Here are the most common health issues women in their 20’s and 30’s should never ignore. 

• PMS Symptoms
• Painful Cramps
• Painful Sex
• Inability to have an orgasm
• Painful Urination

These are health symptoms women in their 20s and 30s never ignore.

–PMS Symptoms start to happen 1 to 2 weeks before your period.  Emotional changes including mood swings, depression, crying spells, irritability and anxiety are the most common symptoms.  Physical changes include bloating, breast tenderness, weight gain, food craving and acne.  Extreme fatigue can occur as a result of having some of these types of symptoms but is not a typical symptom of PMS and should be discussed with your health care provider.   

Painful Cramps- Mild to severe cramps can also start a day or two before your actually flow and can be felt in your lower back and legs. Sometimes severe cramps can cause a temporary numbness in your legs along with nausea and vomiting. Cramps can be easily treated with ibuprofen such as Advil and Motrin.  I suggest keeping track of your period using a “period tracker” app so that you can take ibuprofen prophylaxically or before you know your cramps and period are coming.  Oral contraception or “the pill” is not only a great birth control but makes your menstrual blood less heavy which minimizes your cramps each month.  Other easy remedies include a warm bath, heating pad or a hot water bottle that your grandma might have suggested.

Painful Sex- Pain with sex is just not talked about enough.  Let’s face it, everyone has experienced pain with sex in one form or another. Typical causes of painful sex include vaginal dryness, menopause, vaginal infection, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), longer and thicker penis size, vaginal tears and lacerations, latex allergy, ruptured ovarian cyst, endometriosis, positional sex, virginal and vaginismus.  Seeing a professional health care provider is important to understand the cause of painful sex.  There is an answer and treatment for this common problem. 

Inability to have an orgasm- The inability not to have had an orgasm can reflect women’s inability to know they own anatomy and may not be a disorder at all. It may (or may not) surprise you to learn that in a recent survey among young women ages 16-25 half could not find the vagina on a medical diagram.  

Painful Urination- The most common reason you have pain when you pee is that you have a urinary tract infection as a result of having sex.  Urinary traction infections (UTI’s) are really common in women.  15 % of women get UTI’s in their lifetime and 2.5% will have recurrent UTI’s.  There are many causes of UTI’s including sex, spermicides, frequent antibiotic use, anatomical problems, genetic risks and menopause.  Sometimes it can be tricky to know if you have a UTI since symptoms can be subtle and not typical.  If you think something is up down there, see your health care provider to rule out a potentially dangerous unsuspecting UTI.

It is important to monitor your health and not ignore health symptoms.

You are never too young to stay on top of your health and wellness.  Most of us need some professional guidance to walk beside us along the path of wellness.  Seeing a health care provider yearly is the ideal way to navigate any health issues you may or may not be aware of.