How to Reduce Your Period Pain or How To Stop Painful Period Pain?
How to reduce that bloating and of course most importantly so to begin with you have something called progesterone which is a hormone those levels drop and then prostaglandin a chemical is released which causes the wound to contract and this contraction causes the cramping now
these prostaglandins they also reduce the amount of blood flow to the womb so what does that mean well it means there's going to be less oxygen going there which leads to all the cramping
and the pain it's kind of similar to when you get a cramp in your muscle let's say your leg if you're running it's a lack of oxygen that's causing that pain which is causing that lactic
acid buildup okay so you now know a little bit of the science behind it all but the next question is how do you stop those painful cramps those painful periods and all that bloating that comes with it well don't worry abraham the pharmacist has
always got your back so now let's look at 10 top tips to help reduce those period pains and also to help you have a bloat-free period okay so step number one you need to get yourself a wheat bag or a hot water bottle get it ready i'm
more of a fan of a wheat bag by the way wrap it in a tea towel and then place it on your lower back or on your tummy abdominal area and what is this going to do well it's going to increase
the blood flow to that area because that heat is going to cause more blood to flow to those areas remember we spoke about earlier that blood flow is reduced so by increasing the blood flow it's going
to help with those cramping pains and anything associated with period pains step number two run yourself a nice hot bath you can add things like essential oils to help you relax have a good
time in the bath relax your muscles and this is going to help again with those cramping pains that we talked about earlier moving on to step number three once you're done with your relaxing bath you might feel tired you might feel sleepy which
is great have a little nap this is gonna help relax your mind it's gonna again help relax your muscles and overall it's gonna help with the period pain and the cramping it's gonna take your mind off things step number four once you're
awake it's now time for some gentle exercise maybe like some yoga or some simple stretches again the purpose of this is to increase blood flow to help with the cramps to help with the bloating to help
with the period pain and we know all this because we spoke about the science right at the start step number five now that your muscles are nice and relaxed you can give yourself a
nice little easy massage also give your belly a massage give it a rub in a circular motion all of these are going to help and if you can get your significant other to give you a massage as well your muscles are relaxed this is a great
time to get the blood flowing everywhere now so far i've been going down the drug-free route because i thought to myself a lot of people might not have medication at home but a lot of the stuff
that i spoke about so far pretty much everyone has at home and can do however if the drug-free route isn't working so far there are medicines that you can try which will help so let's run through them
then so moving on to step number six painkillers now there's various different painkillers that you can try for example paracetamol and ibuprofen work
really well you can either take them together or you can take them on their own whichever works best for you however please do remember before you take any medicine always feed to your healthcare
professional first so they can check that you're safe and suitable to use that medication that is the most important thing because your safety is the most important thing also remember if
these painkillers don't help you there are also many other different medicines that you can try as well which are prescription only so the best advice for medicines is always meet
your healthcare professional now feeling bloated when you're on your period is completely normal but there are a few things that you can do to help with the bloating so let's crack on so let's continue from the previous steps so step number
seven the first thing you need to do is when you're on your period you need to make sure that you're drinking plenty of water or fruit juice now what you don't want to be doing is drinking fizzy
drinks fizzy drinks will make the bloating worse also when you're on your period you need to limit your alcohol consumption or completely stop it if you can alcohol causes water retention and that
water retention is going to make the bloating worse so you need to limit or stop the alcohol step number eight you need to increase your fruit and vegetable uptake look by doing this you're
going to increase your fiber uptake so what does that mean well it means you're going to stay more regular and it's going to mean that you're going to be less bloated what you don't want to be doing
is having things that high in sugar which are low in fiber for example cakes biscuits sweets all of these things first of all are no good for you and second of all will make your bloating worse too
because they cause water retention step number nine you need to reduce your salt intake to help
reduce your bloating so avoid things like crisps avoid things like deadly sliced meat and definitely avoid ready meals like the microwave ones the frozen ones whichever one ready meals are always notoriously high in salt so try and
prepare your own food now get into the habit of reading the labels that come with foods to check for their salt levels and i promise you it will make a massive difference and step number 10 smoking if you smoke you need to quit this one's
a double whammy because smoking reduces the amount of oxygen that your blood can supply that can hold and also do you remember the prostaglandins that we spoke about earlier how it reduces the oxygen supply to the womb so both of these are going to
be causing that but on top of this smoking is also going to cause inflammation it's going to affect your digestive system so all of these are going to increase the bloat the bloating that you get with your period pains so you need to quit
smoking if you do quit now you might be thinking to yourself well that's easier said than done abraham because how do i quit smoking it's so difficult not to worry abraham the pharmacist has always got your back i've done a video on this
topic so if you're interested in quitting smoking I'm going to leave a link to that video up here and in the description below and i would highly recommend that you watch it so hopefully you're finding these tips helpful it's going to help with
your period pain and all that bloating that can come with it but the next question is how can we actually prevent period pains in the first place how can we prevent the bloating well let's look into that so tip number one having a chat with
your healthcare professional about starting a contraceptive pill or an iud having that fitted these can both help to regulate and help with the period pains but like i said you need to speak to
your healthcare professional about these so they can discuss how it works they can discuss if it's suitable for you and they can discuss the side effects that can be associated with it as well
so i definitely recommend if you're interested in it speak to your healthcare professional first and tip number two again looking at preventative stuff so if you know you're someone who has very
heavy periods then again it might be worth speaking to your healthcare professional about getting a clotting agent prescribed to help slow it down and to help prevent the period pain now you may have also heard about certain supplements
so for example evening primrose oil is one of them and they say that it can help with period pain and it can help regulate your cycle the truth is there really isn't enough evidence out there that
suggests that they can do this i've had a look at lots of different evidence and the data about it and it's just not enough information about it to recommend it now you've also got to remember
that these supplements they don't have the strict manufacturing and research criteria that medicines do so they don't have all the evidence supports that can support them or all the data behind
it to justify it so please remember that but if you are interested in taking a supplement like that or anything else i would highly strongly advise you to always speak to your healthcare professional first and get their sort of outlook
on it get their thoughts about it before you do it now please do remember only you know how your normal periods feel like so if your period pain feels different to how it usually does if it's
more painful if it's just different always speak to your healthcare professional about it because only you will know that now there are also many different occasions that you need to know about to speak to a healthcare professional as well which is why i've included.