My Most Effective Remedies for Pain Relief

It’s taken me about 5 years to get my pain levels to almost zero. These days, I am living pain-free most of the time, and I can now look back and see which changes took me from a girl who could hardly stand on her period, to a girl who hardly notices its arrival.

Diet

Changing my diet made the most difference in reducing my pain levels. Before I ate for endometriosis, my pain levels were around a 9, once I changed my diet, on a good month they could be as low as a 3. There is no set type of eating you should follow for endometriosis, as we are all different, but it is generally considered by many nutritionists and experts that an anti-inflammatory diet can be helpful¹, and I’ve met lots of people who have experienced reduced pain levels from adopting this kind of eating. Inflammatory foods include caffeine, alcohol, dairy, red meat, saturated and trans fats, sugar and gluten¹ – but we won’t all necessarily respond the same to them.

I started paying attention to how my pain responded to these inflammatory food groups, and worked out from there that my key pain triggers are caffeine and sugar. I could have a great month of eating well, but if I have one of these food groups before or during my period, all that work is undone and I’m back up the pain scale.

Supplements

I’ve been taking supplements for a couple of years, and have been perfecting the ones I take as I notice how I feel from them. I take a good few supplements to help manage endometriosis, which I’ll explore in a different feature, but the two most significant game changes for me have been turmeric supplements and the new Endo Complex (which I think is currently only available in the UK).

Turmeric has been used for centuries in Ayurveda to reduce inflammation, and though the science out there on it is still not concrete, the period I had following starting turmeric supplements, was pretty much painless. Turmeric was the next big step in reducing my pain levels, where nutrition had got me down to a 3/4, turmeric took me to a 1.

The Endo Complex is a supplement created by nutritionist and author of Take Control of Your Endometriosis, Henrietta Norton. These supplements include a blend of vitamins and minerals that balance the hormones, reduce fatigue, and support the immune system. Though I didn’t expect to feel a reduction of pain from these, I experienced a dramatic change – painless periods.

Magnesium

Whenever I’m due on, I take my magnesium spray with me. This baby soothes my cramps instantly. The spray I have is fast absorbing, and boy, is it fast. It only takes a few seconds for me to feel my cramps subside once I use this.

Magnesium has been reported to help reduce period pain², and so I take both a supplement and use a spray to help control my pain levels.