Pain during menstrual period is common for women. The degree of pain depends on the individual. Certain women have pain and doesn’t even become better after taking painkillers, which affects their daily life, because they have to take sick leave from school or work, and also have other conditions such as back pain from the waist to the coccyx, pain in the groin, more frequent urination, more pain when defecating during the period, or having pain during sexual intercourse. If patients ignore these symptoms or take painkillers without a doctor’s prescription, that can be life threatening.

Dr. Prateep Hanidhikul, M.D. obstetrician of Gynecologic Laparoscopic Surgery Center/ Fertility Center, stated that “70% of patients with chronic abnormal pain during menstrual periods are women with endometriosis, Adenomyosis, or uterine adhesion. If left untreated for a long time, they can cause problems in daily life. Therefore, when you have pain before or during menstrual periods, you have to consult the doctor to get a pelvic examination and ultrasound in order to find the causes of the pain.”

   “A factor that makes pain during menstrual periods become serious is patients taking medicine or herbal medicine without any prescription when they have unusual menstruation. The herbal medicine usually contains estrogen hormone which can activate the progression of endometriosis and become more serious in terms of pain during menstrual periods, and needs to be treated with surgery afterwards.

This also affects infertility in the future, as to the fallopian tubes can be tied and constricted with the adhesion.

Chronic pain during menstrual periods

               “Generally, gynecological diseases vary by age, getting older increase the risk to get diseases. The most common cause of abnormally painful menstrual periods is endometriosis. Retrograde menstruation is the most likely explanation for endometriosis. In retrograde menstruation, menstrual blood containing endometrial cells flows back through the fallopian tubes and into the pelvic cavity instead of out of the body. These displaced endometrial cells stick to the pelvic walls and surfaces of pelvic organs, such as the fallopian tubes, intestine, urinary bladder, peritoneum, or extra peritoneum. The type of pain is different depending on the site where it sticks. Endometriosis will continue growing because of estrogen hormone, and become a “Chocolate cyst”. In case of Adenomyosis, it affects the uterine muscle to become thicker, results in an enlarged uterus, and causes excessive pain during menstrual periods, over bleeding during the period, frequent urination, and pain in the lower back.

If the cause is detected in the beginning, patient can be treated and recovered early! 

"Chronic pain during menstrual periods can be treated to reduce the lesion or minimize the painful degree with medication or surgery treatment, such as performing a resection or ablation of the lesion. The most common procedure nowadays is laparoscopic surgery. It connects with video camera at a magnifying power of 20 - 30 times. The doctor can see the operation site more clearly and can provide a more effective operation. The incision of the laparoscopic surgery is very small, the patients usually experience less pain compared to open surgery. They will recover earlier, and will have less chance of complications, such as adhesion occurring, swelling, bruising, infection, or inflammation of the lesion."

Currently, medical technologies are more developed, so a pelvic examination is not a scary issue anymore, and the patient can be treated in a short period. Therefore, if you experience any abnormal conditions, such as pain during the period, whether less or excessive pain, you have to consult the doctor to find out the cause, and be treated before it is too late, and also in order to reduce the chance for it to become a serious disease.