When should you go to the GP for painful periods? 

According to Dr Nina Byrnes, who appeared on Lunchtime Live for their Ask The GP segment, the answer is as soon as you start feeling any pain.

“The one thing I say to women is it’s not normal to have really painful periods,” she said.

“Some women just think that’s normal but it’s not and you don’t have to suffer through it having periods.

“There are various things that can cause painful periods but it always warrants going to your doctor and having a conversation about it.

“Then they can tease out your symptoms, tease out any other stuff going on.”

Lump and heartburn

Another listener messaged in to say she has discovered a lump around her chest bone and developed heartburn which makes it difficult to swallow.

“They may be one thing but they may be two separate things,” Dr Byrnes said.

“The first thing I would say to anyone who has heartburn and difficulty swallowing is you absolutely need to go to your doctor and you need a test called a gastroscopy - which is where they pass a tube from your throat down to you stomach to make sure there’s no narrowing of that passage.

Dr Byrnes said the lump could be a “red herring” but it is still important for a GP to check it out.

“When your doctor examines you, they’ll be able to decide, ‘Is that lump related or is the lump something else?’

“A lot of lumps and bumps we see under the skin are actually harmless but it’s something that has to be examined.”

Tablets

Another man messaged in to say his uncle was having trouble sleeping and would it be okay for him to take some out of date sleeping tablets he had previously been prescribed.

“Obviously, I don’t recommend taking out of date medication,” Dr Byrnes said.

“I don’t recommend sleeping tablets regularly either; if these are a year and a half out of date and he feels he needs them, he should go back and talk to his doctor about the best treatment for his difficulty sleeping.”

Main image: A woman experiencing period pain.