Can CBD Oil Help With PMS Symptoms?
PMS is such a huge topic that we think the best place to start is with some statistics:
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Almost 85% of American women experience premenstrual syndrome in their childbearing years (1).
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About 5% of these women are disabled by PMS due to the extremely severe symptoms they experience.
Before we can dive into how CBD oil and PMS are related, let’s first get clear on what PMS is.
What is PMS?
PMS is short for premenstrual syndrome and is a combination of both physical and emotional symptoms that many women get after ovulation and before the start of their menstrual period. Symptoms of PMS occur due to hormonal imbalances, which is a very complex topic on its own that we have previously discussed it twice – hormones in general and how CBD oil affects hormones. PMS is quite hard to study since every woman experiences it so differently and there are no exact clear causes of it. However, what is clear is that PMS is a SYMPTOM of IMBALANCES in hormones. So if you are one of the 85% of women that struggles with PMS symptoms, then keep reading!
Can CBD oil help with PMS symptoms?
Even though there isn’t much research on specifically CBD and PMS, there are many studies on how CBD is effective in relieving the most common symptoms of PMS like mood changes, pain and cramping, and acne. Let’s go over each one of this one by one.
Mood Changes
Mood swings are a very challenging symptom that many women experience during PMS and can cause a lot of stress or even debilitation for some women. CBD has shown many benefits related to improving moods such as depression, anxiety, and mood disorders such as bipolar disorder. CBD is very effective in reducing anxiety behaviours that are symptomatic of many disorders such as PTSD, GAD, and SAD and might also prove to aid in mood swings or anxiety that coincide with PMS. In addition, because CBD is non-psychoactive, it is well tolerated across a wide dose range with no reported negative mood effects.
Pain and Cramping
CBD has been used to treat chronic pain, cancer pain, and arthritis as it is an effective analgesic by reducing pain and even inflammation. Therefore, it helps with the pain also caused by PMS which can include cramps, headaches/migraines, or other general body aches and pains. CBD is an excellent analgesic as well as being anti-inflammatory which means it doesn’t just help with pain in the moment, but CBD can also help reduce pain long-term by promoting healing. There are also studies demonstrating that isolated CBD could hold promise as a potential antispasmodic treatment for cramps.
Acne
Another frustrating symptom of PMS that many women experience is hormonal acne, and along with many topical treatments and dietary changes that can help with this, so can CBD. We know that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) regulates many physiological processes including cell growth and differentiation and a recent study determined that this could include sebaceous gland function (2). CBD was found to behave like a highly effective sebostatic agent due to its antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory effects, CBD has potential as a promising therapeutic agent for the treatment of acne. In a nutshell, CBD reduces the production of sebum which is the oil that clogs our pores and causes acne and could also provide relief for women who experience an increase in their acne during this stage of their menstrual cycle.
“I am a holistic nutritionist, I am a high achiever and have experiences debilitating anxiety and brutal PMS symptoms. I have used many holistic anxiety supplements and approaches. Nothing has worked quite like ICARIA’s CBD oil. […] I highly recommend Icaria for pain, anxiety and PMS.”
How to take CBD to help with PMS symptoms?
Even though most of us experience PMS only a few days a month, hormones are working 24/7/365. In order to achieve the best results, it is best to take CBD oil consistently throughout the month and potentially increase your dosage during the days when you are having pains, spasms, acne, or mood changes. Hormones are complex chemical messengers so if you want to see long term changes it is best to take CBD consistently over a longer period of time to see the desired effects.
We suggest ICARIA’s Aphrodite in the 30 mL size for balancing hormones. This is our flagship product and we think that you will love the pleasant nutty taste. It also comes in a bigger bottle so that you can take it more regularly and not run out as quickly.
You can also check out what other happy customers are saying here!
