What are period cramps equivalent to?

• Two years ago, Quartz published a story in which a professor said period cramps can be "almost as bad as having a heart attack."
• Last week, the story resurfaced, going viral on social media. 
• But gynecologist Jen Gunter, who blogs about women's health, wrote that the comparison between heart attacks and period cramps doesn't really work. 
• That's because heart attacks are often just mildly painful — and in many cases, they're not painful at all. 
• It would be more accurate, she wrote, to compare cramps to being in labor.

Back in 2016, Quartz published an article on the monthly misery faced by women all over the globe: period cramps. The story acknowledged that menstrual pain can be serious and even debilitating — and yet, there's been disappointingly little research on how we can treat it. 

But the story had a resurgence on social media last week after Elle UK zeroed in on a single quote from the piece.  Reproductive health professor John Guillebaud told Quartz that patients have described cramp pain as "almost as bad as having a heart attack."

That quote sparked immediate interest. Other news outlets including Marie Claire picked up the story, and it spread like wildfire on Twitter. To many women, the comparison wasn't so much surprising as it was glaringly obvious.

"[Retweet] if you knew this already," Twitter user @kitttenqueen wrote, sharing a link to the story on Marie Claire. 94,000 people did. 

—zofie Ⓥ (@kitttenqueen) February 27, 2018

But gynecologist Dr. Jen Gunter, who writes a popular women's health blog, has called that comparison into question. In a new post published Friday, Gunter wrote that period cramps are often much more painful than heart attacks. 

"If you are waiting for terrible, excruciating chest pain to tell you that you are having a heart attack, well, you are going to miss the heart attack," Gunter wrote. "Heart attacks often produce vague symptoms or mild pain, that is why many people ignore them ... In addition, more than 40% of women have no pain with heart attacks. It would be dangerous for women to think that a heart attack should be at least as bad as their menstrual cramps."

Besides pain, heart attack symptoms can also include shortness of breath, a lightheaded feeling, nausea, vomiting, and unexplained tiredness, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

But primary dysmenorrhea — the scientific term for painful periods — always hurts. 

Period pain happens mostly because of substances called prostaglandins, Gunter explained in the post. They're released from the lining of the uterus and make it contract. And during these period contractions, pressure on the uterus can be just as high as it is during the "pushing" stage of labor, she added.

"So if you need an analogy to describe period pain," Gunter wrote, "use labor or cutting your finger off without an anesthetic."

Read the full post on Gunter's blog. 

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Although we know that menstrual cramps/period pain/whatever you choose to call it, can feel like you're being repeatedly punched in the stomach from the inside out, explaining this to other people (read: generally men) can feel like a lost cause.

Worried about being dismissively diagnosed by coworkers and friends with female 'conditions' such as being 'delicate', 'dramatic' or 'oversharing', more often than not, we suck it up and suffer in silence. Add it to the list...

But not anymore. Menstrual cramps, or Dysmenorrhea as it's technically called, has finally 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.'

Michelle McMahonFacebook

Although we're loathe to sound overjoyed that a dude finally acknowledged period pain can be a condition so debilitating its only comparison is a near death experience, we'll take the improvement on the previous medical advice that recommended Ibuprofen as 'good enough' to prescribe.

In fact, ignoring women's pain has been a concerning medical practise for, well, forever, with research showing that doctors generally take it less seriously then men's. Hell, the word 'hysterical' stems from 'hystericus' meaning 'of the womb'.

Thanks for that one society.

Here's to a more open conversation around menstruation and a society that acknowledges the power of the period instead of ignoring it.

John, you've made our good list.

George Driver Senior Beauty Editor - Digital George Driver is the Senior Beauty Editor - Digital at ELLE UK covering everything from the latest haute couture make-up look taking fashion week by storm, to curating edits of the best retinol formulations (that actually work) and investigating the psychological impact your skin can have on your mental health.

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