I love Midol, a mans tale.

I’m a middle-aged guy who has been dealing with chronic kidney stones since my 20s, usually a few every year. On top of that, I’ve had other health issues, including one that led to losing all my teeth by 25. Pain isn’t something new to me.

When the stones first started, it was brutal. Confusing, overwhelming, and honestly pretty hopeless. It felt like nothing else compared. Over time though, something shifted. What used to completely shut me down is now something I can push through. Not comfortably, but it’s no longer unfamiliar.

That said, every once in a while one hits that still takes me out. The kind where you already know you might end up in the hospital.

Weirdly enough, that’s where Midol comes in.

Back when my teeth were bad, I leaned too hard on painkillers. Eventually they just stopped doing much of anything, especially for something like kidney stones. For a long time, I just dealt with the pain because nothing really helped.

One day during a bad episode, my wife kept insisting I take something. I pushed back like I always did, saying it wouldn’t work and would just mess up my stomach. But the pain dragged on long enough that I started looking for anything that might help. That led me to try naproxen and even random stuff like lemons.

The naproxen actually did something. It eased the pressure a bit, which was more than I was used to. The downside was my stomach absolutely hated it. Still, it made one thing clear, inflammation was part of what I was dealing with.

So I started thinking along those lines and went digging through the medicine cabinet to see if anything else might work. That’s when I noticed Midol.

It made sense in a weird way. It’s meant for cramps and that general area, so I figured it was worth a shot.

Turns out, it worked way better than I expected. I could actually move around again. I even ended up pacing and moving like I hadn’t been able to in hours. That level of relief caught me off guard.

Since then, I’ve been careful with it. I only use it when things get bad because I don’t want to build up a tolerance and lose one of the few things that actually helps.

Honestly, I’m writing this just to distract myself while waiting for it to kick in. Took a couple so I can make it through work today. It’s one of those days again.

Figured I’d put it out there in case someone else is dealing with the same thing and hasn’t thought to try it.