4 reasons why you might be experiencing period pain
Dreading your period each month? I know those feels girl - I too used to suffer with debilitating period pain every month that would force me to miss days of school and not want to do life! I thought I was a slave to my monthly menses until I dug a little deeper and found some very common causations.
Inflammatory foods
Before a period begins, the cells that forms the lining of the uterus, also called endometrial cells, begin to break down during menstruation and release large amounts of inflammatory prostaglandins. These chemicals constrict the blood vessels in the uterus and make the muscle layer contract, causing painful cramps. Some of the prostaglandins can enter the bloodstream, causing headaches, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea. If you are to rid your diet of prostaglandin producing foods you are lowering your level of systemic inflammation and, improving the outcomes of pain around your period. Also, the higher the inflammation in the body the more impact this can have on our blood sugar and then hormones which obviously can contribute to more period pain.
Sort ya gut out!
Again with the gut health stuff but… when I say it’s connected to everything I MEAN it’s connected to everything. The gut can impact period pain in many ways but simply, the most obvious connection is through its relationship with oestrogen. Once oestrogen is produced in the body it must go to the liver to be deactivated and then detoxified out of the body. If you have large amounts of dysbiosis (more bad bugs vs good bugs) your microbiomes ability to produce adequate amounts of beta - glucuronidase (the enzyme that breaks down oestrogen) is impaired and larger amounts of oestrogen are circulating your system contributing to symptoms such as period pain, bloating, breast tenderness, acne and more.
More progesterone, less oestrogen
PMS can occur in a lot of women due to the imbalance between oestrogen and progesterone. Oestrogen is a proliferative hormone - it is responsible for growth and thickening of lining of uterus whereas progesterone has anti-proliferative properties which counteracts against oestrogen when they are balanced. Oestrogen stimulates prostaglandins which then stimulates uterine contractions contributing to more pain around your period!
Stress and sleep
Seems simple and obvious but when not managed both can have such a damaging effect on the whole body including period pain. The more stressed and sleep deprived we are the more inflamed we are! Again, inflammation = prostaglandins which = more contractions around our period! Plus, when we are in state of stress, we actually experience a heightened sensitivity to pain!
Still not sure? There are many other factors that can contribute to period pain. If you want to dive in a little deeper as to what may be causing it, you can book a consult.