The menstrual cycle is the process by which a woman’s body gets ready for the chance of a pregnancy every month. The menstrual cycle can range from 21 days to 35 days, but the average menstrual cycle is 28 days from the start of one to the start of the next. Menstrual periods last from five to seven days.

Menopause is the absence of menstrual periods for 12 months. The menopausal transition begins with varying menstrual cycle lengths and ends with the final menstruation.

Pregnancy – when a woman has a growing fetus inside of her uterus.

Human pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, or just more than 9 months, from the start of the last menstrual period to childbirth.

Prenatal care is the care woman gets during a pregnancy, which is important for the health of both mother and the developing baby.

Infertility is the term for women of normal childbearing age, who are unable to get pregnant, and for men who are unable to impregnate a woman, after at least one year of trying.

Women who can get pregnant but who cannot carry a pregnancy to term (birth) may also be considered infertile.

Infertility is a complex problem and has one or more than one cause; because getting pregnant is a multi-step chain of events. The cause of infertility can rest in the women or the man or can be from unknown factors or a combination of factors.

Contraception, also known as birth control, is designed to prevent pregnancy.

For example :

• Barrier methods, such as condoms, the diaphragm, and the cervical cap, are designed to prevent the sperm from reaching the egg for fertilization.
• The intrauterine device, or IUD, is a small device that is inserted into the uterus by a healthcare provider. The IUD prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. An IUD can stay in the uterus for up to 10 years (having 98% chances of infection – outer body) until it is removed by a health care provider.
• Hormonal birth control, such as birth control pills, injections, skin patches, and vaginal rings, release hormones into a woman’s body that interfere with fertility by preventing ovulation, fertilization, or implantation; but these drugs have many side effects like Cancers, Uterine tumours, Mammary tumours Facial/unwanted hairs etc.
• Sterilization is a method that permanently prevents a woman from getting pregnant or a man from being able to get a woman pregnant. Sterilization involves surgical procedures that must be done by a health care provider (cannot be reversed).

Like every woman, you wish your every month (monthly cycle to the next monthly cycle) passes a little more comfortable. One natural therapy for female reproductive system health is Homeopathy.

Common Problems

Menstrual Cramps :

• Magnesia Phosphorica (known as Homeopathic Aspirin): radiating cramps made better by warmth, for muscle relaxation.
• Colocynthis: cramps with a piercing or puncturing sensation relieved by pressure or bending over.
• Cimicifuga Racemosa: for cramps radiating into the thighs improved by lying down.
• Pulsatilla: for intermittent pains that feel like they are radiating downward.
• Caulophyllum Thalictroides: Habitual abortion, after pains. Amenorrhoea. Barrenness. Bearing down pains. Dysmenorrhoea. False conception, Labour, abnormal; false pains of labour. Leucorrhoea. Menstruation disorders, Ovarian neuralgia. Pityriasis. Uterine spasm. Uterine atony. Pinching pain in the uterus.
• Gelsemium: Rigid os (Belladonna). Vaginismus. False labour pains; pains pass up back. Dysmenorrhoea, with the scanty flow; menses retarded. The pain extends to the back and hips. Aphonia and sore throat during menses. Sensation as if uterus were squeezed (Cham; Nux v; Ustilago)

Heavy Menstrual Bleeding :

• Belladonna: Violent pressure,  Shooting in the internal genital parts, dryness of the vagina. Prolapsus and induration of the matrix. Catamenia is too copious and too early or too tardy, too pale. Before the catamenia, fatigue, colic, loss of appetite, and confusing sight. During the catamenia, nocturnal sweat on the chest, with yawning and transient shiverings, colic, or anguish of heart, burning thirst, sharp and cramp-like pains in the back and the arms. The flow of blood beyond and between the period of the catamenia. The flow of blood between the periods. Menstrual discharge bright red – very hot. Metrorrhagia of clear red blood, with a discharge of fetid clots; with a violent pain in the small of the back and bearing-down. Menstrual blood of bright colour, or a bad smell. Leucorrhoea with colic. Diminished lochia. Spasmodic contraction of the uterus. Labour pains are too distressing, spasmodic; too weak, or ceasing. Afterpains. Congestion and inflammation of the uterus and labia. Stitches in the organs. Puerperal fever, nymphomania. The flow of milk from the breast. Mammae swelled, inflamed, or indurated.
• Sabina: Abortion; after-effects of abortion. After pains. Boils. Condylomata. Cystitis. Dysmenorrhoea. Gonorrhoea. Gout. Inter menstrual flow, excessive menstruation. Leucorrhoea. Miscarriage. Moles. Nephritis. Nymphomania. Ovaries affections. Penis – cartilaginous swelling on. Phimosis. Retained placenta. Uterine bleeding.
• Cimicifuga Racemosa: Amenorrhoea. Pain in the ovarian region; shoots upward and down the anterior surface of the thighs. Pain immediately before menses. Menses profuse, dark, coagulated, offensive with backache, nervousness; always irregular. Ovarian neuralgia. Pain across the pelvis, from hip to hip. After pains. inframammary pains-worse left side. Facial blemishes in young women.
• Macrotinum: Menses scanty and dark; clotted; afterwards increased in quantity. Suppression of menses for a long time. Dysmenia.

Mood Swings:

• Sepia.
• Ignatia Amara.
• Crocus Sativus.
• Pulsatilla Nigricans.
• Arsenic Album.

Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) :

Viburnum Opulus: Menses too late, scanty, lasting a few hours, offensive in odour, with crampy pains, cramps extend down thighs. Bearing down pains before menses. The ovarian region feels heavy and congested. Aching in sacrum and pubes, with pain in anterior muscles of thighs; spasmodic and membranous dysmenorrhoea. Leucorrhoea, excoriating. Smarting and itching of genitals. Faint on attempting to sit up. Frequent and very early miscarriage, causing seeming sterility. Pains from back to loins and womb worse early morning.

Caulophyllum Thalictroides: Extraordinary rigidity of os (Bell; Gels; Ver v). Spasmodic and severe pains, which fly in all directions; shivering, without progress; false pains. Revives labour pains and furthers the progress of labour. After pains. Leucorrhoea, with moth spots on the forehead. Habitual abortion from uterine debility (Helon; Puls; Sab). Needle-like pains in the cervix. Dysmenorrhoea, with pains flying to other parts of the body. Lochia protracted; great atony. Menses and leucorrhoea are profuse.

Helonias: Loss of sexual desire and power with or without sterility. Deep undefined depression – with a sensation of soreness and weight in the womb; “a consciousness of a womb”.  Aching, dragging weakness in sacral region, with prolapsus; also at climaxes, with marked debility, profound mental gloom. Prolapsus uteri and ulceration of the cervix; discharge constant, dark, badly smelling; flooding on lifting a weight, and on least exertion; face sallow, having an expression of suffering; great vaginal irritation; pain in small of the back. Excessive uterine haemorrhage; pain in the back through the uterus. Prolapsus uteri, leucorrhoea; the os protrudes externally. Uterus low down, fundus tilted forwards; the finger passes with difficulty between the os and the rectum. Menses are too frequent and profuse in women who are feeble from loss of blood. Flow passive: dark, coagulated, offensive. Amenia. Leucorrhoea, with atony and anaemia. Threatened abortion from atonic conditions. Women with prolapsus from atony, enervated by indolence and luxury; feel better when the attention is engaged; worn out with hard work, do not care for sleep; so tired, and the strained muscles burn and ache so. Scanty menstrual flow with heaviness, languor, drowsiness, and albuminous urine. Labia and pudendum hot, red, swollen, burning and itching terribly; epidermis every morning falls off in thin, transparent exfoliations. The mucous surface of the labia is red, swollen, covered with a curdy deposit, like aphthae. Albuminuria during pregnancy; Nipples sensitive, painful, breasts swelled; nipples tender, will not bear the pressure of ordinary dress.

Gelsemium Sempervirens: Rigid os. Vaginismus. False labour pains; pains pass up back. Dysmenorrhoea, with the scanty flow; menses retarded. The pain extends to the back and hips. Aphonia and sore throat during menses. Sensation as if uterus were squeezed.

Folliculinum: with pain before the onset of menstruation, amenorrhea, and insufficient menstruation

Hot Flashes

Glonoinum: sudden hot flashes, even from sunstroke and headache

Lachesis Mutus: associated with menopause,  has flashes of heat all day, Pains from ovaries to uterus, Redness and swelling of external parts, parts, with itching and sexual desire, suppressed menstruation – too scanty (blood black); Menstrual colic, Mammae swollen and Intolerably itching tetters on and around nipples – Nipples swollen, erect, painful to the touch, Sexual desire excited: Nymphomania.

Helonias: Loss of sexual desire and power with or without sterility. Deep undefined depression – with a sensation of soreness and weight in the womb; “a consciousness of a womb”.  Aching, dragging weakness in sacral region, with prolapsus; also at climaxes, with marked debility, profound mental gloom. Prolapsus uteri and ulceration of the cervix; discharge constant, dark, badly smelling; flooding on lifting a weight, and on least exertion; face sallow, having an expression of suffering; great vaginal irritation; pain in small of the back. Excessive uterine haemorrhage; pain in the back through the uterus. Prolapsus uteri, leucorrhoea; the os protrudes externally. Uterus low down, fundus tilted forwards; the finger passes with difficulty between the os and the rectum. Menses are too frequent and profuse in women who are feeble from loss of blood. Flow passive: dark, coagulated, offensive. Amenia. Leucorrhoea, with atony and anaemia. Threatened abortion from atonic conditions. Women with prolapsus from atony, enervated by indolence and luxury; feel better when the attention is engaged; worn out with hard work, do not care for sleep; so tired, and the strained muscles burn and ache so. Scanty menstrual flow with heaviness, languor, drowsiness, and albuminous urine. Labia and pudendum hot, red, swollen, burning and itching terribly; epidermis every morning falls off in thin, transparent exfoliations. The mucous surface of the labia is red, swollen, covered with a curdy deposit, like aphthae. Albuminuria during pregnancy; Nipples sensitive, painful, breasts swelled; nipples tender, will not bear the pressure of ordinary dress.

Sleeplessness

• Hyoscyamus Niger: restless sleep associated with nervousness
• Nux Moschata: restless sleep
• Passiflora Incarnata: associated with worries and exhaustion
• Stramonium: with intermittent awakening
• Coffea Cruda: with mental hyperactivity