Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
Nutritional treatments for premenstrual dysphoric disorder or PMDD include magnesium, vitamin B6 (pyridoxine), and reducing mast cell activation or histamine. Micronized progesterone can also be helpful.
Headaches, anxiety, insomnia, brain fog, hives, and nasal congestion. These are just a few of the symptoms of mast cell activation or high histamine.
Histamine symptoms are more common in women and often track with the menstrual cycle, occurring when estrogen is high at ovulation and about a week before the period.
More than twenty years ago I discovered something: When I stopped having dairy, I stopped having period pain.
Since then, I’ve worked with thousands of patients who have had the same result. For many women (not all), stopping dairy can dramatically improve period pain, heavy periods, endometriosis, acne, and PMS.
Thank you to my nutrition professor, who first taught me about vitamin B6 (pyridoxine or pyridoxal-5-phosphate) for PMS. It is an effective, reliable treatment for premenstrual mood problems, including PMDD.
Back then (35 years ago), vitamin B6 relieved my own premenstrual symptoms so dramatically that it was my eureka moment in natural health and menstrual health. Thanks to B6, I realised that although period symptoms are common, they’re not normal.
PMS is my favorite thing to treat because it responds so well to natural treatment. I love to hear patients say: “I was surprised when my period just arrived. I didn’t even feel it coming.”
No irritability. No headache. No food cravings. It is possible.
The first step to easy periods is to value female hormones. Both estrogen and progesterone are powerful assets, and not something to be switched off with hormonal birth control.