Effectiveness of vitex agnus castus extract in the treatment of primary dysmenorrhea

Abstract

Background. Primary dysmenorrhea (PD) is one of the most common types of gynecological pathology and is observed in 31–52 % of young women, in 10 % of them the pain is so intense that leads to disability. In the pathogenesis of PD consider a representative of eicosanoids — thromboxane A2 with a pronounced vasoconstrictor effect. The article presents the results of clinical and hormonal examination of women with PD and developed on this basis a method of treatment. The purpose was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of treatment of PD, taking into account the multicomponent pathogenesis of the disease. Materials and methods. There were 60 women observation, randomly divided into two groups: 30 women with PD (main group) and 30 healthy women (control group). PD was diagnosed on the basis of patients’ complaints of painful menstruation and related symptoms, excluding organic gynecological pathology and diseases of the internal organs in consultation with a physician and endocrinologist. Treatment of patients with PD was performed with a combined drug, which includes a standardized extract of Vitex agnus castus L., indole-3-carbinol, 3,3-diindolyl-methane, passionflower extract, California escholzia extract. Results. As a result of treatment in patients with PD significantly reduced the intensity of pain, and 60 % completely disappeared pain, all disappeared fear of waiting for the next menstruation, significantly reduced the manifestations of autonomic vascular (from 17 % of patients to 3 %), autonomic (from 10 % of patients to 0 %), metabolic and endocrine (from 13 % of patients to 0 %) disorders and disorders of the emotional and mental sphere (from 23 % of patients to 7 %), no patient had a combination of symptoms. Conclusions. Given the safety, high therapeutic efficacy, the drug based on Vitex agnus castus extract can be recommended for the treatment of young patients with PD lasting at least 3 months.

Keywords

• menstrual pain
• hormonal balance
• primary dysmenorrhea