Menstruating comes with different types of aches and discomforts for many of us. Women usually experience abdominal Pain and leg cramps during menstruation. In addition to cramps and back pain, to make those days worst, many women experience shoulder and neck pain two days before or in the course of their monthly period.  The pain could be mild, moderate or intolerable for some ladies. And like the cramps, the neck pain and shoulder pain will also disappear when the period ends.

Why does my neck pain so much during menses?

Neck pain just before and during the periods can happen due to various reasons. The pain can be a part of something that changes based on your periods. This can be a swelling, or even something as simple as some minor changes in the blood circulation. It can also be due to some health conditions that worsen during menstruation.

Hormone changes:

Just like during pregnancy, periods also brings about certain variation in hormone levels. Some women are more prone to strong and distinctive emotional changes during menstruation like high leveled anxiety or depression. This could result in fibromyalgia, giving rise to neck pain.

Fibromyalgia is a condition causing sharp sensitivity to pain or pain due to stretching of muscle fibers, a disorder of the autonomic nervous system. Just like menstruation having some effect on other autonomic disorders like a migraine and fainting,  fibromyalgia also gets worse in some women right before and during menstruation. There are roughly about 25 sites where the pain of fibromyalgia can be felt and neck is one of them.

Hypothyroidism:

People with under-active thyroid or hypothyroidism often have some joint and muscle issues, including pain, stiffness, and swelling, which is triggered by low levels of thyroid hormone. Many women with hypothyroidism accounted their symptoms get worse either just before or during their menstrual periods

Endometriosis:

Endometriosis refers to the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus. One of the classic symptoms of endometriosis is cyclical shoulder pain. Cyclical symptoms are warning signs that appear a few days prior to menstruation and disappear a few days past the menstruation or symptoms that appear only during the menstruation. Cyclical symptoms will reappear the subsequent month, hand in hand with the woman’s menstrual cycle.

How to alleviate neck and shoulder pain during menstruation?

As already mentioned, neck and shoulder pain during menstruation can be due to some simple cause associated with blood flow and swelling that appears during periods, or it can be due to some health issues that worsen during the periods. If your pain is due to the grounds mentioned later, the neck and shoulder pain during the periods can be alleviated only after treating or controlling the underlying medical issue. Otherwise, the following measures will help to ease the issue:

Change the sleeping position: An excellent way to ease the neck and shoulder pain during the monthly periods is to change the sleeping position. If the pain is due to slight changes in blood flow, choosing a position that contributes to easing blood flow.

Change the bed: Sometimes, soft bed contributes to neck and shoulder pain during periods. Therefore, try to get a comfortable bed that contributes to the health of your joints.

Treat irregular periods:  Irregular periods point out some sort of health issue. This can bring about different unwanted cyclical symptoms. Therefore, seek medical attention to such issues rather than ignoring it.