Are muscle aches during your period messing with your quality of life? Learn more about period-related muscle aches and what to do if you get them each month.

Does your period like to make a grand entrance every month? If you’re the type of person who experiences intense menstrual cramps or heavy menstrual bleeding, you may have premenstrual syndrome. PMS can cause heavy menstrual cycles and period flu symptoms like muscle aches, headaches, and lower back pain. Muscle aches during your period can be debilitating and make it difficult or impossible to take care of your daily responsibilities.

If you’re tired of letting severe pain from your period knock you off your feet every month, there are some things you can do to fight back. From eating smaller meals to taking Hertime to balance your hormones, we have some helpful advice for how you can minimize the effects of painful periods.

It may seem unlikely that your menstrual period can cause muscle aches, but it happens all the time to women with premenstrual syndrome. Other common premenstrual symptoms include mood swings, pelvic pain, butt pain, and severe menstrual cramping.

Muscle aches are sometimes associated with menstrual pain. But there are other conditions that can potentially cause muscle aches and other premenstrual syndrome symptoms as well. They include uterine fibroids, pelvic inflammatory disease, and premenstrual dysphoric disorder. These are all serious conditions that can have a negative impact on women’s health. If you have any of these female health problems, you’re likely to experience severe symptoms such as mood swings, insomnia, pelvic pain, breast pain, and feelings of anxiety or anger.

Some women experience leg pain just before the start of their period. It turns out that cyclical leg pain is commonly associated with both period flu and endometriosis. Endometriosis is a condition that occurs when tissue that is very similar to the tissue in your uterine lining grows where it shouldn’t grow. In most cases, the tissue grows on and around the organs in the lower abdomen (such as the fallopian tubes, uterus, and ovaries). But rarely, endometrial tissue can spread to other parts of the body that are further away.

Endometriosis can lead to leg pain when it spreads to the back and puts pressure on certain nerves (such as the sciatic nerve). Ovarian cysts (which are common in people with endometriosis) can also cause leg pain by pressing on nerves that are shared by both the ovaries and the legs.

If you think you might have endometriosis, here are some symptoms to keep an eye on:

• Pain in the lower abdomen or intestines that increases at the beginning of your menstrual cycle
• Pain during or after sex
• Heavy menstruation
• Difficulty getting pregnant
• Painful bowel movements during menstrual periods
• Bleeding or spotting between periods
• Moderate to severe period pain that may become worse over time

For women with moderate to severe endometriosis, surgery may be the best treatment option. For others, symptom relief may come once the hormones are properly balanced. Eating a healthy diet and taking supplements like Hertime can help minimize the effects of hormone imbalances.

Some of us ladies experience flu-like symptoms right before our period starts. Although “period flu” is not an official medical term, it refers to the combination of symptoms some women experience right before menstruation. Some of these symptoms mimic the things you might expect to experience when you’re sick with the flu and may continue through the first few days of your period. Here are some common symptoms of period flu:

• Joint pain
• Muscle aches
• Bloating
• Headache
• Constipation
• Nausea
• Fatigue
• Diarrhea
• Tender abdomen
• Backache
• Fever or chills
• Dizziness
• Period cramps
• Leg cramps

Some women may think they’re experiencing these symptoms because they’re genuinely sick. But the best way to differentiate between period flu and the regular flu is the timing of symptoms. With period flu, symptoms are cyclical and tend to appear right before menstrual bleeding begins.

Period pain is called dysmenorrhea, and it can be divided into two broad categories: primary dysmenorrhea and secondary dysmenorrhea. Primary dysmenorrhea is cyclical pain caused by menstruation. Secondary dysmenorrhea refers to non-cyclical pain that may be triggered by pelvic inflammatory disease, fibroids, endometriosis, or some other underlying reproductive health condition.

It may be easier to prevent some types of dysmenorrhea than others. Every woman wants to do whatever she can to minimize her menstrual cramps and other unpleasant symptoms associated with menstruation. Here are some things you can do to potentially prevent period pain from occurring.

• Take birth control as recommended by your gynecologist or family physicians
• Eat foods rich in calcium (such as green leafy vegetables and sugar-free yogurt)
• Cut back on foods that contain a lot of sugar, fat, and salt
• Eat foods that are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids
• Consume more whole grains
• Eat smaller meals more frequently to avoid spikes and dips in blood sugar levels
• Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and tobacco
• Work to balance your hormones by taking supplements that support healthy hormone levels

Alternative practices that may help reduce menstrual cramps include meditation, yoga, deep breathing, massage, and acupuncture. Some women experience significant pain relief from alternative practices while others may respond better to over-the-counter pain medications or medical treatment for severe cases.

Treating leg pain that’s connected to the menstrual cycle can be tricky. What works for some may not work for others. But here are some things you can try this month to get relief from your monthly leg and abdominal pains.

• Lie on your side to help your tense nerves relax
• Put a heating pad or hot water bottle directly on your leg to relax your aching muscles
• Take an over-the-counter pain reliever as needed to manage your menstrual pain
• Try to exercise to increase circulation if you can, even if it seems counterintuitive in the moment
• Do leg stretches to release the tension in tight muscles
• Eat anti-inflammatory foods to minimize leg pain and other PMS symptoms

If you experience severe leg pain that interferes with your ability to walk each month, it’s time to call your doctor. You may need to receive laparoscopic surgery to remove some of the tissue that’s causing your symptoms.

Hertime is a remarkable supplement that contains carefully selected herbs, vitamins, and minerals known to support reproductive health in women. Often, severe period cramps and muscle aches can be tied back to a hormone imbalance.

The prevalence of hormone imbalances in women is alarming. While the exact cause of the hormone imbalance epidemic isn’t fully understood, many women find relief by consuming herbs and other ingredients Mother Nature offers plentifully. Hertime is a once-daily supplement that may help you experience pain-free periods when taken consistently. Plus, it can boost your libido as well!

To learn more about things you can do to minimize your monthly discomfort and maintain a healthy hormone balance, head over to Mixhers resources. You’ll find timely, female-centered advice to help you understand and manage your period symptoms better.