Dolly Doctor

So this is why there’s no proven cure for period pain


By Amber Manto

Considering billions of gals around the world have been suffering from monthly cramps since, oh we don’t know, FOREVER you’d think science would be pretty keen to discover a breakthrough for this problem. Something a little better than a hot water bottle and paracetamol.


Despite the fact 90% of menstruating women suffer from period pain on the reg, and only 19% of men suffer from erectile dysfunction, there’s a whopping FIVE TIMES more studies done on malfunctioning penises than shark week pain.

This basically comes down to research dollars, and obviously all that GST - aka TAX - we pay on pads/tampons/panty liners is not being used to fund finding a cure for cramps.

Grants for scientific research are often awarded but are rarely given to those wanting to study period pain. Why? Because some grant reviewers are not convinced PMS is a real problem.

Kathleen Lustyk, a psychologist from the University of Washington, told ResearchGate her grant applications about period pain were rejected because reviewers claim PMS is “merely a product of our society or culture that has painted a natural process in a negative light.”


“I suspect that this is a fancy way of saying it’s really just in a woman’s head,” Kathleen added.

Reviewers may also cynical about PMS because there are more than 150 recorded symptoms and it's unknown which can be attributed to having period and which are unrelated. So it’s hard to define what PMS even is, and where to start researching.

All hope is not lost though. If you suffer from BAD period pains, The International Society for Premenstrual Disorders recommends keeping a diary of symptoms for at least two months or using a period tracking app such as Clue so that in the future, researchers can use this data to conduct studies and hopefully find a cure.

Pretty crazy that it’s 2016, we’ve put a man on the moon, cloned a sheep and transplanted a whole face but still can’t solve period cramps.

Science, make it happen. Our bodies are ready.