Doctors Confirm Period Cramps Are as Painful as a Heart Attack (and No Woman on Earth Is Surprised)

One week out of every month, you can find us eating everything in sight and cursing to the gods above while doubled over in pain. Yep, menstrual cycles suck, and every woman post-puberty and premenopause will agree.

So it’s pretty crazy that we’re living in a world where, even though roughly half the population experiences the phenomenon, no one really talks about it. Finally, however, we have proof that we’re not just “being dramatic.”

John Guillebaud, a professor of reproductive health at University College London, told Quartz that patients have described severe cramps, called dysmenorrhea (the fancy medical word for menstrual pain), as “almost as bad as having a heart attack.” Yeah, ibuprofen just isn’t gonna cut it.

Thanks, doc, for finally recognizing the struggle. Now if only we could get the dudes in our life to do the same.

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