Dysmenorrhea: Conventional Treatments
Dysmenorrhea is one of the most bothersome PMS symptoms for women during the fertility years. In previous newsletters, we talked about the two types of dysmenorrhea, primary and secondary.
While primary dysmenorrhea is often seen in adolescent girls within 2 to 3 years of menarche, unlike primary dysmenorrhea, secondary dysmenorrhea often has accompanying pathological change in the female reproductive organs. Adult females can be prone to both primary and secondary dysmenorrhea.
In conventional medicine, the treatment options include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), acetaminophen, oral contraceptives, and surgical procedures. Although these conventional approaches provide temporary relief for patients, in the long run, it’s always important to incorporate an upstream approach and treat the cause.
NSAIDs are probably the most used pain relieving OTC for dysmenorrhea, but we can’t overlook its potential in disrupting gut microbiomes (Research Article). The disruption of microbiota in the gut can lead to gut dysbiosis, increased gut permeability, and increased production of proinflammatory cytokines.
Dysmenorrhea & Acupuncture: The Research Evidence
So what now?
Good news is that acupuncture can be very helpful for people who are seeking non-pharmacological solutions.
A research published in 2019 compared 8 randomized controlled trials with NSAIDs-controlled groups, and acupuncture groups for primary dysmenorrhea. These studies in the meta analysis have the controlled group taking ibuprofen, indomethacin, and fenbid, comparing to the acupuncture group with treatments of traditional, eye, wrist-and hand, abdominal, ear, electro, superficial acupuncture, and moxibustion in the study.
This meta-analysis showed that acupuncture, regardless of the type, has a superior efficacy compared to NSAIDs use (Research Article).
Because acupuncture is mostly safe and has shown its effectiveness in pain management, one research article studied the anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture in the treatment of dysmenorrhea. The nature of menstruation does exhibit the proinflammatory process which includes the production of inflammatory mediators, the two major ones being prostaglandin and Leukotrienes, which contribute to the strong contraction of the uterus.
Acupuncture treatment might be working on the reducing the release of prostaglandin in uterus , downregulating the inflammatory signaling pathway, NF𝜿B. By downregulating this pathway, it also downstream the proinflammatory cytokines (Research Article).
Despite the cons of conventional pharmaceutical treatments of dysmenorrhea, the good news is that there are scientifically proven results from peer reviewed research showing acupuncture is helpful in managing dysmenorrhea, giving patients more choices to support their health.
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Reference
- Maseda, Damian, and Emanuela Ricciotti. “NSAID-Gut Microbiota Interactions.” Frontiers in pharmacology vol. 11 1153. 7 Aug. 2020, doi:10.3389/fphar.2020.01153
- Luo, Falan et al. “Comparative efficacy and safety of NSAIDs-controlled acupuncture in the treatment of patients with primary dysmenorrhoea: a Bayesian network meta-analysis.” The Journal of international medical research vol. 47,1 (2019): 19-30. doi:10.1177/0300060518800609
- Yu, Wen-Yan et al. “Acupuncture for Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Potential Mechanism from an Anti-Inflammatory Perspective.” Evidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM vol. 2021 1907009. 3 Dec. 2021, doi:10.1155/2021/1907009
