Period pain can be unbearable for some girls and women. Their life has to stop for 24-48 hours as they try to cope – affecting studies, work, social life and wellbeing.
Periods should not be painful. There can be many causes for period pain including fibroids, cysts, endometriosis and other factors. I highly recommend talking to a physician experienced in women’s health for guidance.
Usually, the preferred method for dealing with period pain is to take anti-inflammatory pain killers such as ibuprofen. However, I have frequently seen that this does not help, and taking too many of these pain killers brings its own risks.
In the meantime, let’s look at natural ways to help improve period pain.
There are several natural supplements that can help. Omega-3s which are found in fish oil have proven benefit. Omega-3s are natural anti-inflammatories and thus can relieve period pain. Studies have shown that not only are they effective at relieving period pain, but indeed, they are more effective than ibuprofen. Participants in the studies not only had fewer symptoms, but also significantly reduced their use of ibuprofen.
The body does not make a lot of its own Omega-3. It is naturally found in oily fish such as sardines and salmon. Therefore, you can try increasing your intake of oily fish and/or consider a good quality supplement.
Magnesium is also known to help relieve period pain as it relaxes the uterus and improves blood flow – have a look at the benefits of magnesium in my article here magnesium here.
Please speak to a functional medicine doctor about supplements.
Wishing you all health and happiness,
Dr. Maria
REFERENCES:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3770499/
Essential Fatty Acids | Linus Pauling Institute | Oregon State University
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0271531700001524
Unsaturated fatty acids and pain – PubMed (nih.gov)
Effect of omega-3 fatty acids on intensity of primary dysmenorrhea – PubMed (nih.gov)