Study, 1987
Does chronic pain get worse before your period?
For some women, yes. About 37% of the women with chronic pain reported pain getting worse before menstruation, especially those with pain in multiple areas of the body or severe pain.
What they did
Researchers studied 90 women ages 16 to 45 who had chronic pain lasting longer than six months. They asked whether their pain changed during the premenstrual phase of their cycle.
What they found
33 of the 90 women (37%) reported changes in pain before menstruation. Pain got worse in 29 women and less severe in 4 women. Women with pain in multiple areas of their body and those with severe pain were more likely to report changes before menstruation. Nine women also had premenstrual syndrome, and four of those nine reported that their pain got worse before their period.
What it means for you
If you have chronic pain, you may notice it gets worse around your menstrual cycle, especially if you have pain in multiple places. The hormone changes before menstruation might affect how pain feels. We don't yet fully understand why this connection exists.
90
women studied
33
had pain changes before period
29
had increased pain
About the study
- Original title
- Chronic Pain and the Premenstrual Phase
- Authors
- Santosh K. Chaturvedi
- Journal
- Clinical Journal of Pain
- Year
- 1987
- Study design
- Study
- Participants
- 90
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1097/00002508-198703020-00002
Topics
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