Mine were so bad that I couldn't straighten up the first day because I was doubled over in pain. They were also irregular so pain killers didn't help because I never knew when I was getting it in order to start taking them 2 days prior. I remember my uncle discovering me like this thinking I'd burst my appendix. My aunt told him to go back to sleep and got me a hot water bottle, the only thing that alleviated them. I once wrote an entry level test for a university stats course with a hot water bottle strapped to my stomach under a bulky sweatshirt because I couldn't miss it. After that my doctor put me on the pill to regulate me and that somehow stopped the cramps and my period itself over time. I tried going off the pill once thinking it wasn't healthy to have been on it so long and that I might have outgrown the condition. I was fine the first 2 mths, then bingo, right back to pain and irregularity the 3rd. I can only imagine the pain of childbirth, but it must be hell for some!