Menstrual period health knowledge

There is no absolutely unified list of contraindications. All care, diet, and exercise choices must be based on your own actual feelings. As long as there is no discomfort, there is no need to deliberately quit. When discomfort occurs, priority should be given to symptomatic relief, and timely medical treatment should be provided when necessary. There is no need to bear it or be overly anxious.

In fact, the first thing everyone is most troubled about is the issue of food, especially "can I drink ice during menstruation?" is almost a must-have issue when it comes to menstruation-related topics. From the perspective of Western medicine, ice drinks will only briefly stimulate the esophagus and gastric mucosa after entering the digestive tract. As long as the gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated, it will not affect the uterus at all, nor will it aggravate dysmenorrhea. ； However, according to the traditional Chinese medicine system, cold food can cause qi and blood stasis, which can easily lead to uterine cold and dysmenorrhea. There are ready-made examples around me: my best friend drinks iced American style as water all year round, and my aunt drinks it without fail, and she rarely even suffers from backache. ； The little girl in the same department usually has cold hands and feet. The last time she took a mouthful of iced milk tea, she was so painful that she squatted in the tea room and couldn't stand up. It took a long time to recover. To put it bluntly, there is really no standard answer to this matter. If you drink it and it’s okay, just drink it. If you feel uncomfortable, don’t do it. There is no need to argue and say, “Everyone else can drink it, why can’t you?” Whoever feels the pain will know, right? In the same way, whether you can eat spicy food or seafood all depends on your usual eating habits. You don’t need to specifically avoid food during your menstrual period. Of course, if you have diarrhea when eating spicy food or are allergic to seafood, then you shouldn’t eat it at any time, and it is not a problem during your menstrual period. Oh, and by the way, "drink brown sugar water to replenish blood during menstruation" has been rumored for many years. Don't believe it. The main ingredient of brown sugar water is sucrose. It can at most give you some calories and make you feel warm and comfortable when you drink it. The iron content is not as substantial as eating two bites of pork liver. If you really need to replenish iron and blood, eat red meat, animal blood or supplement iron supplements, which is more effective than drinking ten pounds of brown sugar water.

In addition to the controversy over food, whether exercise is allowed during menstruation is also a point of confusion for many people. Don't listen to others who say "you must lie down during menstruation", and don't believe the nonsense that "exercise during menstruation will double the weight loss effect". It all depends on your own condition. If the pain is so severe that you can't straighten your back and you break out in cold sweats when you move, then you can lie down for three days without anyone telling you, so don't force yourself to move. ； But if you have regular exercise habits and no obvious discomfort during menstruation, you can do brisk walking, gentle yoga, and light strength training of the upper limbs. On the contrary, it can promote pelvic blood circulation and relieve the feeling of waist and abdominal pain. I know a sister who runs marathons all year round. Except for jogging at a reduced pace on the first day of her menstrual period, her training intensity for the next few days is basically the same as usual, and she has never had any problems. However, it should be noted that movements with particularly high abdominal pressure, such as weight-bearing squats, deadlifts, and planks, should be avoided as they can easily aggravate pelvic congestion and cause falling pain. It is also best to avoid swimming. During menstrual blood flow, the cervix is ​​slightly open, and bacteria in the swimming pool can easily enter and cause infection. There is no need to take this risk.

After understanding the importance of eating and exercising, the pitfalls of daily care are the most common pitfalls. Let’s talk about cleanliness first. Don’t listen to the older generation who say “You can’t wash your hair or bathe during menstruation.” Menstrual blood itself is the best culture medium for bacteria. During menstruation, you should pay more attention to the cleanliness of your private parts. Showering is absolutely fine, as long as you don’t take a bath or use water with too high temperature for too long. After washing your hair, dry it with a hair dryer in time, and don’t blow cold air on your hair while it’s wet. There are also sanitary napkins, tampons, and moon cups to choose from. You don’t have to listen to other people’s opinions about which one is best. Just use the one that suits you. If you are afraid of leakage or find it troublesome to use tampons, use sanitary napkins, but remember to change them every four hours at most. Don’t wait until they are full before changing them. Being stuffy for a long time can easily breed bacteria and even cause vulva inflammation. ； If you like freshness but are afraid of stuffiness, you can definitely use tampons. As long as you wash your hands before operation and put them in the right position, there will be no foreign body sensation at all, and it will not damage the hymen. The diameter of normal tampons is much smaller than the hymen hole, so there is really no need to worry. ； The moon cup is suitable for sisters who are strong in hands-on skills and are accustomed to using it. It is cost-effective and environmentally friendly. However, novices should not try it for the first time during their menstrual period, as it is easy to get confused. Oh, yes, and don’t use private part washing liquid indiscriminately. It is enough to rinse the vulva with warm water every day. The vagina has its own balance of flora. Indiscriminate washing will destroy the flora and cause inflammation, which is not worth the gain.

Many people also ask whether teeth can be extracted during menstruation and whether medical aesthetics can be done. In fact, there are not that many taboos. As long as the bleeding during tooth extraction is not particularly heavy in the first two days, just tell the doctor in advance that you are on your period. If your coagulation function is normal, the amount of bleeding during tooth extraction will be nothing compared to the amount of bleeding during menstruation, so there is no need to change the appointment time. Minimally invasive medical and aesthetic procedures such as photorejuvenation and hyaluronic acid injections can be done basically as long as you do not have a particularly poor blood coagulation function. Of course, if you are afraid of risks, it will be no problem after your period. The choice is yours. Even the most curious thing about "can you have sex during menstruation?", there is currently no unified conclusion on taboos in the academic world. As long as both parties are clean and you don't feel uncomfortable, it will be fine. If you have gynecological inflammation, or the bleeding is heavy and painful, then of course don't bother, your own feelings are the most important.

Finally, let’s talk about the most troublesome problem of dysmenorrhea for everyone. Don’t take it hard. First of all, we need to make a clear distinction. If you have pain since the beginning of menstruation and there is no organic disease after examination, it is primary dysmenorrhea. If the pain is severe, just take ibuprofen. The best effect is to take ibuprofen 1-2 hours in advance. It will not become addictive and will not have any serious side effects. It is much better than vomiting, sweating, and being unable to go to work or school. Of course, if you feel that taking Western medicine is not good, you can go to a regular traditional Chinese medicine hospital to prescribe traditional Chinese medicine for conditioning. As long as it suits your constitution and can relieve pain, you don't have to force yourself to choose one. If you didn’t have dysmenorrhea before, but suddenly the pain starts to get worse, or if ibuprofen doesn’t work, you must go to the hospital for a check-up in time to see if you have endometriosis, adenomyosis or other problems. Don’t hold on to it and delay treatment. As for baby warmers, hot water bottles, and moxibustion, use them as long as they are comfortable to apply. Don't worry about what others say about "treating the symptoms but not the root cause." It's enough to make you feel comfortable right now.

Oh, by the way, there are still many people who are inexplicably irritable before menstruation, want to cry, lose their temper at the smallest thing, or even have swollen faces, bloated chests, and soreness all over the body. This is not because you are being pretentious, but because of premenstrual syndrome caused by hormone fluctuations. If it is serious enough to affect your normal life, go to the hospital for hormone testing. If it is not serious, just follow your own path. Eat something sweet if you want, lie down if you want to watch dramas, don't force yourself to maintain "emotional stability", it is really unnecessary.

After all, menstruation is a normal physiological phenomenon, not something "unlucky", nor is it a "disease" that needs to be treated with caution. You don't have to make it difficult, and don't carelessly mess around with it. Just do whatever makes you feel comfortable. If you really have a problem you don’t understand or feel uncomfortable, it’s much more reliable to go directly to a regular hospital to find a gynecologist than to search online for a long time and scare yourself.