EPISODE 4: Who's Researching New Treatments For Period Pain?

And what are they finding?

Hi Crampers,

Today CRAMPED episode 4 is out!

This is a big one, where I take a field trip to the Gynecology Research Lab in Evanston, IL and talk to the top researchers who are actually getting to the bottom of period pain. I recorded at least 4 solid hours of audio on site, plus another 2 hours with other researchers that the GyRL folks put me in contact with, and I somehow had to edit that down to 37 minutes. So lots of darlings killed in that edit process, with enormous help from my editorial producer Kelsey McLaughlin DiLanzo, and consultation from the incredibly accomplished producer and story editor Mia Lobel (Mia is available for consults, and you should work with her!).

This episode is the most hopeful and optimistic episode yet - smart people are working on the problem of period pain, and they’re getting somewhere!! It may only be another 10 years before we have much better and more individualized treatments for period pain! If I have a kid with a uterus, they might not have to go through what I went through!!

While editing and preparing to release this episode though, I had to figure out how to talk about the current chaos happening at the NIH. You may have seen some of these headlines go by, or you may have missed it in the constant barrage of headlines attempting to cover the endless parade of fuckery that the last 4 weeks have wrought.

Basically, right after inauguration Trump stopped all federal grants, including the NIH grants that fund medical research. Then a federal judge blocked that freeze with a temporary restraining order. Since then, the Trump administration has blocked the NIH from posting new notices in the Federal Register - apparently some federal meetings, like the ones the NIH has to review grant applications and award funding, need to be posted in the Federal Register. So if they can’t post the meeting notice, apparently they can’t have the meeting, and can’t award new grants.

There’s a lot of back-and-forth about whether this is legal, if they’re allowed to do this, but…they are doing it. And it has so far stalled about 16,000 grant applications, and delayed the awarding of $1.5 BILLION in NIH funds in this short time.

There are no foundations that fund dysmenorrhea research, so the NIH funds are crucial for continuing this research into pain that 90% OF MENSTRUATING PEOPLE experience.

I’ve been reminding myself that these researchers have been dealing with non-ideal situations and funding challenges for a long time, and this is just the latest in a long line of challenges. They’ll find workarounds, they’ll get creative, and this research will continue. But DAMN, can’t we have any nice things??

I’ll leave you with some good memories from visiting the lab last year:

Me, after a redeye flight and two hours of sleep, nervous to meet people much smarter than me

Dr. Kevin Hellman, co-director of the GyRL Lab, trying to explain to me what this “device” does and why its leaking water all over the floor

The infamous “urine freezer #3” that made me lose my shit at the end of the day

If you haven’t yet, please rate & review the podcast!