Day 3 of my Whole30 - severe cramps :(

[Casey Carey]

I am at the end of Day 3 on my first Whole30 (yay!). I started my period yesterday (wow. great timing) and my cramps are SEVERE today, I don't think I've ever had cramping this bad before.

If I weren't on my Whole30 I'd majorly consider some ibuprofen or other pain reliever, but I'm sure that's not a great idea for my body while I'm trying to give it a break and clean it up!

Any pain relief suggestions? (I've been using a heating pad which tends to work on months where I have a few painful cramps - and unfortunately I don't have a bathtub to relax in, boo.)

Thanks!

[mspickle610]

I'm right there with you. Day 4 for me. I feel like I'm 14 again my cramps are so bad! Stretching is helping a bit, but not much. I've been doing spinal twist stretches because my cramps tend to hurt my lower back but if anyone has some good advice, I'd love to hear it. I'm also having insomnia but I can't tell if that's a hormonal thing or related to the Whole 30. It's making me very unpleasant to be around!

Hopefully someone can give us some answers.

Hope you feel better today.

[jbadams08]

Oh great, I'm on Day 4 and start mine next week, cramps to look forward to? No thanks! I've noticed I've been spotting this week since I started and that's not something I normally do and I saw another thread on here about spotting when people are on the Whole30. So it sounds like it's normal for this to be affecting our periods in one way or another.

I hope both of you feel better and I hope I don't get the same thing next week! Honestly, I'd probably take some ibuprofen if I was you, but more power to you for cutting everything out!

[MamaDrew]

Wow I never would have thought this would affect the mentrual cycle! I'm only on day 3 but last night by breasts were SO sore and they still are today. I am not supposed to start for 2 more weeks so it's very strange that they feel this way already.

[Toni Casassa Gatlin]

Day 4 for me and day 1 of my period... I feel wrung out and am fighting powerful cravings, but my cramps are actually much less severe than normal (and I am thankful-- I think I might cave otherwise!).

Fwiw, In ISWF (pg 237) they say to take Tylenol.

[Casey Carey]

Thanks for the support ladies! I ended up just trying to relax and battle through it! Ack. I also ate a giant sweet potato as part of my dinner, hehe.

Today is a bit better! Hopefully I've weathered the worst of the storm!

Send you all happy thoughts, stay strong!

[OliviaLovely]

I'm on day 4 too, and my period is due tomorrow...all day long I've had this weird pain in my lower right hand side of my stomach...I assume it's because of my hormones being funky, but I've done Whole30's before and they've helped my periods! Who knows...the body does weird things sometimes!

Sweet potatoes solve all problems! Add a little pumpkin pie spice

[OmniscientOwlet]

Im on day 5, period started today and I'm feeling pretty icky (at least I know why I felt so awful yesterday!). My roommate gave me something called cramp bark and it is totally helping. there's nothing weird in it... it's just an extract from a bark and it is definitely helping.

[monkeymittensmom]

Heating pad heating pad heating pad.

And a cuddly cat if possible.

[SouthernBeth]

I started a whole week early today (and I'm on the pill!) and my cramps are terrible. I feel like I'm in junior high again when I would have to go home from school! Terrible! I don't have a heating pad, but maybe a hot shower? I don't have a heating pad. I took ibprofen and I don't care, I'm weak and hurting somethin' fierce! I'm going to try and do some yoga in just a little bit to loosen up and get blood flowing, which should help, but oh man.

I'm glad I'm not the only one having these symptoms, that makes me feel like I'm not totally off track and crazy.

[Betty115]

Feeling relieved to see this forum. Surprised to begin early and with so much cramping. Yesterday, I pulled my pants on WITHOUT wiggling, tonight... bloat city! Is this normal? Just period related or food/water related in others' experiences? I want to go back to my day 3 happy place...

[kshacklett]

Glad to see this is all whole30-normal. I got my period a day early (on the pill, so I'm super regular), with cramps that started last night (usually don't start until day 2 of my period). I'm disappointed because I managed to break most of my ibuprofen use by substituting ginger tea, but realized this morning that the tea I have has soy lecethin. Ginger really did seem to help though, so I'm definitely going to be looking for a compliant brand.

[lilangel4824]

Hey. Just learned this in my human bio lecture yesterday that protein actually causes muscle contraction. I'm only on day 2 of the program and I have cramps too and my period is still 10 days away.

[Kerryberrypie]

When I started whole30 I got my period the same day! It was horrific! I had a 2 day migraine as well! Thank goodness I was off work for the first week! I was craving chocolate and ice cream so bad!! Hardest week ever! I suffer from ibs and get cramping and I think it's just due to all the protein I.e meat.

I'm on day 10 now and had no slip ups etc! Yay!!

Hope you all feel better :-)

[sarakinva]

I'm too much of a wimp - Tylenol does not touch cramps for me. It's like taking nothing at all. Ibuprofin improved my quality of life (I am not exaggerating here) starting in college when I first used it for cramps (my parents never bought it so I didn't know Advil was different back then).

I also can't lounge about with a heating pad to rest cause I gotta bring home the bacon! I will take ibuprofin if I have to - I usually just need it for a couple of days.