Hou Lili, Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Gynecology, Nanjing Maternal and Child Health Hospital
Dysmenorrhea is one of the symptoms of irregular menstruation, which troubles many women. When the pain begins, it makes women miserable. When severe, it affects life, work and health. Many people have heard that having a baby can cure menstrual cramps. Is this reliable?
Many women\’s dysmenorrhea is relieved after giving birth, and some women\’s dysmenorrhea basically disappears after giving birth. This is because childbirth eliminates certain prostaglandin receptor sites in the uterus. Prostaglandins are hormones with multiple functions, one of which is causing the uterus to contract during exercise and are one of the main culprits in menstrual cramps. But there is no necessary connection between dysmenorrhea and marriage and childbirth. It is unscientific to say that getting married and having children can cure dysmenorrhea.
Dysmenorrhea is divided into primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea. Dysmenorrhea in girls is mostly primary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea usually begins with pain at menarche. Some are related to the angle of the uterus, such as excessive anteversion or retroversion of the uterus; some are related to the narrowing of menstrual blood channels. This situation changes as girls grow up, get married and have children. Some women\’s dysmenorrhea is relieved after marriage. This may be due to the immature neuroendocrine system of the human body during adolescence and endocrine disorders. In particular, many dysmenorrhea occurs during the first year of menstruation. it hurts. Similarly, after getting married and having children, the body\’s neuroregulation system gradually stabilizes, the endocrine system becomes more regular, and primary dysmenorrhea is reduced or even disappeared. Married women mostly suffer from secondary dysmenorrhea, which is often accompanied by low back pain, fever, increased menstrual flow, lower abdominal pain, and elevated body temperature. These secondary dysmenorrhea may be caused by a posterior position of the uterus or other diseases, such as pelvic inflammatory disease, endometritis, endometriosis, etc.
Therefore, we cannot blindly believe that dysmenorrhea can be cured as long as women give birth to children. To treat dysmenorrhea, it is necessary to find out the root cause and carry out effective treatment.