The Functional Medicine Approach To Healing Painful Periods Holistically
Dysmenorrhea or painful periods are common, but they’re not normal. More than 50% of women struggle with painful periods, and 15% of those women experience severe pain that disrupts their normal daily activities, such as going to work. You’re probably asking yourself if painful periods aren’t normal, then what does it mean? Your body is intelligent, and it will communicate with you through symptoms when something is dysfunctional or imbalanced.
Common root causes of painful periods can range from nutrient imbalances, digestive and gut dysfunction, blood sugar imbalances, and toxins. As you may know by now, your doctor doesn’t take these factors into account, and they’re not trained to do so. That’s just not how the medical system works.
The Conventional Approach With Painful Periods:
When your symptoms become severe or intolerable, the first thing you do is make an appointment with your doctor. The majority of women are often ignored or dismissed and told to come back if things become worse. Advocating for yourself by firmly but respectfully requesting further investigation and solutions is your right. Unfortunately, the conventional approach to painful periods usually consists of pain management with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as ibuprofen and/or a prescription for birth control or other contraceptives is recommended.
You’ve probably attempted the use of ibuprofen or other medications before even making the appointment, so now the only option is birth control.
The problem with the conventional approach is these treatments are short-term remedies that may be helpful in the short term, but what happens when you want to stop relying on these medications? The painful periods come back with a vengeance.
Now, let’s break down the functional approach to addressing painful periods.
The Functional Approach With Painful Periods:
When you’ve tried the conventional approach and it falls short, this is where most turn to the functional approach. Before blindly making any recommendations, the functional approach digs deeper into the root cause of painful periods. This is where further investigation into your nutrition, lifestyle habits, and extensive testing to pinpoint potential root causes such as nutrient imbalances, digestive and gut dysfunction, blood sugar imbalances, and toxins takes place.
Based on all the data collected from you, precise recommendations ranging from nutrition changes, lifestyle adjustments, and targeted supplementation can be customized to you and what your body needs at that point in time. The functional approach is an ongoing process; it’s a lifestyle, which means long-term relief can be achieved.
Tips To Heal Painful Periods Holistically
Nutritional Therapy:
Use food as medicine. By making small shifts in the foods you eat to fuel your body can dramatically decrease painful periods. Here are some of the top foods you should be adding to your routine:
Omega 3-rich food sources to fight inflammation - wild-caught salmon, walnuts, flaxseeds, chia seeds, pasture-raised eggs
Magnesium-rich food sources to decrease prostaglandin levels (cause of painful cramps) - dark leafy greens, avocados, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, dark chocolate
Balance Blood Sugar:
Blood sugar imbalances impact your cortisol levels and insulin levels, which both promote inflammation in the body when overproduced to compensate for the blood sugar issues. Throughout your cycle, you’re more insulin resistant, which is another important reason to focus on your nutrition. Here are some of the top blood sugar tips to keep your blood sugar stable while improving your cortisol and insulin levels:
Balanced meals to decrease blood sugar spike - always pair your carbohydrates with a healthy protein or fat source
For example: potatoes (carb) + chicken (protein) + avocado (fat) + spinach & arugula (dark-leafy greens)
Apple cider vinegar to mitigate blood sugar spike - drinking 1 tbsp-2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar with 8 oz of water before your meals slows down the rate of stomach emptying and prevents large blood sugar spikes
Walking after meals to decrease blood sugar spike - walking for 15 minutes after eating can mitigate blood sugar spikes by pushing glucose into your cells so your muscles can use it for energy
The functional approach to overcoming painful periods is a long-term commitment to yourself. It’s truly paving the way for the future of healthcare and for women’s wellness. Working with a trained practitioner who understands the functional medicine approach to overcoming painful periods is key to getting the answers you deserve and achieving relief for good.
Ready to get to the root cause of your painful periods? Book an info call to learn how to get started with us today