Jen Gunter Instagram – This dude is such an example of misogyny in the world of “alternative medicine.” The main cause of primary dysmenorrhea (“regular” painful periods) is prostaglandins. Denying this means you want to hide something from women and girls, or are just too uneducated to know. There are of course other causes of painful periods, such as endometriosis and adenomyosis, and these are referred to as secondary dysmenorrhea. There are evidence based treatments, and when someone asks for therapies that aren’t pills, the first thing to do is to explain that NSAIDs can be highly effective for primary dysmenorrhea. The person asking the question might not know! An ethical person would explain that the vitamins and herbal remedies are poorly tested compared to medications and may not contain what they claim. In addition, hormonal contraception of all kinds can be very effective for primary dysmenorrhea. The best evidence for non medication alternatives for painful periods seems to be a TENS unit. I have a whole chapter on alternative approaches for painful periods in my book Blood. It isn’t wrong to choose these methods, it is wrong for anyone to misinform about them. When you present options that are unstudied or understudied it is important people know that so they truly have informed choice. And don’t tell a teen or woman that her painful periods are due to stress. Just don’t. It wasn’t stress that kept me home from school one day each cycle, it was my effing prostaglandins. Then again, maybe chiropractors and naturopaths don’t actually learn about prostaglandins in school, which wouldn’t surprise me.