• End of the second menstruation cycle - Start of the third menstruation cycle: Subjects will take ginger tea daily, avoid home remedies, refrain from taking pain medications and supplements, and keep track of ginger tea intake by placing a check mark each day in the daily log checklist.
• Start of the third menstruation cycle - End of the third menstruation cycle: Subjects will drink ginger tea daily. Subjects will rate discomfort using the visual analog pain scales and the symptom checklist at the end of each day during menstruation.
• After the third menstruation cycle ends: Subjects will meet with student investigators at a location convenient to the subject to turn in daily logs, visual analog pain scales, and symptom checklists.

• End of the first menstruation cycle - Start of the second menstruation cycle: Subjects will not take ginger tea, avoid home remedies, and refrain from taking pain medications or supplements.
• Start of the second menstruation cycle - End of the second menstruation cycle: Subjects will rate discomfort using the visual analog pain scales and symptom checklist during menstruation. Subjects will meet with student investigators at a convenient location to the subject and will complete surveys and questionnaires. Subjects will be given daily logs, visual analog pain scales, symptom checklists, and supplies for the ginger tea.

1. Ginger tea - Swanson Organic: 100% Certified Organic Ginger Root Tea

• Subjects will use one tea bag (contains two grams ginger root), mix with eight ounces of boiling water, steep for three minutes, and allow it to cool to room temperature before drinking. This will be done every day for one month before their third menstruation cycle and during their third menstruation cycle.

• The Visual Analogue scale is a form of a Likert scale that gives the interviewee maximum freedom to estimate their pain intensity. The interviewee will mark a line along the 10-cm scale which they perceive corresponds best to their exact pain intensity every day for the duration of the study. A score of zero indicated no pain and a score of 10 indicated the most severe pain felt.

• The Visual Analogue scale is a form of a Likert scale that gives the interviewee maximum freedom to estimate their pain intensity. The interviewee will mark a line along the 10-cm scale which they perceive corresponds best to their exact pain intensity every day for the duration of the study. A score of zero indicated no pain and a score of 10 indicated the most severe pain felt.

RAND developed this validated survey and it is a set of generic, coherent, and easily administered quality-of-life measures. These measures rely upon patient self-reporting and are now widely utilized by managed care organizations and by Medicare for routine monitoring and assessment of care outcomes in adult patients. This survey consists of eight scaled scores which are the weighted sums of the questions in each section. The sections include vitality, physical functioning, bodily pain, physical role functioning, general health perception, emotional role functioning, social role functioning, and mental health. Each scale is transformed into a 0-100 scale and the lower score indicates more disability while the higher represents less disability. It can take participants at least half an hour to complete and will be assessed over a one-month period.