Five things women did to treat their period pain before Western medicine

The experience of period pain is as old as fertility itself. Here’s how women used to treat menstrual cramping before they reached for Dr Google or modern over-the-counter medicines.

Source: Image obtained by SBS Life

Period pain, a source of monthly discomfort for millions of women across the globe, is a female experience as old as procreation and fertility itself.

But long before Dr Google or ibuprofen ever existed as treatments to ease the pain, dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps) was often managed using traditional techniques and ancient tinctures.

You can read the full version of this story in English on SBS Life here.