Menstrual cramps makes changes to the brain

Menstrual cramps create changes in the brain similar to those changes that are a response to chronic pain according to a study conducted by researchers from the National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan. The study determines the effects that are caused by menstrual cramps on the brain.

Females from the ages of 11 years of age experience menstrual cramps that are associated with their monthly menstrual cycle. Up to 90 percent of females experience menstrual pain. The study took 32 females who experience pain during their menstrual period and performed a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan. The brain scan was used to determine what type of  changes occur in the brain during the  time of menstrual cramps.

The test results taken from the MRI showed that up to 90% of the women who experienced pain had changes in their brain, mainly the hypothalamus; a part of the brain that play a vital role during a females menstrual cycle. These changes are the same caused by primary dysmenorrhea (PDM) the type of change related from chronic pain. Chronic pain is so powerful that it changes the structure and  functional aspects of the nervous system.  This study presumes that menstrual cramps can have the same debilitating affects that chronic pain has on the brain.

More changes were discovered in the brains transmission of pain, emotions, higher sensory processing and endocrine function. The study concluded that cyclic pain experienced during a females menstrual period can have longer lasting changes on a females brain functions. Perhaps, further investigation can be made to determine whether there are natural remedies through the  vessel of herbs, vitamins, diet of life style that could help deter these brain changes.