Demystifying Dysmenorrhea (Painful menses)
Ever since I can remember or at least since I was sixteen my monthly moon time has been accompanied by painful cramps. Some months were worse than others. Some years were worse than others, but every month was the same thing; pain.
I've been lucky enough to experience all the possible types of pain involved with cramps; sharp stabbing, dull aching, cold chilly spasms, and hot burning throbbing pain.
I apologize if I've given anyone sympathy pains.
For pretty much every woman in North America, and the rest of the world too, cramps are a part of our menses. We either curl up in bed with a hot water bottle or we mask the pain with pharmaceutical painkillers.
We look askance at any woman who who's never nearly vomited from menses pain like they're some sort of freak and wonder what kind of drugs she's on.
But very few of us know the how's or why's of the pain that comes with our monthly cleanse.
Guess what? Let me tell you a secret. I know, and better yet I know what makes it go away. Shhhh! Advil doesn't want you to know this.
First is this. Women have been blessed! Yes, Blessed, with the miraculous ability to bring life into this world. And have been blessed with the ability to cleanse our bodies every month.
In older cultures and rural societies where the moon time was revered as a time for solitude women had very little pain. The menses meant seclusion from daily life and the demands of men. Perhaps this is seen by some as shutting away the "dirty bleeding woman". But when you consider the hardship and workload of women it was likely seen as a respite and a damn fine holiday each month.
When the world changed and women were taught to look at themselves and their moons as dirty and bad the pain began.
Women became disjointed, out of touch with the very essence that makes them women. And that got past on to our grandmother, mothers and now ourselves. Our uteruses are just asking for attention. We stopped knowing how to listen, so they've started screaming, in pain.
When our flow starts the uterine muscles contract to help push out the flow. The saying about cramps getting worse with age is true because our uterus is contracting harder, getting in shape for when it comes time to birth a baby.
The pain is caused by the muscles surrounding the uterus which hold tight and do not give when the uterus contracts. Just like muscles in our legs if we don't stretch properly before going for a run, we're going to hurt afterwards.
Latest Articles