What can I take for period pain?
Painkillers and the pill are often recommended by doctors for period pain. Some natural options include magnesium, Agnus castus, Valerian, ginger and chamomile. It is also really important to make sure you drink enough water as dehydration can make period cramps worse.
Welcome to "Siobhán Talks Periods." My name is Siobhán Carroll. I'm a naturopath and a herbalist, and I am passionate about periods! I'm also passionate about plants, so the predominant thing we're gonna focus today is herbal solutions for painful periods. But the question that I'm going to answer is, "What can I take for period pain?"
The last blog I did was "How much period pain is normal?" If you are experiencing period pain, definitely go check that one out. Today, we're gonna look at solutions or things you can take during your period when you've got cramps.
1. NSAIDs
First of all, if you look this up on the internet, you will find Dr. Google suggesting probably nonsteroidal anti-inflammatories as the top thing. And the second thing is probably gonna be the pill. But this being a video by a naturopath and a herbalist, I'm not gonna suggest those things.
Nonsteroidal anti- inflammatories come with a host of side effects and they're definitely not recommended to take long term. And I think women deserve better and I think you deserve a better option than just, "Here, take these pills that can increase your risk of heart attack, and stroke, and gastrointestinal bleeding."(1)
2. The pill
The other option then that is given is the pill, the oral contraceptive pill, or hormonal birth control. It's a great thing to have in the world if you're using it for birth control. And you're making that decision consciously knowing all of the side effects, that's great. However, it's not in my book a good treatment option for painful periods. It's not going to get rid of your painful periods. It's actually just gonna get rid of your periods.
For the most part, if you're taking something like a combination pill with estrogen and progesterone in them and where you take a week off at the end, and that is what many people consider a period. But it's not actually a period. It's just a withdrawal bleed. Your body is bleeding to make it seem natural when it's really not natural. It's bleeding due to the withdrawal of synthetic hormones.
So, the pill will absolutely not fix your painful periods. It won't just get rid of your painful periods. It will get rid of your periods altogether. So, in my book, they're not good enough options. So here are some natural things that can help, that have side benefits rather than side effects.
3. Magnesium
So, the first thing that we're gonna talk about is magnesium. Magnesium is such a wonderful nutrient. We are all quite lacking in magnesium. It's lacking in our food and our diet. It's lacking in the soil. It's one of the most commonly prescribed supplements that I recommend in my clinic. It's great for so many things from hormonal health to bone health and muscles and everything in between. But it does have this lovely, calming effect on the muscles so it can help if it's taken... You can take up to 500 milligrams over the day when you're bleeding and it can help reduce period pain in the moment.
As well as that you can take it, you know, 100 milligrams, 200 milligrams, whatever is recommended on your product. It can be taken throughout the month as well, you know, just to ensure you have these magnesium levels. But it is one that you can take in a bit higher dose when you have your period.
Magnesium citrate can be good but taken in high doses, it can cause your bowels to move a bit more. So if you're a little bit constipated, it's actually good to add in because constipation can also add to period pain. If you can think about it, like the geography of it, you know, the anatomy of where everything is, if your bowels are bunged up and constipated, there's more stuff in the way in there that's causing a little bit of inflammation, and pain, and cramping, so definitely good to keep pooing as well. The magnesium citrate will help you poo!
My favourite magnesium to use is magnesium glycinate or bisglycinate. I find it's just easier to absorb and more well-tolerated by most people and doesn't have the same laxative effect.
4. Agnus castus
Secondly, we're gonna have a look at some herbs. So, the first herb I want to talk about is Vitex agnus castus. Our lovely Agnus castus is a really wonderful herb for so many different pains. It is a really wonderful herb for so many different things to do with the menstrual cycle, but it's particularly great for symptoms of PMS, symptoms of estrogen excess, estrogen dominance, and also painful periods.(2)
So, if you're dealing with a lot of period pain, this isn't one just to take just on days of your period. It needs to be taken every day of the month for kind of one to three months to start to notice the difference. But particularly, if you have very heavy periods or if your periods are kind of close together, if you have short cycles, then agnus-castus is one to take.
I recommend it in tincture form. There are a couple of ways to take it. You can take kind of 15 to 20 drops twice a day or you can take 30 drops first thing in the morning when you wake up. And there's some talk among some herbalists that taking it first thing in the morning can be better because it works on the pituitary gland and that's when the pituitary gland is most active. But really, in practice, I find that taking it twice a day is great as well. It gets more of it in your body over a different period of time, you know. There are two different options, whichever works best for you.
Agnus-castus is a great long-term solution that helps to work with the underlying issue at play here, also hormonal imbalance. It actually helps the hormones kind of talk better to each other and helps to bring them those higher levels of estrogen, bring estrogen and progesterone back into its more usual balance.
5. Valerian
The next herb we're gonna look at is valerian. So, valerian is a herb that you'd most commonly think of for stress or sleep. And it is brilliant for both of those things. However, it's also antispasmodic and it's been used by herbalists for many, many years and centuries for painful period cramps and for cramps in general. (3)
It's really good for any kind of muscle spasms, for like twitching legs, and muscles, and restless legs syndrome, and things like that. It's great for period cramps. It's one that you can take just on the days when you have cramps. So, if you're just getting cramps kind of the first day or two of your period, you can take valerian just on those days. You don't need to take it on an ongoing basis for it to help your period cramps.
6. Ginger
Some other things that can be really helpful are ginger and chamomile. These can both be drunk as a tea. You can chop up fresh ginger and make it a ginger tea. And you can drink that, again, this is one that you just need to take on the days that you're bleeding. But if you like them, you can drink them all month long. But if you can take really strong ginger tea, chop up lots of ginger and then boil it up in a pot with the lid on. And that's gonna make what we call a decoction. So it's a little bit stronger than just putting a few slices of ginger in some boiling water in a cup and you can drink those. Ginger is really anti-inflammatory. It's antispasmodic. It helps to kind of move the blood. It's a circulatory stimulant. It has a sort of an affinity with the womb, so it helps to get things moving and helps with the kind of underlying stagnation that is sometimes associated with period cramps.
7. Chamomile
Chamomile is another one that can be drunk as a tea. You can take chamomile tea bags or just loose chamomile tea and make them into a herbal tea. You can just place the flowers into some boiling water or the tea bag into the boiling water like you'd make a cup of tea and leave it there for about 10 minutes and then drink it. Chamomile is again, like valerian, one that we would think of for stress and sleep. It's actually really an anti-inflammatory herb and so, it helps to bring down the inflammation and eases the pain associated with period cramps.
8. Drink more water
The last one that I will mention is our lovely water. Water is so important for so many things and none of us are drinking enough water. Well, not none of us but very few people really drink enough water. So, what I want you to do is to take your body weight in kg and multiply that by 0.033.
Drinking that much water every day for your particular body type is the amount that you need in order to stay fully hydrated. Being dehydrated is going to increase your period pain, is gonna increase cramps, and it's just going to reduce your energy, make you feel lethargic and just a bit crampy in general.
Really, really important to make sure you drink enough water. If you are drinking any coffee, alcohol, black tea, even nettle tea, it can be dehydrating because these are all diuretics. They all make you wee more and you need to replace that extra fluid. So, any cup of coffee, or alcohol, or tea that you're drinking, add an extra cup of water as well. If you're exercising to the point of sweating for 30 minutes, drink another cup of water. If you're breastfeeding, you need to drink another half liter. You're likely not drinking enough water. Definitely, let me know in the comments when you've done this calculation if you've been drinking enough water.
So those are my top tips for period pain of things that you can take, what you can take for period pain: magnesium, agnus-castus, valerian, ginger, chamomile, and water.
9. Arnica gel
Topically, I also recommend arnica gel. I find it a brilliant anti-inflammatory gel which is as effective as ibuprofen gel. And you can take this... You know, it's something that, again, we wouldn't necessarily associate with period pain. It's great for rubbing on bumps, and bruises, and achy joints. But you can rub it on your belly, rub it on your lower back, and it can be a really wonderful topical solution for period pain as well.
So, in addition to what you can take, you can also put things on topically. Of course, hot water bottles. You can use the ginger essential oil to rub in, a carrier oil, and rub that on your belly or your back. And you can try the arnica gel as well. Hopefully, these are great solutions for you, taking the kind of long-term suggestions of things like agnus-castus, and we'll definitely talk about dietary and lifestyle things in another video if that's of interest to you.
As always, please like, and comment, and follow, and all the good things that you can do on social media. If you have any questions, please let me know in the comments, or send me a private message, or email and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
If you're on Instagram, follow my page @SiobhanTalksPeriods as well to get more great period support!
