CRAMPED
One nerd’s quest to find out why we know next to nothing about period pain. Tired of suffering from "death cramps" with no diagnosis for 20 years, Kate Downey has to look for her own answers. She interviews top doctors and researchers, and delves into topics from Greek history to sitcoms to TikTok wellness scams, all to figure out why menstrual pain is so often dismissed and untreated. What she finds will change how you think about your own body and the medical system. Because having a microphone gets you more answers than having a uterus.
Season 1 launches weekly episodes starting February 2025.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 30 minutes
- Episodes
- 24
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy for Period Pain with Dr. Sara Reardon
Kate talks to Dr. Sara Reardon, aka The Vagina Whisperer - a board-certified pelvic floor physical therapist and author of the new book Floored, a woman's guide to pelvic floor health at every age an…
00:27:54 |
Thu 04 Sep 2025
Surgery for Period Pain (Part 2)
Kate is back from surgery! In Part 2 of this 2 part episode, Kate walks through the day of the surgery, from arriving at the hospital to the 4 weeks of recovery thus far, and the surgical and patholo…
00:28:36 |
Thu 07 Aug 2025
Surgery For Period Pain (Part 1)
Kate is back from surgery! In Part 1 of a 2 part series, she goes step by step through the imaging result that gave her the information that lead her to commit to surgery, and the physical, administr…
00:27:09 |
Tue 29 Jul 2025
Going Off Hormonal Birth Control
In this Case Study episode, Kate brings on Deanna Hart-Nokes, who just went off hormonal birth control for the second time in 20 years, and has been experiencing some mysterious symptoms. Kate deep-d…
00:46:48 |
Tue 22 Jul 2025
Fibroids and The White Dress Project
Fibroids are a super common cause of severe period pain - up to 80% of people with a uterus will get fibroids at some point! So...why don't we know why they grow? Why don't they get caught and treate…
00:33:30 |
Tue 15 Jul 2025
Cycle Tracking: Subscriber-only Episode Teaser
Kate talks to Laura Federico and Morgan Miller, authors of The Cycle Book, all about cycle tracking. What is it? How do I do it? Am I already doing it if I'm tracking my period with an app?
To a…
00:16:08 |
Fri 11 Jul 2025
Endo's Last Stand - Surgery & Spitefulness
Kate is getting endometriosis excision surgery today! She shares some details, and a story of her (hopefully last) experience with "death cramps".
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy an…
00:08:48 |
Thu 03 Jul 2025
Ovarian Cysts
Kate answers her guest's questions about ovarian cysts, ruptures, and treatments
00:47:15 |
Thu 26 Jun 2025
MTHFR Gene Mutations, Normal Lab Results, and Changing Pain - Your Qs!
Kate answers listener questions
00:26:10 |
Wed 18 Jun 2025
CRAMPED is back: Season 1.5
CRAMPED is back with new episodes - but we need your help! Subscribe to our Patreon to make our work possible at www.patreon.com/cramped
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Californi…
00:02:29 |
Wed 11 Jun 2025
You Might Like: Sex Ed with DB
While we're on a break from releasing new CRAMPED episodes, we're recommending some other fantastic podcasts to check out. Today we're featuring an episode of Sex Ed with DB, a feminist podcast all t…
00:50:31 |
Wed 28 May 2025
You Might Like: The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women
A featured episode of the podcast The Hidden Economics of Remarkable Women
00:25:41 |
Mon 28 Apr 2025
Why Do We Even Get Periods?
Kate calls up biological anthropologist Kate Clancy to find out why we're even in this pain to begin with
00:32:43 |
Tue 08 Apr 2025
Why Doesn't Media Talk About Period Pain?
If 51% of the population has a uterus, and 91% of menstruating people experience period pain, why do we literally never hear about it in the media we consume??
00:42:21 |
Tue 01 Apr 2025
What Happened to Feminism and Body Literacy?
Kate learns about how essential body literacy was to 1970s feminism, and wonders when and how that changed.
00:35:19 |
Tue 25 Mar 2025
Do I Have Medical Trauma?
Kate checks in with comedian and recent hysterectomy patient Max Gross, as well as therapist Suzanne Garrison to figure out - what is medical trauma, and do we have it? How does undiagnosed and untre…
00:41:49 |
Tue 18 Mar 2025
I Got a Diagnosis. Now What?
Kate sees a specialist and finally gets a diagnosis for the condition causing her severe period pain
00:38:14 |
Tue 11 Mar 2025
How Do I Balance My Hormones?
Kate gets sucked down a rabbit hole of "hormone balancing" content on TikTok, and wonders...this whole time, have her cramps just been due to a hormone imbalance? She talks with Alex Sujong Laughlin …
00:44:41 |
Tue 04 Mar 2025
Who’s Researching New Treatments for Period Pain?
Kate takes a field trip to Evanston, Illinois to visit the Gynecology Research Laboratory, where a team of doctors and researchers are doing groundbreaking studies to understand period pain and find …
00:36:27 |
Tue 25 Feb 2025
How Many People Have Severe Period Pain?
And why is this question so hard to answer?
00:39:47 |
Tue 18 Feb 2025
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