Menstrual pain: emotional and spiritual meaning
Updated
What menstrual pain is
Menstrual pain, or dysmenorrhoea, is cramping pain in the lower abdomen that happens just before or during a period. It can spread to the lower back and thighs, and sometimes comes with nausea, headaches, tiredness or diarrhoea. It is extremely common: most people who menstruate experience it at some point, and for some it is severe enough to disrupt daily life.
Primary dysmenorrhoea, the most frequent kind, has no underlying disease. It is caused by prostaglandins, substances that make the uterus contract to shed its lining. It usually starts in adolescence and often eases with age. Secondary dysmenorrhoea is caused by a condition such as endometriosis, adenomyosis or fibroids, and tends to start later or worsen over time. Heat, exercise, anti-inflammatory painkillers and hormonal contraception often help, and persistent or severe pain deserves a medical check-up.
The emotional reading below does not replace this. It offers another angle, for those who feel that their cycle also reflects how they live as a woman.
The emotional meaning of menstrual pain
In the emotional approach, the menstrual cycle is linked to how we accept our femininity and the cyclical nature of our body. Period pain is often read as a sign of tension in this relationship.
Guilt and anger
Painful periods are often associated with guilt and anger. These feelings may have deep roots, sometimes in painful experiences from the past that deserve to be looked at with care, ideally with professional support.
Refusing the constraints placed on women
Menstrual pain may appear when we struggle with our condition as a woman: when we are indignant at the place given to women in society, or at the rules we feel we must submit to. It may also relate to resentment towards men, our father, or the male figure who marked our childhood.
Perfectionism
The source also links period pain to perfectionism: being very demanding with ourselves and expecting the same behaviour from others.
Wanting to be loved as we are
If we had the feeling that our parents were disappointed to have a daughter, we may have tried to look or act like a boy in order to be loved. In this reading, rejecting our femininity, and sometimes our sexuality, can make the cycle harder to live.
Feelings about motherhood
The source suggests that each period may also carry, even unconsciously, a subtle disappointment at not being pregnant, and a vague feeling of loneliness. This does not depend on whether we consciously want a child.
Holding back
More broadly, menstrual difficulties are associated with resistance to our sexual power, or to our potential for motherhood and creativity. We may feel powerless, hold back our emotions, and find it hard to let go. The source adds that the more sorrow we carry, the heavier the flow may be.
What changes in the cycle may suggest
If periods become lighter or stop, or on the contrary become heavier, the source invites us to look at whether one of the themes above has become more present in our life. Any change in the cycle should also be checked with a doctor.
A gentler way to hold it
The aim is not to blame yourself for your period pain. It has real physical causes, and severe pain is never something you just have to put up with. The emotional perspective simply invites you to look at how you live your femininity.
- Accept your cycles. Your body works in rhythms. Living in harmony with them, rather than fighting them, can ease tension.
- Let emotions flow. Give your feelings, including anger and sadness, a safe place to be expressed.
- Soften your perfectionism. You do not have to be perfect, and neither do others.
- Make peace with being a woman. Notice the beliefs you carry about femininity, and question those that hurt you.
- Focus on the positive. Put your attention on what you want to create in your life.
- Care for your body. Heat, gentle movement, rest and appropriate pain relief can all help during your period.
Questions to ask yourself
Take your time with these. There are no right answers; simply notice what comes up.
- How do I feel about being a woman, and about the rules I feel I must follow as one?
- Is there anger I carry towards men, my father or a male figure from my childhood?
- Am I very perfectionist, and do I expect the same from others?
- Did I ever feel that my family would have preferred a boy?
- Which emotions am I holding back, and what do I find hard to let go of?
- Do I accept that my body works in cycles?
“I live in harmony with my body and its cycles. I let my emotions and my creative energy flow freely.”
When to see a doctor
- Severe pelvic pain, especially if you might be pregnant, or pain with fever or fainting. Seek urgent medical care.
- Pain that is not relieved by usual painkillers, or that stops you from going to school or work.
- Pain that gets worse over the years, or pain during sex or bowel movements. These can be signs of endometriosis.
- Very heavy bleeding, soaking a pad or tampon every hour, or periods lasting more than seven days.
- Bleeding between periods or after sex.
- Period pain that starts suddenly after years of painless periods.
Related conditions
Sources and inspiration
- Jacques Martel, Le Grand Dictionnaire des Malaises et des Maladies.
This page is an original interpretation written by Body Hemi-Sync. It is inspired by these sources and does not reproduce them.