i've been on the pill for about 9 months now. recently i became a vegetarian and since then, i've found my period to be painful in a dull, annoying way and i just feel strange. is that normal and how can i fix it?
hmm recently became veg..how recently? it sounds tome that your bodyis still going throughthe readjustment period ..your period can absolutely be effected by diet, what doyou eat onthe average day? perhaps adjusting your iron or protein intake might affect it, how longs it been like this? theres alsothe possibilityit isnt diet related at all, & could be a medical issure thatmaybe worth checking out if youve onlybeenveg a couple months though, i'd just tryto bear with it..make sure your eatting the best you canbe & see if it doesnt just go awayin a coule months once youve adjusted to your new diet
you may be eating too much of a food that doesn't agree with you... wheat would be the first guess I'd make. You might be deficient in certain vitamins. Magnesium and B complex vitamins are most important in reducing menstrual discomfort. You might not be sleeping well. It might be your body is not tolerating the hormones in the pill you take. Or it could be something totally unrelated.
So you were fine with the pill for a while, then went vegetarian, and have been having problems since? If I'm reading you right, my first guess would be a vitamin deficiency. I don't know you or what "going vegetarian" means to you, but I've known far, far too many people who think "going vegetarian" simply means cutting meat out of their diets. People who subsist on pasta with tomato sauce, plain rice, etc. -- as in, lots of carbohydrates but nothing to replace the protein and other nutrients that they cut out when they cut out meat. If that's the camp you're in, I'd suggest first getting a multivitamin to take every day, and second going over to the vegetarian forum to get advice on replacing all of the stuff that us carnivores get from meat. Regardless of whether the above applies, my doc suggested vitamin B1 to help with cramps. Take 100 mg daily, starting several days before your period ends until when your cramps generally are over. I think I have some B-complex vitamins, but there are several different formulations available, so make sure to get one with at least 100 mg B1.
I've noticed my cramps have lessened since I became vegetarian! Still quite painful but not in a raging "OH MY GOSH KILL ME NOW JUST SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD AND GET IT OVER WITH!" pain.
