Symptoms of dysmenorrhea

Written by Wang Jing Hua
Obstetrics and Gynecology
Updated on June 03, 2025
00:00
00:00

If you usually have regular periods and experience dysmenorrhea during menstruation, you should first compare it with your usual state. If the symptoms have worsened, you should consider whether this is caused by inflammation. Some people have adenomyosis and also often experience progressively worsening dysmenorrhea. In others, dysmenorrhea symptoms occur along with delayed menstruation, which is often related to pregnancy. Some experience dysmenorrhea symptoms related to exposure to cold or consuming cold foods. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct an examination to clarify the situation.

Other Voices

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Yan Qiao
Obstetrics and Gynecology
45sec home-news-image

Causes of irregular menstruation and dysmenorrhea

There are many causes of menstrual disorders and dysmenorrhea, so we must first consider changes caused by organic lesions, such as adenomyosis, which can cause increased menstrual flow, prolonged menstruation, and progressively worsening dysmenorrhea. There may even be pain during sexual intercourse, and abdominal pain may also occur occasionally. Apart from organic lesions, even after excluding organic conditions, some women may still experience menstrual disorders and dysmenorrhea. For example, adolescent girls often experience primary dysmenorrhea along with menstrual irregularities, which could lead to functional bleeding.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Li Lin
Obstetrics and Gynecology
41sec home-news-image

What causes menstrual cramps?

Dysmenorrhea is divided into primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea refers to menstrual pain that occurs without organic lesions in the uterus. It is caused by the increase of prostaglandin levels in the body during menstruation, which stimulates uterine contractions. Secondary dysmenorrhea is caused by organic pathological changes in the uterus itself, such as endometriosis, adenomyosis, and pelvic inflammatory disease, which stimulate uterine contractions and lead to lower abdominal pain during menstruation.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Jia Rui
Obstetrics and Gynecology
40sec home-news-image

How to alleviate menstrual pain: little tips

For women with dysmenorrhea, it is recommended to maintain sufficient sleep and rest, apply a hot water bag on the abdomen or use heating pads for relief. During dysmenorrhea, drinking warm water, brown sugar water, or ginger sugar water can be helpful. Additionally, avoiding raw, cold, and spicy foods can alleviate the symptoms. Dysmenorrhea is a common gynecological disease characterized by pain in the lower abdomen, a sense of heaviness, backache, and other physical discomforts before and during menstruation, significantly affecting the patient's quality of life.

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Shen Li Wen
Obstetrics and Gynecology
1min 9sec home-news-image

What should I do if the menstrual pain is very severe?

When the symptoms of dysmenorrhea are very severe in women, it is important to actively search for the causes of dysmenorrhea. For example, routine gynecological examinations are conducted along with some relevant ancillary tests. For instance, vaginal ultrasound, hysteroscopic examinations, and blood tests for CA125, etc., are used to understand the causes of dysmenorrhea. If it is primary dysmenorrhea, prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors can be taken orally during menstruation to relieve the symptoms of dysmenorrhea. Short-acting contraceptive pills can also be taken orally to inhibit ovulation and improve the symptoms of dysmenorrhea. For secondary dysmenorrhea, women often have organic lesions in the reproductive system. For example, those with submucosal uterine fibroids or endometrial polyps often require surgical treatment. (The use of medicines should be carried out under the guidance of a professional doctor.)

doctor image
home-news-image
Written by Shen Li Wen
Obstetrics and Gynecology
1min home-news-image

Does dysmenorrhea cause infertility?

The causes of dysmenorrhea are divided into primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea. In primary dysmenorrhea, women do not have organic pathological changes in the reproductive system, and it usually does not affect normal pregnancy. Secondary dysmenorrhea is often caused by organic pathological changes in the reproductive system, such as submucosal fibroids, adenomyosis, ovarian endometriomas, etc. These conditions can change the internal environment of the pelvic and uterine cavities, affecting various aspects such as the implantation of the fertilized egg, thus impacting normal pregnancy. Therefore, when a woman is diagnosed with secondary dysmenorrhea, it is important to identify the cause of the pain and provide appropriate treatment to avoid affecting future normal pregnancies.