I am a tea person, but I choose my tea wisely. I want the tea I choose to have should help me with my endometriosis, adenomyosis and PCOS symptoms, so here are the five teas that are my go-to.
Disclaimer: please remember that these teas help me. Always speak to your nutritionist and your specialist gynaecologist before you look to give these a go, because not everything works for everyone.
5 Teas that Help My Period Pain
1. Mint Tea
Mint tea has multiple benefits if you suffer from hormonal imbalances.
Androgen hormones, like testosterone, which is a male hormone, can increase PCOS symptoms and cause hirsutism which is excessive facial and body hair in women.
I speak about hirsutism at length in two of my other blog posts:
Mint has anti-androgen effects which means that it has the potential to reduce testosterone levels, helping the hirsutism and the other symptoms of PCOS such as acne!
If your endometriosis troubles your bowels especially during period time, mint tea helps reduce constipation and bloating. For some, it helps with period pain too but personally, I find it very soothing and anything warm around period time tends to relax me.
Also, if your energy dips like mine does around 11am, I find mint tea to be a great pick-me-up, a nice refresher.
My Mint Tea Recommendations
I prefer Bushwick Tea’s Moroccan Mint. They currently ship only in the US, so if you would like to give their teas a go, then you can avail a 10% discount by using the code ATE10 at checkout here: Moroccan Mint
If you’re not in the US, then here’s what I recommend.
India: from Amazon
2. Hibiscus Tea
I first tried hibiscus tea in the form of an ice tea and loved the taste. I later had it as hot tea and ummm… still loved it :D. I’m usually inquisitive about what I’m putting into my body and whether it helps or hinders me in any way.
Hibiscus tea, in fact, is very helpful for me.
If you have an irregular period cycle, hibiscus tea can help regulate it and also help with cramping during your periods. But if you suffer from low blood pressure or low sugar levels then you may need to be careful of your in-take. Also, if you’re pregnant then you ideally should not have hibiscus tea – so as I mentioned in the beginning, it’s always best to speak to your doctor and nutritionist before you add hibiscus or any other tea to your everyday rituals.
For me, right now, it works but I also don’t have it everyday. With all the other teas I love, I probably have hibiscus tea a couple of times a week because I just love the taste of it.
My Hibiscus Tea Recommendations
I prefer Bushwick Tea’s Hibiscus Tea. They currently ship only in the US, so if you would like to give their teas a go, then you can avail a 10% discount by using the code ATE10 at checkout here: Hibiscus Tea
If you’re not in the US, then here’s what I recommend.
India: from Amazon
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3. Chamomile Tea
I should’ve written about chamomile tea first because it was the first tea I had knowing that it could be helpful to some of the issues I battle.
Having chronic pain means that I am always in pain. It also means that the pain can make it tougher for me to sleep. This is where chamomile tea helps aid my sleep issues, plus it is an anti-inflammatory so in theory it should help with pain and for me it does.
Well, it doesn’t help my overall joint pains, but during period time, it soothes some of the menstrual cramping I go through allowing me to feel more restful in comparison to the days when I don’t have chamomile tea.
There are other benefits of having chamomile tea, such as lowering blood sugar levels, slowing osteoporosis and even helping during a cold.
My Chamomile Tea Recommendations
I always stick to organic teas, and the same goes for my chamomile tea recommendations.
USA: from Amazon
India: from Amazon
An additional note: If you have MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) just as I do (you can read more about it here) and are looking for low histamine teas, then check out this post from Through The Fibro Fog.
4. Ginger & Turmeric Tea
Now where do I even begin as to how brilliant this combination of ginger and turmeric is.
If you’re an Indian and have grown up with home remedies like I have, you will be exposed to a lot of ginger and turmeric – whether it’s in Indian food or a milk concoction – which the west now call “golden milk”, for us, it’s haldi-doodh (turmeric milk).
Turmeric milk is our go-to when there is sudden injury or surgery to help internal healing.
Did you know ginger and turmeric are related?! But turmeric and ginger as individual ingredients are so potent as well.
For example, turmeric and ginger are both anti-inflammatories, which helps reduce pain.
Turmeric in particular can help reduce inflammation in degenerative conditions such as alzheimer’s disease. It’s also a great antioxidant.
Ginger is antibacterial, it helps reduce nausea, which is great especially during menstruation time and it helps reduce gas.
These are all just some of the benefits of G & T and it’s my go-to combination as a tea when premenstrual symptoms begin such as abdominal pain, nausea, migraine and feeling bloated which is also known as endo-belly, that’s if your bloating is from having endometriosis like me!
In case you wish to know more about endo-belly, you can here:
My Ginger & Turmeric Tea Recommendations
I prefer Bushwick Tea’s Ginger & Turmeric Tea. They currently ship only in the US, so if you would like to give their teas a go, then you can avail a 10% discount by using the code ATE10 at checkout here: Ginger & Turmeric Tea
If you’re not in the US, then here’s what I recommend.
India: from Amazon
5. Rooibos Tea
Rooibos tea is the newer addition to this list of teas I have, so I am still discovering more about it. But, it’s a caffeine free tea which is great if you’re looking to avoid having caffeine for any reason (if you’re pregnant or caffeine sensitive or just consume too much caffeine and are looking to reduce that) plus, and very importantly for me, it helps reduce menstrual cramping.
If that’s not enough of a reason for you, then rooibos is supposed to be rich in anti-oxidants, it helps keep cholesterol levels at bay and can help manage diabetes too. But of course, as I’ve been saying all along, please always consult your doctor before you look to have any of these teas looking for such benefits.
My Rooibos Tea Recommendations
I always stick to organic teas, and the same goes for my rooibos tea recommendations.
USA: from Amazon
India: from Amazon
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That’s it from my list for now. As I try more teas I will keep adding to this list.
If you have any of these teas, or any other tea that helps you with your period pain, then do drop in your experiences in the comments section below!
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What an interesting list Shruti. I particularly enjoyed reading about how it affects you personally! In Chinese households, we avoid ‘cooling foods’ which cools the body down and causes menstrual cramps. We eat or drink ‘warming’ things to help alleviate the pain, and often I find that this theory works, at least in relation to menstrual cramps!
Mint tea and black tea actually worsens my pain by quite a bit as they’re ‘cooling’. Ginger is heaty and really works wonders for period pain. Other neutral teas like chamomile, unfortunately, don’t seem to do anything for me at all. Maybe it’s because I’m on steroids and need something ‘stronger’. Who knows?! All very strange.
Thank you once again for sharing, I enjoyed this post very much!
That’s so helpful to know Sheryl! And it’s very interesting to see how we’re all affected differently by these ‘natural’ remedies. Thank you for reading and sharing 🙂