What works for me is: Drink lots of milk prior to pms. Use a heating pad.

@prolificus I recommended the heating pad, but she doesn’t have one….And she’s kinda lactose intolerant…...

Leg lifts.

WEEEEEEEED

@Draconess25 – in lieu of a heating pad, take a wash cloth or small towel, soak it in water, and heat it in the microwave for a minute or two (not too hot). Or, soak it with piping hot tap water. Make sure to wring out the excess water. This works for me, too.

Put some dried beans into a tube sock and heat it up in the microwave for two minutes. The weight and the heat will feel good.

If she is not up to date with her gynecologist then it is probably best to get there.

@liminal – that, plus a wet sock – moist heat :-) they sell these things at kiosks in malls. there’s usually a homeopathic fragrance to them as well (and a purty fabric covering).

@prolificus I like those, especially ones with lavender.

Good old fashioned chalk is supposed to help. Now I don’t know anything about it except my SIL was having horrible cramps. She asked her dad what to do (he does cultural healing) and he said chalk. She tried it and I know they didn’t go away but did become bearable. All we had was rock climbing chalk so we put some in some water for her.

Regular exercise for sure, based on extensive personal experience. You can’t just exercise a week before and expect relief. Doesn’t work like that. It has to be sustained, and more long-term to make a difference. The better shape I am in, the lighter the flow and the lessor the cramps. When I was in really good shape, I never had cramps.
I’ve never taken aspirin or any OTC pain medication before.

Homeopathic remedies: about{dot}com, grandma’s home remedies, and granny med. It’s interesting the sex is listed as one of the remedies… I’ll have to remember this. [edit: about link fixed.]

Crunches.Lots of crunches.

I always feel better after exercising. Dancing can make it fun! At the very least, it will exhaust you so that you can sleep through the pain.

@RedPowerLady What do you do with the chalk in the water? Bathe in it?

PMS Tea

Take short, quick panting breaths (think a woman in labor) and that should help a bit.

@jjmah I’ve never seen a woman in labour…. Except on TV.

Make sure your bladder is empty, flannel nightie, cup of tea, dark room with a comforter and good movie. Or recognize that weed and alcohol are drugs more harmful to your body than a midol.

@shadling21 Sorry. You drink it.

I couldn’t really say how much. I tried googling this once but was unable to find anything on it. Not sure how FIL knew about it or why it worked.

@faye Weed comes out of the ground. Midol comes out of a factory. Answer me this: Did humans come out of a factory?

okay. youre telling me you can drink alcohol… but you can’t take medication for when youre in physical pain?

@meagan I don’t drink, but said girlfriend does. Only red wine, though. The other one mostly smokes weed.

And physical pain doesn’s bother me. I enjoy it.

So does she, but only around her neck….

@Draconess25 my mother always says, either do something about it or stop complaining. take the pills or learn to deal.
ibuprofen won’t hurt anyone.

I came across this in a magazine or article quite a few years ago, and while your all going to think I’m nuts, it does work. When my g/f had bad cramps, I could relieve them by bringing her to orgasm. I had to be very gentle and work at it awhile, because obviously she’s not in the mood, but by using my hand I could eventually bring her to orgasm and the cramps subsided. A vibrator would probably work as well, but she wasn’t up to trying one. Try it, it works.