Period pains and how to deal with them

Heat is better recommended to relieve period pain, Loreto College study reveals.

Two Loreto College students have analysed the strategies and attitudes women have on period pain relief and their impacts.

The project surveyed four hundred girls under the age of twenty and sixty five women who were over the age of twenty.

Aoife Doherty and Genevieve McManus discovered that the vast majority of their sample are using painkillers to relieve their period pain, with some women taking 8-10 tablets per day during menstruation.

“We found that there’s a huge number using painkillers to deal with the pain,” said Aoife, speaking to the Anglo-Celt at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition.

“We found a good few impacts of the overuse of the painkillers, like you could gain a tolerance to the painkiller if you use it too many times.”

They also found that heat is “better recommended” for relieving pain.

Genevieve described why they decided to study period pain relief methods.

“Periods are really relevant and topic and we both have an interest in medicine,” said Genevieve, who wants to pursue a career in pharmaceutical sciences, while Aoife would like to go into nursing.

“We thought it would be interesting to do an investigation mixing medicine and periods.”