Period pains vary in their pain from woman to woman, but many find themselves in crippling pain once a month. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea can also be caused in 60 per cent of women alongside their period.
On her recent blog, gynaecologist Dr Jen Gunter has argued that period pains are in fact more painful than a heart attack.
She writes:
[...] I’m also not a fan of comparing period pain to heart attacks.
Heart attacks are not that painful! Don’t sell period pain so short.
If you are waiting for terrible, excruciating chest pain to tell you that you are having a heart attack, well, you are going to miss the heart attack. Heart attacks often produce vague symptoms or mild pain, that is why many people ignore them. Many people think they are having indigestion. In addition, more than 40% of women have no pain with heart attacks. It would be dangerous for women to think that a heart attack should be at least as bad as their menstrual cramps.
She goes on to say
So if you need an analogy to describe period pain use labor or cutting your finger off without an anesthetic. A heart attack is often not painful or only mildly painful, especially for women, so for me that analogy just doesn’t cut it.
So, next time you feel like someone isn't taking your pain seriously enough, remind them of this.
