This month is turning out to be magically cramptacular. I have been taking continuous prophylactic Advil as well as higher doses when the cramps start stacking up.
The cool thing about Advil, for me, anyway, is that if I take it at the first twinges (which, for me, means that I just take it regularly for three or four days of my period) it will actually prevent the super-bad cramps. Tylenol, by contrast, will just mask the pain and let the cramps have their way with me. If I don’t do the Advil thing, after a couple of days I feel like somebody’s been working my gut like a heavy bag.
The only drawback to Advil is that it only works for about 6 hours, which means I wake up at five in the morning with cramps, and have to motivate myself to stagger out of bed and take some more.
I hear that Aleve works for cramps, too, and it lasts longer. But does it really work for cramps, or is it like Tylenol?
I was once on the prescription version of Aleve (Anaprox, I forget the dose but they were horse pills) for cramps that had been putting me to bed for two days every month, and it worked very well. After a while I was able to quit taking it, and I have never taken the OTC version (or anything else, for that matter) for cramps since. Use that information as you will.
Put me down as a fan of Aleve. Best OTC anti-spasmodic/pain reliever I have found for cramps.
Since once a month I feel like someone is trying to eviscerate me with a dull spoon, I make sure there is *always * some in the house. Woe to he should he waste the last of my precious Aleve on a headache and not replace the bottle!
Being a guy, I don’t have cramps that often, but I do take aleve for my arthritis. It works great without shredding my stomach like advil does. Put me down as another aleve fan.
Wait, donegalwombat’s a female? I always pictured you a male for some reason. Huh.
Anyway, I luuuuuuurve Aleve. I have horrid cramps and I used to always wake up at 4 am when the Advil had worn off. And you know how it takes forever for the Advil to start working after the cramps have actually started? Ugh. I never got any sleep on my period.
The Aleve is great. I can take two before bed, sleep a full eight hours, wake up without cramps, and then pop two more before the Aleve wears off. Highly recommended.
I also used to be on Anaprox many years ago, which was heavenly. I will only take Aleve for my cramps, nothing else is going to cut it. Since several years on Anaprox eventually made it lose its punch, I try not to take Aleve for anything but my cramps, and go with Advil for everything else.
Well, put me down as a naysayer; it did nothing at all for me on a day of wretched cramps, and I was stuck in pain for hours waiting till I could take Advil without worrying about stomach upset or drug interaction. I’ve never tried it since. But that’s me. Tylenol and Vicodin don’t touch me either.
Another vote for Aleve. I love it, and cannot be without it. It gets rid of my cramps and my tension headaches. I think I have three bottles stashed strategically around my home and classroom.
Yes, I took it prescription strength as Naproxen a while back, (I had spent about a week in bed and bled for 21 days straight, so they put me on The Pill, too) and it was great.
Now a days I consume generous amounts of hot tea, sit on a vibrating pillow (or have it in the small of my back), or use a heated sock of rice (dry rice, cotton sock, 2 min in the microwave oven).
I used to take prescription naproxen (Mylan or Anaprox) and it worked very well. My prescription has since run out and I’ve lazy about getting my parents to refill it (it’s in MA and I live in IL) so I take Aleve. The prescription dosage I had for cramps was 500 mg, though-so now I have to take 2 Aleves to get the same effect as 1 prescription pill.
I think it’s going to depend on the person. Having heard friends raving about how great it was, I got a prescription for the strong version of Aleve. It didn’t even touch my cramps. It was like taking nothing at all, and since I had taken it, couldn’t take anything else for hours.
Since then, I’ve decided to stick with ibuprofen. I take four, because my doctor gave me a prescription for the 800 mg ones, and it’s just cheaper for me to buy a huge bottle of the OTC ones and take four of them instead. It will usually hold me through the night, especially when combined with those heated pads you stick to the inside front of your underwear.
I usually prescribe Naproxen for cramps, and most gynecologists would consider it first line. It should work well, especially if ibuprofen gives you some pain relief. It doesn;t work for everyone, unfortunately, but it does for many, many women. As a male doctor, I thank my lucky stars I don’t get stuff like this.
Count me in the best-stuff-ever group.
I’m so regular that I can tell you to within a couple of hours when the cramps will start. So I take an Aleve the night before, and I don’t wake up in the middle of the night. I’ve had less success with it on headaches and other pains.
Oh, and Alleve should work like Advil. Both naproxen and ibuprofen are anti-inflamatories (or NSAIDs). Tylenol is good for pain, but not swelling, and is not an anti-inflamatory.
In Germaine Greer’s The Female Eunuch, a pioneering work of feminism (seminal doesn’t quite work for a feminist book,) Greer cites a source that says orgasm is a very effective way to stave off menstrual cramps. If your partner is squeamish, there’s always the shower-massage, or your fingers. I gave away the book years ago, so I can’t tell you who she cited. Sorry.
But I’m a female who would rather get lost than for directions.