I don't know if this post is still active but the answers in this are the best description to symptoms I've had since I was around 24 years old (I'm 30).
My periods have been always regular, it started as a mild pain in my lower belly that I attributed to stress. After a while it escalated to pain everytime I had an orgasm, it lasts around 10 min and goes from mild to unbearable and then mild again. Also I had pain after pooping, or even running, jumping, or holding my pee. Then we noticed that pattern, the pain only started around two weeks before my period, once I started bleeding all pain went away.
I started hoping that my period came so the pain would stop
After many doctors, contraceptive pills, pain killers that never really worked, & wrong diagnosis, a year ago a ginecologist found a small cyst in my left ovary product of endometriosis that developed slowly, it was never seen because it pushed my ovary to the back of my uterus and doctors never noticed. She then found a lot of endometriosis remains that might be the reason of the monthly pain. My periods are starting to become irregular now but I thing this gives a lot more clarity to my symptoms.
I hope this helps someone who is looking for an answer as well. Unfortunately for us there's very little research on hormonal issues and women's bodies. :( Leading to this kind of uncertainty. I have hope this is the final diagnose and with the right tratment I'm well again and live a pain free life for a longer time
So...I gave up searching for answers years ago...but I started researching again, and apparently they have had a lot of information break-throughs on Adenomyosis since I last researched it - check it out and see what you think! I have almost every symptom - including adema and lower back pain, and of course the pain, vitamin deficiencies, and anemia. Going to have to check with a new doctor about this!
Any one know of a good way to get to the bottom of this thread FAST? I have to scroll down thru all 487 responses to get to the most recent and it takes forever. I use page down, and that helps, but I would like an instant way if anyone knows of one.
LADIES, IF YOU GET PAIN AFTER EROTIC DREAMS, TRY THIS!!! I discovered the most amazing help for this condition. While I don't know what causes it or what it is, I found something that BIGTIME reduces the pain after orgasm from erotic dreams. This helps me reduce the pain by about 99%. Every month, like clockwork, for two weeks up until my period, I get erotic dreams, followed immediately by horrid cramps, sweating, shaking, the need for bowel movements, etc. I discovered that if I sleep with my head and feet both elevated during the 2 weeks until my period starts, I WONT GET THE CRAMPING PAIN!! Its like a freaking miracle. I will still get the orgasms in my sleep, then it feels like my body wants to start the awful pain, but it DOESNT!! I feel myself sweating a bit, and a very slight twinge of pain in my abdomen, but nothing like when I sleep flat. I have one of those adjustable beds where I can sleep with my feet above my abdomen and my torso elevated. This makes me wonder if this all has something to do with blood flow to the lower abdomen? I have no idea but if you get the pain after orgasm in your sleep, try this technique. I do not like sleeping with both my feet and head elevated, but anything beats that awful, horrendous pain that usually follows my sleep orgasms. I would love to know if this works for anyone else.
I discovered the most amazing help for this condition. While I don't know what causes it or what it is, I found something that BIGTIME reduces the pain after orgasm from erotic dreams. This helps me reduce the pain by about 99%. Every month, like clockwork, for two weeks up until my period, I get erotic dreams, followed immediately by horrid cramps, sweating, shaking, the need for bowel movements, etc. I discovered that if I sleep with my head and feet both elevated during the 2 weeks until my period starts, I WONT GET THE CRAMPING PAIN!! Its like a freaking miracle. I will still get the orgasms in my sleep, then it feels like my body wants to start the awful pain, but it DOESNT!! I feel myself sweating a bit, and a very slight twinge of pain in my abdomen, but nothing like when I sleep flat. I have one of those adjustable beds where I can sleep with my feet above my abdomen and my torso elevated. This makes me wonder if this all has something to do with blood flow to the lower abdomen? I have no idea but if you get the pain after orgasm in your sleep, try this technique. I do not like sleeping with both my feet and head elevated, but anything beats that awful, horrendous pain that usually follows my sleep orgasms. I would love to know if this works for anyone else.
Anyone figure out what this is yet?
Thank god! I absolutely have this too and its been so frustrating. It started happening very occasionally when I was in my early 30's but now in my late 30's it is like clockwork. The pain occurs in the luteal phase of my cycle, from ovulation until my period, sometimes a few days before when I feel the hormone shift. The pain event is almost always the same although the severity increases as I get closer to my period. The pain is triggered by orgasm and sometimes arousal or vigorous sex and lasts for about ten minutes, usually I have to poop, get sweaty, a few times have even felt like I was going to throw up and was salivating a lot. It goes away after about ten minutes and I feel totally normal, almost even better than I did before, like something has relaxed. I also get "the pain" after my first morning pee, sometimes after a bowel movement and sometimes after getting up from sitting for a while and moving around, but again, only in the luteal phase. I've tried accupuncture, pelvic floor rehabilitation, have had an ultrasound and nothing was found. My periods are actually very easy, not much pain (in fact I'm usually so relieved when it finally arrives because I know I have a good week and a half of pain free orgasms!), and only light/medium heavy bleeding so I don't think endometriosis is very likely. I'm definitely gonna try the magnesium/cod liver/vitamin D combination and will let you know what I find. Please keep updating.
I am getting so tired of waking in the middle of the night with an orgasm, then having severe cramps/sweating/bowel movements, etc immediately after. So far this happened 4 times already this month. I am at the point I am afraid to go to sleep. What on earth is causing this?!?! SO FED UP!!
Is it connected to our pelvic floor muscles? I read about learning to relax them and going to pelvic floor physical therapy. Has anyone does this and been successful?
I’ve found forums where women talk about symptoms that are along the same lines as what I experience but never one that was this accurate. I have endured this pain for the past 5 years, however I had relief from it for over a year and a half whilst living abroad. As soon as I arrived back in the UK all of my symptoms returned within a matter of weeks. I have tried to come up with many explanations from smoking (being a factor that can induce IBS) to tightening my muscles excessively during orgasm. Nothing has really stuck for me as a solution.
Survey
1. Are you underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese?
~overweight. During my period of being pain free I was in the process of losing weight and lost a substantial amount.
2. How old were you when the pains started?
~23
3. How long have you experienced the pain for?
~ about 5 years
4. When do you get pain?
I get extremely intense pain after orgasm, a bowel movement and exercise (even if it’s only walking or climbing the 2 sets of stairs to get to my flat). I get milder versions when aroused, when I have a full bladder which often wakes me up in the night and just random pain at any time.
5. Is the pain particularly bad after one of the above? Orgasm bowel movements and exercise.
6. Do you only have the pain after orgasm or after arousal as well? After arousal.
7. Do you experience pain all month or just at particular times? The only time I get this pain is the whole of the 2/2.5 weeks leading up to my period. The day I get my period I go back to having pain free orgasms.
8. Have you been woken up from sleeping by pain? Yes, it doesn’t stick to the abdomen the pain travels to my rear and down my thighs. Or it’s just plain bladder pain. I thought the bladder pain may be from being squashed as when I’m due on I get very bad inflammation and Bloating (feels like IBS). The rest of the month I’m fine.
9. What are ways to reduce pain? If I get close to orgasm and stop for a bit, the pain comes on but a little milder than usual. Once I’ve let my body kind of get accustomed to it I can continue to orgasm and it’s not as painful.
10. Do you know if your mother, grandmother or sisters have the same pains? Nope
11. Have you been diagnosed with fibroids?
Nope.
12. Never been pregnant
13. How long does your pain last?
20-35 minutes
14. When the pain passes, will it return if you resume sexual activity?
yes
15. Describe the pain.
Very intense cramping from my abdomen through to my legs and everywhere in between. I feel the need to pass wind/feel my bowels engaging to pass a bowel movement. Sometimes having a bowel movement will ease the pain, other times it makes it worse. I sweat, feel hot and dizzy, nauseous and in many cases throw up.
After reading a few responses one possible explanation did make sense to me. Taking vitamin d and magnesium. During my year and a half abroad, my diet consisted of salmon, avocado, almonds, bananas, spinach. These are all foods high in either vitamin d, magnesium or both. Add to that the increased water intake and it sounds like a fairly plausible solution. During those 18 months the only pain I had was during exercise (running mainly) even toward the end of that period when I was extremely physically fit. I knew increasing vitamin D would help because it’s an anti inflammatory however I had no idea about magnesium and it’s link to the menstrual cycle.
I am so glad I found this forum. I hope my story will help many of you. My quality of life has been greatly affected by something that is so hard to openly talk about. I hope everyone finds their answers.
I think orgasmicPain above is on the right track! Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate!
Thanks to the awful heatwave this summer, I finally connected the dots between dehydration and my menstrual cramps always getting a little worse in the summertime. Now they got a LOT worse, but drinking more water (upping in the intake from 1-1,5 liters to 2,5-3 per day) helped with that very quickly. I went looking for further information about this connection, and bingo: it seems that when you get even slightly dehydrated, your body starts releasing a hormone very similar to the one that induces uterine cramping, and during the luteal phase, this anti-diuretic hormone is released in much larger quantities, which would explain why this pain after orgasms (or exercise) happens most often during the luteal phase. (Come to think of it, the worst pains I've had have always been first thing in the morning, when one is most likely to be dehydrated after not drinking anything for hours. It fits!)
Here's a good article from a runner's point of view explaining the chemistry behind these mystery cramps: http://realworldrunner.blogspot.com/2013/10/dehydration-causes-uterine-cramps.html
(I talked about muscle tightness in a comment above, and I do still feel that it's a major component (and also made worse by dehydration!), but this ADH vs oxytocin could be the mysterious hormonal element I wondered about that makes the muscles so much more prone to cramping during luteal phase.)
Hi, I’ve also been experiencing this for about five years now and research it every time. I don’t know how I just found this thread, but glad I did! I started taking daily vitamin D supplements and have noticed improvement. I can tell when I haven’t been taking them daily that my body reverts back to its normal, painful routine.
I have exactly what you describe. The pain is horrible. Not so much a cramp, it’s an intense pain like I’ve been punched in the area. I also break out into a terrible sweat with the pain. This all can lasts several minutes. Do you? Were you able to find an answer? I did find out I had small cysts, but there has to be more.
I hope I am intelligible as english is not my first language.
I had this kind of pain for 5-6 years now. I am 28. Like many of you, I did a complete gynecologist check up and my doctors found nothing. Somehow, today, I have found your community for the first time and I am really happy about all the information there is here!
I wanted to share this site with you, which I also have found tonight after a very painful orgasm:
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/conditions/sexual-health/a2275/painful-orgasms-dysorgasmia/
I have found a method that reduces getting this pain from every 2-3 days to once a week which is a massive improvement for me. I used to drink 1 litre of water /day but ever since i have drank 3 litres of water a day (or 1 litre for each 20kg you weigh so i weigh 60kgs therefore i need to drink 3 litres per day) my pain has reduced! try it and please post on here if your pain has continued, reduced or stopped
Hi again,
I'm beginning to believe this problem is mostly about hypertonus of the pelvic floor muscles, plus some hormonal component that makes one more prone to muscle cramps for some time before one's period.
I've noticed that when I manage to remain relaxed all through the orgasm (kind of not consciously helping it with muscle contractions, just letting it happen), the pain doesn't hit at all so bad, or maybe not at all. Others have already talked about learning to relax earlier in this thread - hear hear! It's a pity the too tight pelvic floor isn't something that is very often talked about - usually one just hears "your muscles are too weak, do some Kegels" but Kegels are the LAST thing one should do when you have this problem, it only makes it worse. Try to solve the tightness issue first, strengthening comes after that if it's even necessary.
Further reading and very sound steps to take: https://nutritiousmovement.com/tootightpelvicfloor-2/
Katy's blog and books have really helped me figure this out (as well lots of other really weird things, like why I get a corn in just one particular spot in my foot, and believe it or not, it's kind of related to this problem...), and while the issue is still there (or at least keeps coming back often when I'm stressed), I've started to kind of feel the muscles where the tightness is the worst, and recognizing the tension is already half-way there to letting go of it. The book "Headache in the Pelvis" is also a good one, especially for figuring out the relaxation aspect.
Ok, so I have been sitting up to sleep during my danger zone nights to avoid the sleep orgasms followed by pain. (Danger zone=About 14 days up until my period starts).Been sleeping sitting up for a few months now. I haven't had an orgasm sitting up in my recliner until last night......I woke at 5 am to a vivid *stange* dream of me humping a corner of a table(What the heck?!!!) and immediately had an orgasm. I woke up and thought oh no, here we go. Usually the cramps start building right away....but last night I barely cramped AT ALL!! I even went in the shower & sat down waiting for the brutal pain to start, and it never did!! I felt just a slight cramping, but no big deal at all. It didn't even trigger my bowels either like it normally does. I did start sweating a bit but nothing like times in the past where I sweat so bad. I couldn't believe the pain didn't happen like it usually does. It was 95% easier than any other sleep orgasm I had in the past. So, I don't know why sitting up works, but it works for me and I will continue to do it when I am in the danger zone time of the month. (PS...I would never hump a table corner in real life, so weird I dreampt that.)
Unfortunately, I experience this too. And it's driving me crazy... it's SO stressful and I cant imagine having to go through this my whole life. I did colonoscopy and MRI for pelvic floor and found nothing.
Survey
1. Are you underweight, normal weight, overweight or obese?
~normal; 45 kilos, 158cm tall
2. How old were you when the pains started?
~20
3. How long have you experienced the pain for?
~ about 5 years
4. When do you get pain?
100% after orgasm (particularly masturbation and stimulation of the clitoris)
Sometimes after sexual arousal
Sometimes before I pass bowel movements (also when I'm constipated)
Sometimes i wake up in the middle of the night (after sex dreams or simply because I want to urinate/pass bowel)
5. Is the pain particularly bad after one of the above? Orgasm
6. Do you only have the pain after orgasm or after arousal as well? Mostly orgasm
7. Do you experience pain all month or just at particular times? The random pain I get (that is not related to orgasm) seems to happen on specific days: 7th, 8th cycle days, and 14th onward. (But I'm not 100% sure)
8. Have you been woken up from sleeping by pain? Yes, whether from sex dreams or just random pelvic pain
9. What are ways to reduce pain? Nothing seems to work
10. Do you know if your mother, grandmother or sisters have the same pains?
My sister
11. Have you been diagnosed with fibroids?
Yes but in very small quantities (gyneco said they're not supposed be the ones causing pain)
12. Never been pregnant
13. How long does your pain last?
20-35 minutes
14. When the pain passes, will it return if you resume sexual activity?
yes
15. Describe the pain.
It feels like menstrual cramps (but a tiny bit different). On bad days I start to sweat..
I tried ganaton for ibs-c but it didn't help... the MRI didn't show endometriosis bht I heard you can only tell for sure via laparoscopy. PLEASE HELP, ILL TAKE ANY MEDS TO STOP THIS PAIN
Endometriosis...it subsides majorly during and after pregnancy...but is incureable so can always cone back
$1million says its endo....only way to know for sure is for an endo soecialist to look inside your pelvis, abdomen, etc. cant be ruled out non-visually.
You likely had endometriosis, which is often mitigated or placed in a sort of remission at lesst temporarily by pregnancy. They are still learning alot about this illness thus far research confirms two points may be of ibterest to you, even/especially years after the sypmtoms died down due to pregnancy: 1) it is leading cause of infertility and other issues; and 2) it is incureable....always.
Janey-cone-lately advice: even if you've since had children and not had the symptoms rear again, the minute you ever feel a singke symtom arise again in future, go immediately to an endo specialist and show them this stream and explain any current discomfort, anytime, anywhere from belly button to toes, heavy mebstrual bleeding, missed or late period, etc.
But, sincerest wishes that your remission goes on for life so that you never know the torture of Stage 3 or 4 Endometriosis. And many hopeful congrats you are now enjoying a happy healthy family life with partner and chikdren....what a wonderful gift!