Abstract
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a common disorder. Although the etiology of PMS is not clear, to relieve from this syndrome different methods are recommended. One of them is use of medicinal herbs. This study was carried out to evaluate effects of ginger on severity of symptoms of PMS. This study was a clinical trial, double-blinded work, and participants were randomly allocated to intervention (n = 35) and control (n = 35) groups. To determine persons suffering from PMS, participants completed daily record scale questionnaire for two consecutive cycles. After identification, each participant received two ginger capsules daily from seven days before menstruation to three days after menstruation for three cycles and they recorded severity of the symptoms by daily record scale questionnaire. Data before intervention were compared with date 1, 2, and 3 months after intervention. Before intervention, there were no significant differences between the mean scores of PMS symptoms in the two groups, but after 1, 2, and 3 months of treatment, there was a significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.0001). Based on the results of this study, maybe ginger is effective in the reduction of severity of mood and physical and behavioral symptoms of PMS and we suggest ginger as treatment for PMS.
Highlights
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common problems in women at their reproductive age [1, 2]
No significant differences between two groups were seen with regard to demographic characteristics and menstrual history data (Table 1)
There were no significant differences regarding the total score of PMS, severity of mood, and physical and behavioral symptoms between the two groups before the intervention (Table 2)
Summary
Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is one of the most common problems in women at their reproductive age [1, 2]. There is a high prevalence of PMS; about 80% of women reported mild premenstrual symptoms, 20%–50% reported moderate symptoms, and about 5% of women had severe symptoms [7, 8]. Despite the high incidence of premenstrual syndrome, causes of it have not been clear and several etiologies have been suggested (e.g., hormonal change, neurotransmitters, prostaglandins, diet, drugs, and lifestyle) [7, 9,10,11,12,13,14]. The exact etiology of PMS is not known, a wide range of therapeutic interventions have been tested to treat premenstrual symptoms (e.g., lifestyle changes, pharmacological intervention, and nonpharmacological treatments) [15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]. ISRN Obstetrics and Gynecology complementary and herbal medicine are commonly used in the treatment of many chronic conditions such as PMS, menopausal symptoms, and dysmenorrhea [17, 20, 23,24,25,26,27]
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