Health encyclopaedia - Alphabetical Topic List
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Periods, painful
Period pain, medically known as primary dysmenorrhoea, is lower abdominal pain, which reoccurs before and/or during your period. There may also be pelvic pain, which may also spread to your lower back and down your thighs.
Period pain is very common and can occur from the time of your first period until the menopause, it affects 40-70% of women of reproductive age. However period pain is more common in teenagers and young women and your periods are likely to become less painful as you get older. In up to 10% of women, it is so severe that it interferes with their daily lives.









