Natural Period Pain relief
Addressing your period pains naturally is not only possible, I’ve experienced it to be simple and easy to do and actually effective within 3 months.
Having 4-5 naproxen every cycle or a lifetime on the pill is not a solution if you’re like me, a highly sensitive person (HSP) and sensitive to the effects of chemicals.
In this blog post, we’ll explore what’s possible with the home period pain remedy that worked for me to go from having 4-5 pain killers to none.at.all.
In this article
*A real pain in the Uterus
*The hidden cost of pain killers
*Home period pain remedies I’ve tried
*What TCM says about the cause of pain
*What worked for me
A real Pain in the Uterus!
Early in my period journey I tried many natural period pain remedies. But the heavy uterus feeling would come on, I’d feel the swirling of my hormones and check the signs for my oncoming period…there was always a feeling of anxious anticipation and dread of ‘My Period is coming’, much like The Game of Thrones ‘Winter is coming’.
I would then check I had everything I needed and get to the shops for plenty of pain killers, extra super pads, food for at least a week, and some self soothing chocolate for the tough day(s). I’d thank my past self for doing the washing so there were fresh, clean period undies ready, then put away the sheets that were only just dry from washing after the last period blowout of blood.
Hopefully I would have a clear couple of days to rest with a bathroom nearby. Then I’d wait….and any sign or twinge of pain or cramping, I’d take 2 Naproxen or anti-inflammatories straight away. If I waited for the pain to really kick in before I took the little blue pills, I’d have to take a whole lot more.
So I’d wait….…and then it’s on! There’s blood, there’s heaviness, there’s clots, there’s alone time and more blood…so much blood! More pain killers, more pads, more blood, maybe binge watch ‘Sex Education’ and marvel at the cool style and elegance of Gillian Anderson and know I’ll never wear a onesie like her as what a nightmare on my period!
Hopefully no work days or if there was, I’d work with my head down, just get through the day and come home and sleep.
I’d pass huge blood clots, more flooding blood loss, sleep, then wake to a mini or maxi crime scene in my bed. Change sheets, wash sheets, change pads, wash pj bottoms or trackies. Feel exhausted.
After a while, I’d come out of this fog like I’d just done battle! The sky is clear, everything is amazing as there’s no pain (there’s still spotting but that’s NOTHING compared to what I’ve been through) and I try and fit everything in. I’ve got at least a week free from planning, recovering or waiting for my period so I do ANYTHING I want! Go camping, get into dancing or running or bike riding. Catch up with friends, Anything! Everything!….
Then there’s a twinge.
At the time, I wanted to believe there was something out there to help with the pain, address it at its root cause, just get rid of the bloody(!) thing. But I’d tried EV.RY.THING. So I get the pain killers…rinse and repeat.
The hidden cost of pain killers
After a while I became dependant on pain killers. I had worked out how many I needed and when to take them. I began to believe that there was nothing out there that could help with my pain. I was resigned to the fact that I had period pains, and pain killers worked.
The Doctors I saw over the years kept saying that if the pain subsides when taking the pain killers, it was normal, nothing to worry about. If my cycle was the same each time, it was normal, nothing to worry about.
In my experience, the cost of this was that I didn’t address the root cause of my pain, so it continued.
Home period pain remedies I’ve tried
I tried a lot of stuff! Hot water bottles, energy healing, looking up the energetic cause of it. It all made a bit of sense, and helped…just a bit. But after a while, I started to internalise the experience. I started thinking that if others find relief from these modalities and I’m not getting any relief, there must be something wrong with me.
I’ve looked up the effects of long term pain in people and this is a common theme. Year after year and cycle after cycle, thinking that everyone else can get on with life, why can’t I? I had difficulty having full time work and participating in ‘normal’ life because of my cycles and pain. Not just pain but heavy blood loss and the effects of exhaustion that comes with it. I kept checking in with mainstream doctors to see if I was ok. According to them, I was. So I kept looking.
What TCM says about the cause of pain
In my searching for answers I found that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) says that the cause of pain and period cramps is old residue. I go into more detail in the free e-book here but in a nutshell, our uterus may not expel all the lining during our period and this is called old residue. The pain is our body doing its very best to try and clear out this old residue.
What worked for me
A friend who I trust told me about vaginal steaming and my first expression was Vaginal WHAT??!! Of course I laughed...then thought ‘why not?’. I’ve tried all this other stuff and this sounds like it’s getting straight to the point so to speak, so I looked into it and tried doing it DIY.
I made a few mistakes which led me to contact a certified practitioner who put me on the right path. After 2 months of following the right steam plan for me and my body, I went without pain killers for the first time in years. I kept waiting for the pain to kick in but it didn’t and years later still hasn’t. It’s completely changed my life.
Despite what you’ve been told about v-steaming, I’ve found it to be the only thing that worked for me. It’s also known as yoni steaming or v-steaming.
Yoni steaming or vaginal steaming helps through the gentle, herbalised steam helping the body to loosen the old residue and clear it out of my uterus, leaving me not only pain free after 3 months but also many other benefits.
It lengthened my cycle from 15-18 days to 24-27 days, shrunk my fibroids and released two small ones. I went from bleeding, blood clots and spotting for 7-10 days to only 4-5 days of fresh red blood with tiny clots. This same modality helped to get me through the night with only one regular pad as opposed to a construction of three super pads in period underwear while sleeping on a towel. I’ve experienced many more benefits that I may bore you with listing here! It’s been literally life changing for me.
I haven’t experienced that crazy-pants cycle I described in the beginning for a while now….and it’s because of Yoni steaming, that’s the only thing I changed. Yes, steaming my vagina!
Katrina Anderson
