It's that time of the month again!

Yep, you guessed it. It's time for the husband to go fishing FAR, FAR away while the kids run in horror and the dogs tremble under the coffee table. Wonderwife has mutated into SuperBitch. The only known cure is a seven day regimen of chocolate and carefully monitored pampering. Missteps must be avoided, as one tiny misplaced word, deed or object can cause SuperBitch to go into a destructive rage.

OK, so it's not quite that bad; or is it? Only Basil knows the answer. What I need to know, is if there's any way to make PMS easier on myself. I do my best to try not to take my irritation and pain out on the rest of the family, but it seems as if every month is getting worse since I had my tubes tied.

Well, one suggestion I have would be to go on hormonal birth control. Hear me out for a minute, because I did read that you had your tubes tied. The Pill, for example, regulates your hormones so that they're more steady thoughout the month, and there's less of a roller coaster going on. A lot of the time, ladies on the pill will have shorter, lighter periods so SuperBitch can stay in her cave and won't come out as often, haha. Another hormonal BC option would be a Mirena IUD (there's a whole thread on the Mirena in the Sexy and Fit section, check it out). I've had mine nearly a year, and have barely had enough bleeding to use a whole pack of pads. Mostly just occasional spotting only needing pantiliners.

Definitely check with your gyno about anything that can help. Depending on where you are (I think Denmank?) you may have to pay out of pocket for the pill or the Mirena, but maybe not if your doctor says it's for medical purposes...even if it's more for your family's sanity

Also, try to eat healthy during your period, avoid salty foods because they make you bloat terribly, and drink plenty of water. Get lots of sleep too, as sleep deprived AND PMS don't usually mix well either. Definitley exercise to some extent which will help, and make friends with your Advil and Tylenol bottles. Give yourself an orgasm or two (or Basil can do it if he hasn't gone into hiding) because cramps can be alleviated by the soothing contractions. Makes you feel good all over too! Good luck!

Here's the Mirena IUD thread I was talking about

http://freddyandeddy.groupee.net/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/350100012/m/6261041403

::Noticing a well intended silence from the Basil corner.::::

hehe
N.

OK, from a different point of view, I'd totally advise away from a hormonal birth control pill. They have side effects. Makes more sense to me to at least start looking at things that are gentler and more nourishing first, and leave more aggressive medical approaches and hormonal tinkering for consideration if simpler things don't work.

Perhaps look into diet? If you're craving chocolate, that may be because chocolate contains a rather nice helping of magnesium. Do you have bad cramps? If so, that's another sign of magnesium deficiency. 600-800mg of either a chelated magnesium supplement or (I think preferably) an ionic form of magnesium (pure essence labs makes a good one) would be worth trying. I know women who stopped having terrible periods simply by taking magnesium. You might look into whether some source of Omega 3 essential fatty acids would be helpful. As the name implies, they are essential nutrients, and most people don't get them in their diet, unless they frequently eat wild (not farmed) fish. Beware that ALL falx seed oil is at least partially rancid, and poorly utilized by the body. Fish oil is best. Nordic Naturals or carlsen are good brands; I prefer and recommend to clients Nordic.

There are numerous herbs that can be very helpful, but to really choose herbs properly, they have to be formulated for a person, not for a condition, so it'd be impractical to recommend any just off the cuff "for PMS". I guess I could say that I sometimes recommend and have seen good results with women using an herb called "scullcap" (which you would need to get from a good source - i.e. not in a capsule - for it to work well). I like to say that its good for "emotional reactivity". Diana DeLuca, in herb book Botanica Erotica calls it Bitchwort. Use a tincture made from the fresh plant or a *strong* tea of the good quality dried herb.

Rescue Remedy, available at most health food stores, would probably be worth a try.

I could go on and on, but thats it for now.

quote:

Originally posted by Nigel:
::Noticing a well intended silence from the Basil corner.::::
hehe
N.

Well intended, indeed, Nigel.
'Ere's one for you:

She is not quite that bad (far from actually), but there is a cloud hanging over, for sure.


Dear Phoenix: I agree that there is a positive effect on the hormonal "flow" from the birthcontrol pills. If needed i even think the newest system where menstruation is completely avoided can be of help when the indication is there. But we are not out there, really.
Donnaly wanted to be sterilised to avoid the hormonal control pills in the first place. I will suggest she tries those systems, but not before we have tried to probe the more probable causes.
Methinks we will try to make sure no deficiencies are playing tricks on Wonderwife first. Second i would try adding Omega3 oils and selected herbs to the diet.
Only as the third and last option will i urge her to try hormonal control.
This problem is not grave or even health threatening, afterall...

Dear Bittersweet: Thank You for the suggestions. Looking back over the diet of the last few days i think that a VERY high salt intake (Drive In junkfood) might have a role in shaping the mood too. Water for that, right?.
To start out on the magnesium: I'll stuff her with bananas and our homegrown figs. A cornmeal bread is in the works too, OK?
The Omega 3 oils are a bit hard to get into her, since she doesn't like fish, least of all the best local source for Omega 3, which would be eels from the pond down the hill. I think that will have to be in the form of fish oil capsules.
Iron is a under control nowadays, i think. Wonderwife is of a very fair complexion but when i got her here she was almost translucent with other symptoms of iron deficiency, showing on nails and hair. This was caused, i believe, by an unbalanced vegetarian diet, that her back-then-good-riddance-boyfriend imposed on her.


Much love,
Basil

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BasilBadger,

quote:

Originally posted by BasilBadger:
Dear Phoenix: I agree that there is a positive effect on the hormonal "flow" from the birthcontrol pills. If needed i even think the newest system where menstruation is completely avoided can be of help when the indication is there. But we are not out there, really.
Donnaly wanted to be sterilised to avoid the hormonal control pills in the first place. I will suggest she tries those systems, but not before we have tried to probe the more probable causes.
Methinks we will try to make sure no deficiencies are playing tricks on Wonderwife first. Second i would try adding Omega3 oils and selected herbs to the diet.
Only as the third and last option will i urge her to try hormonal control.
This problem is not grave or even health threatening, afterall...

Certainly! I wasn't sure what state she was in or how bad it really was, but definitely medication as a last result. But, I do maintain that if she's uncomfortable or driving everyone else crazy (unintentionally, of course!) that she should talk to her gynocologist. They also will have some good suggestions that do not involve medication.

In the last chunk of my above post I went over some things to do to help prevent some of the lovely PMS effects, many which I've done myself and they do help a lot. Bittersweet always has good information on more natural remedies, so I'm glad she had a chance to chime in

p.s. love the cartoon!

yeah. ive noticed my wife has taken a 3/6/9 omega and slo-mag in the past. and bittersweet is a mensch, and very well versed in the gifts of the natural world. . his words are always worth looking into.


great cartoon. heh. reminds me of brockbanks.
cheers
N.

quote:

Bittersweet: Thank You for the suggestions. Looking back over the diet of the last few days i think that a VERY high salt intake (Drive In junkfood) might have a role in shaping the mood too. Water for that, right?

well, yeah; water'll certainly help, but its worth saying that the salt of fast food is only one of the ways its dreadful. The hydrogenated oils they use are very bad/inflammatory, the meat they use is loaded with hormones (xenoestrogens, which in excess can cause irritability, restlessness and anxiety), and the "salt" they use isn't "real" salt; its a mixture of salt, chemicals to make it not clump (all pure salt clumps) and a bit of sugar... plus who knows what else. A lot of salt used in fast food and snack food isn't iodized, and so even though folks may eat lots of salt, they can end up iodine deficient (which can skew towards hypothyroid, since we need iodine to manufacture thyroid hormones).

quote:

To start out on the magnesium: I'll stuff her with bananas and our homegrown figs. A cornmeal bread is in the works too, OK?

dietary sources are ideal (click here for sources), but if she's severely deficient (and most western cultures are) a supplement will do best to initially bring the levels back up. Mg deficiency can manifest as muscle tension, cramps, hypertension, restless leg syndrome, aches... the 400mg that is the RDA here in the US isn't really enough, hence 600-800 as a recommendation.

Dark chocolate is really an excellent source, and in no way "bad". Milk chocolate, however, isn't a good option; milk binds to the polyphenols in the cocoa and renders them less active antioxidants. Plus, lots more sugar.

70-80% cocoa is from the gods...

nigel:
heh... a mensch. Perhaps, on a good day...

pills actually made my hormonal issues worse. I got off them and am glad I did. as I have gotten older the PMS has changed. I never broke out as a teen or twenty something but hit my thirties and started breaking out the week before. funny that it takes two weeks for a "zit" to rear but they are always right on time. cramps, not so much anymore, occasionally a lower backache though. now the mood issue, I am totally short tempered but I know it and I work really, really hard to do things during that time frame that will decrease stress which seems to help. I also am super horny, I mean I am bad on a good day, but I think dh wants to get out of the house for an entirely different reason as I can't keep my hands off of him.

So bittersweet whats the cure for those?

Also I didn't know there was anything but Dark chocolate, especially the super rich pure stuff, its almost better then sex

quote:

now the mood issue, I am totally short tempered but I know it and I work really, really hard to do things during that time frame that will decrease stress which seems to help. I also am super horny, I mean I am bad on a good day, but I think dh wants to get out of the house for an entirely different reason as I can't keep my hands off of him.

So bittersweet whats the cure for those?

well, of course I can't say "cure"; not allowed, in the legal sense. Hell, if you came in and told me your head hurt and you were nauseated and had blurry vision and I suggested it might be a migraine, I could get prosecuted for practicing medicine without a license.

but, educationally, figure this as *really simplified* reproductive endocrinology. Most women tend to favor the estrogen or the progesterone side of their hormonal balance. This is totally natural, and doesn't need to be corrected or fixed. BUT, if there's a gross imbalance because of an excess of one hormone or a deficiency of another, that can be problematic.

If there's an excess of estrogens (which is very common considering its prevalence in plastics, soaps, hormones given to cattle and chemicals of all sorts), people will be predisposed towards nervous anxiety, irritability, restlessness, bitchiness, volatile (mood swings) and other "outward" forms of PMS.

People with an excess of progesterone tend to be more inward, moody, brooding, depressed, despondant, negative self talk, insomnia, crying or teary eyed, and prefer to be away from others.

Acne can indicate a tendency towards excess androgens; since testosterone is an androgen, horniness might figure in here, too. This would almost be a certainty if there was hirsutism, alopecia (hair loss/thinning of the head), and polycystic ovarian syndrome. These aren't always factors if the acne/horniness seems to wax and wane with menses, but they're fairly common symptoms of constitutional androgen excess.

Metabolic syndrome (hyperinsulemia) can also be an issue; you'll see elevated insulin levels indicating the beginnings of insulin resistance, a tendency towards low thyroid, exhaustion, weight gain in the belly, adrenal exhasution, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and an increased risk of heart disease.

Anyways, that's just a basic starter for patterns I might look for when seeing a client. It's a pretty good synopsis, but actual people rarely fit neatly into boxes (most people aren't one or the other; you can have combinations), and you can only get a bit of a picture without actually seeing a person in front of you.

Then, of course, you have to know how best to address each possibility, individually for each person. Nutrition (or lack thereof, in many cases) is a big issue, but there are a number of plants that can be pretty darn helpful.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bittersweet,

Wow, bittersweet, great answer.

I'd add that at peri-menopause some women think their estrogen is pooping out and ask for hormone replacement therapy [equine conjugated estrogen pregnant mare urine].

In fact, and I found out the hard way, some women tend to get low on progesterone initially, leaving their estrogen unopposed. Which yields the signs bittersweet describes so well.

I have all the brooding moodiness he describes.

Trying to avoid a systemic fix, I asked for premarin cream, since my main complaint is that my skin, especially vagina, is taking a real beating, even with good lube. I'm acutely allergic to something in the cream.

I'm going to try a progestin/estrogen birth control pill like Phoenix suggests. I thought my doc was crazy. I'd never heard of going back on the pill in midlife. Now I can't wait to start my first pack.

And MrR can't wait either. I've been completely Beautiful, Intelligent, Talented, Charming, and Horny, in a totally bitchy kind of way.

I've tried changing my eating style, cutting down on the junk and eating more fruits for the most part, except I still drink far too much cola. My colleagues at the workshop and the cook in the cafeteria have fallen under the mistaken impression that I'm a vegetarian!

The main difference in my diet is I've been taking ginseng/guarana supplements that my doctor recommended. I recently changed educations and the one I'm working on is much more physically demanding than the one I was on before. There's still days where I'm worn to the bone, but the supplements are helping with that and I'm coming home without being completely dead on my feet.

I've also started using one of those Phillips Wake Up lamps, the kind that tries to simulate a dawn, and it's been easier to get out of bed in the mornings. At the moment, I'd like to give the ginseng and guarana/sunlamp combination along with the diet change a fair chance before I start doing more.

I was just investigating the lamp alarm, too.

[URL=toolsforwellness.com] has some neat products.

I definitely need a morning alarm that doesn't wake me up by pissing me off.

D, consider this, I discovered that specifically guarana turns me into super bitch. I had to return to satisfying my cravings with colas for the sugar and caffien.

You're feeling better with guarana? Curious because the sugar in cola makes me worse. The stimulant helps, I don't like diet cola. I think tea suits me better. Hot or cold. No sugar.

quote:

I think tea suits me better. Hot or cold. No sugar.

my tea cold and my woman hot....

i have to say some of that crap they offer up as some sort of remedial product often times just masks your real problem with another stimulant.

kinda like breaking a toe to get your mind off your toothache.