Herbal remedy to relieve of dysmenorrhea by students of Iranshahr Universities in 2010

Background & Aim: Treatment with herbal medicines is very popular in all over the World. Nowadays, using medicinal plants has increased because of undesirable effects of the chemical drugs. More than 10000 plant species are used for medicinal purposes, mainly as traditional medicines in the treatment of dysmenorrhea.  The aim of this study was determining the rate of herbal remedies to relieve dysmenorrhea by universities students of Iranshahr in 2010. Experimental: This cross-sectional study was performed on 1080 female students in Iranshahr universities. Data were collected by means of questionnaire including open-ended questions. We asked them about self-comforting strategies and herbal remedies that they use to relieve their discomfort of dysmenorrhoea. Data analyzed by SPSS and descriptive statistics. Results & Discussion: 580 students used medicinal plants for reveling dysmenorrhoea. The average age of participants was 23.14±0.76 years; menarche occurred around age 12.78±1.27 years. The current survey revealed that 29 species of medicinal plants were used by the students. According to 66 percents of participants, medicinal plants were effective in reducing their discomfort of dysmenorrhoea. The most plants frequently used to treat dysmenorrhoea were ginger, dill, Cinnamon, thyme, fennel, chamomile, cumin, saffron and yarrow. Industrial and practical recommendations: The results of this study showed that 69.8 percents of the students used. So clinical trials are needed for investigating the efficacy of this herbal drug in the treatment of dysmenorrhea.