This is a very valid approach, but as someone who dealt with those exact cramps for many years:
THAT IS NOT NORMAL OR HEALTHY
It turns out your period should actually make you feel just vaguely sick and sore, with mild cramping when you pass a clot. MILD. As in “easily beaten by 2 ibuprofen and a large coffee.”
You should feel tired or gross, sure, but not in agony. If the cramps are worse significantly worse than a headache, you have a problem
The agonies are NOT HEALTHY.
Please contact a doctor, ideally a gyno you trust, and tell them about this cramping. Be clear that you are dealing with a level of pain you normally associate with grievous injury. 8+ on the pain scale.
“Oh it’s not that bad” YOU ARE ROLEPLAYING A DYING MAN TO COPE YES IT IS THAT BAD
And I’m willing to bet that you’re passing more than a typical amount of blood, too. Did you know that you shouldn’t EVER fill a menstrual cup to capacity in the course of a normal 8 hour work day? That if you have tampon or pad leakage in under 4 hours, you’re “flooding” (passing blood too quickly to be absorbed).
These, too, are not healthy. But most people don’t know what a “normal” period even is. Especially since these symptoms often start around age 12, when adults are busy obsessively telling you to grow up and that it’s “not that bad” so that most of us with problems internalize that we are weak, not that we need help.
In my case, it was a simple matter of changing a single medication. It turns out, menstruation is supposed to suck because you’re vaguely lightheaded and your hormones are wacked out.
It’s NOT supposed to make you enter psychotic episodes or torture you like an open wound.
If you at all can, contact a doctor about this issue.
