I felt cramps and dry discharge today and my head hurts so bad got any tips

Headaches, cramps and changes in discharge can all show up around a period, and cramps can also come in the days just before a first period.

Here is what you can do right now to help yourself feel a bit better:

• Rest in a quiet, dark room with a cool cloth on your forehead for the headache.
• A heat pad, or a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel that a grown-up fills, can help too, and in a few small studies heat worked about as well as medicine for period cramps.
• Sip some water or herbal tea, because not drinking enough is one of the things that can cause headaches.

Tell a grown-up straight away if your headache started suddenly and is extremely painful, or comes with a fever, a stiff neck, a rash, bright light hurting your eyes, being sick, trouble seeing, numbness or weakness, trouble speaking, walking or keeping your balance, a fit, or feeling confused or very sleepy, if it started after a bump to your head, or if it gets worse when you cough, sneeze, bend down or exercise, keeps getting worse, won't go away, wakes you up at night or is there most mornings when you wake up.

There are medicines that help period pain, and a grown-up decides if you take one, which one and how much, for your age and weight. They tend to work best when a grown-up starts them as soon as cramps begin (or a day or two before your period, if they can tell when it's due) and keeps them going for the first two or three days.

Having drier days where you don't notice much discharge is totally typical, because discharge changes texture and amount throughout your cycle. Clear, white or off-white discharge is normal in puberty and can start some months before a first period, and it can look a bit yellow once it dries on your underwear. Tell a grown-up if it comes out a different colour (like deep yellow, green or grey), smells strong or bad, changes texture, suddenly gets much heavier, or comes with itching, soreness, pain when peeing or tummy pain.

If you haven't had your first period yet, tummy pain that keeps coming back every month with still no period is something to tell a grown-up about.

Tell a grown-up if the pain stops you doing normal things like school, doesn't get better with the pain relief a grown-up gives you, or keeps getting worse from one period to the next.