Menstrual Disorders - Generalities
The maternal instincts of a woman arise almost
entirely from the female hormones within her body. These hormones are produced
in a pair of almond-shaped organs, known as the ovaries. They are situated deep
within the pelvis, one on each side of the uterus or womb. The two major female
hormones are estrogen and progesterone. These hormones give the woman strength
and stamina and are largely responsible for the peculiarly feminine shape of
her body. The ovaries start producing large quantities of estrogen, the dominant
female hormone when a girl reaches about 12 years of age. This enables her to
grow rapidly and develop into a normal young woman. The commencement of
menstruation at this time heralds the reproductive phase of her life, when she
can have children. This phase may last for about 35 years.
The
menstrual flow is connected with the female function of ovulation or the
passing of the egg cell or ovum from the ovary to the womb ready for
fertilisation. It is a provision of nature to cleanse the inner surface of the
womb and enable reproduction to take place normally. The flow normally lasts
for about four days and has a rhythm of 28 days. The main problems relating to menstrual flow are painful menstruation,
stoppage of menstruation and excessive menstruation, besides pre-menstrual
tension. These disorders are quite common, but they are not normal. Healthy
women, living according to natural laws and eating diets of natural foods do
not suffer from the monthly ordeal.
Treatment
The various disorders relating to menstrual flow are
indicative of the low level of a woman’s health and a toxic condition of her
sex organism, which has been brought about by wrong habits of living,
especially wrong dietary habits. These disorders are made more deep-seated and chronic
by modern medical efforts to deal with them through the suppressive agency of
surgery and drugs. The disorders being systemic in origin, can be tackled only
by treating the system as a whole so as to remove the toxicity from the body
and build up the general health-level of the sufferer.
To undertake such a scheme of all round
health-building treatment, the sufferer from menstrual disorders should begin
with an all-fruit diet for about five days. In this regimen, the patient should
have three meals a day of fresh, juicy fruits, such as apples, pears, grapes,
papaya, oranges, pineapple, peaches and melon. No other foodstuff should be
taken; otherwise the value of the whole treatment will be lost. However, if
there is much weight loss on the all-fruit diet, those already underweight may
add a glass of milk to each fruit meal. During this period the bowels should be
cleansed daily with a warm water enema. After the all-fruit diet, the sufferer
should adopt a well- balanced diet on the following lines:
Upon rising: A glass of lukewarm water mixed with the freshly squeezed juice of half
a lime and a spoon of honey.
Breakfast: Fresh
fruits such as apple, orange, grapes, papaya, banana and milk.
Lunch: A
bowl of freshly prepared steamed vegetable such as carrot, cabbage,
cauliflower, squash, and beans, two or three whole wheat chappatis.
Mid-afternoon: A glass of carrot juice or sugarcane juice.
Dinner: A
large bowl of fresh green vegetable salad using all available vegetable such as
carrot, cabbage, cucumber, tomatoes, radish, red beets and onion and mung bean
sprouts.
Bed-time snack: A glass of fresh milk or an apple.
The diet factor is of the utmost importance. Fruits
and salads, nature’s body-cleansing and health-restoring foods, must form the
bulk of the future diet along with whole grains, nuts and seeds, especially in
sprouted forms. Frequent small meals should be taken instead of few large ones
to prevent low blood sugar which is common during menstruation. The foods which
should be avoided in future are white-flour products, sugar, confectionery,
rich cakes, pastries, sweets, refined cereals, flesh foods, rich, heavy, or
greasy foods, tinned or preserved foods, strong tea, coffee, pickles,
condiments and sauces. Smoking, if habitual, should be given up completely as it
aggravates menstrual disorders.
A further short period on all-fruit, say two or three
consecutive days can be undertaken at monthly intervals, according to the need
of the case. The morning dry friction and cold hip baths should form a regular
feature of the treatment. All cold baths should however, be suspended during
the menstrual period. Certain remedies
have been found useful in menstrual disorders. Cooked banana flower eaten with
curd is one of the more important of such remedies. The banana flower appears
to increase progesterone hormone and reduce the bleeding.
Beet juice has been found very effective for
menstrual disorders. It should be used in small quantities of 60 to 90 grams,
at a time two or three times a day in these conditions.
Coriander seeds are highly beneficial in the treatment of excessive menstruation. Six grams of
these seeds should be boiled in half a liter of water. It should be taken off
the fire when only half the water remains. Sugar candy should be added to it
and the patient should drink it when it is still warm. Ginger has been useful
in menstrual disorders. A piece of fresh ginger should be pounded and boiled in
a cupful of water for few minutes. The infection sweetened with sugar should be
used thrice daily after meals as a medicine for dysmenorrhoea, and amenorrhoea
due to exposure to cold winds and taking cold baths. Sesame seeds are also
useful in menstrual disorders. Half a teaspoonful of powder of these seeds,
taken with hot water twice daily, acts excellently in reducing spasmodic pain
during menstruation in young unmarried anemic girls. Its regular use, two days
prior to the expected periods, cures scanty menstruation. Warm hip bath
containing a handful of bruised sesame seeds should be simultaneously taken
along with this receipt. Safflower seeds have also been found to be beneficial
in the treatment of painful menstruation. A decoction prepared by boiling two
teaspoonfuls of powdered seeds in 120 ml. of water should be given as a remedy
for this condition. Dried flowers mixed with confection of rose can also be given
as a medicine for this purpose.
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