As a female, you can be on top of the world and totally on your A game as far as health and fitness goes, but one thing’s for sure – no matter how healthy you eat or how regularly you exercise, your menstrual cycle is often a monthly challenge.

Throw in a few PMS symptoms, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for an emotional breakdown.

Did you know that there are essential oils for PMS that can drastically support not only your mood but also your hormonal health during this tumultuous time?

Yep, EOs have got you covered!

The Best Essential Oils for PMS Support

PMS can be a tricky thing to navigate. Not only does each woman experience their own variation of PMS, those symptoms can be anywhere from non-existent to positively overwhelming.

In the storm of both physical and emotional turmoil, essential oils can help strongly influence our mood, hormonal balance, and physical comfort.

I have used essential oils for PMS symptoms like:

• Anger
• Anxiety
• Apathy
• Back pain
• Bloating
• Brest tenderness
• Depression
• Despair
• Difficulty focusing
• Fatigue (both mentally and physically)
• Frustration
• Headaches
• Heavy bleeding
• Hopelessness
• Hypersensitivity and insensitivity
• Inexplicable crying
• Insomnia
• Irrational thinking
• Irritability
• Menstrual cramps
• Mood swings
• Nausea
• Panic attacks
• Sadness
• Stress
• Tension

And a few more I can’t recall just now. So, as you can see, it’s pretty obvious why most women dread the arrival of Aunt Flo, it just isn’t pleasant to deal with every 28 days!

My Favorite Essential Oils for PMS Support

Using essential oils for PMS have proven to be incredibly effective in treating both mild and severe symptoms associated with the menstrual cycle.

Since each woman has such a unique cycle, it’s too difficult to pinpoint a cure-all solution, so I’ve put together a few different blends below you can pick and choose from to suit your needs.

I recommend using these blends anywhere from a few days to two weeks before your cycle starts for best results so that you can give the oils a chance to do their thing. You can continue to use the blends up until your cycle ends if needed.

Try the blends you have chosen for two cycles to see how they work for you. If you notice improvement, you can keep using the essential oils as described. However, if you find that the blends are not working for you, switch up the essential oils and adjust the blend to your liking and see how it goes for another two cycles.

Below are some of the top EOs to consider when looking to improve both emotional and physical balance during your menstrual cycle. I’ve gone ahead and listed some of the emotional qualities along with some of the physical benefits of each oil.

All PMS essential oil recipes below are at a 2% dilution.

Some of the best essential oils for PMS include:

• Basil linalol – for feelings of manipulation, excellent for period cramps
• Bergamot – for all feelings of negativity and support hormonal balance
• Birch – helps you break negative patterns and heals relationships, excellent remedy for all types of pain and physical discomfort
• Black pepper – relieves feelings of anxiety, great for pain and bloating
• Cardamom – for feelings of self-pity, very uplifting, helps soothe menstrual cramps
• Clary sage – for feelings of intolerance. Anticoagulant, antispasmodic, and helps raise both estrogen and progesterone. Great for hormonal imbalance
• Geranium – self-centeredness and overt feelings to please others, helps ease nervous tension. A powerful anti-inflammatory, improves blood flow and controls heavy bleeding
• Grapefruit – for feelings of distress. Known to be strongly antidepressant and stimulating for the lymphatic system
• Jasmine absolute – for feelings of unworthiness or being used. Eases PMS symptoms and counters anxiety and nervous exhaustion
• Juniper berry – reduces mental and physical stress and increases circulation. Evokes feeling of peace
• Lavender – for when you feel abandoned or criticized. Great for all menstrual problems
• Niaouli – purifies the body of emotional wounds, soothes pain
• Nutmeg – for feelings of adrenal exhaustion. Anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, and muscle relaxant
• Peppermint – for feeling of dependence and restriction. Stimulating, energizing, and empowering. Reduces pain caused by cramping and headaches
• Petitgrain – helps us release feelings of denial, avoidance, and self-judgment. Reestablished nerve equilibrium, relaxant, and anti-inflammatory
• Roman chamomile – for feelings of fear. Very relaxing and relieves anxiety and sleeplessness
• Rose absolute – fear of intimacy. Reduces anxiety, relaxant, and anti-inflammatory. Brings balance and harmony
• Rose otto – elevates and opens the heart and mind, creates a sense of well-being
• Sweet marjoram – for feelings of disconnectedness and unfulfillment. Muscle soothing, reduces fluid retention, and antispasmodic 
• Vetiver – for an overactive or racing mind. Grounding, calming, and stabilizing. Circulatory stimulant
• Ylang ylang – for when you feel drained. Helps with intestinal distress, cramping, and emotional upheaval 

Emotional Support Blends

Apply these blends on the upper abdomen beneath the ribcage (you can read more about the solar plexus here) and the lower back as needed.

Anger and Frustration

PMS is famous for making a lot of women feel particularly mercurial, myself included. I particularly find citrus essential oils to be effective when dealing with feelings of anger, but the ones below are also great for bringing in powerful emotions.

Some of the best essential oils for anger support include:

• Bergamot
• Clary sage
• Geranium
• Lavender
• Nutmeg
• Palmarosa
• Roman chamomile
• Sweet marjoram
• Vetiver

Anger Support Blend

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil (I like sweet almond oil)
• 3 drops lavender essential oil
• 3 drops geranium essential oil
• 3 drops bergamot essential oil (FCF)
• 2 drops palmarosa essential oil
• 1 drops clary sage essential oil

You can also check out my dedicated post on the best essential oils for anger here.

Sadness and Depression Blend

When you’re feeling weepy at the drop of a pin, you need essential oils that will uplift and balance your emotions. Reach for something bright like bergamot essential oil or any of the EOs listed below.

The best essential oils for feeling sad, inconsolable, or depressed include:

• Bergamot
• Black pepper
• Clary sage
• Geranium
• Grapefruit
• Jasmine absolute
• Nutmeg
• Rose absolute
• Rose otto
• Sweet orange

Sadness Support Blend

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 3 drops clary sage essential oil
• 3 drops geranium essential oil
• 3 drops grapefruit essential oil
• 3 drops sweet orange essential oil
• 1 drops rose absolute (or 5 drops rose absolute in jojoba oil)

The “Disagreeable” Blend

This blend is catered towards those who resist everything (even “agreeable things”) and feel irritable and in constant disagreement with others. Reach for oils that help open your heart and mind like the ones below.

The best essential oils for this state of mind include:

• Bergamot
• Cardamom (one of my favorites!)
• Clary sage
• Cypress
• Geranium
• Juniper berry
• Nutmeg
• Roman chamomile

To make this blend, you need:

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 5 drops bergamot essential oil
• 3 drops geranium essential oil
• 2 drops juniper berry essential oil
• 2 drops cardamom essential oil

Apathy

If you find yourself feeling listless and apathetic towards everything and everyone in your life, you may need a pick-me-up like peppermint essential oil. Simply inhaling this oil, or any of the others below, are known to help stimulate the mind and hone focus and mental clarity.

The best essential oils for feeling apathetic include:

• Basil linalol
• Bergamot
• Black pepper
• Clary sage
• Cypress
• Geranium
• Grapefruit
• Juniper berry
• Lemon
• Peppermint
• Roman chamomile

Apathy Blend

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 3 drops clary sage essential oil
• 3 drops lemon essential oil
• 2 drops basil linalol essential oil
• 2 drops geranium essential oil
• 1 drops cypress essential oil
• 1 drops black pepper essential oil

Physical Support Blends

These blends contain oils that are great for boosting healthy circulation (which is important for the lady bits), reducing pain, and minimizing the discomfort that comes along with menstruation. Apply these oils well diluted to the abdomen.

Bloating

These are all great oils for eliminating water retention, intestinal cramping, and bloating.

The best essential oils for bloating include:

• Basil linalol
• Bergamot
• Black pepper
• Cardamom
• Coriander
• Cypress – increases circulation and antispasmodic
• Geranium
• Juniper berry
• Lemon
• Peppermint
• Roman chamomile
• Rosemary
• Sweet marjoram

Anti-Bloat Blend

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 3 drops lemon essential oil
• 3 drops juniper berry essential oil
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil
• 1 drops geranium essential oil
• 1 drops coriander essential oil
• 1 drops black pepper essential oil

Painful or Intense Cramping

For those of us blessed with painful periods, you need strong antispasmodic essential oils that help reduce the strong uterine contractions associated with intense cramps. helichrysum is especially great for this if you have it on hand, otherwise, check out the list below. 

The best essential oils for painful period cramps and bleeding issues include:

• Black pepper
• Cardamom
• Clary sage
• Cypress
• Frankincense (Boswellia carterri)
• Geranium
• Ginger (CO2)
• Helichrysum
• Lavender
• Nutmeg
• Peppermint
• Roman chamomile
• Rose otto
• Sweet marjoram
• Thyme linalol

Intense Cramping Blend #1

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 3 drops lavender essential oil
• 3 drops Roman chamomile essential oil
• 3 drops peppermint essential oil
• 2 drops cypress essential oil
• 1 drop birch essential oil

Intense Cramping Blend #2

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 4 drops helichrysum essential oil
• 2 drops cardamom essential oil
• 2 drops ginger CO2
• 2 drops sweet marjoram essential oil
• 2 drops nutmeg essential oil

Heavy Bleeding

Painful periods often go hand in hand with heavy bleeding. if you’re one of these people (I am!) then these blends will help a ton!

Heavy Bleeding Blend #1

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 5 drops geranium essential oil
• 3 drops cypress essential oil
• 2 Roman chamomile essential oil
• 1 drops clary sage essential oil
• 1 drops cardamom essential oil

Heavy Bleeding Blend #2

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 4 drops geranium essential oil
• 4 drops cypress essential oil
• 4 drops Roman chamomile essential oil

Loss of Period

For those of you trying to regain your menstrual cycle, this is the blend for you that will actually stimulate your body back into hormonal balance. Nope that if you DO have your period, these oils will not make it worse.

The best essential oils for amenorrhea (or the loss of period) include:

• Clary sage
• Cypress
• Geranium
• German chamomile – anti-inflammatory, dispels anger
• Jasmine absolute
• Juniper berry
• Roman chamomile
• Rose otto
• Rosemary
• Sweet marjoram
• Vetiver

Loss of Period Blend

• 1 oz dropper bottle
• 2TB carrier oil
• 7 drops Roman chamomile essential oil
• 2 drops German chamomile essential oil
• 2 drops geranium essential oil
• 1 drops clary sage essential oil

Using these tried and true essential oils for PMS symptoms will help balance out emotions and physical discomfort during your period.

What have been your favorite essential oils for PMS support? Please share them in the comments below!

You may also enjoy reading:

Essential Oils for Depression
Cramp Relief Essential Oil Recipe
Stop PMS-ing Roll-On Recipe
Seed Cycling for Hormonal Balance
Natural Remedies for Menstrual Cramps

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