医生终于证实:姨妈痛不亚于心脏病发作
Menstrual cramps are uniquely painful - there's nothing in the world quite like them. Described as an "aching" or a "tightening" on medical channels, sufferers of Dysmenorrhea often have stronger and more eloquent ways of describing cramp. Type in "describe menstrual cramps" into Google and a wealth of colourful description will pop up, all of which paint a very, very painful picture. Our personal favourite, Betty goes politely: "Like your uterus has gained actual sentience and is trying to claw itself out of your body for the great escape to freedom." Yes it's easy to laugh and scoff, but now doctors have weighed in on the matter. And, for the uninitiated, period pain can in fact be even more excruciating than many of us realise. It's been ruled as painful as having a heart attack. Professor of reproductive health at University College London, John Guillebaud, told Quartz that patients have described the cramping pain as "almost as bad as having a heart attack." While this, erm, "discovery" is vindicating for many of us, it does beg a couple of questions. Why has it taken so long? And why is it a largely ignored issue? Research indicates a worrying discrepancy between how seriously women's pain is taken generally by doctors compared to men's. Men wait an average of 49 minutes before being treated for abdominal pain. For women, the wait is 65 minutes for the same symptoms. It's also a function which is still handled with secrecy among women themselves, and which has "imbalanced" connotations - the word "hysteria" originates from the Greek word for uterus . Still, a lot of women seem to satisfied with the ruling so far. As for what this means in terms of treatment, that remains to be seen. |