Dr Moses Fache, Consultant Gynaecologist and Obstetrics, NISA Premier Hospital, Jabi, Abuja, has encouraged the prevention of ovulation in women as a treatment to severe primary dysmenorrhea (menstruation).
Fache told reporters in Abuja that pains during menstruation was normal but when it was very severe, it calls for attention.
The gynaecologist described menstruation as the normal vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman’s monthly cycle.
He added that it is as a result of the contraction of the uterus.
“Every month the woman’s body prepares for pregnancy, if no pregnancy occurs, the uterus or womb, sheds its lining which we refer to as menstruation.
“The primary dysmenorrhea is another name for common menstrual cramps; cramps usually begin one to two years after a woman starts getting her period.
“Pain usually is felt in the lower abdomen or back; they can be mild or severe.
“But common menstrual cramps often start shortly before or at the onset of the period and continue one to three days.
“They usually become less painful as a woman ages and may stop entirely after the woman has her first baby,” Fache said.
The doctor pointed out that women should not just assume that pains during menstruation were customary.
“The prevention of ovulation in the individual was to avoid the pain connected with the menstruation,’’ said the expert.
He said: “This kind of pain is normally associated with ovulation, which is why one of the treatments for painful menstruation is to give medication to prevent ovulation.
“This treatment can be applicable to young women who are having this pain every month because you can’t give such treatment to a woman expecting to bear a child.
“It can be so severe that the person needs to be admitted in the hospital on a monthly basis; so for that kind of person you treat her with medications to prevent ovulation.’’
In addition, he said that treatment of primary dysmenorrhea can be done by administering pain killers around the time of menstruation.
Fache described secondary dysmenorrhea as pain caused by a disorder in the woman’s reproductive organs.
According to him, endometriosis was one of the common conditions that could cause severe pain during menstruation.
“Endometriosis is when we have the lining of the womb outside of the womb and when this happens, may be in the abdomen, it is going to cause a scar.
“Anytime the woman is menstruating, it is like opening a fresh wound and that explains the endometriosis because the pain is progressive,’’ he explained.
Fache also noted that some women with pelvic infections also known as pelvic inflammatory disease could also experience severe pain during menstruation.