Does Lemon Stop Your Period?

Many people dismiss old wives’ tales as untrue without testing them first for themselves. While much of the advice that was passed down from mothers to daughters throughout the ages has since been proven as bunk (for example, we now know that the old wives’ tale that explained how maggots get onto meat is false because of advances in science and observations of flies), there is a surprising amount of truth in many of the ancient stories. One of those old wives’ tales that refuses to leave is a method to cut your period short by eating lemon.

Is the Tale True?

Many women have experimented with this wives’ tale, and have found through scientific inquiry that eating a lemon does indeed stop their period, keep their period from beginning, or cut their period short depending on when they begin eating the lemon. However, no formal research has been conducted on women to find out why exactly it works, or what the side effects are. Without proper research, this tale has to remain as it is – a relic of the past that seems to have some serious validity to its claims.
For example, one of the things that is said about eating a lemon is that it will stop your period, but will give you really bad cramps. Another thing that is said is that eating lemon to stop your period will make your next period extra painful. However, not all of the women who have shared their experience of lemons stopping their period have agreed that the next period was very painful, or that the lemons produced extra-painful cramps. It may turn out that women with allergies or intolerances to various substances are affected this way; without a proper study, we can’t be sure, and you will have to conduct your own personal experiments to find out whether or not it works for you.

How it Works

Despite all that talk about how we can’t know anything for 100% certain, there are two hypotheses on why lemon stops your period, one explaining why your cramps would be extra painful, and one explaining why it wouldn’t. The first explanation is that the acidic juices of the lemon mess with your body, changing the way your muscles react so that your period stops, but you have a lot of cramps. The reason the next period would be so painful is by the simple virtue of the fact that you messed with the previous cycle. 
The second explanation is similar. The acidic properties of the lemon juice detox your body, causing your uterine lining to shed more quickly. This means that all of the blood that would otherwise come out over a couple of days leaves sooner, cutting off your period if you ate the lemon during your cycle. However, this doesn’t explain why the lemon would stop your period from coming at all.

Alternatives to Lemon – Do They Work?

If a lemon stops your period because of its acidic properties, then it would make sense that other things would be able to stop your period as well. While eating (or just sucking on) a lemon is the wives’ tale, some women have experienced their period stopping just by drinking lemon water (concentrated lemon juice mixed in water) and some have even found that eating lots of other acidic fruits such as oranges, limes, and grapefruit has also unintentionally stopped their periods. Unfortunately, the same problem remains: without a scientific experiment, we can’t know for sure how a lemon stops a period, and we have to realize that it may not stop your period; it might just lessen it or lighten it.
It also means that in order to answer the question about limes, oranges, and grapefruits, you will have to conduct your own personal experiments. While those fruits would be easier to eat to stop your period, that ease is because they aren’t as acidic as lemons, and thus they would be less effective.  

In Conclusion

Lemons work far more consistently and painlessly than any of its alternatives, so if you want to stop your period or cut it short, suck on about half of a lemon during the day. Alternatively, you can juice a whole lemon (about 2 tablespoons of juice) and drink it with water to help get it down.
It should be mentioned that you should always talk to your doctor before trying to mess with your body. If you really want to stop your period, just talk to a doctor – they can give you safe, tested prescriptions that match your body type and stage in life.