Are There Different Types Of Menstrual Cramps?

Do you experience pelvic pain or cramps right before and/or during your menstrual period? This is the most common and normal symptom associated with menstruation.

Medical term for pelvic pain is called as dysmenorrhea. But physicians use it as menstrual cramps that greatly interfere with your everyday activities.

Usually cramps are a kind of pelvic pain, which is described as sharp cramping or dull painful sensation in your lower abdomen.

Do you know how menstrual cramping begins?

In order to nourish the fertilized egg, the sex hormone called estrogen thickens your uterus lining each month. After that, a follicle, which is a small sac in the ovaries that holds a single egg or ovum, breaks and releases the egg in a process called as ovulation.

When your egg fertilizes with a sperm while entering into your uterus, implantation of egg in the lining of the uterus takes place. If fertilization doesn’t happen, the egg comes out of your body through your uterus. Soon after that, your uterus breaks the lining and the menstrual cycle begins.

In order to expel this lining, your uterus need to contract. These contractions or cramps of menstrual cycle can be very painful. For some women, this pain or discomfort can be minimal. For some others, this pain can be very rigorous and obstructs with everyday activities for a few days every month.

Generally, there are two types of menstrual cramps. One is primary dysmenorrhea and the other is secondary dysmenorrhea.

Primary dysmenorrhea: It is a lower abdominal pain, which usually occurs during your menstrual cycle and it is not linked to any physical irregularity or disease. Usually, it starts within three years of after beginning your menstruation.

In this kind of menstrual cramping, pain usually stats at the beginning of menstruation and slowly diminishes within two to three days. You will experience greater pain in your abdomen. But, some women also experience this pain in their thighs or back.

Secondary dysmenorrhea: These types of menstrual cramps are associated with menstruation i.e. accompanied by a health condition such as uterine fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease or endometriosis.

Secondary dysmenorrhea can cause the symptoms, which can alert your doctor to suspect the existence of an underlying pelvic disease.

Menstrual cramps caused by endometriosis can make you to experience the pain that begins in mid-cycle and gradually becomes more severe the week before menstrual period. Sometimes, it is also accompanied by constipation.

Menstrual cramps are often very common and are not a cause of concern. If you experience severe menstrual cramps that often interfere with your daily activities for several days a month, it is essential to contact your physician for an examination.

If severe menstrual cramps are left untreated, the conditions such as PID or endometriosis that causes it can greatly interfere with your everyday activities and makes your reproductive system to compromise thus resulting in infertility.