Home Remedies for Menstrual Cramps & PMS: How to Ease Menstrual Cramps & Period Pain

The Monster Called PMS

While most women experience mild cramps and water retention around the time of their period. However, women with Dysmenorrhea can experience symptoms at times severe enough to disrupt a woman’s daily routine and activities.

Do you dread that particular time of the month? Do you feel cranky and snap at people during your period? Do you bloat up to almost double your size before the beginning of your monthly cycle? Do you curse yourself for being a woman? Fret no more because there are several things you can do (and this does not include painkillers) to ease menstrual cramps and other PMS symptoms before they get the better of you.

Home Remedies for Menstrual Cramps

• Step up your aerobic activity around the time of your period. A brisk walk or a session of dance releases pain-neutralizing endorphins and also helps counter water-retention.
• Take a warm shower or place a hot water bottle/heating pad on your tummy. The warm relaxes the muscles in the uterus and eases the cramps. Adding a handful of Epsom salts or lavender oil to your bath water will go a long way in calming your nerves and making you feel relaxed and comfortable.
• Warm beverages like ginger tea, chamomile tea and red raspberry-leaf tea contain certain compounds that are known to act as natural painkillers. Peppermint is also a natural anti-spasmodic.
• Turn to good old meditation and yoga to counter anxiety, irritability and depression. Some herbs like skullcap, lime flowers and valerian are available as capsules and may be used to treat emotional disturbances.
• Minimize the intake of salt and processed foods around the time of your period to minimize bloating. Natural diuretics like celery, garlic, parsley, watercress, asparagus and dandelion leaf tea can help expel all the excess water from body tissues.
• Caffeine can make your PMS symptoms more severe.
• Take foods rich in Vitamin C to control menstrual blood flow if it happens to be heavier than usual.
• Zinc supplements (50 grams a day) can keep PMS symptoms under check. It is also advisable to take essential fatty acids which inhibit the production of pain causing prostaglandins. Evening primrose oil and Flaxseed oil are good choices.

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