Highly Effective Indian Home remedies For Delayed Periods

Delayed periods or Irregular menstrual periods have become very common these days for a lot of women in their reproductive age and they suffer great agonies when their period does not come on time. A delay of 4-5 days may be fine but if it exceeds 8 days, then it's certainly a cause for concern.

In this post, I'll be sharing highly effective Indian home remedies for your delayed periods.

I'd been a long sufferer of irregular periods during my teenage to early twenties. I've tried most of the recipes here, along with Kapalabhati pranayama, yoga poses, mudras and other lifestyle habits.

Now my periods are extremely regular like clockwork; not a day less or more than 28. When I look back, I'm surprised how I managed those years of anxiety and fear about my late periods. 

Possible Causes of Delayed Periods

Irregularity in menstruation can be due to a number of causes. There may be underdevelopment or congestion of genital organs.

Constitutional diseases, like anemia, tuberculosis and even chronic malaria are some diseases also commonly responsible for causing scanty menses at prolonged intervals.

Some women suffer from endocrinal disorders, like hypothyroidism, toxic goiter, PCOS/ PCOD and other hormonal disturbances.

The best thing for those who are bugged by the problem of delayed and irregular periods would be to consult a gynecologist who, after thorough check-up, can find out the cause and treat you accordingly.




After ascertaining the cause for your irregular menstruation, you may try some of these effective home-remedies. Pregnancy is also the cause of a missed / late period. So you might want to take a pregnancy test, before trying these remedies.

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Indian Home Remedies For Delayed or Late Periods

1. Papaya (Unripe preferred)

Green unripe papaya is also useful in case of a delayed or late period. Cut a few pieces of raw papaya and eat half a bowl of such pieces or else you can make a simple salad from papaya and have it. However if you cannot get unripe papaya, you can make do with with ripe ones as well, but unripe ones are most effective.

2. Aloe vera

*Intake of aloe vera juice is found to be highly effective when one has a problem of irregular periods. One should start having half a glass of pure aloe juice on an empty stomach once in the morning and another half glass in the evening.

Refer to this article if you want to know the procedure of making fresh aloe juice at home. However, instead of adding any fruit juice as suggested in that article, add only pure water to it.

If making fresh aloe juice regularly is a bother for you and you have a lot of aloe plants growing at home, you may prepare aloe-sugar syrup to store it for 1-2 months.

For that you have to extract aloe-juice from the leaves of aloe plants and mix it with almost equal amounts of sugar and prepare a syrupy mixture by boiling it over a low flame. When the mixture cools, store it in a glass bottle.

Have 1-2 tbsps of this syrup regularly the first thing in the morning. Alternatively, you can buy organic aloe vera juice from the market (Baba Ramdev's aloe vera juice is also good) and have it regularly twice a day as mentioned above.

* Another way is to scoop out some fresh aloe gel (excluding the yellow part) and mix it with some of jaggery (Gud) or brown sugar and have it regularly on an empty stomach in the morning and one more time in the evening.

Read the post Aloevera For Women's Health Issues for information (& home-remedies) on how aloevera can be used to tackle various women's health problems.

3. Til (Sesame ) & Jaggery / Molasses

Consuming sesame seeds in the later half of the cycle that is during the the luteal phase (approximately after day 14, if yours is a 28 days cycle) can help regulate your cycle as they help balance your hormones.Sesame seeds are full of lignans, which block excess estrogens. Buy sesame seeds here: the white variety and black variety

They also contain essential fatty acids that promote optimal hormone production. In Ayurvedic parlance, jaggery is considered as a warm food and hence is helpful in bringing on a period. Furthermore, it is high in iron and helps with anemia too; good for those with scanty menses too. Buy jaggery here.

Both Sesame and jaggery contain calcium; sesame, particularly has a very high content of calcium and therefore helps with PMS too. Black sesame seeds have more calcium and a better nutritional value; so these are highly preferable. But even white sesame seeds will do.



* An old folk remedy recommends thoroughly chewing and swallowing one tablespoon of sesame seeds 2 weeks prior to the scheduled date of menses can bring on a period on time.

* A decoction of cumin (jeera) and gingelly (sesame) (Til) seeds, sweetened with jaggery helps to set off menstruation. Add 1 tbsp each of jeera and Til in water and boil it till the water reduces to three fourths. Add some jaggery to taste.

Alternatively you might try making Til (Sesame) ladoos (see recipe here) and have 1 such ladoo, the first thing thing in the morning followed by half a glass of cow's milk.

*If you do not want to eat seasame laddoos, you can dry roast 11/2 tbsp of sesame seeds, mix it with jaggery powder / molasses around 2 tsp and have it during your luteal phase.

*Take equal quantities of Til (sesame seeds), Pippali (Long Pepper), Black Pepper, Dry Ginger and Bharangi (see info about Bharangi here). All these can be procured from an Ayurvedic pharmacy.

Powder them and store it in a bottle. Have 1 tsp of this powder with jaggery 2 times a day, the first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and once in the evening.

 

* If you have sugar cravings during the luteal phase, which is most common, eating a piece of jaggery or a spoonful of molasses / jaggery syrup  instead of gorging on sweets will help. Buy jaggery syrup here.

 Jaggery also releases endorphins, the happy hormones that will help you deal with mood swings of PMS and as mentioned earlier it's calcium content works to your benefit during PMS.

 

4. Amla (Indian Gooseberries

 
Chew fresh, ripe Indian gooseberries (Amla) early in the morning. If fresh ones are not available, you can make do with Amla juice as well. Take 3 tsp of Amla juice and mix it with 3 tsp of honey and have it.

You can use Amla juice from Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali pharmacy or any other organic Amla juice such as this. Do not eat anything for at least one hour after that.

Since fresh Amla is not available at all times, you can use dry Amla powder as well. It’s readily available at any Ayurvedic pharmacy. Mix 3 grams of dry Amla powder with water or honey and have it at night after your dinner.

Regular intake of Amla removes toxins from blood, aids the formation of red blood corpuscles, relieves urinary problems and helps in irregular menstruation.

Try this for 2 months at least and you’ll notice the difference. You’ll feel more youthful and energetic as well.

 

5. Fenugreek (Methi)

 
Soak 1½ tsp of fenugreek (methi) seeds in water the previous night and in the morning you can see that they swell up. Have it regularly on an empty stomach.

Alternatively, you can try fenugreek tea. You can use soaked fenugreek seeds for this purpose also. Boil a cup of water and add 1½ tsp of fenugreek seeds and let it simmer on a low flame.

When the water reduces to three-fourths, turn off heat and have it in sips when it is sufficiently hot. You may add jaggery (Amazon) / molasses / brown sugar (Amazon) for taste if you wish.

Have this fenugreek tea twice a day, once on an empty stomach and once at night before going to bed.

Fenugreek tea is especially helpful for those who are bugged by PCOS / PCOD problems as it helps normalize blood sugar levels.

If taking fenugreek seeds in the morning or fenugreek tea is not viable for you, you may take it once in the afternoon by mixing a tsp of fenugreek seeds powder (buy from here) in a glass of thin buttermilk.

Having Fenugreek helps in resolving menstrual problems including irregular and late periods as well as leucorrhoea or white discharge. It also reduces swelling in the uterus and cleans the uterine vessels.

 

7. Horsegram

Horsegram is also called Hurali in Kannada and Kulith in Konkani / Marathi. Eating dishes that have Horsegram (Kulath) can also bring about your period as horsegram is believed to be heat-producing food as per Ayurveda.

It’s also good for diabetics. You can have it as Horsegram Saar (soup) (See recipe here)  or this chutney or dosa.

 

8. Drumstick

Drumstick leaves are also beneficial in case of delayed or late periods. A week before your expected period; try to consume dishes made of drumstick (Sahijan). Dishes & sabjis made of drumstick leaves are especially recommended.

Drumstick leaves have huge medicinal uses too. Read about it in this post. (Also read Skincare and beauty with drumstick leaves).

To bring on a period on time, you can try this old folk remedy. 3-4 days before the expected date of the period, take tender leaves of drumstick (1 - 2 tbsp), arka flower petals(Ekkada huvu in Kannada) ( 2-3 petals only) and grind it to make a paste.

Add some jaggery to it and consume it till you get your period.(Arka flowers and leaves should not be taken in large quantities as they can induce vomiting. If you are concerned, better skip the Arka flower and use the drumstick leaves paste only.)

Now the scientific name of Arka flower is Calotropis gigantea. In Tamil, it is called as Erukku. Read more about it in Wikipedia.

Now most of you are familiar with the garland of leaves used to adorn the idols of Lord Hanuman. These are the leaves of Arka flower. Now I'm sure you can recognise this plant.

Garlands made with Arka flower are also used to adorn Lord Ganesha's Vigrahas. Arka plant has a plethora of medicinal uses. However it is not be consumed by pregnant women as it is supposed to induce abortion.

 

Other Herbal Remedies For tackling Delayed / Irregular menstruation

* Make a decoction of the aerial roots of banyan and consume with half a glass of cow’s milk at bedtime for at least 3 menstrual cycles.

* Take a decoction of the roots of bitter gourd (karela) at least twice a day; this usually makes the period to commence.

* Saunf (fennel) seeds also found to be helpful in menstrual irregularities.

* Boil the roots of the fig (anjeer) and take the filtered decoction for a few weeks to normalize the menstrual cycle.

* A small cupful of the decoction prepared from the leaves or the seeds of coriander (cilantro) thrice a day is found to be useful in regulating the menstrual cycle.

* A cup of grape juice everyday is also believed to bring regularity of the menstrual cycle.

* Take a teaspoonful of radish seeds and grind it with water to make a fine paste. Mix this paste with a cup of buttermilk and drink.

* In scanty menses: Drink a decoction of Manjistha / Indian madder roots for an entire cycle i.e. everyday to correct anemia, if any and establish a healthy flow of menstrual blood.

[Manjistha is available at any Ayurvedic pharmacy in India. You can also buy from Amazon -  Banyan Botanicals Manjistha Powder, 1 Pound - USDA Organic - Rubia cordifolia - Cleanses The Blood & Lymph - Ayurveda]

* Eating raw carrots also stimulate menstruation. A week before menses eat 1-2 carrots regularly.

* For irregular menstruation, make a hot infusion of neem bark and take one cup in the morning, noon and evening until cured.

 

Pranayam and Yoga for treating irregular periods

* Practising Kapalabhati Pranayam for 5 minutes each time, twice a day helps to regularize the menstrual cycle and also alleviates other disorders of the reproductive system. Agnisara kriya is another such practice that helps.

* Padahastana is a yogic pose that can help a great deal in making your periods regular. For more information on this asana, read this post and watch the video here.

Other poses that help are Trikonasana (triangle pose), supta baddha konasana, Titliasana (the butterfly pose), Shalabhasana (locust pose), Bhujangasana (the serpent pose), Malasana etc. Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutation pose) also helps tremendously.

However all these asanas have to be learnt under a competent yoga guru and not to be attempted on your own.

 

Mudras For Delayed Periods and better Reproductive Health:

Along with yoga and pranayam, performing certain mudras / hand gestures will also help. Now the mudras mentioned below are not specifically for irregular or delayed periods.

But they help in the overall health of the reproductive system and other women's heath issues. These are: Yoni Mudra, Apana Mudra, Vayu mudra, Shankha mudra, Sahaja Shanka mudra, Shakti mudra and Surabhi mudra.

Do each of these mudras for 10 minutes everyday and get rid of all kinds of period problems including irregular, late and scanty menses.

You may search for YouTube videos of these mudras.

Final Note:

So do you suffer from delayed menstruation or late periods? Did you consult a gynecologist for your problem? Did you get an ultrasound done to check whether you have polycystic ovaries or for that matter did your thyroid test come normal?

Did you try any of the remedies mentioned here and did it help you bring your period on time? Do you know of any other home remedy that has been effective for irregular and late periods?

Do share your thoughts and suggestions and also your queries in the comments.

See also:

• Home Remedies for white discharge (leucorrhea)
• Home Remedies for painful menstruation
• Home remedies for PMS (Pre-Menstrual Syndrome)
• Home remedies for excessive and heavy bleeding (menorrhagia)
• A tip for painful menses.
• Why do I get constipated before menses?
• Is it normal to have a 7 days period?

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