Why I know it’s possible to overcome period pain even though you’ve been told it is normal!
Who is affected?
Many women experience period pain at some stage during their lifetime. Research has shown that up to 75% of young women and up to 50% of adult women experience discomfort and pain during their period. While for one in five women, that’s 20% of the menstruating population, the pain is so severe that it stops them from doing their daily activities every month.
For many women, the pain can be mild/moderate discomfort and cramping in the lower abdomen, thighs and lower back and is deemed as a ‘normal’ part of the menstrual cycle. But for others the pain can have a detrimental impact on their lives; the pain they experience often is so severe that they cannot go to work or attend social events and on occasion need to go to hospital for medical pain relief. The pain they experience is not always during their actual period, mid-cycle pain is also very common in women suffer badly with period pains. Digestion can be greatly affected before, during and after a period – either experiencing constipation or the other extreme. Also, nausea and headaches are commonly experienced, as well as sleep disturbances.
Conventional approach
Medications are offered to young girls and women, most commonly in the form of the oral contraceptive pill. While this option often does work to help lessen the cramps and pain, the side-effects of them can be quite severe. In fact many women have to cease this option of treatment due the hormonal impact they experience. Also, if a women chooses to come off the OCP, possibly to start a family, the pain often returns and is much greater in intensity than it was originally. Over the counter painkillers like Ibuprofen, which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory, are often a must some women to get through the period each month.
If these options do not work, then stronger medications would be prescribed by a doctor but these often come with much greater side-effects and often may not deliver any greater results. Surgery is sometimes seen as a ‘last resort’ for women experiencing secondary dysmenorrhea, recovery can take some time and often the women is on medication long term.
How are painful periods effecting you?
Women suffering with period pain, often suffer in silence as they have been told that it is a normal part of being a woman and so often have to struggle through meetings, work and social events even though they have taken the recommended pain relief. With the more severe cases women can be very frustrated, especially when the medication is not giving them the relief that they want. Plus, pain periods have real consequences that affects quality of life. Women with painful periods often have to deal with things like:
- Unpredictability on showing up to work or family/social obligations
- Mild to moderate anxiety and/or depression with affects her social life and relationships.
- Not being able to perform to the level she knows she can achieve at work, due to missing days every month.
- Having to deal with nausea, digestive irregularities, headaches and fragile emotional states from either the pain itself or as a result of the medications.
- Feeling like she is losing a week or more of her life every month and that she cannot keep up with the normal demands of everyday work and family life, like spending quality time with her children and partner or friends.
A different approach!
Well, over my time as a natural practitioner, I can say with absolute confidence that there is a different way to approach painful periods that DOES work!
Using natural approaches, it is totally possible to have less pain (even NO pain), better mood, more energy and focus – because you start to get to the ROOT cause of your painful period, instead of taking medications or procedure to mask them.
Important disclaimer: DO NOT stop taking your medication without supervision from your GP/Specialist. Stopping medication suddenly might cause serious health problems and complications.
* Individual results vary. No guarantee of specific results is warranted or implied and your results will depend on many factors. Full disclaimer
What may be causing your painful periods?
Here is how I know it is possible to heal painful periods with natural medicine, so you can live the life you want and truly feel better. Firstly, whether you realise it or not, painful periods are nearly always a RESULT of something else going wrong in your body.
For example, lack of deep, restful sleep can have a huge negative impact on the body’s natural healing ability to heal itself – the body’s anti-inflammatory and pain-management systems are impeded. Your body heals while it sleeps, secreting growth hormones and undergoing massive tissue repair. So, over time lack of deep, restful sleep causes your body to fall behind on its ongoing maintenance and repair and problems like painful period can arise.
Another reason maybe that many women suffer with irregular bowels – whether constipation or the opposite – for many, many years. Your bowels are one of the most important centres for clearing and managing hormones in your body. When this part of your body is not working the way it should, this can have a serious impact on your hormonal system, and can lead to painful periods.
One of the most common issues I see that lead to painful periods, is chronic inflammation. Inflammation is actually a natural part of the healing process but because of poor diet and lifestyle habits; and even poorly managed stress – your body gets locked into a perpetual loop of inflammation. This disrupts many pathways that can lead to pain.
Stress is often a major contributor to painful periods and reducing stress can have a huge impact on painful period severity. As above, stress leads to increased inflammation in the body. Stress causes the body to release certain particles in the body that make the blood vessels expand and become inflamed. This causes nerve cells to become over-stimulated leading to pain and other symptoms of painful period.
Stress can also cause subtle sleep problems, in that there may be problems getting to sleep, staying asleep or both. This, as mentioned above will have a serious impact on your body’s natural anti-inflammatory and pain-relief systems. The growth and repair hormones are not getting the chance to complete their functions and this can lead to painful periods.
Cortisol, the hormone released when in stress, can negatively impact the body’s natural pain-killing function. Chronic, high levels of fluctuations of cortisol in the body causes the hormonal system to become imbalanced and can trigger severe painful periods, as the endorphins (natural pain-killers) are not being secreted as they should.
Are you looking for help with your painful periods?
All you have to do is request your FREE consultation with me and we will meet to discuss your case. It is an honest down-to-earth, no pressure conversation in my clinic where I can listen to your story and review some basics of your medical history.
Once we have talked, and if I feel truly confident that I can help you, you will have the opportunity to move forward and work with me.
I am here to help. If you are ready to explore YOUR possibilities for healing, click Here to request your FREE consultation now.
Or, just call 01-5613014 and I will be happy to answer your questions.
* Individual results vary. No guarantee of specific results is warranted or implied and your results will depend on many factors. Full disclaimer