Is Lower Back Pain Before Period Sign Of Pregnancy Or Period Coming?

Is Lower Back Pain Before Period Sign Of Pregnancy

Last updated on July 27th, 2018 at 01:05 am

Question: Is lower back pain before period sign of pregnancy or PMS?

At the age of 13, when a lot of girls will start having menstrual period, abdominal pain before or during your monthly period can be disturbing.

Sometimes, pain may get severe and prevent you from your normal academic or daily activities.

Ordinarily, before period starts, it’s common for girls to have both physical and emotional changes in their body.

Most of these body changes will starts within a week to your next period; Nonetheless, some women may get premenstrual symptoms two weeks away from period.

In young girls, symptoms can cause severe discomfort, especially abdominal cramps. As women grow older, abdomen pain before period will begin to subside.

Low back pain before period may just be a new symptom you are getting for the first time. If you’ve had sexual intercourse weeks back and confused if you’re having period sign or pregnancy, this guide explains what you must know.

Low back pain before period is normal and occurs because of hormone changes in your body as you get towards your next period date.

Pain is usually mild and subsides as your period commences. If you experience severe pain occasionally, it may not be abnormal. However, a persistent and severe back pain may indicate endometriosis, vaginal infections, or pelvic inflammatory disease.

Another symptom you will experience when period is approaching is breast pain and swelling. This usually occurs because of estrogen and progesterone effect on your breast. In some women, a small unrecognized breast lump becomes noticeable days before period.

Other period symptoms are feeling weak, vomiting, mood swing, acnes on the face, difficulty in sleeping at night and confusion.

The truth is, if you did not have intercourse weeks before menstrual period, it’s surely your period coming if your get these signs.

On the other hand, these symptoms after weeks of unprotected sexual activity will suggest pregnancy.

During pregnancy, it’s common for women to get a low back pain in the lumbar and pelvic regions. Though, this pain hardly occurs in the first trimester.

Nevertheless, if you’ve already established you have pregnancy symptoms before period, and now have low back pain, it could mean you’re already pregnant.

This article explains why you have back pain before period, signs that show you’re pregnant and steps to take.

 

What causes low back pain before periods?

If you are close to your period and now experiencing low back hurting or abdominal cramps, it’s likely your period will start in a few days. These symptoms now occur because of hormone changes before or after ovulation.

Before ovulation (release of an egg from the ovarian follicle), your brain’s Hypothalamus will coordinate the release of estrogen.

Estrogen helps start the build up of the endometrium that is washed out during previous menses. Other effects of estrogen are increased sexual urge and watery vaginal discharge before ovulation.

After ovulation takes place, estrogen levels drop with increase in progesterone and relaxin.

Progesterone helps thicken the endometrium even more and prepare your womb for your next period or pregnancy.

During this period (after ovulation), changes will begin to occur in your mood, concentration, breast, vaginal discharge and even the way you look.

Progesterone causes your breast to feel heavy and bigger with sometimes pain. Your vaginal discharge that was watery before ovulation (due to the effect of estrogen), becomes thick and sticky.

This rise is progesterone that occurs after ovulation begins to fall if you don’t get pregnant. This sudden drop in estrogen and progesterone is the reason you now have PMS symptoms like sleepless nights, abdominal cramps, fatigue, and a low back pain.

The other hormone, relaxin, which is released after ovulation, reaches its peak the day before your next period.

If you get pregnant, this hormone will continue to rise and prevents contraction of your womb in early pregnancy.

Then again, relaxin loosens your muscles and weakens your ligaments, especially in the pelvic region and causing low back pain before period.

Don’t forget prostaglandins

Another hormone that causes uterine contraction during the menstrual period is prostaglandins. This hormone forces the uterus to contract and may cause you to have referred pain to your back.

Usually, low back pain before a period or belly pains will subside or disappear completely as period starts.

 

Is lower back pain before period sign of pregnancy?

If you’ve never had sexual intercourse or consistently used a pill or condom during sex, there is no reason you should worry about being pregnant. Here’s the complete list of premenstrual symptoms.

On the other hand, women who had unsafe sexual intercourse may get pregnant and start showing signs before your next period.

Early pregnancy symptoms before missed period will vary from woman to woman. However, most women will experience the following symptoms

  • Breast swelling with pain
  • Sore breast and itchy nipples
  • Light dark spotting before period due to implantation bleeding
  • Body weakness
  • Abdominal cramps for a few days
  • Peeing too frequently

If you had sexual intercourse before now with any of these symptoms and a low back pain, it’s likely you are pregnant.

What steps to take?

If these signs are already visible, you will be eager to check if you are pregnant or not.

The truth is that your test result will not be valid if done too quickly before your next period.

So don’t rush; And if you do, and test negative, wait a while and test again.

You should know conventional test strips will not detect pregnant if it’s done too quickly. However, if you are 2 -3 days before your period with back pain, First Response Pregnancy test strip can surely identify pregnancy.

 

What causes severe lower back pain before period?

While it’s true you may have a mild back pain before period; some women may continue to get a severe low back pain before and during periods.

Usually, this occurs in women with endometriosis, when the uterine endometrial tissues are displaced to other parts of the body. Other signs of endometriosis are cramps between periods, difficulty in conceiving, heavy vaginal bleeding during menstruation, lower abdominal pain during sexually active and pain after intercourse.

Another reason you will get severe back pain before period is perimenopause, which occurs in women more than the age of 40.

During this period, you may also get irregular periods, hot flashes, dry vagina and pain during intercourse.

 

Upper back pain before period, is it normal?

Just like lower pain in your back, it’s possible you could feel pain above your waist level before period. As your period starts, inevitably, these pains will go away.

Also, if you’ve missed your period for weeks, a low back pain may be due to a miscarriage. Always check out with your doctor if you have vaginal bleeding.

 

How to relieve lower or upper back pain before period?

  1. Have a lot of rest as possible. Depending on how you sleep, pillows can help make you feel better. Commonly, if you sleep on your back all the time, an extra pillow under your knees may help relieve pain.
  2. Have regular exercise and keep stretching your muscles
  3. If you are obese, it’s time to lose some weight
  4. Use pain killers like naproxen, ibuprofen, and acetaminophen
  5. Talk to your doctor if it’s persistent and severe.

Tagged under:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.