Therapeutic effects of traditional Chinese herbal prescriptions for primary dysmenorrhea

摘要

Primary dysmenorrhea is a common disease among females in their reproductive age and adolescents.The main complaint is lower abdominal pain during menstruation. Females, who suffer from dysmenorrhea, widely use nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that reduce muscle spasm by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis and vasopressin secretion. However, there are side effects when patients take them for a long time. It is therefore against this backdrop that herbal medicines are suggested as an alternative source of treatment for primary dysmenorrhea. In this paper, a review of studies demonstrating the relieving of uterine contraction and reduction in prostaglandin synthesis by alternative sources such as traditional Chinese medicines(TCM) is spelt out. TCM conceptualizes that, menstrual pain resulting from qi is due to stagnated and retained blood. Blood deficiency and coldness in the whole human body are two additional causes of dysmenorrhea. Therefore, based on these, the main focus of treatment is directed at relieving the above symptoms. Chinese herbal prescriptions exert their effects through these mechanisms: prostaglandin reduction, inhibition of cyclooxygenase, intracellular Ca2+, and nitric oxide,declining malondialdehyde, and reverse increasing superoxide dismutase. Hence, Chinese herbal prescriptions, present perhaps a more beneficial efficacious alternative in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea,more especially in the confines of complementary and alternative medicine.