Analgesic effect of ginger and peppermint on adolescent girls with primary dysmenorrhea

Abstract

Present study was aimed to explore the impact of ginger and peppermint in adolescents suffering with primary dysmenorrhea. For that purpose, 150 adolescents, aged 13-22 years, with regular menstruation suffering with moderate to severe dysmenorrhea (scoring 3-5 on pain scale) and preferably not taking any medication were enrolled and randomly divided into three groups i.e. control, ginger and peppermint. Baseline data was collected with help of self-administered questionnaire. To determine comparative analgesic effect of ginger and peppermint, capsules were formulated, and each group received total number of 15 capsules in a month (3 capsules/day for consecutive 5 days). Compared with baseline data, ginger was found more effectual than peppermint in releasing dysmenorrhea i.e. observed scoring in case of ginger was reduced from mean value of 4.13 ± 0.63 to 2.10 ± 1.52 (p = 0.001). Similarly, ginger intervention exhibited gradual betterment of 10% in symptoms of dysmenorrhea but also affected blood pressure positively (p < 0.05). However, blood hemoglobin and serum calcium levels acted as independent variables in ginger and peppermint groups (p > 0.05), not affected by any mode of intervention. It was concluded that ginger exhibited superior impact in lowering pain as compared to peppermint and control groups.

Keywords: primary dysmenorrhea; adolescent girls; ginger; peppermint; pain score; relief