Dysmenorrhea

During menstruation, the intense, sharp, cramp-like pain that many women feel in their lower abdomen is called dysmenorrhea. While mild pain during menstruation is to be expected, dysmenorrhea is intense pain, so unbearable that it limits daily activities and leads the patient to take medication. Approximately 40% of women of reproductive age suffer from dysmenorrhea, and 10-15% have symptoms that confine them to bed for at least 24 hours every month when their period comes. Excluding cases involving anatomical variations and further pathology (e.g., symptoms of endometriosis, ovarian cysts), all symptoms are due to purely hormonal factors.

Specifically, the main cause is prostaglandins, hormones produced by the human body itself. These hormones mainly affect the walls of the uterus, causing spasms that aim to stop bleeding and remove blood from the uterine cavity. This whole natural process corresponds to the symptoms of pain. In short, women with severe manifestations of the aforementioned unpleasant symptoms produce relatively large amounts of prostaglandins. Primary dysmenorrhea refers to menstrual pain that occurs around the time when menstruation first begins in healthy young women.

This type of pain is not usually associated with a specific problem in the uterus or other pelvic organs. Increased activity of the hormone prostaglandin, produced in the uterus, is believed to be a factor in primary dysmenorrhea. Secondary dysmenorrhea is menstrual pain that develops later in life, with previous periods being more normal, and is often associated with problems in the uterus or other pelvic organs, such as:

• Endometriosis
• Leiomyomas
• Copper intrauterine device
• Ovarian cysts
• Pelvic inflammatory disease
• Premenstrual syndrome
• Sexually transmitted diseases
• Stress and anxiety