My Period Vol.005 - Improving your lifestyle can change your period. Using Ayurveda from my experience living in India
KK, 30 years old, nutritionist, menarche: in the fifth grade of elementary school
Current average period length: 6 days
Current average menstrual cycle: 25 days Current sanitary product used: Organic cotton napkins
-What day is your period?
A gloomy day.
However, I've gotten better at dealing with it now so I don't feel depressed, but there are days when I have to be a little patient because they try to restrict my activities like exercise.
-What image comes to mind when you hear the word "menstruation"?
it hurts.
- From here on, I'd like to look back on half of my life, focusing on menstruation. When was your first period? How do you remember it?
It was when I was in the fifth grade of elementary school. I was embarrassed because I was sicker than my friends. My mother was happy and cooked red rice for me, but I didn't understand why. I couldn't tell my friends about it. I didn't know why I was feeling sick either.
My friends who hadn't yet menstruated and the boys didn't understand that you couldn't go in the pool if you were on your period, so I felt embarrassed to visit the pool. That was the case at first.
However, when I was in sixth grade, a few students started coming to watch me when I was feeling unwell, and I felt like I had made some friends. While watching the pool, the friends watching me would say things like, "Yeah, it's started," and "It hurts, doesn't it?" They didn't say it directly, but they were hinting at it.
-Have you seen any changes since you were in junior high school?
I had period pains during my junior high school years, but I thought it was because my body was weak, or that it was just my mindset, or that the pain was getting worse because I was feeling down, so I just put up with it and told myself not to worry about it. I didn't think about trying to improve the pain or talking to my parents about it.
My parents were transferred to India from the first to third years of junior high school. At the time, there were no high-quality sanitary napkins like those in Japan in India, and I had problems with stuffiness and skin problems, so I would go out of my way to buy a lot of Japanese sanitary napkins when I returned to Japan temporarily and use them in India. This was about six or seven years ago, but there were no high-quality organic sanitary products in India.
Yes, when I was in junior high school, I was able to endure it for a long time. I was still able to endure it.
So when I returned to Japan and entered high school, the pain became so unbearable that I had to curl up in bed during class, and I started going to the nurse's office. I realized that my periods were getting worse because I was going to the nurse's office every time I had my period.
So I went to the obstetrician-gynecologist for the first time. However, they diagnosed me as normal, so I started taking over-the-counter painkillers myself. After that, even though it was the worst when my period coincided with school tests or the karate matches I was taking at the time, I continued to take painkillers without fail.
When I was a freshman in college, I tried to switch to the pill, but the side effects were so strong that I went back to painkillers. The nausea and headaches were worse than period cramps, so I decided to stop. I stopped taking the pill on my own judgment, without consulting the doctor who prescribed it, and I didn't feel like trying something else or asking for advice.
However, since the university I attended was a nutrition department, I had the opportunity to reflect on my own nutrition, and as I learned about menstruation, I realized that lifestyle habits are important.
When I was a university student, I was dating someone and there came a time when I wanted to get married and have children, so I decided to stop taking medication and reduced my over-the-counter pain medication. I didn't get any advice from anyone, but I tried to improve my condition just by changing my lifestyle, such as avoiding getting cold, not drinking alcohol, and buying over-the-counter Chinese herbal medicine, but it was a bit too much. Looking back, I wish I had relied more on my doctor.
I couldn't rely on doctors because at the time I didn't think of going to a gynecologist as a place to go casually, and I wondered how I would find a regular doctor. For some reason, I tried to solve the problem myself without consulting my parents.
-What happened after that when you became an adult?
After I entered the workforce, my condition worsened to the point that I had to take time off work on the days my period pain was so severe. I felt so bad about causing trouble for my workplace that I seriously wanted to improve it. I felt even more strongly than I did as a university student that I didn't want to be a burden to society, and I wanted to fundamentally fix it. By the way, my company doesn't offer menstrual leave, and if I said, "I'm suffering from period pain," I could take paid leave. But even though I could take paid leave, I couldn't help but feel like I was causing trouble for those around me, and it made me feel bad. I'm a nutritionist, and in my workplace, I was the only nutritionist, and even though a replacement would come in if I took a day off, in my first year, I felt like I had to do everything myself!
So I decided I needed to improve my physical condition, and I read a lot of Ayurvedic books. I think I was interested in Ayurveda because I had lived in India when I was in junior high school. I incorporated what I learned from the books into my lifestyle. There were no immediate results, but I felt comfortable regardless of my period, so I decided to continue doing it every day.
Specifically, I drink hot water every morning, clean my tongue, gargle with sesame oil, and occasionally rinse my nose with water. Ayurveda is a medical system in India. There are even hospitals that practice it. When I became an adult, I remembered that Ayurveda existed in India, so I read books about it and incorporated only the things I could do.
There are still times when I need to take painkillers, but they happen less frequently. Also, this may be due to aging, but since I turned 28, I've had more lower back pain than stomach pain. It made me realize that pain really does change. Also, I feel like the amount of menstrual flow has decreased. Incidentally, the color of menstrual blood changes depending on the severity of the pain; when the pain is intense, it's almost black, and when there's no pain, it's a bright, light color and feels smooth. However, my menstrual cycle has remained regular, coming every 25 days, and my period lasts for 6 days, which has never changed.
-Looking back on your period, what do you think?
I didn't seek help from anyone, like finding a regular gynecologist or talking to my parents, but I realized that I was trying to find a way to improve things on my own. I was embarrassed to talk to someone about it, so I tried to do something about it myself, but I think that if I had talked to someone more, I might have gotten better sooner. But as a result of searching for something on my own, I think that my period was the trigger that allowed me to adopt a lifestyle that incorporated Ayurveda.
"My Period" aims to provide an opportunity to think about and talk about menstruation, an issue that is often hidden, by recording and sharing how people of various generations and backgrounds have dealt with it. It does not endorse any specific products, services, or methods of coping. The content posted is based on each person's personal experience, so if you have any symptoms that concern you, please consult a medical institution.
