Why Am I Cramping A Week Before My Period
Cramping a week before your period is common, but that doesn’t mean you just have to deal with it. Any sort of period pain, including cramps, should not be regarded as standard. These painful symptoms indicate your hormones are imbalanced and your body wants to do something about it.
Endometriosis is an extreme case of cramping and requires a medical diagnosis. This condition has life-disrupting period pain characterized by a growth of uterine tissue somewhere else in the body.
Here are 5 key reasons you may be cramping a week before your period:
1. Prostaglandins
Why am I cramping a week before my period? This can be answered with prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are sex hormones that work in opposition to progesterone, so when progesterone decreases right before menstruation, then prostaglandin will increase. Their function is to cause the uterus to contract to shed the inner lining. During labor, these contractions help to push out the fetus, but otherwise, these contractions are what we consider cramps. Prostaglandins are involved in pain and inflammation. High levels of prostaglandins can mean more severe pain.
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2. ESTROGEN AND PROGESTERONE IMBALANCES
Estrogen and progesterone can answer the question, why am I cramping a week before my period? Our reproductive hormones need to balance each other to allow our bodies to function correctly. When estrogen is elevated, then other hormones are suppressed, especially progesterone. When estrogen is high in relation to progesterone, we call this estrogen dominance. There are 3 main ways you can have estrogen dominance. You can have high estrogen with low progesterone, or high estrogen with normal progesterone, or normal estrogen with low progesterone. In all of these combinations, estrogen is higher than progesterone in ratio. Notice that estrogen can still be in a normal range and be considered estrogen dominance. Studies have shown benefits to endometriosis period pain when patients decrease estrogen levels. Additionally, when estrogen is high then prostaglandins increase which causes more painful periods, as mentioned. These imbalances can be caused by many of the factors listed below.
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3. STRESS
Stress is another answer to the question why am I cramping a week before my period? Stress is a response in our body that occurs when there is a mild or severe threat. This stress response makes us produce higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, from the adrenal glands. Since cortisol is a hormone if you have elevated levels of it, this will imbalance estrogen and progesterone levels. As a result, stress can make cramping worse because it will promote the inflammatory response and deregulate the hippocampus’s hypothalamic-pituitary axis response. This is the part of the brain that releases hormones that contribute to the reproductive system. Stress can also inhibit ovulation, which is a very important part of the menstrual cycle, which will reduce progesterone levels.
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4. Inflammation
Inflammation is another answer to the question, why am I cramping a week before my period? Inflammation occurs when your white blood cells sense an invader or an area of injury in the body, so they release chemicals to surge the area and increase blood flow there. Inflammation stimulates prostaglandins and hormone balances to induce period pain. In addition, when you have chronic inflammation, the body needs to send you signals that something is wrong and needs to be fixed so increased contractions or cramps is a way to notify you that something is wrong. Key causes of inflammation are alcohol use, poor diet, stress, and dehydration.
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5. Nutrient Deficiencies
Many nutrients are used in the process of regulating, producing, and secreting sex hormones. Looking into nutrient deficiencies in yourself can give you a clue into one reason for cramping. Here are some common nutrients that you may be deficient in that is causing you to have painful periods. This is why nutrient deficiencies are another answer to ‘why am I cramping a week before my period?’
Magnesium is an essential mineral in the diet and has many beneficial effects for reducing menstrual cramping. A study found magnesium can relax smooth muscle in the pelvic region to reduce painful contractions and cramps. They also found that magnesium supplementation was linked with an inverse relationship to endometriosis risk. Magnesium is also an anti-inflammatory mineral, which explains its effect on reducing period pain. This shows that low magnesium can make the endometriosis period pain worse because then contractions will be more intense due to the unregulated strain on smooth muscle.
Omega 3 deficiency can be another one of the reasons for cramping. Polyunsaturated fats are fatty acids that contain at least 2 double bonds in the structure. Two types of polyunsaturated fats are omega 3 and omega 6. Most western diets consume a ratio of 1:20 of omega 3 to omega 6 when it should be 1:3. This evidence is correlated with endometriosis period pain incidence, showing that omega 6’s are pro-inflammatory and promote the pain while omega 3’s have protective effects of decreasing the pain caused by inflammation. Omega 3s have been found to inhibit the implantation of the endometrial tissue in the first place and to discourage further growth.
Vitamin B6 is a water-soluble vitamin used to create red blood cells and aids in macronutrient metabolism. Additionally, vitamin B6 has been broadly accepted over many studies to treat PMS symptoms, including pelvic cramps. Estrogen metabolism is another one of the properties of Vitamin B6, which helps convert estrogen into its active form. This is why vitamin B6 deficiency can be one of the reasons for painful periods.
