Another one here saying see a doctor. Ibuprofen and painkillers didn’t work for me, and in my case it was depo that solved the problem (I was missing close to a week of work every month) and also cut my migranes right down. If you are in that much pain, and the standard painkillers aren’t working, then your doctor needs to know.
Go see a doctor about this and make sure they’re aware of all the problems you’re having during your period, including regularity. I’ve got a completely different set of not fun problems with my period, and when I was a teenager, I regularly went at least 3-6 months between periods. Longest time between periods was 10 months and, after my doctor (at the time) heard about that, I ended up getting all sorts of testing done, including a uterine sonogram to make sure I didn’t have any major problems going on (like endometriosis, polyps or cancer). Luckily enough, I didn’t have any of that, but apparently my body was just still adjusting itself to the idea that it was going to menstruate. I got put on birth control to make my periods regular, and it helped keep me regular. For the two years I wasn’t on birth control, my periods had become regular on their own.
Currently, I’ve got a different fun set of issues with my period. The birth control pills make me a little wacky about a week before my period (I have the once per month “no reason whatsoever” emotional meltdown-- nothing major and never in public), and my sinus condition becomes more severe when I’m menstrual or premenstrual. There’s a whole world of smells that become unbearable during that time period, as they become magnified by 300% whenever I’m menstruating.
You know regardless of the pain and mess I am gonna miss fred when the uterus dries up. I’ve come to really respect the power of that little fist sized organ. even when its punching you in the gut, and pulsing out clots of blood you can’t deny how nifty it all is?!
YMMV
Does two during the same weekend count? 
If you want it to, it does! 
Anybody got some bra-like thing to put on Lycus own spheres of fun? I hate bras, but my girls get in the way without one.
I’m terrified of having children. Well, not of having them: I’m sure that if I had a kid (specially a daughter), I’d make his(her) life miserable. Plus I helped rear two little brothers already and a gaggle of their friends.
So no kids in my future unless someone hits me on the head real hard or something. And I know I’m likely to get cysts and other funny things. I’m one case where the only point of having periods is making the people who make 600mg ibuprofen and “female hygiene products” happy.
Motrin is my god. In high school I used to have terrible cramps on the first day of my period, and while not as bad as you described they were almost debilitating–if I didn’t have school that day I’d wind up spending most of the afternoon lying in my bed. Then I descovered pain relievers (I’d been trying Midol beforehand, with less than stellar results.)
Nowadays my cramps aren’t so bad, but the first day of my period is also the last (and one of the worst days) of PMS. The two together aren’t fun–not only am I trying not to snap at people, but I have this pain in my adbomen that is encouraging the urge to be a bitch.
Ditto! I used to get a prescription filled for Ponstan, but Motrin’s substantially cheaper and I can pick up a box off the shelves. (Usually a couple of regular-strength Tylenol will work in a pinch.)
I tend to get a cycle–vague discomfort one month, really awful God-please-kill-me-now cramping the next–and some really bad PMS symptoms (crying, bloating, uncontrollable emotional reactions) a couple of days beforehand.
Pass me the cricket bat, Smithers. 
Yeah, I really can. 
My PMS responds really well to a B complex vitamin. I mean, surprisingly well. I can’t remember the reason, but you’re not supposed to take B complex vitamins all the time, so I just take them for the second half of my cycle, and it’s like night and day, the difference in my moodiness and hating of all the world and all that stuff.
Seriously? I take a b-12 complex pill every morning. Better than coffee, it wakes me up so much.
I’m going to go with everyone else and say “Go see a doctor.” There might be something wrong down there. If you’re spectacularly unlucky, you’re like me; you have no growths, cysts or endometriosis, just incredibly painful periods. 
I take depo but not everyone does well on that, so I’d talk it over with your gyno.
~Tasha
My uterus takes control over my digestive system for two weeks out of every four. I’ll be mildly constipated during parts of this time, and then have spurts of random diarrhea for the rest of it. Thank goodness I can more or less pinpoint when it’s going to happen and be proactive about it before I get the “OMG, going to crap my pants!” feeling. :eek:
“Spurts of random diarrhea.” Heh.
Yeah, the B complex vitamin works great for me. Let me look at what I take - B 50 complex with B1, 2, 3, 6, 12, Biotin, Pantothenic Acid, Folic Acid, Choline Bitartrate, Inositol, and Para-Aminobenzoic Acid in it. Doing a little research, it doesn’t look like you can’t take B complex vitamins all the time (I’m sure I read that somewhere, but I don’t remember where now), but B complex is a common treatment for PMS symptoms caused by high estrogen. It doesn’t help with low-estrogen symptoms.
One would think that’s true, but I had several experiences with really crappy doctors who acted like my pain was all in my head and treated me like a drug-seeker. Seven years of horrendous pain, three laparoscopies, and an ovary removal and they couldn’t really find anything so they wouldn’t give me pain meds. When I finally had the hysterectomy it turned out that I had microscopic endometriosis and adenomyosis.
Unfortunately I was also saddled with a serious drug problem because I had to take matters into my own hands for all of that time that I was sick. Had they actually treated my pain I wouldn’t have had to go the route I did, but at the time I felt I had no choice. I have no faith in doctors after all of that.
amelioration,
You got lots of good advice on this thread. You don’t have to live with such pain in this day and age. See a doctor. Find out what’s causing this.
BTW, my mother used to scoff when I was a teen, lying on the bathroom floor, hoping that I’d manage to pull myself up to puke into the toilet when the next wave of nausea hit. My insides felt as though they were being torn to shreds and pushed out by wild rats. Mom said she wondered how on earth I’d deal with childbirth if I was such a wuss with menstrual pain.
I was the oldest of 6 sisters. The next girl suffered one or two light cramps and felt bloated; the next one kept getting caught without the proper equipment, because she felt nothing, no preemptive yucky feeling, nothing. The following sister was like me, out of commission, puking her guts out for the first two or three days of her period. The following one felt some cramping, but at that point somebody in the family had wised up, she saw a doctor and was put on the pill briefly. The youngest sister was cool, hardly any pain.
Oh yes, and I did one day get to look my mother in the eye and tell her that, for me, having a baby was easier than having my periods. It was painful, slightly less so, but less scary, and I did have the joy of a baby at the end of it all.
Edited to add that I never had any noteworthy pain with my periods after the birth of my son. That was completely cleared up for me.
Thank you very much for the advice, everyone. I have been to a doctor about the problem before–she recommended I take Aleve a day or two before the periods, as well as during. Most of the time this tactic works for me, but since my cycle goes anywhere from 28-35 days I sometimes don’t take it in time or take meds for several days longer than I wanted to, which I certainly don’t want to make a habit of. I haven’t taken Ibuprofen or Motrin before; usually Aleve does work well enough for me, it’s the hour between when I take it and when the naproxen kicks in that are hell in a handbasket.
However, I’ve got another appointment with the doctor set up, and most likely she’s going to be putting me on birth control. So that may get me on a fast track to less pain, mehopes.
That’s why I enjoy the rest of the month! 
I’m glad you have a helpful doctor. I too find this very pit worthy. Cramps suck. and what sucks worse is to have to go get my eleven year old daughter from school once a month because her cramps suck worse than mine and she’s spent the last hour puking. It hurts to see her like that but I really, really hesitate to put an eleven year old who’s still developing and still going through early puberty on birth control. I do truly wish she could just hand me her cramps. I’ve been through childbirth and over 20 years of cramps. I can deal with it. She shouldn’t have to.
btw, studies have been done that show a large percentage of women are helped by taking calcium suplements. (that and the ibuprofin are two things we are trying with dd.)
Have you tried giving birth? Apparently, it’s supposed to reboot the system.
My cramps are mostly tolerable with a combination of Tylenol and a heating pad. If I don’t take the Tylenol on schedule though, I get heavy cramps combined with nausea. Certain smells–particularly melted cheese–also trigger strong waves of nausea. My periods are always accompanied by intestinal upset of varying degrees, very sore breasts, and an increase in sinus problems.
One weird problem I’ve had: sitting in certain chairs (rigid, straight-backed) leads to severe cramping and nausea, regardless of how far along my period is or what kinds of painkillers I’ve taken. I asked my gynecologist, and while she understood exactly what I was describing, she had no explanation.
Seconding the recommendation of Aleve. Ibuprofen? Pah! Might as well have swallowed the cotton that came in the bottle, for all the good that did me. But two Aleve, even after the cramps have fully bloomed, will take the pain blessedly away within a half-hour.