What causes period pain?

Period pain or dysmenorrhoea, can be caused by a number of reasons. The main cause of the pain you experience each month, often called cramp, is contractions of the wall of your uterus, which shed the lining of your womb to give you your period.

However, the contractions of the smooth muscle of your womb can be influenced by a number of factors such as a hormone imbalances, excess prostaglandins (inflammation has a part to play here), psychological factors (stress or mood may have be having an effect), methods of contraception (the coil, for example, can in some cases make period pain worse), or certain conditions affecting the womb such as PMS, endometriosis, fibroids, or PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) can also make period pain worse.

If you suffer from particularly painful periods it’s worth paying a visit to your doctor to have this checked out.

Kind regards,

Emma