Periods are the monthly bleeding season for 3-5 days for every fertile women during their reproductive period.

For some women, this is very painful and uncomfortable.

Period cramps may sometimes become really hectic especially when it's your busy day outside.

Are you experiencing period cramps that are making your life more challenging during those 5 days?

Mykare Health is here with some remedies to ease your cramps during those painful days of the month.

Reason of Cramps: Understanding the Biology

Let us dive deep into the biology of menstruation and why you feel those nerve wrecking pain.

We all know it is the monthly failed attempt to get the egg fertilised. As a result, the wall of the uterus bleeds just like any open wounds. Your pain is associated with the muscle contraction and relaxation near your pelvic area.

This is done by your body to push out the inner lining of the uterus which is prepared for the foetus.

The pain spreads to the lower abdomen, lower back and thighs. The intensity and location of pain varies from person to person. Let’s see how period cramps are experienced:

• Menarche – The first period of a girl often comes with excessive pain and discomfort.
• Endometriosis – This is the condition in which a layer of abnormal tissue grows in the inner layer of your uterus, making the menstruation painful. If you are diagnosed with this condition, often doctors suggest lifestyle changes and some medications to get rid of this medical condition. In a reverse way, if you experience heavy flow and painful periods doctors suspect endometriosis.
• Birth control pills – If you are on any kind of oral contraceptive pills, chances are you may be having painful periods.
• Period after first child – This is often the painful one as the body is in a recovery phase with lots of hormones to play a role.
• Unknown growth in the uterus – If you have any undiagnosed abnormal growth of tissue in your uterus, chances are you may experience increased intensity of period cramps.

Home Remedies to Help Period Cramps

1. Heat compress – This is the age-old pain reliever for your period cramps. Keep a hot bag over your lower abdomen to help reduce the pain. You may also apply some period patch available nowadays to manage your pain.

2. Essential oil massage – To reduce the period cramps, you may try massaging the lower abdomen, back and side with essential oils. This relaxes the muscle and reduces the pain due to periods. You may use peppermint oil, lavender oil, rose oil, fennel oil.

Experts say to use a tablespoon of any carrier oil with a drop of essential oil. Carrier oil may be any nut oils, sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil.

3. Avoid certain foods – To reduce cramp pain, you must avoid certain foods like fatty foods, carbonated beverages, alcohol, excessive caffeine and salty foods. Replace your cravings with fruits rich in vitamin c and antioxidants.

4. Stay hydrated – To reduce the pain your body needs hydration to cope with the loss of iron from the body. This not only reduces the pain but also keeps you safe and healthy during those uncomfortable days of the month.

5. Brisk exercise – Yes, you read that right. Often the period cramps become manageable when you move your body a little. You can practise normal walking or indulge in daily chores to keep yourself busy.

As we know, exercising releases endorphins, which keep you happy and reduce the feeling of pain. So girls, keep moving in your periods to effectively manage your cramps.

6. Medications – If none of the home remedies work for you, you can try OTC drugs to manage the period cramps. Though doctors are against this practice of taking drugs for relieving pain due to menstruation. If you experience severe period cramps which are unbearable, you can take the medications.

What OTC Drugs Can You Take?

Over the counter drugs are some of the medications that are usually safe and have very limited side effects in prescribed amounts. Such medications are available in any medical stores and usually don’t require a doctor’s prescription.

For managing your period cramps, OTC drugs available are:

• Paracetamol (Calpol)
• Ibuprofen
• Aspirin
• Mefenamic acid (Meftal)
• Naproxen Sodium

When To See a Doctor?

• Period is a natural process which doesn’t usually require any medical attention unless it is unbearable or something unusual that may be a risk factor for your health. Let us see the situation which screams for medical attention:

• If you are facing severe problems due to period cramps that are hampering your day-to-day lifestyle making you cripple with pain.

• Heavy bleeding leading to sickness due to anaemia.

• If you are over 25 years of old and suddenly develop cramps that were not present in your past cycles.

• If the OTC drugs fail to give you relief from the period cramps. Source: mayoclinic

Period cramps can sometimes be very dreadful if not managed well in time. Getting your periods on time is not associated with experiencing the pain and keeping mum about it.

Experts say, period pain is comparable with having a heart attack.

Seek help if you think you are menstruating differently with some altered symptoms than the past, because you are the only one who knows yourself best.