Top 6 Natural Treatments for Premenstrual Mood Symptoms
Are premenstrual mood symptoms caused by progesterone or helped by progesterone? And why do antihistamines give such relief?
In episode seven of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss the irritability, sensitivity, sleep disturbance, and even rage you could experience leading up to your period.
And what you can do about it.
The Secret Powers of Ovulation (It’s Not Just for Making a Baby)
Ovarian hormones estrogen and progesterone are beneficial for health. That means natural ovulatory menstrual cycles are beneficial for health because ovulation is how women make hormones.
Does that surprise you? Men make testosterone every day, so you might think women do something similar, but we don’t. Instead, women make hormones as a surge of estradiol leading up to ovulation and an even bigger surge of progesterone after ovulation.
The Most Common Cause of Weight Gain
There can be a strong hormonal component to abdominal weight gain. And in most people, that hormone is insulin.
In episode six of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss insulin resistance including why you could have insulin resistance even if your blood sugar is normal, the role of mitochondria, and all the ways to lower insulin and improve metabolism.
Are You Eating Enough to Get a Period?
Lost your period? You might just need to eat more. A lot more. Losing your period to undereating is called hypothalamic amenorrhea and is common, especially in women under thirty.
Hypothalamic amenorrhea is sometimes misdiagnosed as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) because both hypothalamic amenorrhea and PCOS can have “polycystic ovaries” on a pelvic ultrasound exam.
How Wheat or Gluten Affects Periods
For women with gluten sensitivity (celiac disease or non-celiac gluten sensitivity), even trace amounts of gluten can drive or worsen endometriosis, adenomyosis, amenorrhea, migraines, and thyroid disease.
For women with FODMAP sensitivity (as opposed to gluten sensitivity), a full serving of wheat or other FODMAP food can cause digestive bloating and potentially worsen premenstrual mood symptoms and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Small amounts of wheat are usually fine.
A Safer Type of Hormone Therapy
If you’re going to take hormone therapy, it’s safer to take hormones that are identical to human hormones. In other words, hormones that are body-identical or bioidentical. The concept of bioidentical used to be controversial but is now conventional and mainstream.
In episode five of my podcast/YouTube video, I discuss hormone therapy including why the concept of bioidentical was controversial when it didn’t need to be; oral micronized progesterone for heavy periods, mood, sleep, and perimenopausal migraines; and some facts about body-identical estrogen.