sooo..what do you guys do when TOM comes around as far as exercise?
I've always been irregular with TOM and the past two years have been awful with only like 3 periods in a 2 year time frame. So I finally went to the doc to put me on birth control and it started doing bad things to me so I went off it after a week and a half. I got my period though and I am flowing soooooo heavily. My whole body from my abdomen down to my feet are throbbing with pain....it's awful. Is it okay to forego exercise for the day? I did a little this morning but had to leave the gym due to horrible cramps.
If you're doing 4-5 hours of high intensity cardio every day, it's absolutely ok to take a day off when you're not feeling well. It's nice for your body to have a rest, anyway.
(p.s. I think 4-5 hours of high intensity cardio each day is overkill.)
exercise helps cramps. A LOT. Honestly and seriously.
Here is what I'd do. I'd take some Aleve immediately (works better than anything else I know for cramps) and wait an hour for the edge to be taken off. Then I'd head for the gym, or even outside for a walk. With the sun shining and your body moving, you will feel better. The key for me with reallly, realllllly bad cramps (I have literally been known to roll up in a ball on the bathroom floor with mine) is forcing myself to move, no matter how difficult it is.
Thats just me, though. If your body is really saying to you "do NOT move me or your pain will be worse", just muscle through it. But my experience is that moving more will make the pain MUCH less.
Ditto on the 4-5 hrs a day of exercise being WAY overkill. If that is truly sustainable for you, great. If not, a single hour a day is plenty plenty plenty and you're not as likely to burn out on it.
And yes, you should be taking rest days anyway if you are doing 4-5 hours a day of high intensity exercise.
A rest day is actually better for you to build muscles, as it gives your muscles a chance to repair themselves - thats how they grow, you tear 'em up and they fix themselves. Pshaw to the exercise through cramps people :-P I'd curl up in a ball on the couch under a blanket with the air conditioner blasting and eat some delicious, dark chocolate - not nearly as fatty as milk and satisfies the cravings faster. Hot baths also do WONDERS for me, and make me ready to take a nap and sleep through the pain. Also, I'm not sure what your symptoms were, but birth control pills don't really have full effect for 6 to 8 weeks, and different brands/different doses/different hormones are available that should minimize side effects. They help will cramps SO MUCH, but you do have to be patient for the first month or two. Hope you feel better, sweetie!
My first thought is that if your periods are that irregular and painful, you should see a doctor.
As for the exercise, of course it is ok to take a day off! You should be itermittently be taking days off anyway to rest your muscles. Exercise does help with cramps though, so maybe exercise on the really painful days and take the less painful ones off?
I never exercise when I am cramping heavy. I take that day off to recover. A day off once a week is okay. I only exercise 4 or 5 days a week and it has never caused me to stall. I just look at it this way, I want something I can do for life and I can do 4 days a week, sometimes 5. Anymore than that I start to burn out.
Terrie
Just to clarify - I wasn't saying "never take a day off, slacker, work through the pain!!!" Thats so not me. I was saying that the only way I know to make my crazy-bad cramps disappear is to exercise, even if I don't feel like it. But thats just me.
You women are so cute on this bored....correctin yourself and all. I'm very grateful for all your advice.
What I've done so far....Laid on the couch and fell asleep with the air conditioner going for about 1 hour 30 min, contemplated asking DM to get me some dove dark chocolate ......and now I'm seriously thinking of going to the gym for a nice, low intensity bike ride and a swim....the swimming sounds especially nice.
thanks for all your advice....this irregular TOM really sucks, and I hope to be regular again once I lose weight. I was told when I was 13 that they were that way because I'm fat...
Walking used to work well for me. Not heavy exercise (I was pretty weak the first two days of my period anyway), just getting that lower body to move. Usually, a 20-minutes walk was enough to already relieve the pain a lot. I can't speak for sure of other means now, my period has been a breeze since I've been taking the pill, but a few years ago, at least, that was what worked for me. If it can help.
so how do you feel and what did you do?
I used to have horribly painful periods due to endometriosis and the only thing that made me feel better was exercising. Not too strenuous, but falst walking. sometimes I'd walk for hours...doing loops near enough home for pit stops
Tell me it's okay...
dove dark chocolate 
......and now I'm seriously thinking of going to the gym for a nice, low intensity bike ride and a swim....the swimming sounds especially nice. 
