on my lower belly. Just try it if you can.
• Try not to urge yourself to things you can’t do because of your pain. I always feel bad when I can’t go to work or university when I’m on my period. You can’t change the situation. The cramps are there and won’t get better if you don’t rest when you feel bad. This was something I had to learn for a really long time.

I hope you found maybe at least one thing that you didn’t know before and  that may help you to survive your period pain. I wish I had known more of these things above earlier, so I wouldn’t have had so much pain. I’m still struggling with it and didn’t find a way to make them all go, but it’s the best way I found for myself so far and maybe it will help you to find your best way, too 🙂

Love, J. xx