My Experiences With Cramps
I got my first period when I was 12 years old. For
the first several months I had no pain to speak of. Then the cramps
started. By the time I reached high school, my pattern had settled
down into pretty much what it is today.
My cramps are not as bad as some of my friends' are.
Typically, about a day before my period starts I will develop a heavy,
achy, tight feeling in my lower stomach. Sometimes this goes into
my back or down my thighs. Then, five or six hours later this pain
will start to grow and begin to get more intense in waves. By the
time my period actually starts, the pain is peaking about once every seven
or eight minutes and staying at its peak for about a minute. (A minute
is a VERY long time sometimes.)
Once the flow starts, the pain eases up a bit. However,
I usually have real cramps for the first day, and intermittant cramps for
much of the second day. Usually the rest of my period all that I
have is the achy pressure that started things off, but sometimes right
at the end the hard cramps will come back for an hour or so.
It is rare that my pain gets bad enough these days to interfere
with my work. This is especially true since I have learned to start
taking ibuprofen the day before I expect the cramps to start. When
I was in High School, though, I often missed school because of cramps.
Jr. High and High School were especially bad because one of the things
that really helps me is to be able to get up and walk around. Also,
in High School, I always worried about how obvious it was to everyone that
I was feeling bad. I don't worry so much about that now, although
I do still try to hide it as much as is convenient. In college things
were easier, because when things were really painful I could cut class,
and by then I had discovered other things to make my periods easier.
I don't miss work for cramps, but I will often tell my boyfriend that I
would rather stay home and watch a movie with him than go out. Dancing
and cramping don't mix.
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Email me at karenw9753@oocities.com