meds for cramps

[twit66]

Since you girls seem to be so helpful I have yet another question. I was put on birth control at a young age due to menstrual cramps being so horrible. Anyway, 20 years later (3 years ago) I had a tubal ligation and got off the birth control pills. Well the cramps came back like a freight train. Has anyone found anything that works while we are figuring out why this is happening. I have tried the normal stuff: motrin, advil, midol, and pamprin. I have been prescribed with very little relief naproxen/naporsin and recently tylenol w/codine and darvacet(they make me sick and loopy w/ no relief). We are thinking of a muscle relaxer next, but have not had the appointment w/ DR yet to dicuss it. I need to be able to function and go to work. I am 40 and so far I have cervititus(inflamation-a biopsy determined that)a couple of small simple cycts on right ovary and my endometrial strip may be a little thicker then it should be(ultrasound determined that-it was 8mm 3 days after my period-could mean I am producing to much estrogen(I think). Thanks again for your suggestions. I am not a pill popper by nature, but have to have something to not miss work every month.

[Tybear]

Oh, how I sympathize with you! It was always a given that I would miss atleast 2 days/month of high school when I was younger then work when I was older, due to cramps. I tried everything - same stuff you have - and still nothing would help. I would usually just take an abnormal amount of Advil (3 tabs every few hours) because that's all I could get to work. It wasn't until just recently that I actually realized that ovarian cancer has brought me one good thing - no more period! (hey, I have to find something positive about all this!) I hope your Dr can offer some more help to you - I know there are probably millions of women out there who suffer miserably, for no reason.
Good luck to you,
Becky

[JulieAM]

Hello--Have you ever been diagnosed with endometriosis?  Usually it's diagnosed (and treated) through laparoscopy and they might have seen it when your tubes were tied, but probably not unless they were specifically looking for it.  As far as drugs go, I'm not sure what else you could try except for maybe drugs like Lupron that cause temporary menopause--however they have a lot of side effects.  You might already know this, but the NSAIDS like naproxen and ibuprofen work best when you start taking them before your period pain starts and keep taking them regularly until your period is over.  If you wait until the pain has started, they don't really work at all.  If you're already taking them that way, though, you probably need something else.  Have you tried the stick-on heat patches?  I hope you find something that helps.