Healing Menstrual Cramps: Beyond Painkillers
Advertisement
It's estimated that about 60% of American women regularly suffer from menstrual cramps. To keep the pain at a minimum, many women turn to over the counter pain remedies. There are others ways to ease the pain.
Advertisement
These drugs inhibit the formation of local hormone-like substances called prostaglandins, some of which encourage uterine contractions. Women who experience menstrual pain (called dysmenorrhea by medical professionals) tend to have higher levels of the contraction-inducing prostaglandins.
Unfortunately, NSAIDs can have serious side effects. According to naturopath Karen Jensen, in her book Menopause: A Naturopathic Approach to the Transitional Years, NSAIDs may cause dizziness, heartburn, nausea, vomiting, headaches, and, with continued use, possible gastrointestinal damage.
Yet cramps are like any other symptom: they are a sign that something in life is out of balance. As with any symptom, can choose to heed the message or ignore it. In this regard too, however, menstrual symptoms present a bit of an extra challenge. Many of have been taught since childhood to be ashamed of periods, to try and cover up their existence as much as possible. This shame can contribute to attempts to "cover up" menstrual symptoms with painkillers.
While the social taboos and misconceptions surrounding menstruation can make it challenging to heal menstrual symptoms, those same difficult circumstances can make the process all the more rewarding in the end, thanks to the new perceptions of oneself and society that can emerge.
Let's now take a look at the practicalities of healing menstrual cramps and pain (or, naturally balancing prostaglandins) without resorting to NSAIDs. Look at the following areas: lifestyle and nutrition, dream work and cultivation of menstruation's erotic and orgasmic potentials.
Lifestyle and Nutrition
- Make sure to get enough rest, relaxation and sleep. Your body regularly needs to recharge to maintain hormone balance.
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Eliminate (or reduce as much as possible) your white sugar and white flour consumption. These foods require vitamins and minerals to be digested, yet they supply no nutrients themselves.
- Eliminate all hydrogenated fats, supermarket oils, margarine, etc. Instead, use expeller pressed oils and extra virgin olive oil. Get the essential fats you need for hormone balance from about a tablespoon daily of hempseed oil. (Never heat hempseed oil.)
- Look into your relationship to animal foods. A high fat, high-protein diet apparently encourages the production of the prostaglandins implicated in menstrual cramps. Some women find vegetarianism or veganism supports healthy menstruation. Others, however, may need to consume some animal foods in moderation to be at their healthiest.
- A new theory advanced by naturopath Peter D'Adamo indicates your body's preference may be determined by your blood type. (See his book, Eat Right For Your Type.)
- Both avoidance and addition of animal foods have had dramatic effects on many women's menstrual health, depending on their individual needs.
- In your everyday diet, stick to simply prepared foods: raw or baked apples vs. apple pies, steamed fresh vegetables vs. creamed veggies, porridge vs. granola.
- Eat to balance cyclical changes. Eat more, and heavier foods, after menstruation, when you are "empty," and need to rebuild blood and endometrial tissue, and you've begun growing a new fertilizable egg. If you eat animal foods, this is the best time of month to have them. Between ovulation and menstruation, when your womb is "full" with the blood-rich endometrium, try eating more lightly, and lighter foods: more vegetables and greens, and more protein from vegetable sources.
- Consider nutritional supplementation. PMS often responds to calcium supplementation (1,200 milligrams daily). Other supplements that are potentially helpful for premenstrual and menstrual health include vitamin E, magnesium, and evening primrose oil (especially good for breast tenderness). Fish oil, providing about 1,800 mg of eicosapentaenoic acid.
- (EPA) and 900 mg of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) daily can ease menstrual cramps. (Avoid cod liver oil though; it supplies too much vitamin A and vitamin D.)
In Conclusion
Unless a serious underlying condition such as endometriosis is present, it's not likely that your periods need be painful. Natural, non-medicated resolution of cramps and pain does require more of an investment in yourself than popping a painkiller does-something that totally worth it in the long run. After all, healthy eating habits help prevent many diseases, not just cramps. And getting in touch with your deep wisdom through dreams and acceptance of your eroticism and sexuality, can only help you live life more fully.
- Article:
Similar
Pre-Menopausal Women with Oophorectomy (Ovary Removed) Should Consider Estrogen-Replacement Therapy
Estrogen replacement therapy is commonly prescribed for women as their natural estrogen levels decline after menopause or due to a hysterectomy when the ovaries are removed. Whether a woman chooses
Effect of Breast Feeding Problem Over Epidural Analgesia / Anesthesia During Childbirth or Delivery
Epidural analgesia gives excellent pain relief. This pain control method usually causes less sleepiness than medicine given through your IV or as a shot. Epidural medicine stops your pain early and
Daily Intake of Omega-3 Fatty Acids/Fish Oil (1gram,Twice) is Beneficial for Pregnant and Non-Pregnant Woman Too
When you're pregnant, what you eat and drink is the main source of nourishment for your baby. In fact, the link between what you consume and the health of your baby is much stronger than once thought
Role of Vitamin A (Retinol) During Pregnancy Could Be Extended to Human Kidney Development
Your health care provider will most likely prescribe a prenatal vitamin and mineral supplement. This will help make sure you get the vitamins and minerals you need, such as calcium, iron, and folic
Menstrual Migraine (Headache) Attacks Depend on Estrogen (Estradiol) Levels During Cycle
Migraine headaches typically last from 4-72 hours and vary in frequency from daily to fewer than 1 per year. Migraine affects about 15% of the population. Three times as many women as men have
Dont Escape Detection of Hypothyroidism During Pregnancy
Thyroid hormones are released from the gland and travel through the bloodstream to your body's cells. They help control the growth and the structure of bones, sexual development (puberty), and many
Pregnant Mom Can Add More Fish /Seafood for Child's Growth as Pregnancy Nutrition
Now it is become a matter of survival of the fittest. These days intelligence of a child and the mental faculty depend a lot on the diet the mother has during pregnancy. So most of our educated girls
Comments
Post new comment