Essential Oils and Dysmenorrhea (Menstrual Cramps)
6:45 PM Posted by Jo Pedranti
Today, as long as I keep eating healthy, cleanse, exercise, and take my supplements I manage to go through my periods without pain.
The hormone balancer
The liver plays an important role as a major hormonal balancer. It's job is to destroy excess hormones so that the aren't an overload of hormones in the blood stream, which that could cause the pituitary not to send out more hormones. I add a few drops of lemon essential oils to my drinking water. Lemon is a detoxifying oil and has traditionally been used for congested liver and sluggish pancreas. It counteracts stomach acidity and speeds up digestion also.
As I mentioned earlier, aromatherapy is considered one of the most effective methods of dealing with menstrual, pregnancy, and menopausal problems.
Essential oil properties
You want to include essential oils with antispasmodic, emmenagogue, and analgesic properties when you choose oils for treating menstrual cramps. Traditionally, essential oils such as aniseed, clary sage, juniper berry, jasmine absolute, Roman chamomile, sweet fennel, sweet marjoram, peppermint, rose absolut or otto, and rosemary have been used.
What kind of pain you have should be a guidance to narrow down the selection of oils you need. For congestive pain, oils such as Roman chamomile and cypress are more useful. Spasmodic pain has traditionally been relieved by oils such as clary sage, lavender, or peppermint.
How to apply the oils
Some women find relief from compresses and massage over the lower back, for some both the lower back and abdomen will need to be massaged in order to achieve relief. Other women just want to lie down with a hot water bottle. In that case, use warming essential oils such as fennel, sweet marjoram, or rosemary in a massage blend before using the hot water bottle. Personally I prefer using a warm compress. You can also apply the oils to the reproductive Vita Flex points on the feet.
The diet is very important, many foods can aggravate cramping, muscle tension, and overall toxification in the body. In general, a healthy diet based on fresh fruit, vegetables, whole grains (grain-free is even better) will promote the body's ability to cleanse and detoxify.
Causes
The cause of dysmenorrhea can be several, such as muscle cramping, inflammation, or some other underlying cause usually associated with a disease of the female organs in the pelvic cavity. Some cramping during the period is normal due to the release of the hormone oxytocin, the same hormone that causes contraction during labor. Menstrual pain due to congestion and inflammation in the pelvic region may be relieved by herbs that decongest pelvic circulation and reduce inflammation. This pain often occurs before the period starts. Liver cleansing herbs may be helpful as well
Severe cramping is often a sign of magnesium deficiency.
My dysmenorrhea corrected itself when I started building health and I started to:
- change the diet - started eating lots of organic fresh foods, whole foods, high quality protein, the processed junk was eliminated
- increase my exercise
- add essential fatty acids, coconut oil, and real butter from grass fed cows to my diet.
- drink protein shakes (very cleansing and nutritious)
- increase my water intake
- eat foods from animals not fed hormones
- supplement with super foods, minerals, Probiotics, and an herbal synergy blend high in calcium/magnesium
- add therapeutic essential oils to my drinking water - especially lemon
- cleanse a couple of times a year with herbs, I also cleanse with essential oils
- use essential oils in baths and massages
Build health
The best you can do is to start building health with real and fresh foods, and make sure you get enough nutrients in your body. Avoid things that rob the body of nutrients such as refined and processed products. Balancing your hormones is very important, we are exposed to way too much synthetic estrogen in the environment today. My post Hormonal Balance the Natural Way shares more information about it.
More female health information
You might enjoy my posts What's Your PMS Type? and Essential Oils Especially for Women.
Oils not listed as therapeutic grade should not be ingested. Please see the Safety Information, Dilution Chart, and Ways to Use Essential Oils, for more information about essential oils.
Buy Young Living Oils Here.
As always, this information is for educational purposes only, and is not meant to diagnose or prescribe. If you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or suffer from a medical condition, consult with your health care practitioner prior to using essential oils.
According to the Reference Guide for Essential Oils, the following YL blends are suggested for dysmenorrhea:
Dragon Time
Before and during the cycle, mix 10 drops with 4 drops of basil, rub around the ankles, lower back and lower stomach.
Clary sage (Salvia sclarea), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), marjoram (Origanum majorana), yarrow (Achillea millefolium), and jasmine (Jasminum officinale).
Endo-Flex
EndoFlex™ can help you maintain overall vitality with a proprietary blend of essential oils that support the endocrine system.
A base of sesame seed oil, spearmint (Mentha spicata), sage (Salvia officinalis), geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), myrtle (Myrtus communis), nutmeg (Myristica fragrans), and German chamomile (Matriciaria recutita).
Before you leave:
I recommend that you always perform a skin patch test when you try a new oil.
Check out my safety page to make sure you are aware of any contrindications before you use essential oils. Some oils are not suitable when suffering from certain conditions. Also, Read this Before You Start Using Essential oils. Some oils should not be applied prior to sun exposure so make sure you check this list before spending time in the sun.
Not sure how to apply the oils? Visit these pages to learn how to apply the oils:
Not sure how to apply the oils? Visit these pages to learn how to apply the oils:
- Topical Application
- Inhaling Essential Oils
- Are You Diffusing the Oils Correctly?
- How to Dilute Essential Oils
- Vita Flex Technique
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| Buy Essential Oils Here |
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February 25, 2011 at 10:26 AM
I could sure use this information! I am just starting to get my period back after having my baby. Also I had a tubal ligation so the cramps are worse than they were before my tubal. Thanks for sharing this.
February 25, 2011 at 10:40 AM
You're welcome Cascia!
February 28, 2011 at 1:19 PM
Hi Jo, thanks for posting this important information. Women need alternatives for monthly cramping besides over the counter pain relievers which have many long term negative side effects. Thanks for sharing at Monday Mania this week! :)
February 28, 2011 at 6:14 PM
You're welcome Sarah! I'm glad I found your blog and your MONDAY Mania link up.
March 2, 2011 at 7:34 AM
I'm going to print this out for one of my daughters who suffers terribly with this each month. Thanks so much!
March 2, 2011 at 9:03 AM
You're welcome Treasures from a shoebox.
March 4, 2011 at 2:43 PM
Great post! I just recently posted an article encouraging women to embrace their cycles, as being something they can deal with more naturally!
Thanks for the article!
February 1, 2012 at 7:07 AM
Excellent info Jo. I'm going to share this on my facebook page and via twitter. This is an excellent addition to my post - wonderful!
February 2, 2012 at 8:18 AM
Thanks for sharing my post Jennifer!
February 2, 2012 at 6:43 PM
You're very welcome Jo.
March 20, 2012 at 7:05 PM
This is so interesting - I've actually been curious about this very thing lately. Thanks for sharing at Healthy 2Day Wednesday; come back tomorrow and see if you were featured!