Evaluation of the Possibility of Synergism of Medicinal Effects of Chamomile and Ginger on Pain and Symptoms of Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of combined chamomile-ginger on pain of primary dysmenorrhea and its related symptoms. Methods: This study is a randomized controlled clinical trial on 400 female students of Arak University. After obtaining informed consent, samples were randomly divided into four groups of 100: ginger with honey, chamomile with honey, ginger and chamomile with honey, and finally mefenamic acid. The drugs were taken two consecutive cycles, three times daily from 2 days before menstruation to the first 3 days. Pain intensity, associated symptoms, and bleeding were measured in the first three days of each cycle (one month before the intervention and two months after the intervention). After data collection, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software v. 19 with Kruskal-Wallis, Chi-square, Fisher, Friedman, ANOVA tests with repeated measures at the significant level of 0.05. Results: In all four groups, pain severity, the number of painful days, low back pain, analgesic consumption, total symptom score, and bleeding loss were significantly decreased (P=P0.001). However, there was no significant difference between groups, excluding total symptom score and bleeding loss. Ginger-chamomile combination was better than other interventions in decreasing total symptom score (P= P0.02). Mefenamic acid also had a better effect on reducing bleeding loss than other interventions (P= P0.008). Conclusion: The results showed that the ginger-chamomile combination acts the same as mefenamic acid in pain control, but it is better in reducing the associated symptom score than mefenamic acid.