Menstrual health articles

There is no standard answer to menstrual health that applies to everyone. Most menstrual discomfort can be effectively alleviated through "personalized adjustment of living habits + intervention according to medical advice when necessary". There is no need to torture yourself by copying other people's experiences.

I have been a volunteer guide in a gynecological clinic for more than half a year, and I have seen too many girls fall into the traps of online guides. Last week, I met a little girl who was in her junior year of college and read about a blogger who said, "Drinking brown sugar ginger tea during menstruation can dispel cold and treat dysmenorrhea." She has a constitution of yin deficiency and is prone to oral ulcers. After drinking it for a week, she developed blisters at the corners of her mouth. Her regular menstrual period was delayed by 12 days. When it came, she was so painful that she broke into a cold sweat. When she went to the hospital to check, there was no organic problem. The doctor asked her to stop ginger tea first, drink more warm water, and just take ibuprofen next time she feels pain.

Speaking of which, I just want to bring up the most quarrelsome issue of "can you eat ice during menstruation?" There are grounds for both opinions. There is really no need to argue about right or wrong: According to traditional Chinese medicine theory, raw and cold food will cause qi and blood stasis, and the invasion of cold evil will aggravate dysmenorrhea, qi stagnation and blood stasis. Girls who are afraid of cold, have low menstrual flow and have blood clots should eat less.； However, according to the research of modern Western medicine, as long as your intestines and stomach tolerate cold food, the low-temperature food will have been warmed by the esophagus and stomach, and will not touch the uterus at all, and will not directly cause dysmenorrhea. On the contrary, many girls say that eating iced milk tea or ice cream during menstruation makes them feel better, and the irritability and pain are reduced a lot. My own experience is that if you feel no discomfort after eating ice, just eat it boldly. If you really feel pain after eating it, don't touch it next time. There is really no need to endure it for the sake of "health preservation". If you endure it and become angry, it will be worse for your endocrine system.

Many people also have concerns about taking painkillers during menstruation. They are afraid that "taking ibuprofen will cause dependence, have side effects, and will be useless in the future." I have believed this before. I endured dysmenorrhea for two years, and the pain was so painful that I vomited in the exam room. Later, the gynecologist told me that as long as the dosage you take per month does not exceed the upper limit of the instructions, and take 1-3 pills a month, you will not have any dependence at all, and it will not hurt your body. It is 10,000 times better than if you are shaking all over from pain and unable to go to work and school normally. Of course, if you can't suppress the pain even with ibuprofen, don't hesitate and go to the hospital for a checkup to rule out problems such as endometriosis and adenomyosis. Don't delay treatment by relying on folk remedies.

I have come across two extreme statements about menstrual exercise before. One is that "you must not move during menstruation. You have to lie down otherwise you will leak or uterine prolapse." The other is that "menstruation is the golden period for burning fat, so you must move, and the scale will fall off quickly." In fact, both are too absolute. My best friend, who has practiced CrossFit for five years, does not do core weight-bearing or heavy squats during her menstrual period, but does her usual low-intensity aerobic and upper-body training. Her menstrual period has been regular for so many years, and she has no discomfort at all. ； But another friend of mine has a very heavy menstrual period and is prone to backache and difficulty standing. She basically lay down at home two days before her menstrual period. She even did less housework and had no problems with her physical examination. If you feel your whole body is relaxed after moving, then move. If you feel tired after moving and the amount increases, then rest. No one stipulates what you must do during your period.

There is another point that people often overlook: emotions have a much greater impact on menstruation than you think. There was a little girl who was a sophomore in high school who came to the outpatient clinic. She always had dysmenorrhea at the end of her period and had to postpone it. She did a round of hormone tests and B-ultrasound, all of which were normal. Later, the doctor chatted with her for a long time and found out that every time she came during the exam, she was afraid that her aunt would stain her pants and be in so much pain that she couldn't answer the questions. The more she was afraid, the more she put it off, and the more she put it off, the more pain she felt. Later, she listened to the doctor and put sanitary napkins and ibuprofen in her schoolbag in advance before each exam, and stopped thinking about it every day. Later, her menstrual cramps were reduced by 80%, and her menstrual periods became regular. To be honest, the hypothalamus-pituitary-ovarian axis is much more sensitive to emotions and stress than you think. If you worry about "will it be delayed" and "will it hurt" every day, it will easily give the body wrong signals and something will really go wrong.

In fact, menstruation is a normal physiological cycle of the body. There is no need to regard it as a burden that needs to be "carefully attended to", and there is no need to copy other people's health formulas. If you feel comfortable and all indicators are normal during the physical examination, that is the best state. If you really feel uncomfortable or unsure, go directly to a regular hospital for gynecology. It will be more effective than reading 100 Internet celebrity information and drinking 10 cans of folk tea.