Period Problems: 3 Women Share Their Favorite PMS Remedies
Key takeaways:
Common PMS symptoms include mood swings, bloating, cramping, sleep struggles, and fatigue.
Many women keep over-the-counter pain relievers on hand for period relief.
Other go-to items include herbal remedies, sleep aids, and supplements.
Our Medicine Cabinet series explores what real people keep on hand and consider essential for their particular needs — even if a doctor didn’t prescribe it.
PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome. This term is generally used to describe a range of symptoms that a person might experience leading up to menstruation.
Symptoms usually start about a week before menstruation and vary in severity by person. They might include:
Bloating
Food cravings
Difficulty sleeping
Irritability
Cramping
A variety of products claim to relieve PMS symptoms. Here, three women share their favorite products for period relief.
Over-the-counter pain relievers
McKayla Schulke, a 25-year-old nurse in Minnesota, describes her period pain as “a mild to moderate intense pressure in my pelvic floor area and a dull ache in my back.”
She finds over-the-counter pain medications to be a great source of relief.
“I use Tylenol or Midol to treat my cramps, headaches, and occasional joint pain,” she says. “And if the pain gets really bad, I switch over to NSAIDs to help relieve the inflammation and cramping.”
Lisamarie Monaco, a 50-year-old insurance agent from Jacksonville, Florida, also heads to the drugstore for pain relief from PMS symptoms like headaches.
“The best things to keep in your medicine cabinet for PMS symptoms are Pamprin, Tylenol, and ibuprofen,” Lisamarie says.
Products and habits to address bloating
Lisamarie’s primary PMS symptom is bloating. That’s why her favorite pain reliever is Pamprin, a combination of three medications: acetaminophen (an analgesic), pamabrom (a diuretic, or water pill), and pyrilamine (an antihistamine).
“Pamprin helps with my bloating, especially if I take it a few days before I know my PMS will begin,” she says.
Nicole Swingle, a registered dietitian in California, also struggles with bloating from PMS. So she’s mindful about what she eats to ease her symptoms.
“The symptoms I experience with PMS are primarily bloating, as well as pain from menstrual cramps and back pain,” she says. “To combat bloating, I eat several foods with antioxidants — like berries, spinach, sweet potatoes, and carrots.”
She also finds that calcium helps with her symptoms. “Foods high in calcium are dairy products like Greek yogurt, milk, and products with calcium added, like orange juice,” she says.
Multivitamins and supplements
Nicole also reaches for multivitamins and supplements to deal with PMS symptoms.
“I like to have magnesium,” she says. Magnesium is a mineral found in foods like nuts, seeds, and beans or available as a supplement. There’s evidence that magnesium can help with symptoms like migraines. Nicole says it also helps her relax and sleep.
McKayla finds that to be the case, too.
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“I also take a multivitamin that contains magnesium and other natural supplements that help my body to relax and fall asleep more easily,” McKayla says.
Anti-anxiety medications
McKayla also takes the prescription medication sertraline (Zoloft) to treat anxiety and depression. She says it helps with mood changes that come with her period, as well.
“My doctor recommended I take sertraline at night to help me sleep better,” she says.
Before she started taking it, McKayla says that she would feel an increase in anxiety and feelings of depression a couple of weeks prior to the start of her period.
Herbal remedies
Some people find herbal remedies and teas to be handy during their struggles with PMS, as well., to ease stress and anxiety and help with sleep.
Comfort items and activities
Other go-tos for PMS aren’t necessarily found in medicine cabinets. They’re comfort items like hot water bottles, heating pads, and weighted blankets.
Some women recommend hot baths to relieve menstrual-related cramping, muscle, and joint pain. McKayla recommends moving your body to enhance your mood.
“I find movement and exercise help to relieve my symptoms, as well,” she says.
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