Crunchy Christian Podcast

Crunchy Christian Podcast


Banish Painful Periods Forever With These Tips

September 24, 2021

Episode 54-Many, many women dread "that time of the month" because every month, they experience crippling painful periods. When I was a teenager, I became a frequent visitor to the nurse's office every month because of this. Of course, the nurse couldn't dispense any pain medications, so all I ever got was a hot water bottle. That didn't really help all that much. It wasn't until about ten years later that I learned how to banish painful periods forever. Let me share with you what I learned.
Helps for Painful Periods
At that time, I thought all women had painful periods. I mean, all the women in my family suffered. It wasn't really something my friends and I talked about, but there were plenty of teen magazine articles about it. I thought it was inevitable, just like acne. Every month, I just took some pain medication and hoped it would go away. But, after a while, I needed more and more medication to dull the pain. My periods were very heavy, too, and at the time, I didn't know the two things could be related. But, years later when I made this one change, everything else changed, too.
The first thing
The first thing I did was change my diet. I talked about this in the podcast on PMS symptoms, too. Diet is the foundation of any wellness regimen and my diet as a teen and young adult had been full of processed foods, sugar, and allergenic foods. Triggered by other health issues, I drastically changed what I ate and eliminated all allergens, processed food, and sugar. The transformation was amazing but it took three months! However, by eliminating those foods that caused a lot of inflammation and eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, I saw amazing things happen! The cramps weren't just less intense, they were completely gone. That time of the month came along and I didn't even know it. You can hear more about my story on the podcast!
Stress Relief and Exercise
Another major contributor to cramping and pain is stress. Sometimes it's hard to escape or control stress, though. But, we can choose our attitude toward what's going on around us and we can pray, leaving our burdens at the feet of Jesus. Other things we can do are meditate on God's Word and exercise. Deep breathing, walking, running, dancing, biking, and other exercises all help us get rid of stress hormones. They also cause our bodies to release endorphins and increase serotonin levels. (Interestingly, a more whole foods diet also affects serotonin levels.)  Endorphins relieve pain and promote relaxation, while serotonin improves mood. So, exercise can be especially helpful if muscles are tight because of stress.
Herbal Helps for Painful Periods
There are times when, despite our best efforts, we still feel some tightness and cramping. A bath of Epsom salts can help as it soothes muscles and induces relaxation overall. Other herbal and essential oil helps include:

* Rubbing a blend of lavender, clary sage, Roman chamomile, sweet marjoram, and everlasting dissolved in a carrier oil over the abdomen.
* You could also create the blend and add it to bathwater.
* Drinking crampbark, dang quai, squaw vine, and/or raspberry tea. You could also take the tincture. Capsules are another option.

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These tips definitely helped me, but sometimes painful periods are due to endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome, tumors, or another serious condition.