The comparison of the effect of dill extract and mefenamic acid on the duration of the postpartum pain: a randomized clinical trial

Postpartum pain is one of the problems of the Post-delivery period. Prostaglandin inhibitors, such as nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are commonly used to reduce pain, but may cause gastrointestinal side effects. In this study, the effect of dill essential oil and mefenamic acid on the duration of postpartum pain was compared.

108 multiparous women who had a normal vaginal delivery and suffered from the postpartum pain were recruited from Razi hospital of Ahvaz City. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups of 54: dill essential oil (1.5 mg / kg) and mefenamic acid (250 mg capsule), using a simple random sampling method. The magnitude of postpartum pain was measured by the Visual Analogue Scale two hours after birth. Patients experiencing the pain of 3.1 and more enrolled in the study. Both extract and mefenamic acid administered every 6 hours up to 4 times in case of constant pain. Following consumption of dill extract or mefenamic acid, the patient was asked to mention the duration of drug effect, the time of complete removal of the pain and the time of experiencing pain resumption. Statistical analysis was was done by t-test, Chi-square and repeated measure using SPSS Statistics V22.

The duration of pain has decreased significantly over the time (39.2±3.21 and 32.07±1.89 min for the first and fourth intervention of dill extract, and 40.5±4.09 and 31.97±3.15 min for the first and fourth intervention of mefenamic acid) (P<0.001).The mean duration of drug effect following second and third intervention showed a significant reduction in the extract group (19.24±2.05 and 20.89±2.74 min respectively) compared to mefenamic acid group (34.22± 85.3 and 21.12±3.55 min respectively) (P<0.005).

It bseems that the onset of action of dill extract is faster than mefenamic acid; so extract can be used due to the lack of gastrointestinal side effects.