JOY FEELINGS MAGAZINE may-june 2015 | Page 40

you may also be able to use small amounts of narcotic pain medications if absolutely necessary for pregnancy pain relief. “The big medication class to avoid is non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs], such as ibuprofen,” says Dr. Calhoun. These can be harmful to a growing fetus. To know when to worry and when not to worry about pregnancy pain, it helps to be aware of the common causes of discomfort by trimester. First Trimester Pregnancy Pain Joy feelings magazine Pain during your first three months can be caused by: Stretching of your uterus Corpus luteum cyst, which may have formed after your ovary released your egg Breast tenderness These are normal pains and will go away with a little patience. "The pain most women worry about in the first trimester is miscarriage, which feels like strong menstrual cramps accompanied by blood," says Calhoun. Other serious causes of pain include infections and ectopic pregnancy, in which the baby starts to develop outside the uterus.