That time of the month is not a merry time for women. It doesn’t matter at which part of the globe you live or what color your skin is, if you are a woman you have to deal with menstrual pain.
Having said that, it is not a curse or a bad thing to have your periods. In fact, you should be concerned and worried if you don’t get your periods.
It is because getting your periods means you are normal and your body is just doing its regular stuff as a woman.
But being normal in the case of a woman doesn’t always mean being pain free. Be it periods pain or labor pains, being normal essentially means having pain.
And, menstrual pain is something women have to encounter very often – roughly monthly.
That’s quite very often isn’t? So you have your guaranteed dose of pain every month that guarantees you that you are doing good.
Fine. Let’s accept it and move on. Trust me it took a really long time for me to accept that fact – I guess about 2 years after my son was born.
So if you are having issues in accepting your nature given gift, know this – you are not alone 🙂
I can certainly relate to this –
How about you? Can you relate?
Alright, let’s accept it (I know I’ve already said this – but it is so hard to just accept the fact!). Now, let’s see how to ease the menstrual pain.
Given that we, women, experience this quite often, if we don’t take the necessary remedies, this will be too hard to handle. And by remedies I don’t mean taking pain killers or taking other kind of medications.
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Let’s take a look at the home remedies, that help relieve your menstrual cramps in rather natural ways!
#1 Go green and/or herbal with teas
This is one of the best things I’ve been doing recently. At those times, if you reduce (or better stop) the intake of coffee and regular tea and replace them with green tea or herbal tea, you will certainly see a difference.
Green tea and herbal tea are full of anti oxidants and they help relieve the cramps. Also herbal teas have anti inflammatory properties that will help reduce the menstrual cramps.
If you suffer from water retention dandelion tea will help you with that. Raspberry tea will help reduce the flow and also eases the cramp.
Chamomile tea has pain relieving properties and its fragrance will also help you relax.
Herbal teas and green tea are great alternatives to over the counter pain killers. You can take them any time you want and if you feel that the pain is coming back, just get another cup.
Just make sure the herbs are safe for you! You might want to consult with your ob-gyn for any particular herb to see if you have no risks taking it.
#2 Apply heat to ease menstrual cramps and relax
Heat opens the blood vessels. It increases the blood flow and helps reduce the pain. You can apply heat in various forms.
If your pain is concentrated in the abdominal area (the lower abdomen, to be precise) you could apply heat to that area alone.
Simply use a heating pad that is available in all medical shops. Fill it with warm-hot water, lie down on your back and place the pad in the area that you want the pain to ease out.
Or if you are someone who has pain in the back, hips, and/or legs in addition to the abdominal cramps, you could take a hot shower. Or better yet, take a hot bath with some fragrance.
If you notice, by applying heat you can also relax at the same time. Giving yourself time is very crucial when you have menstrual cramps.
#3 Move a lot
OK this might sound a bit controversial. I might talk about this all day and yet when I am in pain I’m usually inclined to go against this advice!
You want to be in bed all day – You don’t even want to get up to have a meal. I totally get it. But moving a lot helps with the pain in fact.
When you lie down the flow is not normal. The flow is slowed down and may even be blocked.
The blood that stays in the vaginal path for longer time usually tends to clot. When the clot flows, the cramps are increased.
Which is why we have to let gravity help us. Moving a lot and staying active helps maintaining the regular flow.
Also the blood circulation is improved all over the body, especially in the lower part, when you are actively moving. Your back, hips and legs will also get a good blood flow.
#4 Workout mildly
OK, don’t give me that look. When I started this post, I promised to share remedies to “ease” menstrual pain. But it seems for you as if I am doing the opposite.
Nope! I’m still with you. Working out releases those feel good hormones – endorphins. You could simply walk on the treadmill or do a mild aerobic session.
Both of these will help increase your heart rate and make you sweat.
Not only during your periods, but if you have the habit of working out regularly, it will help you keep in good shape and you will be fit.
Being overweight and sluggish will also increase menstrual cramps.
#5 Take generous amounts of Papaya
This wonder fruit has an enzyme called “papain” that helps ease the menstrual flow. It also helps relieve the cramps.
In general papaya is used to help women who have irregularities in their periods.
And, this is also a heat inducing food and hence it eases the flow (sometimes increases it so your periods gets done soon).
But don’t overload yourself with Papaya in hopes to reduce the number of days of your period, that won’t happen.
#6 Increase your calcium intake (a glass of milk helps)
Lack of calcium increases the feel of cramps. You would feel the cramps more prominently if you don’t get your regular, optimal calcium intake.
Foods rich in calcium include milk, yogurt, eggs, soya, orange juice and the link.
Even if you can’t get immediate access to any of these foods, a glass of milk will help you a lot.
Apart from supplementing you with calcium, milk also helps cool down your body assisting with the menstrual pain.
Avoid OTC pain killers as much as possible
Home remedies are great for a reason – you treat your illness with the natural remedies available at home.
Over the counter (OTC) medicines seem to be an immediate solution to your cramps, but no pain killer is good if taken regularly.
You might say, once in a while. But you get that “once in a while” every month and frequent/regular intake of pain killers will do long term damages to your internal organs. For instance, those pain killers could damage your kidneys.
While you can deal with the cramps in a more natural and harmless way, why seek the unnatural pain killers and cause damage to yourselves?
How do you deal with your menstrual cramps?
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