Exercise during menstrual cramps or stop?

[caters]

I myself get menstrual cramps every month and they can be very painful, especially now that I have ovarian cysts. Heat really helps with the cramps but until my parents find the heating pad, I basically have 2 options as far as heat:

Either I take a hot bath and risk getting a seizure(yes my seizures can be triggered by extreme temperature although I rarely have seizures now)

or I make a makeshift heating pad using 2 Ziploc bags, 1 small one to hold water and a larger one in case the smaller one pops open or drips.

Yeah, neither one is great. But I do know that doing abdominal exercises daily can significantly reduce the pain.

But if I have very painful menstrual cramps, should I stop exercising until my period ends or should I power through it and continue exercising despite the pain knowing that nothing is wrong with my muscles?

[essieL]

If you can manage it and are not suffering to the point of throwing up or so much pain you are curled into a ball A moderate amount of walking should actually help. 

So sorry you are suffering so much pain. 

[Esya]

It can actually help the cramps to do exercise during, however you should respect the limits of your body. To make it worse in order to make it better might not be the way to go. Also give yourself a bit of a break and go for some easy and light exercises. Have you looked at Yoga with Adrienne on youtube? I really like her videos and she has some dedicated to period cramps.

I used to have serious cramps when waking up in the morning to the point of fainting. Luckily I am pain free nowadays.

[MarciM]

@catersI'm sorry to hear of your pain. I know it can be almost be debilitating, but if you can find movement you can tolerate, you may find it actually help elevate the pain. The added bonus, is for many women, the more fit you become the less you suffer from the discomfort because your cycles get liter. This is not the case for everyone, but something to consider. 

Have a blessed and pain free day.

[Puchky]

I have horrible menstrual cramps and the exercise actually helps with my pain and endometriosis. If you have rice you can also make a heating pad out of that. 

[GershonSurge]

I'm probably doing the wrong thing by saying anything, but there is a possible cure through diet.

Given that it doesn't cost anything to change the food you eat, and there are no side-effects, it's worth a try.

[caters]

I simply can't do a dairy free diet. I would be craving chocolate milk or pizza or cereal if I even tried. That is why I am going on the exercise route to both lose weight and relieve menstrual cramps plus a heating pad if needed.

[essieL]

Sounds like you are under doctors care with your diagnosis of Cysts. I know very well how painful that time of the month can be with cysts. I ended up having Surgery and it helped a lot, but for me walking really helped too, those months and years before the surgery. Good luck to you, keep stepping. You are doing the right thing. 

[Esya]

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@caters wrote:

I simply can't do a dairy free diet. I would be craving chocolate milk or pizza or cereal if I even tried. That is why I am going on the exercise route to both lose weight and relieve menstrual cramps plus a heating pad if needed.

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To lose weight you have to eat less calories than you burn. So you can increase the amount you burn by going the exercise route, but you cannot out train if you eat more than you burn. So you won't have to omit a food group from your diet in order to lose weight, but you might want to limit the amount you eat to be below how much you burn if losing weight is also a goal for you.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

I would exercise but more gently - focus on longer easy walks instead of an intense HIIT class.  Keep moving and you will feel better, but bring the intensity down.

[caters]

Yeah well my ovarian cysts were actually discovered when I went to the ER for appendicitis. My appendix wasn't very inflamed(just the tip and intermittent areas of mucosa) but I had pain and nausea just as bad as someone with a typical severity of appendicitis. When I went into the OR, the surgeon who did a laparoscopic appendectomy discovered that I had cysts on my right ovary. I don't know if those were removed and my Momma does not want me taking unnecessary hormone treatment just for the ovarian cysts. She herself had ovarian cysts and knows what the pain is like so maybe genetics makes ovarian cysts more likely.

But even if they were removed as well as the appendix, it is cyclic, They might form during ovulation and then flare up before my period causing it to be late as well as making my menstrual cramps worse. In fact the amount of time between ovarian cyst pain and menstrual pain has been as long as 5 days.

In fact, I might have had ovarian cysts as young as 14 years when I started having ovulation pain and just not realized it. Thankfully, painful ovulation stopped 2 years ago without any change to exercise or diet.

And I have been able to do abdominal exercises daily for 3 weeks and notice weight loss with zero change in diet over those 3 weeks. Yes some of it is water weight which is relatively easy to lose but some of it has to be from fat metabolism, otherwise I would lose no more than a few pounds and I do lose more than just those few pounds of water.

[MagsOnTheBeach]

For me the cure was having my second child.  I don't know why, but I was told that wasn't unusual.  I did have relief with taking the pill.  My daughter is an athlete and I told her from a young age, don't ever let being a woman hold you back.  If you want to be stronger, faster, and better -  figure out a way to do it. We knew too many girls who quit because of getting their periods. She modifies - for example being on your period loosens ligaments and that can cause an injury so she maintains vs pushes harder for a couple of days. Good luck!