How to Soothe PMS
You may think that PMS symptoms subside with age. Unfortunately, cramps, headaches, and other premenstrual pain can get worse into your mid-30s and 40s. While many of us have accepted these symptoms as “normal,” they’re anything but normal. Your symptoms could also be the result of something more serious. It’s not healthy to be in pain every month or to experience mood swings, fatigue, irritability, or even acne regularly.
There are reasons you might experience hormone imbalance in your 30s and beyond, and it has nothing to do with PMS. What a lot of people do not know is that chronic stress, nutrient deficiencies, and environmental toxins all contribute to hormone imbalance. That's where we can really help. With the muscle testing that we do we can identify those toxins, figure out what nutrients your body is missing and design a nutrition program just for you. One of the main toxins we find in women suffering from hormonal issues is plastic.
It’s great that the government recognizes BPA as a toxin that not only interferes with women’s hormones and fertility but also causes cancer among other health issues. But BPA is not the only toxin in plastic and I don’t know how long it will take for the government to recognize it. So we want to stay away from plastic whenever possible. No plastic forks, spoons, straws. If you love straws then you can buy stainless steel straws off Amazon. No plastic water bottles. I use a glass one called a flaska that I absolutely love. You can use stainless steel water bottles too. Do your best to avoid ziplock bags, saran wrap, tupperware. To store leftovers, I use pyrex, glass containers with rubber tops and I just don’t let the food touch the rubber. But if you buy a bag of frozen peas it is what it is, nothing you can do about it. I always suggest to my patients to just do the best they can. They will not be able to get rid of plastic 100%.
The hormone disruptors in plastics even influence the way genes express themselves in people with reproductive disease and obesity to make it more likely that people pass the disorders onto their children. The study of how the cellular environment changes gene expression is called epigenetics. I think it’s fascinating and for this reason we want the cellular environment to be as healthy as possible from all heavy chemicals, heavy metals and junk food so that the cell can create optimal gene expression for your health. For more info on gene expression and epigenetics watch my video.
Besides plastic other toxins that have been studied that cause hormone imbalance and can lead to PCOS and other issues are:
1. Pesticides - so eat as organic as possible
2. Phthalates (THAL-ates) are chemicals in plastic that make it soft and flexible. You can also find them in: Cosmetics and personal care products, from perfume, nail polish, and hair spray to soap, shampoo, and skin moisturizers. To learn more about phthalates and how healthy your personal care products are go to ewg.org for more information. The website is from the Environmental Working Group and it rates all personal care products and cleaning products on a scale 0-10, 0 being healthiest for you and 10 being the worst for you, meaning it’s researched to cause cancer. It’s a great website with thousands of products rated so you can choose the healthiest ones and I love the research they use to determine the score they give each product.
3. Phytoestrogens: a compound in plants that acts like estrogen in the body and if we eat too many then the hormones get imbalanced because the body thinks it has too much estrogen. Foods that contain phytoestrogens include: soy and soy products, flax seeds, grapes, carrots, lentils, licorice, bourbon, olive oil, and oats.
4. Another big hormone disruptor we eat all the time is meat that contains hormones. When animals are poorly farmed they are given hormones to grow and mature faster so they can reach the butcher faster and the farmer can have a higher turn around rate. I think over the years farmers use more and more hormones with their animals is the reason why girls are hitting puberty faster. It’s also a main cause of moodiness. I think all women know what it feels like to be extra hormonal. The last thing we want are extra hormones from the meat we eat so if you eat meat then do your best to eat quality meat without added hormones.
One particularly significant natural method of treating hormones is inositol, a type of sugar found in fruits, beans, grains and nuts. The foods with the highest levels of inositol are cantaloupe and oranges. Inositol influences the insulin response and several hormones, not just sex hormones but also several hormones associated with mood and cognition. Multiple studies have shown that supplementation with inositol may not only improve insulin resistance but also decrease male hormones in the bloodstream, lower blood pressure and lower triglycerides which makes it really helpful for patients with PCOS (poly cystic ovarian syndrome).
Also inositol seems to promote ovulation, which, in turn, may support fertility. There was a study done where women who weren’t getting their period and then started supplementing with inositol, 86% got their period back whereas the control group who was taking a placebo only 6% got their period back.
Another supplement that helps is vitamin D. Between 67%–85% of women with polycystic ovary syndrome are thought to be deficient in vitamin D. Adding vitamin D to a daily routine I have observed it to improve insulin sensitivity, increase weight loss success, slow the formation of ovarian cysts, regulate periods, minimize inflammation, reduce oxidative stress, lower cholesterol, lower high triglycerides and reduce male hormones in the bloodstream.
Another thing people don't realize is that women of all ages are starting to experience the symptoms of estrogen dominance or estrogen deficiency—way before perimenopause or menopause begin. Luckily, supplementing with the right nutrients can help. That means fewer symptoms from PMS like headaches, cramping, and mood swings. I love using red raspberry leaf to not only help with PMS but it's also great for perimenopause, menoapuse, infertility and ammenorhea too! You can drink it as a tea or take it as a tincture. The leaves of raspberry plant are believed to cure infertility in both men and women. I also use red raspberry leaf tea to help regulate menstrual cycles when the cycle is too long or too short and it’s great while pregnant too because it helps tone the uterus, decrease nausea, and ease labor pains. I also use it afterwards for breast feeding mothers because it helps increase milk production.
No matter what age you are I see time and again how hormone balance also means better health long-term. It truly is that important. For more info listen to our podcasts on Fertility Help and PCOS.
Patient Spotlight
It was generous to have one of my patients take the time to write out her healing journey with us. I found it so inspirational that I wanted to share it!
Before: 213 pounds - Age 55
After: 148 pounds - Age 58
My 3 Year Transformational Story with Healing Arts & Nutrition Response Testing
Dr. Armitstead and Nutrition Response Testing has completely transformed and restored my health and my body. After years of energetic, spiritual, emotional healing, I knew it was time to heal the body that had housed so much trauma, pain, fear and grief in its cellular memory manifesting as disease and an aged body. Healing Arts has been my passage back to physical renewal and the embodiment of health - where I am finally balanced in mind, spirit and now body.
I have been a dedicated client to this healing work for almost 3 years, abiding every appointment, every supplement, every nutritional dictate from my body’s own wisdom brought through the intuitive and skillful knowledge of Dr. Armitstead and Nova and Nutrition Response Testing. In these past three years I/we have healed (unspecified) Autoimmune Disease, Crohn's Disease, Chronic Inflammation, Chronic Migraines, Thyroid Nodules/Disease, Nervous System Disorders, Spinal Disease, Digestive Disorders, Chronic Constipation, Joint Pain, Obesity, Menopausal/Post-menopausal symptoms such as vagina dryness and thinning vaginal walls, thinning hair and sexual apathy, painful intercourse and pelvic floor dysfunction.
I have gained a body, organs, blood, heart, hormonal system, nervous system, joints, muscles, sexual organs, hair and skin that radiates the internal well being I have spent years manifesting. I have gained balance and wholeness and a belief in the wisdom of my own body’s genius. I have gained clarity, confidence, energy, wisdom, agelessness, renewed sexuality, and a love of and connection with my body that I had been dissociated with, ashamed of, and felt disdain for. I have gained a dedicated yoga practice and a love of exercising, strength training and recovery methods to care for my body because I love it, not because ‘I have to..’
When I began working with Healing Arts, It was my last hope, I had all but given up - almost buying into the belief that ‘this is just the way it is at age 50+ In post menopause...’. I had all of this light and beauty within me that I feared may be trapped forever beneath a body that had stored so much life: pain, grief, sorrow, limited beliefs, and society’s dictates of what it is to be a woman of a certain age, crying urgently to be healed. Despite having the skills to heal myself energetically/emotionally/spiritually, I didn’t know how to heal my body on my own, and the medical community only offered toxic medications and risky surgeries. I knew I needed help, and Healing Arts was the answer to my soul's calling.
Healing Arts and Nutrition Response Testing is a journey, not a quick fix - it takes dedication, faith, consistency and an unwavering ethic to what your body is asking of you. It demands an interactive approach with self and with the practitioner to take part in and responsibility for your healing. It is so worth the investment (which may at times seem ‘expensive’ but has saved me literally thousands of dollars in medical bills and medications). It is so worth the time, the supplements and the difficult releasing of some of the most addictive foods and substances we ingest in our bodies. It’s a way of life that is so worthy. It is the best gift I have ever given myself - I have lost 65 pounds, lost a dependence on medical doctors, lost a dependence on unhealthy foods and substances, lost low self-esteem and inhibitions and a fear of death and disease and gained so much joy, well-being, fearlessness, hope and possibility, healthy sexual functioning and a love of healthy and nutritious foods and cooking, and most importantly such gratitude and love for my body, it’s wisdom and my health.
I am so grateful for Healing Arts and Dr. Armitstead for helping lead me back to my body and it’s wholeness.
Thank you.