Cramps are the worst. Among the common symptoms we complain about when we bleed, this one ranks among the highest. But just because painful periods are common doesn't mean we have to accept them.
Patients sometimes ask me about the most surprising thing I learned in acupuncture school. I was definitely the most blown away by learning that you don’t have to be in pain during your period. You don’t need to have any symptoms, in fact. Just bleed, stop bleeding. That’s it. “WHAT?!” I thought. “Why doesn’t everyone know that? What do I need to do? Sign me up!”
While I was in grad school I had acupuncture treatments every week and took a formula daily for a year. My periods shifted dramatically and my pelvic pain (pain with intercourse or what’s medically referred to as dyspareunia) disappeared. I was in awe. I felt I had been given a key and I wanted to share it SO badly.
Acupuncture Treatments for Painful Periods
Where do I start when we work together to address your menstrual cramps? I begin with a sense that your body is trying to do something, but there's something in the way. We work together to figure out what that is by getting really up close and personal with your symptoms. All cramps are not created equal. So we have to get curious about them. Could it be that other symptoms are showing up too?
These are some of my detective work questions so thinking about them before your first session can be give your practitioner more information to find the right way to help you:
When do your cramps show up? Do you get cramps only with your first day of full bleed or do they come up more before you even start bleeding? Or are you in the most pain after your heavy bleeding is finished?
What do your cramps feel like? Are they a dull pain, sharp pain, radiating down your legs, more in your lower abdomen or more like back pain?
What else comes with them? Do you get breast tenderness? Bloating? Headaches or even migraines? What about irritability or other mood changes like weepiness or anxiety? Do you get really tired before you get cramps, with them, or after them? Does your digestion give you a hard time? Do your bowel movements change? Maybe you get really hungry or lose your appetite completely. Are your periods like clockwork or are they irregular?
These clustered symptoms start to point us to the overall pattern at play, which is how acupuncture can be a holistic medicine that addresses your overall health, not just one or two symptoms at a time.
We find the right approach for treating you and your cramps by staying curious. There's often a lot of great information we can uncover right at the beginning, but it takes a few sessions of working together and maybe even a few cycles of noting how things change to get to the heart of the issue and solve it.
For the Folks Playing at Home…
In addition to in-office acupuncture care, there are lots of at-home self-care treatments and tools I recommend to help treat and prevent period pain and other PMS symptoms. Here are a few that are generally helpful to begin with for most cases:
KEEP YOUR ABDOMEN WARM
When you're at home that can be with a blanket or light heating helper. I generally advise moist heat over dry heat, meaning a hot water bottle as opposed to an electric heating pad. When you're out and about, though, you could use those adhesive heating pads. But sometimes a heating pad is too hot or you don't want to be tethered or disposing single use mini-heaters. Much better to use a haramaki.
What’s a haramaki?
Searching for Haramaki brings up some colorful examples.
A haramaki (腹巻き) is a Japanese belly wrap. Think of it as a scarf for your abdomen. We know how much heat we lose through our heads so we wear hats when it’s cold out. But there’s nothing in the American wardrobe that protects our core. Incidentally, this is also a wonderful supplemental treatment for digestive concerns, low back pain, fertility, and postpartum or surgical recovery. So many channels and organs are within or pass through our core so warming our torso prevents cold from “attacking” or constricting our blood vessels and preventing nourishing blood flow.
Haramaki are NOT a tight binder or shapewear, despite the language that a lot of online sellers use. They should be comfortable to wear, the same way you wouldn’t squeeze on a too-tight hat or scarf. It’s just keeping you warm. Haramaki don’t have to be bulky - some are made of cotton jersey or sportswear material instead of sweater material. You can also wear them over or under your clothing.
They used to sell them at Daiso, a sort of Japanese dollar store, locally, but I haven’t seen them there in a long time. You can find them on Etsy and Amazon among other online retailers. Plenty of options to sort a variety of styles and price points.
If you're a fellow knitter and want to make a haramaki (腹巻き), the Makiko pattern by Cirilia Rose for Knitty would be a beautiful top or bottom layer or even a thoughtful gift! It can also be used as a cowl to protect your neck so you might even want to make two.
Many are tubes of material, but you could have a flat piece with buttons or other fasteners. This would be quite a simple sewing project, too.
Get some movement
As Elle Woods says, "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy." One of the reasons you're so happy? Endorphins' main job is to block pain signals!
Very often, I see period pain stemming from stagnation (being stuck). There’s a saying in our medicine that where qi and blood flow freely there is no pain. Where there is pain, there is stagnation and where there is stagnation, there is pain. So a simple and generally helpful way to start treating any kind of pain is to get your qi and blood flowing! Acupuncture is fantastic at unblocking stagnant energy (qi) and substances (blood), but you should also move your qi and blood at home by moving your body.
It doesn't have to be high intensity exercise - try a gentle flowing series from yoga, tai chi, or qigong. Just take a walk outside. At minimum, move your joints. We sit a lot so make sure you’re including your hips and torso in this, not just your arms and legs. Take your joints through their natural (not overstretched) range of motion. When we’re in pain, often the last thing we want to do is exercise. Hey, guess what? You don’t have to call it that. At a minimum it’s range of motion wiggling. At best it’s joyful movement (as I’ve written about in an earlier post).
Magnesium Supplement
Magnesium (especially as magnesium glycinate) can be a helpful supplement for cramping as it is a muscle relaxant and reduces prostaglandins, thus reducing pain. It’s a wonderful anti-inflammatory and is also beneficial for insomnia and anxiety. I take Natural Calm, which comes in a powdered form, myself (not sponsored, just a longtime fan) but there are plenty of quality forms out there so you should find the one that suits you.
Make sure not to take too much as it can loosen your bowels (more of an issue with other forms of magnesium, but not a pleasant side effect if you’re not careful).
A Word of Encouragement
Remember that if you're doing these things and you still have pain, you're not broken. You're not failing. You just need a little extra help. Acupuncture and herbal medicine have centuries of knowledge behind them on women's health and I would love to help you with personalized treatment, in and out of the office. Together, we can find the tools that suit you and help you do something you love with less distraction and pain every day, whether you're currently bleeding or not.
ABOUT SHAWNA
Shawna Seth, L.Ac. is a California state licensed and nationally certified acupuncturist currently pursuing physician assistant training. To better understand acupuncture and how you can use it in your daily life, and to explore the connections between Western and Eastern medicine, follow her blog A Cuppa Qi. She also invites connection via email contact@shawnaseth.com or Instagram @acuppaqi.