An Open Clinical Trial to Evaluate the Efficacy of a Herbal Preparation for Menstrual Irregularities

Menstrual irregularity is a considerable nuisance for women because it leads to an unpredictable menstrual flow. It is most likely to occur at the extremes of reproductive life. Ayurveda describes Artava as the eighth Dhatu for females and also as a Upadhatu of Rasa dhatu. Ayurvedic literature has delineated different types of Artava doshas such as Artava vriddhi (menorrhagea), Artava kshaya (oligomenorrhea) and Raktapradara (DUB) and other related conditions. The treatment of these disorders is mainly aimed at controlling Vata, which is primarily responsible for causation of such irregularities. The pharmacotherapy consists of herbs, which alleviate Vata e.g., Ashoka, Triphala, Hingu, Trivrit, etc. In the modem treatment periodic use of estrogens is most common. However, increasing risk of cancer restricts practice of hormonal therapy. Hence, a polyherbal formulation has been designed on the basis of available Ayurvedic literature for use in menstrual irregularities. In the present study, the effect of a polyherbal preparation, Dabur Mensta, was studied on 50 women in the mean age group of 25-30 years (±7.34), suffering from menstrual irregularities, in an open, prospective clinical study. The drug was administered through oral route at a dose of 10 ml b.i.d. for 90 days. The subjects were sub-grouped as increased duration of cycles, decreased duration of cycles, decreased bleeding days, increased bleeding days, decreased menstrual flow and increased menstrual flow. Majority of the subjects i.e., 8 out of 13 (61.54%) with increased duration of cycles showed mean reduction of 13.48 days from baseline to end of the study. All the 14 subjects with decreased duration of cycles showed mean increase of 08.69 days from baseline to end of the study. In subjects with increased or decreased number of bleeding days (n=22), the frial drug produced improvement. The trial drug was also found to be effective in reducing the increased flow, which was clinically significant. All the subjects falling under both irregular cycle duration and irregular bleeding days reflected relief from the respective clinical symptoms. The study reveals that the Ayurvedic preparation could be effective in correcting menstrual irregularities, and, therefore, subjected to more rigorous clinical trials.