If you’re like me (or the large percent of people who suffer from menstrual pain), the week your period arrives is pretty damn miserable. Every waking — and often sleeping — moment is filled with shooting pain (back, front, side, head, boobs — no body part is safe from the wrath of my shedding uterus!). So when my gynecologist suggested orgasming as a way to alleviate my pain, I was skeptical. At its worst, I can barely tolerate lying perfectly still with a hot pad draped across my waist. I didn’t understand how she expected my body, with its aches (and accompanying river of blood), to be touched, much less become aroused. But she insisted that I at least try. So, I gave it a whirl. I tried out multiple period pain solutions to help lift my period-week libido, relax my tense muscles and infuse my body with some good old-fashioned manual pleasure.
