Menstrual health knowledge

There is no uniform standard that applies to everyone. Your physical feeling is the highest basis for judgment. Most common discomforts can be alleviated by adjusting your lifestyle. There is no need to be overly anxious or bear it hard.

The first question that gets asked is definitely "Can we eat ice during menstruation?" Friends around me are quarreling between the two camps - my best friend from Hunan has been addicted to spicy food and ice since she was a child. She chews popsicles and drinks iced milk tea during her period without any problem. Every time she talks about it, she complains that those who say she can't eat ice are "spoiled and spoiled"」； But a girl in my department accidentally took a mouthful of ice cream in the summer. She turned pale and squatted on the ground in pain. In the end, she had to ask her colleagues to take her to the infirmary. At present, there is no unified conclusion on this issue in the academic community: one school of thought believes that low temperature stimulation may intensify the contraction of uterine smooth muscle and aggravate dysmenorrhea. ； The other group believes that as long as one's gastrointestinal tolerance is tolerated, there is no evidence-based medical evidence that ice food can directly induce gynecological diseases. In fact, there is no need to talk about these things. Eat as long as you feel comfortable. If you feel pain after eating, don’t touch it next time. You don’t have to argue with your body over two sentences.

The only thing that is more annoying than dietary taboos is dysmenorrhea. I have seen too many girls resist it, saying that "it's a medicine that is only half poisonous" and "you will become dependent on ibuprofen after taking it." It's really unnecessary. At present, the most recommended first-line analgesic solution for primary dysmenorrhea is to take ibuprofen. If you only take 1-2 pills every month, the metabolic cycle is only a few hours, and there will be no dependence at all, and it will not cause additional burden on the body. I had a school girl who had suffered from menstrual cramps for three years. Every time she had her period, she would take two days off to lie down in the dormitory and cry. Later, she followed the advice of her gynecologist and took an ibuprofen, and she was able to go to professional classes as normal that day. Of course, if you have a weak intestines and stomach, taking ibuprofen will make you feel nauseous, or if you have high frequency of dysmenorrhea and want long-term treatment, it is also useful to go to a regular traditional Chinese medicine hospital to ask a doctor to take a pulse and prescribe treatment. However, you should avoid the "warm palace massage" and "moxibustion package" advocated by beauty salons and Internet celebrity health centers. At best, it is useless and wastes money. At worst, the temperature is not well controlled and the skin is scalded, and even pressing acupoints indiscriminately leads to increased bleeding.

Many people tend to ignore the details of menstrual care and step into the trap without knowing it. For example, it was previously said on the Internet that "sanitary napkins must be changed every two hours." In fact, it is not that bad. If the amount is large, it must be changed in less than an hour, otherwise it will be embarrassing and uncomfortable due to side leakage. If the amount is small, it should not exceed 4 hours. After all, the private parts are stuffed in a hot and airtight environment, which can easily breed bacteria, and in severe cases, it can induce vulvitis. By the way, don’t be like me when I had a brain attack before. I stocked up half a box of sanitary napkins and stuffed them in the cabinet under the sink during Double Eleven. During the rainy season, there were mold spots on the packaging when I took them out, so I threw them all away, fearing that something might go wrong if I didn’t use them carefully. Also, don’t believe those advertisements for cleaning and care products that say “deep cleansing is required during menstruation.” It is enough to rinse the vulva with warm water during normal times or during menstruation. The vagina itself has a stable balance of flora. Using lotion will destroy the acid-base environment. The more you wash, the more likely it is to induce inflammation.

Another topic that has been debated for a long time is "can I exercise during menstruation?" I have read many bloggers before who said "the metabolism is faster during menstruation, and the fat-burning efficiency of exercise is twice as high as usual." I tried it once when my mind was hot. My aunt ran three kilometers the next day, and she was so painful that she squatted on the side of the road and couldn't stand up after the run. That month, my aunt came for two more days, which was not worth the gain. In fact, whether you want to move or not depends entirely on your own condition. If you don’t feel any discomfort, it’s okay to take a walk, do a few sets of stretching, or practice gentle yoga. On the contrary, it can promote blood circulation and relieve the feeling of bloating in the waist and abdomen. ； But if the pain is so severe that you can't straighten your back, just lie down honestly. Don't hold on for that unnecessary "fat-burning buff" and end up with endometriosis or a surge in bleeding that makes it too late to cry.

In fact, I have been doing women’s health science popularization for so long, and what I have seen the most is not the physiological problems, but the anxiety that everyone is bound by all kinds of "menstrual taboos": Will touching cold water cause uterine colds? Does drinking milk tea make you overeat? Will there be any side effects if I don’t get enough rest? You really don’t need to be so nervous. Your body is much stronger than you think, and there are not so many things that can explode when you step on it. All common sense is just a reference. Whether you are comfortable or not is the only criterion. If the pain is really unbearable, the amount of bleeding is suddenly very heavy, or the cycle is ridiculously disordered for two or three months, going directly to a regular hospital to register with the gynecology department will be more effective than browsing Baidu for ten hours and asking ten netizens.