Painful Period (dysmenorrhoea)

Dysmenorrhea is uterine pain around the time of menses. Pain may occur with menses or 1 to 3 days before period starts. It is often crampy or a dull constant ache but may be sharp or throbbing; it may radiate to the back or legs.

Sometimes dysmenorrhea is accompanied by symptoms of premenstrual syndrome or heavy menstrual bleeding and passage of blood clots.

You can also experience headache, nausea, constipation or diarrhoea, lower back pain, and urinary frequency are common; vomiting occurs occasionally.

Contributing factors may include the following:

Primary dysmenorrhea typically begins within a year after menarche and occurs almost invariably in ovulatory cycles. The pain usually begins when menses start (or just before) and persists for the first 1 to 2 days; this pain, described as spasmodic, is superimposed over constant lower abdominal pain, which may radiate to the back or thigh. Patients may also have malaise, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, low back pain, or headache.