THE ACHING MISERIES (CONGESTIVE DYSMENORRHOEA): IT HELPS TO RELAX

Because the aching miseries don’t knock you out as the cramps do, but just go grumbling away for days and days, they are more difficult to deal with. You can’t just take to bed and relax for a fortnight, nor would you want to. But regular relaxation can help, particularly if you practise it at least once a day for twenty minutes to half an hour from the moment your first symptoms appear (or just before they do, if you can work out when that will be) and carry on until your period is under way. Last thing at night is a good time to choose, particularly if you are too uncomfortable to sleep well: Relaxation is a great help if you suffer from insomnia.

If you keep your chart for several months and practise relaxation at the same time, you may find that you are gradually shortening the time when you have all your unpleasant symptoms. It’s very heartening to watch a cure gradually taking effect. But don’t be alarmed if you suddenly have a period which is much worse than you had hoped. All sorts of things can throw the body off balance and upset one’s periods —moving house, hearing bad news, even sudden good news, working far too hard, a family Christmas, a hectic holiday, a row. Although we are physically a lot tougher (as opposed to stronger) than men, in this respect we are like expensive watches: our mechanism is extremely delicate.

Even the number of cigarettes a woman smokes has an effect on period pain. Often the more you smoke, the worse it is. So if you’re a smoker, you should cut down on cigarettes just before your period. If you don’t smoke, don’t be tempted by well-meaning friends who offer you a cigarette when you’re under the weather with period pain, ‘because it’ll pick you up’. It won’t. It will make you feel worse.

It seems possible that the symptoms of the aching miseries are caused by a shortage of the sex hormone progesterone, a shortage which not only gives one those particular aches and pains low down in the abdomen but also throws the rest of one’s body out of balance too. We are also emotionally off-balance, so we become irritable or depressed or angry. Fortunately, deliberate relaxation can help, but with this kind of pain it’s a slow process, and it usually takes several months to be really effective. So in the following sections of this chapter I shall be dealing with as many of the symptoms of the miseries as I can, and suggest some other practical ways of coping with them; but please continue your regular relaxation.

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SIGNS, HOME CARE, PRECAUTIONS AND TREATMENT OF ULCERS IN CHILDREN

Signs and symptoms

An older child with ulcers has upper abdominal pain before meals or at night, and the pain is often relieved by eating. Preschoolers with ulcers have pain near the navel; the pain comes and goes and is aggravated by eating. Children of any age may vomit bright red or dark brown blood or have blood in the stools (appearing as tarry stools). Ulcers are seldom the cause of ordinary stomachaches in children – although they often get blamed for such pains. The diagnosis of an ulcer can be made only by X rays (upper gastrointestinal series) or, less commonly, by endoscopy which involves viewing the stomach directly by means of an instrument passed down the oesophagus, the passageway from the mouth to the stomach.

Home care

Temporary relief for pain can be provided by giving the child an antacid by mouth. Other home treatment is not recommended. The child should be under a doctor’s care.

Precautions

• Not all black (tarry) stools contain blood. Iron supplements and some foods can cause black stools. The stool should be tested.

• Abdominal pain in a child who is under emotional stress is more likely to be caused by the stress than by an ulcer.

• Several members of a family may have ulcers because they share the family’s lifestyle and tensions, not because ulcers are hereditary.

Medical treatment

Your doctor will take a careful health history of your child, perform a physical examination, and may order X rays. Your child’s stools will be tested for blood, and a blood count will reveal any evidence of secondary anaemia. The doctor will probably prescribe antacids between meals and at bedtime or antispasmodic drugs before meals. The doctor will also advise you on changes in the diet and ways to relieve the child’s emotional stress.

Changes in the diet usually involve avoiding caffeine in cola drinks, tea, and coffee, and aspirin (including cold remedies that contain aspirin). Treatment usually can be discontinued in a few weeks or months.

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