A natural painkiller for period cramps??

I have the absolute worst period cramps every month...does anyone have a natural solution to kill period cramp pain???

 

You could get an electric heating pad and put it on your abdomen. I am sure there is some herbal stuff you could use, but you'd have to ask ther other women here because I don't know about hebal remedies.

 

in all honesty, the only thing that helped with my cramps was smoking a joint and meditating. Since going through life high wasn't an option, I usually just ended up dealing with a certain level of constant pain 5 days a month... unless I didn't work, then I smoked a joint. haha!

 

Moist heat. (Dry heat is unhealthy against the body).

Put lightly toasted barley beans in a cloth bag and put that in the microwave for a minute and a half. Barley beans (somehow) give off moist heat.

 

Heating pad, motrin or Aleve and opiates. That's what worked for me. I am just getting off a killer period. Did all of the above, in fact, I was gonna smoke some weed, which I haven't needed to do for ages for cramps, as well, but my kids were home all week for Spring Break, and we got a new puppy, so no one ever went out. *sigh*

Sleep helps, too. I find taking a couple of Aleve before bed helps with those waking up in the early morning, moaning in pain cramps. I also have herb heating pads, which you warm in the microwave. I have one which is like a waist belt, so you can put it on and move around. I have no idea which herbs are in it, but I smell camomille and lavender.

 

not very natural, but the ONLY thing in the world to ever help with my cramps was to have the endometriosis that was causing them surgically removed by a doctor who specializes in lap surgery.

Pain is NOT a normal part of being a woman! Find out what is causing your pain, and get it taken care of. ((((HUGS))))

okay, besides the surgery, there are some things that take the edge off my monthly pain. Diet makes a huge difference for me. Certain foods most definitely make it worse. For me, and most women with endo, sugar, wheat, and dairy are the worst offenders. Drinking at least one or two gallons of water every day helps too. Taking magnesium daily also helps. Motherwort tea helps with the pms moodiness. Catnip and chamomile also help with cramps. I've heard about an herb called "cramp bark" but have never used it myself. Heating pads are my best friends! I made an oversized rice pillow to heat in the microwave that is lovely, heat and pressure combined!

I developed a tolerance for Aleve/naproxen, so be careful and not take it too often, so it will keep working for you. With the pain pills, it works best for me if I mix them up, not take the same kind two days in a row.

I also use natural progesterone cream, and it has made a huge difference in my pain levels! I was taking synthetic progestin, but it wasn't helping much and came with some killer side effects.

 

Mamaboogie~I respect your opinion, nor do I want to sound confrontational.
I think pain is a part of being a woman. With childbirth and cramps, particularly. It brings me back to my body pretty well, and in that way I appreciate it. By the way, I'm not saying this because I get a bit achy during my cramps and I don't understand really bad cramps. I throw up sometimes the pain is so bad, and doing anything besides slowly writhing on the floor is out of the question...

 

Ginger, the kind of pain you describe is not normal. Pain is your body's way of telling you something is wrong. You can choose to ignore it for a while, but it won't go away on its own and it is likely to get worse and worse until you are unable to function on any level. If your doctor, or anyone else, has told you that menstrual cramps so bad they make you vomit are normal, you need to find someone who will take your pain seriously and help you figure out what the problem is. I suffered with debilitating cramps for over 20 years before I got a proper diagnosis, and even then I had to take my healthcare into my own hands and find my specialist with the help of the internet before I got proper treatment. The pain continued to get worse and worse to the point where it was so bad, constantly, every day, that I could barely crawl out of bed to pee. I had a cushy desk job, and still missed three months of work in a row before I had my surgery because I was unable to stand up long enough to take a shower or to walk out my own front door.


Pain is not a noble thing. It doesn't make anyone any better in any way. It does not bring good things to the person who suffers through it. I used to think it did, but I know better now.



oh, now, childbirth. THAT wasn't painful, not in the same way, for me. The only pain I felt was when I was pushing, and it was my body telling me to slow down so I wouldn't tear. It wasn't the same kind of pain at all. My vbac baby came out very fast indeed (three hours from start to finish). I've had diarreah cramps that were far worse than the labor, even transition, that I experienced with the birth of my second daughter.

 

I agree that it isn't normal.

Let me rephrase and refine what I said. I think that there is a healthy kind of pain. Contortion pain can be healthy--this is the kind of pain that doesn't teach in the same way that 'damage control' pain does... like in the case of touching a hot element on a stove, the pain teaches that something is wrong (and reflexes step in, and the body learns how to prevent it occurring again, etc). In your case the pain was a sign of something that was wrong, so to speak, and bearing it isn't the humble or noble thing to do. The kind of pain I've experienced may be due to an imbalance of my hormones, in which case there is something wrong, however, I still appreciate the way the pain focuses me on the present moment, and thus my body. Also, pain tends to have layers of messages, and I am aware that as I've grown to be less stressed on a long-term basis, my cramps have lessened considerably, which means the pain is partly a stress-o-meter. The fact that it demands attention a large part of the purpose of pain, and so it is necessary/important in some cases to have pain.

That was really messy^
If I need to clarify, don't hesitate to ask.

 

I tried all the natural remedies in the book--heading pad, pressure, massaging, taking a hot shower with the shower head directly pointing at my lower stomach, exercising (YEOW!), stretching, yoga, meditating. The only two things that work for me are sleeping (even if just for half an hour), but if that is not an option, Midol. NOTHING else works.

 

I agree I used to have to get vicoddin for my cramps this month just perscroption strngth IB profin and it was all dietary chages and supplements. I know if I didn't drink last week I would have had no cramps.

 

I wonder if upping your calcium intake in that week would help at all?

I know nothing about this, but my MW has me taking more calcium for that uterus stretching pain you get in pregnancy and for the leg cramps and the restless leg syndrome. It's all working quite well, and it helps me sleep (well don't look at the time now, I'm overdue, that's my excuse for being up ). Anyway, I'm not sure it would help all day, but calcium is pretty cheap, you should pick up a bottle next time you're out and take one at lunch and one at bed and see if that helps. ((((hugs)))

 

And water. Water helps everything, make sure you're drinking ALOT of water during that week

 

Evening primrose oil helps also.

 

AMEN, sister!!!! As a chronic pain patient, and one who once had terrible endo as well, I agree totally. There is nothing noble about suffering. It.....just.....hurts.

Childbirth hurts (white ginger, have you given birth yet? If not, you have NO idea of the pain.) but we know that pain not only has a real purpose, but is VERY short lived, and self limiting. It basically stops when the baby is born (OK, you have after pains, but those don't last forever either) but pain with your period so bad that you can't function, your body is telling you something is wrong. It isn't "being a woman" or anything else. It's your body, ginger, if you want to suffer, it really isn't our business. But, you are only 18, give it a few more years, or maybe a decade of chronic pain, and I think your perception of pain may change. No one can live a productive life in pain all the time. Beleive me, I know.

As a womyn, you have to function how can you do your job, care for your house, take care of kids while writhing on the floor? How do you work or go to school now with pain like that? I am assuming you have responsibilities, pain which causes you to be nonfunctional causes you to NOT be able to take care of your responsiblities. How can this be normal, or even acceptable? Makes no sense to me. Don't accept or (God help us) "embrace" pain. find out why you are in so much pain, because there is treatment. Some pain happens in everybody's life. No one is asking for a totally pain free life. But pain which causes you to writhe on the floor is not healthy to your mental or physical health. There is no reason to take it.

 

I drink water. and I always sit with a pillow behind my hips to tip them in a sort of sloped way so as to direct the flow a bit. You know how people say to lift your arm if you cut your finger or your hand or something to slow the bleeding? Sort of like that. I almost never have cramps.

 

well aunt flow came to town today(perfect timing..lol) and im going to try some of these options...the pain isnt so bad that im not functional...its the fact that my job entails alot of running and i cant handle the cramping that happens with that during that time of the month. if i am at home relaxing i am okay. ive been using pamprin for about 4 years but i cant handle it on my stomach anymore and i know there has to be something healthier out there to use during my period. i also know that nobody else i work with really cares if im on my period and i am not up to parr they still expect me to be a machine..lol... but i will try some of these options and see what happens. btw i should probably be checked for indemetriosis since my big sis has it and has had surgery twice for it.

 

i get pretty bad cramps (being in fetal position for hours, crying, wishing i was dead) most of the time (about 90% of my periods are extremely crampy). but recently, i've been eating a lot of avocados.. like, 2 a week (lol) cuz they're so tasty. then i got my period and had no cramps at all.

i dunno if the avocado has anything to do with it... but they're reallly fucking good for you anyway.

 

Haha, I was just thinking about posting a similar question as I'm avoiding the world this fine saturday because I have a horrible cramp.

 

opps. double post.