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My cycle:
First one-two days of period:
A lot of pain, occasionally it makes me vomit, it always makes me unable to do anything
Lots of physical symptoms such as diarrhoea
Super tired (from the pain?) and need to sleep for half the day
I think extremely slowly during this time
I think the best description of this state is that I’m ill
Last two-three days of period:
Quite neutral state of being
First two weeks after period:
Mentally calm
More able to concentrate
This is the best time for boring but important work
Third and fourth week after period:
[These effects slowly get more and peak in the second week]
Emotionally more fluctuating, more ecstatic, more crying, more anger, higher libido
Cognitively I’m sharpest during this time (I can think the fastest but can’t focus that well)
This time probably comes closest to mania for me
Pain control:
I’ve tried taking paracetamol during my period, but it doesn’t affect the pain at all.
I now use feminax (have been using it for a couple of years), and it does reduce the pain, but no other symptoms, e.g. I still need to sleep a lot and still feel ill.
To mitigate the pain I also take a lot of hot baths and use hot water bottles
Pain as a symptom:
I’ve never gotten myself tested for endometriosis, but it doesn’t seem unlikely to me that that’s what causes the severe pain. The main symptom for endometriosis is painful periods. One in ten women are suspected to have it, but it’s very underdiagnosed. Maybe that’s because GP’s don’t take the pain seriously? I asked my GP about pain control and he suggested I go on the pill, and did not even mention endometriosis.
I wasn't aware! That's great!