Menstrual Health Tips

90% of common discomforts during menstruation (dysmenorrhea, backache, emotional irritability) do not need to be endured, and there is no need to take random folk prescriptions. Adjusting daily habits according to your own body feelings can greatly alleviate it. Less than 10% of abnormal conditions that actually require medical treatment account for less than 10%.

Not long ago, I met a young girl from the same company at the subway station, squatting in a corner and sweating coldly. She had ibuprofen in her bag and was afraid to take it. She said she was afraid that if she took too much, she would become resistant to the drug and would be in pain and would have to carry it. I guess many people have had this dilemma. The controversy over analgesics has never stopped. The older generation always said that "drugs are three-part poison". If you take too much, you will become dependent, and even affect future pregnancy. On the contrary, the clinical guidelines of modern obstetrics and gynecology clearly state: take 1-2 days of over-the-counter analgesics (such as ibuprofen) regularly every month. As long as the dosage is in accordance with the instructions, there will be no dependence and no clear reproductive toxicity. Just take it after meals to avoid stomach damage. Of course, if you have gastric ulcer, abnormal liver and kidney function, or if taking it has no effect at all, don’t take it hard. First check whether it is pathological dysmenorrhea such as endometriosis and adenomyosis. Don’t treat pathological pain as ordinary dysmenorrhea and endure it for several years.

Speaking of controversies, the most common one is whether one can touch the ice during menstruation. Traditional Chinese medicine has always believed that the invasion of cold and cold will cause qi and blood stasis, aggravating dysmenorrhea and blood clots. ； The view of Western medicine is more straightforward: As long as your gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated and you don’t experience abdominal pain or diarrhea after eating it, there is no need for taboos at all. My aunt was greedy for half a cup of Dream Dragon when she came to visit me in the summer. There was nothing wrong with me. My best friend in the same room took a sip of iced milk tea last time and was so painful that she took a day off work and lay at home for a day. After that, she never dared to touch cold food. I still just took a few bites when I was greedy. There is really no unified standard for this kind of thing. Your body's reaction is more accurate than any popular science. There is no need to force yourself to "anti-taboo", and there is no need to be embarrassed and even dare not touch room temperature yogurt for the sake of health.

Besides food, another thing that people tend to go to extremes is exercise. Many people think that during menstruation, they have to stay in bed the whole time, and even walk less. Some people think that "if Internet celebrity bloggers can practice vest line during menstruation, so can I." My own personal experience is that if you don’t have severe menstrual cramps and the amount of menstrual flow is not particularly heavy, if you go downstairs for a 20-minute walk after a meal, or do two sets of yoga cat-cow poses at home, the feeling of bloating in your waist and abdomen will be much less than if you lie down for a day. ； But I had to run 5 kilometers and do high-intensity crunches in the first three days. I also tried it. My menstrual flow doubled the next day, and my waist was sore for two days. To put it bluntly, it just depends on how you feel. Move your body if you want to, and stay paralyzed if you don’t want to move. There is no need to impose rigid standards of "must exercise" or "must rest".

Oh, by the way, there is another detail that many people are embarrassed to mention, which is the care of private parts during menstruation. I have seen a girl use antibacterial lotion to rinse the inside of her vagina every day in order to be clean. As a result, she was itchy for several days and went to check whether it was an imbalance of the bacterial flora. Regardless of whether you are menstruating or not, the vagina itself has a self-cleaning function. It is enough to flush the vulva with warm water. The lotion will destroy its own acidic environment. The more you wash it, the more likely it is to cause problems. Even if the amount of sanitary napkins is small, it is best to change them every 2-3 hours. Last summer, a colleague of mine found it troublesome to change them every half a day. As a result, she developed vulvar folliculitis. The pain lasted for almost a week before she recovered. Summer is already boring, so changing it twice more is really not a disadvantage.

As for you always wanting to lose your temper before coming to your aunt, looking down on everyone, feeling hungry no matter how much you eat, or having breasts so swollen that you can't even touch them, you're not being hypocritical. This is premenstrual syndrome caused by hormone fluctuations. If the symptoms are severe enough to affect your normal life, you can check the six hormones for proper regulation. If you are only occasionally depressed and greedy, you can completely allow yourself to be lazy: put aside the tasks you don’t want to do first, and eat the eggs you want to eat. Just buy the cake if you want. Don't hold back and say "I have to control my emotions." When hormones come up, you really can't suppress them with willpower. Last time I cried for half an hour because my boyfriend didn't put his slippers neatly. It's funny now that I think about it. I really couldn't control my grievances at that time.

After all, there has never been a unified “healthy standard answer” to menstruation. I have seen some people running a half-marathon during menstruation and nothing happened, while others just lay down for three days after getting a cold drink. Don’t hold yourself to other people’s standards, and don’t pretend to be fine. If you feel pain, hold a hot water bottle (don’t worry about whether it’s an IQ tax, your comfort is the most important thing). If you’re craving for something, take a few bites of something sweet. If your menstrual flow suddenly becomes more or less, the pain is so painful that it’s useless to take painkillers, or you have non-menstrual bleeding, go directly to a regular hospital to register with the gynecology department, which is more useful than reading ten health posts.