Ginger & Fennel Seeds for Menstrual Cramps & PMS

I am not a medical doctor, but I did look to Dr. Michael Greger, M.D., F.A.C.L.M., for this amazing breakthrough! After decades of painful cramps and other undesirable symptoms related to menstruation, I was determined to find a natural alternative to Ibuprofen for pain-relief. Heating pads and epsom salt baths helped a little, but up until Feb 2020 I always needed to use Ibuprofen for 1.5 days each month just to alleviate some of the excruciating pelvic pain and affiliated lower-back and leg pain.

I looked to see if Dr. Greger had reviewed & summarized the data on natural alternatives to chemical drugs like Ibuprofen for menstrual cramps. Success! Such a simple & inexpensive alternative lies in your spice rack! All you need is ground ginger (organic preferred) & dried fennel seeds (organic preferred). As with any dietary change, you should consult your physician before starting a new dietary protocol. I used the usage levels for ginger and fennel seed that were found to be efficacious in the studies & had success for several months before writing this post. I no longer have any need for Ibuprofen, a heating pad &/or epsom salt baths!!! I am completely drug-free now that I no longer use Ibuprofen once a month.

As noted below in more detail, I also consume an anti-inflammatory diet (whole-food, plant-based) & try giving my body sufficient sleep, Vitamin D and exercise for optimum health. So it's likely that all of these practices combined with the ginger + fennel seed are working together for an anti-inflammatory effect. But even if you're not currently sticking to a strict anti-inflammatory lifestyle, there's probably no harm in trying ginger + fennel seed in place of NSAID pain relievers like Ibuprofen which have all kinds of negative side-effects. If you're anemic, I strongly urge you to check with your physician before adding fennel seeds to your diet as fennel relaxes the muscles which allows for greater blood loss during menstruation. Ginger reduces inflammation & decreases menstrual bleeding in half.

If you don't want to bother with eating 1/4 tsp of ground ginger powder 3x/day &/or if you don't want to fill your own capsules, you can purchase ginger supplements at your local natural foods store or online. But it's significantly more economical (less than 10 cents a month) to fill your own ginger capsules if you have time to make about 12-16 capsules per month. I purchase plant-based (cellulose) capsules at my local natural foods co-op & fill them with organic ground ginger powder. On the day(s) that I'd typically take Ibuprofen for menstrual cramps, I now take 3 ginger capsules (~ 1/4 tsp ginger pwd.) & eat a pinch of fennel seeds 3x/day (chew well for maximum benefit!). You can eat 1/4 tsp. ginger powder 3x/day but I found it easier to consume in capsule-form.

I purchase organic ground ginger & organic fennel seeds in bulk from the SLO Food Co-Op and fill my own capsules because it's the most economical.. Originally I used a mortar & pestile to grind the fennel seeds so I could include the ground seeds in the capsules with the ginger. But that was a bit laborious and I find the fennel seeds to be quite palatable. Now I just eat the fennel seeds 3x/day & take the ginger in the capsule-form 3x/day in place of Ibuprofen. All that's needed per day is about 3/4 tsp ground ginger powder (2 grams) + 1/2 tsp (0.75 grams) organic fennel seeds. If in addition to relieving menstrual pain, you also want to reduce PMS symptoms, data shows there is a benefit to taking the ginger & fennel seed 1 week before menstruation.

I highly recommend Dr. Greger's short video clips and blog posts on this subject which can be accessed on his non-profit website, NUTRITIONFACTS.ORG. You can search his video library for any topic of interest. As for this topic of menstrual cramps, I recommend starting with the following posts/videos:

"Fennel Seeds vs. Ginger for Menstrual Cramps & PMS"

"Dietary Treatment for Painful Menstrual Periods"

Here is some background on my journey, which may help you decide how to use this information about ginger + fennel seeds to best suit your goals. When I was in my teens, my periods were very heavy, lasted 10 days and came roughly every 3 months. The cramps & flow were so intense, I'd sometimes just curl-up into a ball on my bed writhing in pain. Doctors put me on birth-control pills to help with my painful symptoms and to "make me regular". I wish I had questioned those methods at the time, but I wasn't as inquisitive about health and wellness at that point & assumed the doctors knew best..

In my late 20's I started transitioning to what one would probably call a pescatarian diet where I ate a lot of fresh, organic produce and consumed fish and alcohol about 1-3x/month. I went off the birth-control pills, my cycles became more "regular" & menstrual pain improved somewhat.

In my mid 30's I took it a step further & transitioned to an Organic, Low-Fat, Whole-Food, Plant-Based diet which is inherently anti-inflammatory & consists of a variety of organic produce, beans/legumes, whole grains, nuts/seeds. It is devoid of refined/processed/concentrated food/ingredients like sugar, protein powders, oils & animal products such as animal muscle tissue (meat), animal mammary secretion/products (milk) and animal embryos (eggs). Since I've been Organic, Low-Fat, WFPB, my cycles became as regular as clockwork. Menstrual pain however, never subsided enough to stop the Ibuprofen until I tried the ginger + fennel seed!!

So from my personal experience, I can say that the ginger + fennel seed has worked to replace Ibuprofen for menstrual pain, but my anti-inflammatory diet may also be playing a role. I also suggest looking into supplementing with a vegan source of Vitamin D as it has also shown some benefits for alleviating menstrual pain and has various other health benefits. Dr. Greger has some wonderful videos on Vitamin D that I highly recommend.