Speak to a pharmacist about over-the-counter pain relief and self-care

Based on your answers, we recommend you speak to a pharmacist about pain-relief and self-care options to help manage your pain. These may reduce the impact of period pain on your life.

You could monitor your period pain for three months using a period diary (learn more about tracking your symptoms here). If the pain is still impacting your quality of life, you should speak to your GP.

Top tips to help you manage your period pain

• Over-the-counter pain relief. You can take ​​paracetamol for period pain but non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), like ibuprofen, may be more effective because they work by blocking prostaglandins. It’s best to start taking ibuprofen one to two days before you expect to start being in pain. Ibuprofen might not be safe for everyone, speak to your doctor or pharmacist about this if you’re taking it regularly.
• Heat therapy. This could be hugging a hot water bottle or having a warm bath. Heat has been shown to block our body’s pain receptors just like painkillers.
• A transcutaneous electronic nerve stimulation (TENS) device. ​​A TENS machine works by sending a small electrical current through your skin that disrupts pain signals. You can buy one from most pharmacies.
• Light massage. Massaging your lower tummy and/or lower back in gentle, circular movements can help relieve cramping and period pain.

You may also find some lifestyle changes helpful, such as:

• Stopping smoking. There’s some evidence smokers suffer more severe period pain. It’s thought smoking reduces the amount of oxygen reaching the pelvis.
• Exercising regularly. A major review found that gentle exercise such as yoga and aerobic exercise like running could significantly reduce period pain.
• ​​​Eating healthily to minimise period pain. Eat a healthy, balanced diet, with plenty of high-fibre foods, salad and vegetables. Some women benefit from daily vitamin E supplements or supplements containing gamma linolenic acid (GLA) such as evening primrose oil or starflower oil or vitamin B6.

Other symptoms

Our Period Symptom Checker only asked about heavy bleeding and period pain. Some people experience other symptoms in relation to their periods, such as irregular bleeding, fatigue, fainting, insomnia, brain fog, bloating, low mood, pain during sex, headache and more.

If you are concerned about any of these, or if your periods become irregular, disappear, or if you have bleeding in between your periods, after sex or after the menopause please see your doctor.

You can learn more about a variety of reproductive and gynaecological health conditions in our health information pages.

Your answers