The Cramps!
Yes, like the band, and yes like the ones you get once a month!
Since I first started getting my period, I’ve had horrible menstrual cramps. In high school, they were so debilitating that I literally used to cry for my mom and she would make me a heating pad and give me medicine in the middle of the night (love you mom!) In college, I’d skip class because they hurt so bad I couldn’t move.
In my early 20s I tried the birth control pill and Nuva ring to try and alleviate my period symptoms, but both of those methods made me either really depressed or didn’t seem to help at all. I was willing to try anything to get rid of my period symptoms, so I got an IUD. My hopes were that I would basically have no period and minimal cramping, and it actually did work for me. I was happy with the results: hardly a period and very minimal cramping if any. I never worried about accidentally getting pregnant and I barely had period symptoms. Problem solved!
Almost 6 years later, my mind started to change about having an IUD. For some reason I was no longer comfortable with having a foreign object inside my body at all times. So I finally decided to get it out. Getting an IUD was a pretty traumatic experience, and thinking about getting it out scared me for years because I thought it would be as painful as getting it in. I was also scared that my painful periods and heavier cramps would come back. They did!
BUT not to the extent that I was worried about. And in this weird way, I felt more connected to my body than I had in the last 6 years. I was embracing the process. The cramps did suck, but it served me as a reminder that this was a time to be gentle and caring for myself. As a person who bleeds, it was a reminder that this was something that was good for my body.
To help alleviate the cramps, I immediately turned to my Baby Lamb Hot Water Bottle, or as my husband affectionately calls it, my “octopus.” (I think he calls it that because of its rubber-y feeling??) You fill the water bottle with boiled water from a tea kettle and that’s it! Instant relief with something hot and soothing on your lower abdomen. I also looked up some yoga poses that help with menstrual cramps and while they don’t make them go completely away, they were super soothing. I like to do Child’s Pose with my water bottle under me and it’s like aaahhhhh…yas heat.
Other methods for pain relief that I’ve used also includes drinking any of my favorite herbal non-caffeinated teas (my fave is ginger), and ingesting CBD of some kind. The comfort of ingesting something hot and relaxing my body with CBD puts me in a state of ease and relaxation. I know that there are healthy foods you can eat while on your period to help alleviate menstrual symptoms (we’ll talk about that later!), but I like to be gentle with myself and not feel pressure to eat “healthy,” and satisfy any craving I have. Oreos? Hell yes! An extra serving of dinner? Get it girl! Roll up and binge watch your new favorite show on the couch while you sip on tea? Fuck yeah that is my kind of night. Whatever you do to feel better during your cycle, I hope you listen to your body and do you!
