I would like to stop hurting now, please.

[baratron]

I took painkillers an hour ago. They are failing to kill pain. Ouch.

I've been taking a painkiller called Veganin for years. It's the only thing I've ever found that touches period pain. It used to be a combination of paracetamol, codeine and aspirin - but they recently changed the formulation, and now it's just paracetamol and codeine with caffeine. Which I can't use. Great. So I just took Boots' own brand paracetamol and codeine, and it's doing nothing.

Comments

[redbird]

can you add an aspirin tablet to the mix?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Someone else already suggested that, but it's a good idea nonetheless :) The advice I got from a chronic pain list some time ago was that you can mix painkillers of different types, but never painkillers of the same type. Basically, they divide into three broad classes: paracetamol-based ones (I think US people call this acetomenophen), aspirin-based ones (aspirin and ibuprofen) and opiates (codeine and morphine and so on). What you should do is read the packaging carefully and then stagger the doses of the different drug classes. Most painkillers must be taken with a minimum interval of 4 hours between doses. So what you do is take the paracetamol-based ones at hours x, x+4 and x+8 and the aspirin-based ones at hours x+2, x+6 and x+10. This helps to keep a fairly constant dosage of the drugs in your bloodstream, and helps to avoid that awful period when the previous dose has worn off but the next one hasn't started working yet (or worse, it's too early to take the next one).

You have to really know what you're doing to do this, because even small amounts of overdose can cause serious long-term effects. You also have to make sure that the tablets you have fall into different drug classes. It should only be done as a temporary measure during periods of extreme pain when even the recommended dose on a painkiller isn't touching your pain. But it's ideal for something like period pain that's only one or two days per month.

[nitoda]

See previous comment on TENS - the machine is my answer to pain that wasn't finding effective relief from drugs. I was taking Mefenamic acid, which worked for a while, but then stopped. I now take Cyclokapron which basically stops the pain by stopping the bleeding ... it may not be suitable for everyone as it thickens the blood, I believe. But it does stop the pain and I only need to use the machine for about two days, on and off until everything dries up and the pain is gone.

Um

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

Hugs (gently)

for whatever good that will do.

Veganin is a painkiller for Vegans? You are allergic to Caffeine? Doesn't aspirin cause blood vessels to dilate, and is that what you want right now?

Sorry I'm just an ignorant bloke.

geek answer syndrome here

[redbird]

Aspirin is (among other things) an anti-prostaglandin, and thus specifically useful for menstrual pain.

The blood thing you're (probably) thinking of is that it also thins the blood. Oh, and it's an anti-fever drug, and a few other things: nothing has only one effect, but aspirin is particularly varied.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I think my ideal period drug would be naproxen sodium with codeine. I'm sorry you hurt. I know how awful cramps can be. Does a heating pad help you at all?

have you tried?

[thekumquat.livejournal.com]

Wondering if you'd tried mefanemic acid (Ponstan)? I think it's compatible with other painkillers because it's a muscle relaxant. I don't think you can get it over the counter any more (you used to be able to get 100mg otc) but it's seriously good, and last year they licenced 500mg tablets of the stuff. It's prescribed specifically for period pains, anyway.

And means I'm currently walking rather than crouched over the toilet throwing up like I was last night.

What's with everyone on LJ having periods at the same time, anyway? I regulate mine with the pill so I shouldn't be affected by hormones wafting through the ether...

Hope you feel better soon.

Re: have you tried?

[baratron.livejournal.com]

Hmm, being asthmatic I usually have to avoid muscle relaxants. Don't know if the same applies with this one.

OK, I just looked it up - RXlist says it is contraindicated for people with aspirin-sensitive asthma specifically, which I don't have (yes, an allergy that I actually don't have!), being absolutely fine with aspirin, ibuprofen and salicyclates. Will have to ask the doctor for more help when I go in on Thursday to moan about everything else that's wrong with my body.

I don't know why all the biowomen on LJ seem to have their period at the same time - mine's early, which is the reason my menstrual cramps are so bad. Usually I stop eating and drinking anything containing citrus fruit a couple of days before my period, and that stops the worst of the cramps, but I wasn't prepared for this one because I didn't have mind-numbing PMS or horribly sore breasts (for once), plus it's less than 4 weeks since my last one.

No need to remain ignorant!

[baratron.livejournal.com]

I have no idea why Veganin is so-called - it can't possibly be vegan, as (like 75-80% of medicines) it uses lactose as the base for the tablets. I always bought it because it had three different painkillers in, one from each of the groups, which meant it was ideal for period pain - aspirin for the abdominal cramps, paracetamol for the leg aches and codeine for migraine. Now it's just paracetamol and codeine with caffeine, which is nothing special.

Yes, I am horribly sensitive to caffeine. I don't know if it's an allergy - but it gives me migraine, and in large doses, blackouts and fits. I am not epileptic, I only have fits if I have too much caffeine. I don't know how much "too much" is, but a tiny (150 ml) can of Dr Pepper is enough to make me seriously spaced out and unable to walk in a straight line. The last time I drank as much as a whole can of Coke was in my first year of university, and I spent the rest of the afternoon hallucinating. My lecture notes were written in huge loopy writing that bears no resemblance to my usual writing, and didn't make a lot of sense. I probably still have them around somewhere.

Don't think aspirin causes blood vessels to dilate, but even if it did, that bears no relation to menstruation. The blood loss in a period is nothing like the blood we lose after an injury - for a start, there is no injury that needs to be healed, no coagulation of platelets (scab formation), and the body does not go into shock. The blood loss itself is not painful, just irritating (I spend the first 2 or 3 days of a period feeling like I need to pee all the time) - it is the abdominal muscle cramping that hurts. I also get terribly heavy, aching legs for at least the first 12 hours, but I don't know if this is something most women get, or if it's just my usual leg problem making itself known because all of my anti-pain stuff is going into dealing with tummy pains.

Hope this helps - do let me know if you want to know anything else :)