Why do aspie girls suffer horrible period pains?

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My period pain severity varies month by month, one month I can have no pain and the next it might be unbearable. One thing I do notice is that PMS and period pains seem to alternate. If I suffer PMS (usually evidenced by maniacal homicidality ) I don't get pains, whereas if I don't suffer PMS and my periods totally come by surprise I have bad pains.

My periods have been really weird over the last 6 months or so however. They've been extremely heavy to the point I have stains on most of my bedsheets now (and that's despite going to bed with a pad on). These last two months they've been heavy but only lasted for 3-4 days (compared to the 7-8 they usually last for). My last period started a full week too early.

I had terrible, terrible cramps on the first day of my period from my teens into my early twenties. My face would go white as a sheet and I would sweat and tremble and throw up for 3-4 hours, then fall asleep for several hours and wake up perfectly fine.
When I later had children, I discovered that (as I'd suspected) the pains of labor were exactly the same and no worse than my periods. My period cramps even followed the same pattern of growing closer together and stronger over time. The only difference was the baby at the end.
There's more I could say, but since some creepy men think they need to read about and comment on menses I'll leave it at that.

I also noticed that labor pains were very similar to menstrual cramps for me. When I had my first child, I had dysfunctional labor and the nurse said I couldn't possibly be in labor because I wasn't crying, even though the machine was registering extremely strong contractions. I had years of practice dealing with severe cramps!! !

Exactly. I didn't cry or make any sounds when I was in labor, as I was used to silently "dealing" with it. One thing I always found helpful was to tighten all my mid-section muscles (in the same way as when doing a sit-up or throwing up) during the few seconds that the pain was the strongest. I think they should teach that technique in birthing classes. Breathing funny is just breathing funny and accomplishes nothing.

I didn't know that this could be part of being on the spectrum aswell but I have had severe period pain to the point i literally nearly passed out from it,I remember once when my husband was at work I had one of the worst ones in years where i felt so drained from the pain that my body felt like jelly afterwards and literally couldn't get out of bed until late in the afternoon

Interesting birthing stories here. I used to get dreadful cramps. My Mum couldn't understand it because she'd never had such bad cramps and said, "oh come on, labour is much worse. I don't know what you're making a fuss about." I suspect that my bad cramps were similar to labour contractions. Thankfully I don't get cramps like that anymore.

My cramps can be excruciatingly painful. My mum actually has to come and pick me up from school, because they get that bad.

I used to not get cramps at all. Now I do, and they're pretty unpleasant, but not too severe.

The neuroendocrinology of autistic females has been briefly noted in the literature and these menstrual problems observed and noted. It's a field in its infancy. There seem to be particular issues which are only starting to be explored and not yet understood - many women on the spectrum have significant difficulties which seem peculiarly common to spectrum females. This is one of the 5000 reasons I believe we need to stop the old thinking of autism as "just a neurological condition". We have far to go...

Low pain threshold. Some of us are untra-sensitive to stimuli. My pupils seldom dilate due to a light sensitivity.
As I age, it seems that noises are super loud now - I'm constantly jumping. The list goes on.........

This could be true in some cases, but it's dismissive to apply it to everyone. If period cramps and labor pains feel the same to me, then does that mean I have a low or high pain threshold? Or perhaps I have an average threshold, and it's the cramping that is abnormal. I also required oxytocin/Pitocin for both of my deliveries - I was not able to go into labor on my own. I believe that unusual oxytocin levels may play some role in both autism and abnormal period cramping.

I have a very high threshold of pain. This is confirmed to me by my family members. I did not have a lot of pain with contractions (until they put me on the maximum amount of Pitocin - long story.)

When my sciatic nerve was completely squashed flat, I lived in constant pain for 6 months before it *finally* got to the point where I was just about screaming from the pain and ended up in the ER. The doctor did not believe my level of pain before that. My husband told me that from now on if I am ever asked for a pain number, I need to say two higher than I "think" I should answer.

When I broke my finger in junior high, not only did I not cry but I played a basketball game with it taped up and went to school the next day before it got splinted. It hurt. But not enough to make me cry. I just asked for some Advil from the school nurse, and she made the person watching me take me to the ER (my parents were out of town for the day.)

I have never sworn after stubbing my toe.

Sometimes I have bruises from getting hurt, and I don't remember what happened.

So, after all that, to have cramps leave me curled up in a fetal position crying in the night, even with pain meds... It's the cramps, not me.

I also meant to say that it's interesting that I also needed Pitocin. It still didn't help labor along the way it was supposed to, and I ended up with C-sections (emergency the first time, expected the 2nd time.)

My period cramps aren't severe, but man do they annoy me! Usually Midol helps with that. My problem now is more with mood swings, lack of appetite, and nausea during (and even before) menstruation.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4022124/

this explores related issues for women on the spectrum.

If I don't pre-medicate before they start no amount of otc pain pills will save me. The pain is so severe I will vomit. I guess it's a fair trade off though because the period it's self hardly lasts 48 hours.

I'm not sure on the pain threshold though. Mine is pretty high I think (didn't realize I had broken bones, always decline novocaine at the dentist even they have to do major work, tattooing felt like I was being written on with a gel pen etc).