Menstrual Problems

Hello friends!

I am Dr. Smriti Uppal. I am a gynecologist. Today I will be speaking to you about some common menstrual problems that are problems related to your periods and commonly faced by the females. Let me first discuss with you the problem of menstrual pain or the Dysmenorrhea. Menstrual pain is mainly broadly classified into two types- Spasmodic and Congestive type of Dysmenorrhea. The first one is generally a mild kind of pain and is not related to any pathology. This usually starts with your bleeding. The first and second day of bleeding is associated with pain. The pain is not very severe and even if the first day is bit more painful the pain will gradually decrease in 0 intensity as your periods progress.

This pain usually does not need any specific investigation to be done and you can get rid of it by using mild analgesics. You can use hot compressions etc. The second kind of pain which we called as the congestive Dysmenorrhea is usually associated with some underline disease. This pain is very characteristic. It will start prior to your bleeding. It could be a day before or 3 to 4 days before your bleeding and the pain intensity will increase as your bleeding progresses. This pain will usually last throughout the cycle and in progressive cycles, the intensity will be severe. There may be some associated symptoms with this kind of pain which could be painful urination or painful defecation.

This kind of pain definitely calls for attention and needs to be investigated. Why? Because it could be related to some underline problem such as endometriosis or ovarian cysts. The next important thing which I would like to discuss is that of irregularity of cycle. Irregularity can be in many forms. It could be having delayed cycles, missing periods in between or having more frequent cycles. Any kind of irregularity if prolonged needs to be investigated and worked upon. The irregularities can usually be caused by a minor problems such as an excessive weight loss, such as people following certain diet plans, due to some drugs which they are taking for some other diseases or excessive exercise or even excessive stress of day to day life.

But on the other hand, there are some other abnormalities and hormonal imbalances which could cause irregularities in your cycles. These need to be worked upon. These are the thyroid hormone irregularities. Even the raised blood sugar level could cause a menstrual irregularity. Other hormones such as Prolactin and reproductive hormone could also lead to this. Now, these kinds of irregularities need to be investigated and the hormone balance is restored so that it does not interfere with the reproductive function of the female.

Thanks!