Natural and Holistic Remedies for Painful Periods (Dysmenorrhea)

First of all, I empathize with you. This was me at a time in my life, and I hear you and see you! Now, what do I generally recommend, personally and professionally:

As a RD, I gotta do my due diligence and recommend medical evaluation.

If a serious medical problem is underlying, it needs to be diagnosed and managed. Assuming the scary stuff gets ruled out, the management of painful periods (formally called “dysmenorrhea”) does not 100% percent of the time have to be hormonal birth control. As the title of this blog says, we are going to discuss holistic approaches to painful periods. I also think it’s important that a work up for Endometriosis gets explored with your Doctor.

Hormonal birth control CAN be a solid symptom management option and for some females it is effective at reducing pain, but prescribing it as the doctor and taking it as the patient doesn’t inherently figure out the “WHY” behind the painful periods.

And the WHY is not always a ICD-10 code diagnosis (aka label for something that is medically diagnosable).

The WHY can be lifestyle and nutrition related so a pill cannot identically replace diet and lifestyle measures.

So first, find an OB/GYN who listens and does a work up before hastily going to the pill that gets thrown at just about every female problem after a 2 minute conversation (painful periods, PMS, PMDD, Endometriosis, Uterine Fibroids, PCOS, Menstual migraines, heavy menstrual periods, no menstrual periods, etc…)

I am not anti hormonal birth control; there is no shame in taking it and it definitely fits the bill for contraceptive purposes.

What myself and many other Functional Medicine aligned practitioners want to say is that hormonal birth control can be ONE option on the table but it shouldn’t be advised as the ONLY option, especially when it comes to those who don’t want or can’t take hormonal birth control. (I was one of them – continued to cause migraine with aura after trying 10 different hormonal birth control pills in my 20s; this was well before I knew what Functional Medicine was).

So assuming the scary stuff has been ruled out after seeing a doctor, now back to the nutrition and lifestyle related rationales for “WHY could menustrual cramps present?” And to be crystal clear, painful periods are NOT normal. They are common, but not normal. It has just sadly been societally accepted as just a part of being a female.

The following nutrition related topics can contribute to period pain.

And while the following below may not fit criteria for a ICD-10 label, they are valid nutrition related concerns and warrant addressing. And they are topics that are best addressed with diet and lifestyle.

Okay: so now here we go with nutrition consult topics for painful periods that I vet thoroughly with my patients:

1. Is estrogen dominance present? Has a mid luteal estradiol and progesterone been checked via bloodwork or via a DUTCH test? When estrogen levels are too high relative to progesterone in the luteal phase, this may not fit an ICD-10 diagnosis, but this sub optimal hormone situation can absolutely influence menstrual cycle issues and dysmenorrhea. A mid luteal estrogen dominance screen can be self ordered here.
2. Has a GI-MAP test been done to screen for intestinal dysbiosis (aka: too much bad gut bacteria and not enough good gut bacteria). Intestinal dysbiosis is linked to dysmenorrhea and nutrition/nutraceuticals/antimicrobials are typically the solution.
3. Have vitamin and mineral deficiencies been screened for and addressed? Specifically addressing vitamin D deficiency. Consider getting labwork done and taking a vitamin D3/k2 supplement. Low levels of vitamin D as seen in bloodwork are linked to dysmenorrhea.
4. Is adequate amounts of magnesium being consumed consistently from either food sources or a supplement? Low magnesium intake is correlated to dysmenorrhea. Consider supplementing with magnesium.
5. Has the ratio of food intake been explored specifically for omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids? Too many inflammatory oils relative to heart healthy oils can be a culprit. Trying an omega 3 supplement is an option that helps patch in the holes of a diet that may not have enough omega 3 fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory. In general, a Mediterranean diet is beneficial for just about any inflammation related ailment.
6. Is tap water the drink of choice day in and day out? Most tap water throughout the USA has unhealthy amounts of heavy metals and other contaminants linked to health concerns . Heavy metals can bioaccumulate in the female reproductive tissues. I have a whole online detox program that goes into the details of metabolic detoxification, which will speak to heavy metals and how to reactively deal with them. And proactively speaking, I recommend getting your water situation situated. Highly recommend investing in a water filtration system (since you drink it every day; this is a high frequency issue!) I recommend quality, heavy duty ones that are studied to filter out heavy metals among many other contaminants that are found in tap water and well water. Reverse osmosis water filtration is the best option for filtering out all the health hazards in tap water.
   • Wanna puke in your mouth a little bit? Check out the public tap water database to see what is lurking in your city’s tap water at www.ewg.org/tapwater.
   • Around me geographically speaking, there is arsenic, nitrates, chromium hexavalent, chloroform, radium, cadmium, among many other lovely things (insert sarcasm).
   • I would also recommend filtering your shower water as your skin is your largest organ and dermal exposure is a thing.
7. Start using organic, BPA free, PFAs “aka forever chemicals” free, dye free, chlorine free tampons and pads. In my detox course, I go over a slew of studies that link the garbage found in common conventional feminine hygiene products to many female health problems. I recommend organic only feminine hygiene products.
8. Start drinking green tea. This can reduce painful periods.
9. Screen your home for clinically significant levels of toxic indoor mold as indoor concentrated mold can be estrogenic and this can cascade to female health problems.
   • Self order an EMRI Kit (get kit #1) and sample the dust from your home and send back into lab. If the score if 5 or higher, you need professional mold inspection and remediation. Don’t mess around with petri dish mold kits – they are worthless essentially. ERMI is medically recognized data.

We got some options. Is thee above a lot to take in? No worries – I have created a dysmenorrhea protocol with all the dosing and instructions.

Consider this list above for those looking for pointers on a holistic work up and then a holistic route to help improve painful periods.

Painful periods are a CHECK ENGINE LIGHT. See both your doctor and a dietitian for studied ways to get you feeling better that ideally address the root issue, which is often nutrition (or lack there of) related.

This is the tip of the iceberg on studies that support holistic ways to care for dysmenorrhea. I love the PubMed database which is free and there is a lot you can read through yourself on this topic.

• Study on magnesium intake improving dysmenorrhea: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9800031/
• Study on taking vitamin D to improve dysmenorrhea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7834752
• Study suggesting omega 3 supplement for dysmenorrhea: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9092532/
• Study on Mediterranean diet for female health concerns: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10181412/
• Study on heavy metals and female health concerns: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26094520/
• Study on green tea improving dysmenorrhea: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6500245/

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