For the past 5 years of my life, I have had to deal with doctors not taking me seriously when I walk into their office and tell them I have severe cramps; I've been told to "just take Advil" and have been treated like I'm lying about my condition to get birth control for sex.

It's time for doctors to understand that everyone experiences their period cramps differently. Some experience cramps a few days before their period and some don't experience them at all. But then there are women, like me, who suffer from cramps every single day of their lives and still aren't taken seriously. There are even diseases associated with periods that increase the severity of cramps but it is still looked over and perceived as an exaggeration.

Over the past five years, I have been on five different kinds of birth control from pills, the NuvaRing and even an IUD. Every time I start a new birth control I am told that the new method of contraception that I am taking will definitely ease my cramps only to find that they make them 10x worse. The next form of medicine that my doctor is going to suggest will be opiates, they would rather prescribe you a highly addictive drug instead of taking the time out of their day to listen and understand. So I'm going to talk about something doctors should do instead of brushing us off...

Prescribe medical marijuana for CHRONIC cramps.

I'm not saying they should hand out medical marijuana cards to every woman who experiences cramps once a month but doctors should consider writing a prescription for those who suffer almost every day, like myself. Research has shown that cannabis is highly effective for treating pain, which suggests that it would do the same for chronic period cramps and endometriosis.

Many people have tried using medical marijuana to treat cramps including Whoopi Goldberg and Maya Elisabeth who have started their own company to help provide relief for those who suffer from severe period cramps. You can also find that Queen Victoria reportedly used cannabis to treat her discomfort in ancient Mesopotamia.

Despite the proven research on marijuana use to treat cramps, doctors will prescribe birth control and opiates before cannabis even crosses their mind. Medical Marijuana is legal in only 29 states but in none of those states is it legal for the treatment of severe period cramps. Instead, it is prescribed for 'chronic pain.'

I, along with many other women, consider my period cramps to be chronic. I experience them almost every single day of my life, despite having an IUD.