Got enough of that terrible period pain? Traditional Chinese medicine might offer hope for relief, according to a large scale review on the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine on primary dysmenorhoea.
What is dysmenorrhoea? Dysmenorrhoea is a very common complaint that refers to painful menstrual cramps in abdomen. Primary dysmenorrhoea refers to pain of an unknown cause (i.e. no medical condition is identified). Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs or the contraceptive pill have been used successfully for treatment but more women are looking for non-drug therapies.
The condition affects up to half of all adolescent girls and women of reproductive age. The pain is not due to an underlying medical problem but can have a significant impact on women's lives.
Non-specified dysmenorrhoea is one of the most common gynaecological complaints in young women. The prevalence rate for dysmenorrhoea varies worldwide; estimates were from 44% in China, 51% in Singapore, 52-64% in Mexico, 60¨C80% in the United States, 73% in Sweden, 80% in Western Australia, to 45-95% in Britain.
An estimated 42-51% of dysmenorrheic women reported missing either school or work due to severe menstrual pain. There is a subset of women who do not respond to conventional treatment and turn to alternative medicine or therapy. But information on the use of alternative treatments is not clearly known. In spite of several effective therapies, such as analgesics and oral contraceptives, the morbidity from dysmenorrhoea remains a challenge to public health worldwide.
The Cochrane review was led by Xiaoshu Zhu of the University of Western Sydney, Australia. They believe that many women would prefer a non-drug alternative to their condition, as "conventional treatment for primary dysmenorrhoea has a failure rate of 20% to 25% and may be contraindicated or not tolerated by some women."
The researchers believe that: "Chinese herbal medicine offers new options for treatment, an individualised approach, and has the potential to avoid the harshness of drugs and surgery."
Chinese herbal medicine has been used for centuries in China and it is currently used in public hospitals in China for the treatment of primary dysmenorrhoea.
The researchers analysed trials comparing Chinese herbal medicine against placebo, conventional drugs such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs), and other traditional Chinese therapies-acupuncture and Chinese massage.
