VaginaPagina

I have on purpose hyperthyroidism ( had thyroid cancer ) and these are how my periods are. Sometimes they'll be like that for months at a time and then it'll calm down and then maybe start again.

I might be totally wrong of course but your thyroid can affect your period a lot. Is there a history of it in your family at all?

Dramatic increase in exercise did that for me

Sometimes your period changes over time. What's normal one year might be different the next. For example, for awhile in my early 20s I used to get nausea when I was PMSing, and I never had before, and now I don't anymore. Try using an electric heating pad in addition to the advil when you have cramps - if you're at work, they make these things called "heat wraps" you can just kinda stick on and sell them at drugstores.

You don't mention your age but if you're in your 30's or 40's, peri- menopause meaning the transitional phase your body goes through before actual menopause, can cause wide variations in all aspects of your menstral cycle, including pain levels and amount of bleeding. Peri-menopause can begin 5 or more years before actual menopause. Also don't forget that just because the median age to enter menopause is 51 in the US, there is such a thing as early menopause that can happen as early as your 20's in some cases. And menopausal onset has more to do with genetics (when your mom and grandma started theirs) than statistics.

Not knowing your age or family history, I have no idea if this is what's happening to you. And I'm not trying to scare you or be an alarmist. But it highlights the point I'm about to make, which is whenever you have some type of drastic change in the feel or function of one of your body parts (in this case "fetal position crazy cramps" after a lifetime of OCCASIONALLY needing advil), GO SEE A DR! I didn't have health insurance for 20+ years despite having 3 major chronic conditions which required monthly meds and at least 1-2 hospital stays a year, so I totally understand not wanting to, feeling guilty over, or even having to decide between eating lunch for a week or two or seeing an MD, but where as your period being lighter or heavier for a while can be shrugged off as "stress" or hormonal changes, such a drastic change in pain levels, especially a sustained one, needs less speculating and more professionals. Don't belittle a problem like this because it's "just about your period" or "women's problems". If you suddenly had pain in any other part of your body that had you rocking in a fetal position, you wouldn't be second guessing whether it was a problem "worthy" of being checked out. Yes it can still turn out to be a minor or easily fixed problem (I have my fingers crossed for you that it turns out like that), but do you know that every year thousands of people die from heart attacks because they're convinced it's just "indigestion." And since a fully trained doctor can't tell the difference between something like a heart attack and actual indigestion without the help of technology, ordinary people have to rely on our body's signals to let us know when we should at least get a more educated opinion. Severe pain is one of those symptoms. Hopefully our stupid healthcare system will get fixed one of these days and maybe people won't have to worry about things like this anymore. In the meantime, money gets spent regardless of our good intentions. So spend it on something important. And sorry for the cliche, but it really is better to be safe than sorry.
Soapbox rant over. Unless you get your period tomorrow and it's back to normal, make an appt for yourself. I hope you feel better soon.