I'm on Day 20 of a hitherto successful juice fast (plus certain herbal teas), and my damn period is now threatening, with my usual agonising pains and cramps. This is now being followed by bloating and wind, which I always get with my periods. (This is real bad luck for me, as I'm menopausal and my periods have nearly stopped - grrr!!) Under normal circumstances, I would treat this with ibuprofen and hyoscine, the pains would go and everything would be fine - but I know I can't take any kind of drug on this fast. Does anyone know of any kind of herbal tea or drink that would help get rid of these symptoms please? Or any other suitable remedy? (The only thing I can think of to do is to lie in bed with a heating pad on my belly, it helps a bit but the pains just won't go, and they are very bad ones this time. This means I can't go to work either.)

I was actually planning to break this fast in a couple of days - should I break it now and start eating, so I can take a painkiller and/or anti-spasmodic? (I have a low pain threshold, and am not used to having to put up with these horrible achey cramps!) And just how dangerous is it actually, to take such drugs whilst on a fast?