# Menstrual Cramps and Muscle Relaxants **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 24, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345 "2002-04-24T14:11:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cichlidiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f9b8f/32.png) [@cichlidiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cichlidiot)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/21 "2002-04-24T18:56:37Z")
I did some searching, and evidently menstrual cramps are also called **dysmenorrhea**. Not very pleasant sounding, but considering the effects, it seems apt. I found a site that mentions using pain relievers to lessen the effects of [dysmenorrhea](http://www.mylifeguardforhealth.com/topic/topic13080) . Not a lot of help on the muscle relaxant topic, but I would guess that since pain relievers are suggested, it’s choosing the lesser of two evils. At any rate, I’m glad the worst is over for you (this month anyway), and remember there’s plenty of us out there to commiserate with. If it helps, not only do I have heavy cramping each month, I also get diarrhea. Let’s just say, I can relate to the “giving birth to an extraterrestrial” allusion! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/22 "2002-04-24T19:15:04Z")
3 DAYS??? Aw, cry me a river. I wish there were a correlation between extreme cramp severity and shorter periods, but I threw up all last weekend and am only now coming off it. I liked the alien baby procedure. I have a friend who wails “The baby’s coming…” all day long when she has cramps. I liken mine to giving birth to a hot water bottle full of glass shards. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/23 "2002-04-24T19:15:26Z")
3 DAYS??? Aw, cry me a river. I wish there were a correlation between extreme cramp severity and shorter periods, but I threw up all last weekend and am only now coming off it. I liked the alien baby analogy. I have a friend who wails “The baby’s coming…” all day long when she has cramps. I liken mine to giving birth to a hot water bottle full of glass shards. ---
**Author:** ![tramp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@tramp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tramp)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/24 "2002-04-24T19:23:15Z")
Well I guess you aren’t pregnant jar. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/25 "2002-04-24T20:47:26Z")
I think ibuprophen actually prevents cramps from happening. If I’m stuck with no Advil and have to take Tylenol instead, I can feel the cramps happening even though, mercifully, the pain is absent. It feels really weird. With Advil, I feel no cramps. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/26 "2002-04-24T23:55:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jarbabyj \* > \*\*How funny. Because I take cyclobenzoprene for my back AND my cramps. > > It’s two great tastes that knock you out together. > > j \*\* Well, yes, they do 🙂 – when I was on my muscle relaxants I couldn’t even tell if my period was coming. Cramps were ancient history. Now that I stopped taking them, they came back full force…:rolleyes: One thing I noticed is that the relaxants didn’t seem to affect the flow, as it always has more or less been the same. What the relaxants do (in layman’s terms) is _relax_ the muscles plus _numb_ your pain receptors enough so you don’t notice the cramping/spasms. In other words, your muscles are still contracting, but you can’t feel it. ---
**Author:** ![Essured](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Essured](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Essured)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/27 "2002-04-25T10:39:44Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by plnnr_\*\* > Thank you, ladies, for enduring all of this. I am SO glad I’m a man.\*\* Just wanted to point out, **plnnr,** that not all women have menstruating difficulties. There are those (lucky) ones out there who hardly think twice about the whole thing. It would be interesting to know figures, but I’m not game enough. I’m now going to run from this thread before all the women who don’t currently have cramps chase me out of it, throwing hot water bottles at me ! It’s not my fault, I didn’t plan this ! :: d&r :: _hey ouch_ ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/28 "2002-07-16T03:17:04Z")
I just found this thread, and it’s interesting. Some times I have cramps as bad a jarbaby describes (but always in July for some reason, I was a ball of sunshine last week, oh boy), with severe back pain and that diarrhea that cichlidiot mentioned. All I want to do is curl up into a ball the first 24-36 hours those months. Fortunately, that’s only a couple of times a year, and the rest of the time I get more typical cramps. However, my period is exactly 5 days no matter what, so you can count me antidotally as leaning towards it doesn’t make a damn bit of difference in regards to period length. ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2002, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345/29 "2002-07-16T03:30:58Z")
From what I remember from freshman biology, sometimes hormone levels don’t drop sharply enough to cause the blood vessels in the uterus to constrict the way they should. The constriction of these vessels cuts off supply to the endometrium and that tissue dies and sloughs off. When the vessels don’t constrict enough to kill the tissue, the surrounding tissue sloughs, pulling the live tissue along with it. Basically, chunks of tissue are ripping loose, which hurts. The size of tissue chunks being torn loose determines how much pain you have, and the size of the “clots” you pass. (And yes, our professor was a pretty graphic sort of guy.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/menstrual-cramps-and-muscle-relaxants/105345.md?page=1)