About half of teenage girls experience moderate to serious period pain. The mechanical power of contracting and inflammatory chemicals such as prostaglandins contribute to this pain.
Moderate to severe period the pain has one significant impact in everyday life. Girls with period pain are three to five times more likely than their peers to lose school or university and two to five times more likely to lose social and physical activities.
Us new investigation Girls with a period of pain reported higher levels of psychological discomfort as young adults, even after recording previous mental health problems and socio -economic factors.
What is coming first?
Has been rejected by menstrual pain and sub-ended. Women report that there is a perception between certain health care providers, stress, anxiety or depression cause Their pain.
However, the research participants gave us the experience have told us that period pain drives in psychological discomfort. As a woman explained:
mental health [is] It is often used by health professionals to reduce my symptoms and make me feel like I have unprocessed mental health conditions that are the cause of my problems instead of my physical pain.
Previous research indicates a two -way relationship between pain and mental health. A Study of nearly 15.00 adolescents With chronic pain it found an increased risk of concern and depression. While Our previous research Regarding pelvic pain in adults have shown psychological discomfort can worsen functional pain over time.
Research investigating the relationship between mental health and pain in adolescents with period pain is limited, with the direction of still unclear.
Take the Ruby example, which represents a complex clinical cases:
Ruby was a Captain Netball in the 6th year, but the painful periods led to her departure from the team to the year 8. Until the 10th year, she socialized less with her friends. At 17, she felt that her mental health deteriorated and was locked in a struggle with her body. Ruby saw her GP and was told to get Nurofen and continue to move because anxiety and depression had caused chronic pain.
While research has linked mental health and pain perception, did we begin to define the direction of this link: do mental health difficulties lead to pain in the period? Or does the pain of the period contribute to mental health problems?
Our new study
We used Evidence from the Australian children’s timeless study, also known as they grow up in Australia, who watched the lives of 10,000 children and their families since 2004.
Parents reported symptoms of anxiety and depression when the girls were 14-16 years old. Young women reported these symptoms at the age of 18 and levels of psychological discomfort at the age of 20-21 years.
This multi -stage study has allowed us to look at how mental health is also present, menstrual pain and mental health over time over time during a significant stage in the lives of young women.
While conditions such as endometriosis (which causes a tissue similar to that that the uterus will grow outside the uterus) may be associated with pelvic pain, including period pain, the research did not ask participants for endometriosis or diagnostics. So this is not part of our study.
About half of the participants experienced moderate to severe pain.
We found Girls who had painful periods were much more likely to also have symptoms of anxiety and depression at ages 14, 16 and 18 compared to those who had no painful periods.
At the age of 14, teenagers who faced painful periods were about twice as likely to have symptoms of anxiety and depression, compared to their peers who said their periods were not painful or only a little painful.
These teenagers also mentioned higher levels of psychological discomfort as young adults, even after the recording of previous mental health problems and socio -economic factors.
Teenagers who reported the period of pain throughout their adolescence were more likely to experience “moderate” psychological discomfort in early adulthood. On the contrary, teenagers who had no pain in the period were more likely to experience “mild” psychological discomfort in early adulthood.
It is important that we have shown that period pain often comes before mental health problems develop – not the other way around. This suggests that period pain in the period could be a risk factor for future mental health problems.
The findings emphasize the importance of recognizing adolescents who face period pain. A lot of teenagers believe Pain in the period is something that you just have to deal with and not ask for help.
What can be done for the pain of the period?
We recommend that we treat the period early with a variety choices.
First -line pain management includes:
- anti -inflammatory such as ibuprofen, which are available on the bench
- Seeing your GP to discuss hormone treatmentssuch as the oral contraceptive pill.
Additional strategies for managing period pain may include:
Improved menstrual education It is needed to ensure that teenagers can recognize when their menstrual experience is unusual and knows where they can access support.
Some programs Provide menstruation training to schools and community groups. This education should be extended to families and health and well -being staff of schools to facilitate early recognition and intervention.
Finally, further research is needed to confirm whether the treatment of the period immediately reduces the risk of long -term mental health symptoms immediately.
