Pain is often associated with mensuration and up to 95 percent of women can experience it along with many other symptoms like cramping, an aching back or stomach, pressure in the belly, headaches, nausea and loose stools. Pain can be mild or severe.
A new study found manual acupuncture not only improved period pain intensity by up to 50 percent, but it also improved quality of life.
This study involved 74 women split into groups. Some received manual acupuncture while others had electro-acupuncture. Everyone had a total of 12 acupuncture sessions over three months. But it was the timing of the manual treatments that had the most success.
And that consisted of three manual acupuncture treatments, one week before mensuration began.
Dealing with monthly periods symptoms can be annoying and interfere with normal activities. To help ease pain, here are my prescriptions:
Partha’s RX:
- Use a heating pad or a hot water bottle to help ease aches and cramping. You can also try a warm bath.
- Try working out regularly as this may provide relief as well.
- If you’d like to try acupuncture, be sure to check the practitioner's training and credentials.
- You should avoid acupuncture if you have a bleeding disorder, are taking blood thinners or have a pacemaker.
Talk to you doctor if you suffer with pain and cramping for more than 2 or 3 days. They’ll discuss your symptoms and may check you for other conditions like endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease, narrowing of the cervix or fibroids.
