Your Path to PMS Relief

PMS or pre-menstrual syndrome can be dramatic but no matter what you’ve been told, you don’t have to just live with it. In fact, PMS is one of the easiest health concerns to treat naturally--I am not kidding!

PMS isn’t just moodiness; it can be any symptom that you experience before your menstrual cycle such as headaches, bloating, cravings, breast tenderness, depression, joint pain, etc. Your solution starts with providing a foundation of nutrition that enables your body to balance its hormones as it is intended to do. We now have the science to know how to do this naturally.  Good nutrition and dietary supplements can foster a balance at key times throughout the month.

Becca, a college student, came to see me 3 months ago complaining of a terrible case of PMS which in her case lasted up to 14 days before her period (for some females PMS symptoms start immediately after ovulation).  Besides some easy nutritional changes, she also needed a small amount of progesterone cream which she uses only during the 2nd half of her menstrual cycle.  She felt the relief within the first month.

The 3 most common hormonal imbalances to cause PMS are as follows: low progesterone, elevated estrogen, or elevated insulin.  So, your treatment will depend on your specific hormonal imbalance(s).  For example, if your progesterone is low, you may be prescribed vitamins, herbs and/or a cream to replenish the deficiency.  If your estrogen is elevated, you may benefit from a detox and eating more liver-supporting foods (such as greens, artichoke, beets, carrots, water & lemon, etc).  If your insulin is elevated, I will recommend a low glycemic diet and exercise.

The first step is to test all your hormones. But this test needs to be done on day 21 of your cycle – during your luteal phase!  Otherwise, it will not give you the information that you need.

So don’t let PMS disrupt your quality of life by forcing you to make abrupt changes in your schedule every month. It is possible to change your monthly experience without having to take harmful synthetic hormones like birth control pills or a hormonal IUD which are only going to make your hormonal imbalance(s) even worse in the long run.

If you desire guidance on how to solve your PMS woes, please contact us: https://www.itascanaturopathicclinic.com/contact to schedule a hormone symptom assessment. 

Wishing you hormone harmony,

Rachel Oppitz, ND