Dysmenorrhea or menstrual pain is an ailment suffered by 80% of women, which means almost 50% of the world’s population, and half of them carry the same cross every month without an effective remedy.
There is an extensive narrative with patriarchal drifts, well known to all – men and women – and deeply rooted in the social subconscious, which demonizes this state and turns these common ills into a taboo. All of us have resorted to the comfortable label of “hysteria“, judging in a simplistic way and underestimating a suffering as recurrent as it is annoying.
This ideology goes beyond the limits of intimacy and has manifested itself in the lack of research on dysmenorrhea. Proof of this is that very little attention has been devoted to finding a definitive remedy for it, something surprising when one takes into account the large number of women who suffer from pain during menstruation.
Every month many are faced with the dilemma between enduring pain or resorting to drugs that in most cases are not effective.
Studies based on anti-inflammatory drugs, the “star” drug, have revealed that only 30% of women who take analgesics to relieve menstrual pain are able to relieve it. Also suffering its adverse effects: headache, nausea or an upset stomach.
More than a thousand years ago, in Persian texts of the 9th century, the use of cannabis to soothe “uterine ailments” is already mentioned. And a Chinese text dated 1596 recommends cannabis as a remedy for menstrual disorders.
The anti-inflammatory, soothing and relaxing effects of marijuana have been well known for millennia. Ayurveda medicine, a thousand-year-old Indian tradition, considers cannabis one of its sacred plants —as we pointed out in the article that we published on January 18th—.
It’s no secret that marijuana helps relieve symptoms like anxiety, depression, inflammation, and muscle pain. And menstruation is no exception. For millennia, women have used this plant to soothe period pain thanks to its natural analgesic properties.
A study carried out in 2015 by the University of British Columbia showed that 90% of women who use cannabis to combat menstrual pain manage to alleviate them. It can be smoked, taken in infusions, applied in oil and even suppositories, one of the most effective.
Of course, an efficient investigation of all available alternatives is needed to achieve safe and more effective remedies. And above all, a change in mentality, the variable that has the most weight in the prevailing thought pattern.
Just as in the case of marijuana, women face similar challenges: education, visibility, awareness, search for safer and more effective formulas.
And let’s not forget that turning something into a taboo adds to incomprehension, ignorance and hence more suffering. It is the main task of women to make visible and raise awareness to normalize an issue that affects almost half of the world’s population and that currently remains a taboo.
The only blood that is shed without suffering is still hidden under a thick veil… Let it flow, let it flower!
