Painful menstrual periods are periods in which a woman has crampy lower abdominal pain, sharp or aching pain that comes and goes, or possibly back pain.
 
Some pain during your period is normal, but a large amount of pain is not. The medical term for painful menstrual periods is dysmenorrhea.
 
It’s time to talk about period pain. Every month, every woman you know who’s pre-menopause and post-puberty bleeds from their vagina. Periods are one of the most basic facts of life. Any squeamishness around the subject is both ridiculous and harmful, because too many women are suffering in silence, grimacing through the agony they experience with their periods.
 
That’s right—agony. Not aches or discomfort or grumpiness, but very serious pain. Dysmenorrhea, the clinical term for painful menstruation, interferes with the daily life of around one in five women, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. And yet there’s remarkably little research into the condition, say experts, and too many doctors are dismissive when presented with the symptoms.
 
Frank Tu, director of gynecological pain at NorthShore University HealthSystem, tells Quartz some physicians are taught that ibuprofen “should be good enough.” Clearly, this is not an adequate response to such severe pain. How severe? John Guillebaud, professor of reproductive health at University College London, tells Quartz the cramping can be as “bad as having a heart attack.”
 
There are two main causes of period pain: Primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea. Your period pain may be caused by secondary dysmenorrhea as an underlying medical condition, such as:
 
Endometriosis – the cells that normally line the womb start to grow in other places within the body, usually in the fallopian tubes and ovaries; when these cells shed and fall away, they can cause intense pain.
 
Fibroids – this condition occurs when non-cancerous tumours grow in the womb, which can make your periods heavy and painful.
 
Pelvic inflammatory disease – your womb, fallopian tubes and ovaries become infected with bacteria, leaving them severely inflamed (swollen and irritated)
adenomyosis – the tissue that normally lines the womb starts to grow within the muscular wall of the womb, making your periods particularly painful intrauterine device (IUD) – this is a form of contraception made from copper and plastic, which fits inside the womb; it can sometimes cause period pain, especially in the first few months after it is inserted.
 
Meanwhile, the medical reasons for primary dysmenorrhea are largely unknown. Guillebaud says the pain is partly caused by uterus cramps, while Tu says a combination of sensory processing, local uterine inflammation, and uterine blood flow issues also come into play. The specifics of why some people suffer more than others are not well understood. “That’s a million dollar question that we don’t really understand,” Richard Legro, M.D., of Penn State College of Medicine, tells Quartz.
 
Despite the sheer number of women who suffer from severe cramps, the existing treatments are limited. So far, one of the most effective treatments for period pain that has been found is herbal medicine-fuyan pill from Wuhan Dr. Lee’s TCM Clinic. Fuyan Pill produced by Dr. Lee Xiaoping, has been patented as a treatment for multiple gynecological conditions, which works on curing adenomyosis, endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease and so on. It has strong effects on killing the pathogen, anti-inflammation, clearing heat, and promoting the blood circulation. Thus it could cure all symptoms of these diseases completely, and period pain could also be eliminated without reoccur.
 
Clearly, the treatment options are far from ideal. But since periods are a condition that only affects women, it’s simply not given the attention it warrants. “Men don’t get it and it hasn’t been given the centrality it should have. I do believe it’s something that should be taken care of, like anything else in medicine,” says Guillebaud. It may not be life threatening, but period pain is a painful condition that interferes with daily lives.
 
So if your period causes pain, don’t grimace and bear it: Tell your doctor, your friends, your colleagues. We need to talk about period pain long and loudly enough for doctors to finally do something about it.