# Ow. Cramps. What did women do before Midol, etc.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 20, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793 "2012-07-20T00:00:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/21 "2012-07-23T19:21:13Z")
I read an article written by anthropologis and a doctort about menstruation, looking at the records kept by some african village where they have special huts that the womenfolk went to when they were unclean. From this they could get an idea about regularity and frequency of periods. The suggestion was that women nowadays have about twice as many periods as the good old days, based on better nutrition that bring on earlier and more regular periods, and of course a lot less pregnancies. Their theory was that one reason there seems to be more cervical cancer in the modern world is that the uterus gets a lot more periods than in past history. Perhaps the uterus was not designed by evolution (sorry!) to be so overworked. Of course, for the OP - the answer is simple. They suffered, and men typically used that to say “see, we can’t have women in any position of importance because they are moody, emotional, unreliable, and regularly sick.” You see that pervasive argument used to justify discrimination right up to modern times. ---
**Author:** ![PandaBear77](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@PandaBear77](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PandaBear77)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/22 "2012-07-24T22:58:03Z")
In the late 50s/early 60s my mom went to the doctor because of (severe, awful, debilitating) cramps. He ended up giving her a placebo … which, of course, didn’t work. And he also advised her that she needed to get more “comfortable” with being a woman. I wish I were making that up. ---
**Author:** ![hamwater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/0ea827/32.png) [@hamwater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hamwater)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/23 "2012-07-26T00:26:08Z")
> [@rhubarbarin](#): > > …and a much higher activity level. That’s what I was thinking too. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/24 "2012-07-26T16:31:51Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > I would dissuade any woman from trying this little trick if she has an IUD. There could be a chance of dislodging it or even expelling it. > ~VOW But I can do gymnastics with an IUD and that goes just fine. :dubious: There’s no chance of expelling the damn thing unless my cervix is dilated, in which case, I’ve got much bigger fish to fry than cramps, believe you me. Now uterine perforation… yeah, maybe I could see that being a danger here, but I’ve yet to come across any position or physical activity that worries me in terms of dislodging or expelling my IUD. ETA: And on a relevant-to-the-OP note, cramp bark tea. Yes, before NSAIDs, women probably made hot compresses and drank herbal teas for relief. Willow bark has salicylic acid in it, which is the main component of aspirin. So does pennyroyal, feverfew, and meadowsweet. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/25 "2012-07-26T18:22:04Z")
Having been raised in a religion that uses no medication, I feel uniquely qualified to answer this. The answer is: we toughed it out. Keep in mind that if you don’t have (or choose not to use for religious purposes) pain medication, your body is not used to having medication in its system to help alleviate ANY kind of pain. So for instance, if I had a fever, a headache, a rash, a tummy ache, really anything you can imagine, I just dealt with the pain and discomfort until it got better. (How did I deal? Maybe moan and complain a bit, but mostly just realize that this is what I’ve got to deal with so I’d might as well get comfortable until it goes away.) Anyways, my point is that if you’re not accustomed to taking pain pills to deal with pain, chances are you have a higher threshold of pain tolerance. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/26 "2012-07-26T20:55:52Z")
I have heard that coment before about pregnancy and labor stoppign the pain. That has not been my experience. It is true though, that for the past five years I simply haven’t had time to go talk to my doctor about the pain, there’s just too much to be done. I can’t help wondering if that’s what happens in the majority of cases. NSAIDs help, but also seem to prolong the period. ---
**Author:** ![Kyrie\_Eleison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kyrie_eleison/32/7682_2.png) [@Kyrie\_Eleison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyrie_Eleison)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/27 "2012-07-26T21:09:16Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Early 19th century boasted Lydia Pinkham’s Compound, which was a patent medicine marketed to women. Its big ingredient was laudanum, which is an opium derivative. Can you share your source for this information? Wikipedia’s patent medicine page claims that LPC did not contain any opiates (but was up to 70 proof,) and most of the direct material I can find discussing both the use of laudanum and LPC don’t link the two. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/28 "2012-07-26T21:33:23Z")
I think **Kyrie Eleison** is correct - Lydia Pinkham’s Compound was basically an herb-flavored liqueur. Laudanum is a tincture of opium in alcohol, but was also widely available OTC, and used for “women’s troubles” as well. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2012, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793/29 "2012-07-26T23:47:49Z")
My doctor told me it was the women’s curse and I should just suck it up. He also refused to write me a prescription for birth control pills or ibuprofen. Bastard! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ow-cramps-what-did-women-do-before-midol-etc/628793.md?page=1)