Generalities:

Difficult and painful menstruation.

Symptoms can be various: cramping in the legs, severe pelvic or abdominal pain, pain in the lower back (at the level of the kidneys), headache, nausea, dizziness, vomiting, excessive sweating, fainting, fatigue, as well as anxiety, irritability or depression, that is, affecting both physical and mental state. In some cases, in addition to the symptoms, blood clots or endometrial casts are expelled during the rule. A distinction is usually made between primary dysmenorrhea, present in young women, and secondary dysmenorrhea, which occurs in older women.

In young women dysmenorrhea occurs between 6 and 12 months after menarche (first rule) and is not usually due to any known disease, but to the effects of an eicosanoid called prostaglandin.