Hello all,
I've been having a big issue with my cycle for the past year....
It started with one morning at 3am, right when I started my period, I woke up with these sharp cramping pains...which I thought were just really bad cramps, but then it felt like things in my abdominal area were swelling and popping....which scared the daylights out of me and was horribly painful....I ended up going to the ER....they did a pelvic exam and found nothing....the doctor said that perhaps it was dysmenoria, which in his words causes "mild discomfort". (i wanted to show him exactly how my "mild discomfort" felt, let me tell you.)
I just recently got medical insurance, and i tried to set up an appointment with a doctor, because i need an ultrasound i think, but they cant get me in until may!!
I havent felt the swelling and popping sensations since the one time, but when i have my period, my abdomen swells and i have such severe pains that i can't even see straight. I can feel these pains in my intestines now as well, and my kidneys, my ovaries and my uterus....it feels as though everything is just being squeezed really tightly....If i take 500 milligrams of Naproxen, the pain pretty much goes away, which leads me to believe that it could be some sort of inflammation...but the swelling in my abdomen has not gone completely down in the past year, even when i'm not on my period.
I do have cysts in other parts of my body, i have had a few in my wrist, and i have a small one on my right side, so i was thinking that this could also perhaps be ovarian cysts??
I was hoping that someone could tell me if they have ever felt anything similar?

I have felt something similar and I'm currently waiting for test results.
Have you been tested for endometriosis?

No, I havent been tested for anything, they just gave me an exam in the emergency room, and then I did end up going to a gyno, and they gave me another pelvic exam, but went no further, as i could not afford anything more at that time. Now that i can afford some tests, of course, the doctor is booked until may...
Thank you for the insight, and good luck with your test results, i hope that something can be done for you, as I literally can feel your pain.

Would you mind if i ask how old are you or when you first had your period?

I had simular symtoms when i first started that's all and my stomach still bloats today, lots of years later.

The only way it changed was by going on the pill, cramps that is.

As for the bloating i learnt to eat lots of greens, little meat, 200grms only at any given time to keep that down.

I was a little over 14 years old when i started....everyone else on both sides of my family were around 11, so I ended up going and getting an ultrasound right when i turned 14.....my ovaries were underdeveloped or something...I don't exactly remember, anyway, shortly thereafter i finally got my period....I am 21 years old now...I've always had really painful cramps and such...i ended up going on birth control for a couple years, but all 3 kinds i was on messed with my body, so I stopped doing that when i was about 18....then a year ago, i started getting the severe SEVERE pain.....
I'm not sure that the swelling in my abdomen is bloating.....It hasnt gone away for a year, and it just seems different....I dont know how to explain it.....
Its weird, cuz its actually started to get a lot better these last couple months....I started having sex with my boyfriend and the pain has been a little bit less...sometimes while we're having sex i get pain tho, it feels like hes hitting my cervix...but its only when I'm about to have my period, and my last period was only 1 and a half days long....I guess I could be pregnant...but I'm thinking this has something to do with all the other random things that have been happening when I have my period....
Can you have your period when you're pregnant?

Did you get your test results yet? I hope everything went well.