In the days before or during menstruation, many women suffer pain related to this process. These painful episodes are known as dysmenorrhea. Typically, the most affected area is the lower abdomen.
Many times pain extends to the lumbar regionthe thighs and the rest of the legs. It is often accompanied by other symptoms, such as headache, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, profuse sweating and even fainting. Mood alterations also often occur, leading to states of anxiety or bad mood.
According to the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI), dysmenorrhea affects between 30% and 50% of women, especially up to 25 years of age. It becomes less frequent as the woman gets older or after having children. Suffer from dysmenorrhea it is usually hereditaryeither.
Why does periods hurt?
During the menstrual period, hormone-like substances called prostaglandins generate muscle contractions in the uterus. These contractions help expel the lining that had formed in “preparation” for a possible pregnancy.
And these contractions are also responsible for much of the pain during menstruation. This is explained in an article from the Mayo Clinic in the United States, which adds that “higher levels of prostaglandins are related to more intense menstrual cramps.”
But it is important to keep in mind that there is a primary and a secondary dysmenorrhea, as explained by the prestigious Merck Manual. The primary – the one that is registered in the majority of cases – is a benign problemwhich, as has been noted, usually disappears over time.
Secondary dysmenorrhea, on the other hand, is one in which some pelvic disease or abnormality. The most common is endometriosis, although it can also be due to uterine fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease, polycystic ovary syndrome or some other ailment.
What to do when the pain is very intense
The pain is sometimes so intense that interfere with everyday lifeto the point of hindering or preventing work, academic or social activities. When this happens, it is advisable to go to the gynecologist’s office to detect or rule out the possible existence of an underlying problem.
In any case, the pain – derived from primary or secondary dysmenorrhea – is very annoying, and it is possible to take various measures to combat it.
A very simple one is to resort to a common pain reliever, such as ibuprofen. But there are also some “natural remedies”, which help relieve pain or make its appearance more unlikely. Below is a list of five of the most recommended.
1. Apply heat
This is one of the most typical and well-known tricks: applying heat to the abdomen area with a hot water bottlea seed cushion (very practical because it can be heated in the microwave), compresses or any other item that provides high temperature.
What is not so well known is the scientific basis of this method. Menstrual pain – as well as cystitis and other cramps – is related to a temporary decrease in blood flow or, in other cases, with the distension of certain organs. This affects the tissues and “activates pain receptors,” called P2X3.
When about 40ºC is applied to the skin in the area where it hurts, certain heat receptors, known as TRPV1, are activated. These receptors, in turn, “block the effect of chemical messengers that cause the body to detect pain.”
This is how Brian King, a scientist at University College London, responsible for discovering how this “homemade therapy” works at a molecular level, explained it. The bad thing, according to the expert himself, is that the relief obtained in this way It only lasts about an hour.. However, it is an appeal that should not be dismissed.
2. Infusions
Many infusions have properties that science has confirmed in recent decades, some of which are very useful in relation to menstrual pains. For example, there are infusions that improve blood circulation, such as ginger, mint, horsetail, dandelion, willow bark and rosemary. This better circulation in general contributes to the relief from menstrual crampsin addition to achieving other effects, such as combating the feeling of cold.
Other herbs have relaxing properties, and can reduce stress, achieve healthier sleep, and ultimately achieve well-being that reduces menstrual cramps. Among them are infusions of chamomile, lime blossom and valerian, as well as Ashwagandha tea, widely consumed among practitioners of Hinduism.
And infusions with capacities are also recommended. anticoagulants and anti-inflammatorysuch as cinnamon, star anise and even spices such as parsley and oregano.
3. Do physical activity
This proposal may sound strange, because in the face of pain and other symptoms of dysmenorrhea, what many women least want – or least feel able to do – is physical exercise. But in reality it is not about doing physical activity while suffering from these pains, but about do them regularlythat is, incorporating them into daily life.
Scientists from the University of Western Sydney, in Australia, set out to determine the validity of this proposal, the evidence of which was “not clear,” according to specialists.
The conclusions of the meta-analysis, published in 2019, ensure that “the exercise, carried out in 45-60 minute sessions, three or more times a weekmay provide a clinically significant reduction in the intensity of menstrual pain.”
The text also points out that these results are obtained “regardless of the intensity” of the exercises. Therefore, to the already known benefits of physical activity, women who suffer from dysmenorrhea can also add this advantage.
4. Consumption of iron and other minerals
Also diet influences in the presence and intensity of discomfort linked to the period. But in this case not so much in relation to the specific pain of dysmenorrhea but rather to premenstrual syndrome, which usually accompanies these pains and includes some other symptoms.
The effects of this syndrome include headache, constipation, feeling of bloating or gas, intolerance to noise and lights, clumsiness, etc. All of these factors, of course, also impair quality of life and can increase the painful sensation of menstrual cramps.
A study from the University of Massachusetts, United States, published in 2013, confirmed that nutrients such as iron, potassium and zinc They are useful to prevent premenstrual syndrome. Last year, an article by Canadian scientists confirmed these findings.
Therefore, a diet rich in meat, fish, legumes, green leafy vegetables, bananas, avocado, nuts and cheese, among others foods rich in these mineralscan also help reduce pain and other negative symptoms caused by menstruation. Read These are the foods with the most assimilable iron (they are not spinach or lentils).
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