Time of the Month Teas
Honeybush is a go-to for me. Nice and simple and sweet without too much sweetness, plus great for cramps and stomach upset associated with PMS and periods. Also, no caffeine! Caffeine is not a friend of cramps unless it’s in midol and you don’t want to mix your midol with additional caffeine either.
I also do the hot water method, sometimes adding a chunk or two of crystallized ginger.
Chamomile is a natural choice as well since chamomile acts as a muscle relaxant.
I’m another one that needs to avoid caffeine during my cycle. I so wish it was the other way around!
I’ve read that safflower tea is supposed to be good for monthly woes, but I haven’t tried it yet. well, I’ve tried safflower tea, just not for this purpose.
Outside of ginger, cinnamon is also helps sometimes. So perhaps a nice Chai is in order. In India my friends Godmother recommended Papaya for stomach ailments and cramps. It helped a little I liked the small rounder sweeter ones.
I’m going to add my own concoction of red raspberry leaf and yarrow. Yarrow helps reduce flow and cramping, and works wonders for me… I also use a tincture/tea made up of cramp bark, wild yam, black cohosh, catnip and skullcap – and it works WONDERS. I’ve had to take prescription meds in the past to deal with these sorts of things, and no longer have to (although Advil is still my best friend on Day one).
Ooh, I’ll have to look more into this myself. I used to be on prescription meds for this as well and can’t take Advil (No NSAIDS for me). I usually depend on an external aromatherapy oil. The oil is best when made with infused oil of yarrow but I never thought to drink yarrow.
Oh, what aromatherapy oil(s) do you use? I need to move off the NSAIDS myself.
The tincture I buy when I can find it (trying to find the vial now for the company name), the tea I make myself from herbals I get at a local health food store in bulk. Same ingredients. I usually add something tasty to make it more palatable.
I usually end up using a safflower base…I’ll have to search harder for yarrow to make an infused oil.
The essential oils are: Lavender, Marjoram, Chamomile, Geranium and Ginger
Finally found the bottle; the company is called WishGarden Herbs, and they make a few tinctures for monthly woes. They also have a few teas and salves, too.
I’ve found yarrow at a few local health food stores in bulk, or even in tea format, and then just use the bags for my tinctures. I found a plain yarrow tincture once, however have yet to see it again… although a search I did just now found a few sold at Etsy, of all places.
If it helps at all, we give Red Raspberry leaf to our goats 6 weeks prior to getting them pregnant until a week after kidding time. We’ve had nothing but healthy births from our 2 goats and they get rid of their afterbirths like champs! Even our local goat lady started using it after she saw the results we got. If it works that well on goat’s reproductive organs, it’s got to work on humans as well! I get it at our local natural store and it’s pretty inexpensive, considering how it helps!
Okay judging from my recent week, I’m going to say mint and chai or even some caramel matcha.
Not a tea, but if you like bananas, they are great for menstrual cramps. Tea wise, I would pick chamomile… I swear it’s a magic herb.
That makes sense because of the potassium in them! Bananas give me stomach aches unfortunately, so when I was prego and having horrible leg cramps I started drinking lots of coconut water which supposedly has similar potassium levels as bananas. I bet coconut water might help with menstrual cramps too. You could heat it up and steep some of the other suggested herbs in it making an extra helpful drink.
I drink HUGE amounts of Ginger Tea, because I get super nauseous. I like Alvita, because it’s super strong and basically just ginger, instead of ginger mixed with other stuff. I’ve heard that cinnamon is helpful for period symptoms as well, although I’ve never tried it. And raspberry leaf, as the thread above says, is great too.
All hail the ginger gods.
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