---
title: Does traditional Japanese herbal medicine help with PMS symptoms?
description: In 33 women with PMS, 24 showed improvement in their symptoms after taking traditional Japanese herbal medicine for 2 menstrual cycles, with their average sym
url: https://niyora.com/research/papers/efficacy-of-kampo-medical-treatment-focused-on-kami-syoyo-san-against-2005/
---

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- Does traditional Japanese herbal medicine help with PMS symptoms?

Study, 2005

# Does traditional Japanese herbal medicine help with PMS symptoms?

In 33 women with PMS, 24 showed improvement in their symptoms after taking traditional Japanese herbal medicine for 2 menstrual cycles, with their average symptom score dropping from 4.4 to 1.5.

 Early or limited evidence

33 women with PMS

## What they did

Researchers gave 33 women with PMS a traditional Japanese herbal medicine extract called Kami-syoyo-san. Before treatment, women rated five symptom areas: mental symptoms, headache, breast pain, swelling, and lower abdominal or back pain. Scoring was 0 (no symptoms), 1 (tolerable), or 2 (unbearable without medicine). Women rated their symptoms again after 2 cycles.

## What they found

24 of 33 women showed improvement in their symptoms. The average symptom score decreased from 4.4 to 1.5 after 2 cycles. 4 women showed little improvement and wanted other treatment. 5 women could not be evaluated after 2 cycles.

## What it means for you

Kampo medicine appeared to reduce PMS symptoms in most of the women in this study. However, there was no comparison group, so we do not know if the improvement came from the medicine, a placebo effect, or something else.

24 of 33

women showed symptom improvement

4.4 to 1.5

average symptom score change

2 cycles

length of treatment

## About the study

Original title Efficacy of Kampo Medical Treatment Focused on Kami-syoyo-san against Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) Authors Keiko KAWAGUCHI, Atsushi Niizawa, Hiroyuki Ninomiya et al. Journal 日本東洋醫學雜誌 Year 2005 Study design Study What was tested Kampo herbal medicine extract (Kami-syoyo-san) Open access Yes Read the paper [doi.org/10.3937/kampomed.56.109](https://doi.org/10.3937/kampomed.56.109)

## Topics

[Premenstrual syndrome (PMS)](https://niyora.com/research/topics/condition-pms/)[Other herbal medicine](https://niyora.com/research/topics/treatment-herbal-other/)

Research tells you what helps on average. Niyora helps on the day it hits.

Calm down, see it another way, and decide what to say, with a PMS and PMDD app built by a doctor.

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