PMS - ugh

[Daisy]

Shelley or anyone, can you please advise me on what to do for PMS? When I had candida, my periods stopped completely, which wasn't good - but at least I didn't have to put up with the dreaded mood swings, bloating and sugar cravings! The worst thing is the depression, which I get for about 10 days every month. It makes me almost impossible to live with! Please help, before my family disown me?!?

[shelley]

OH dear that's not good. Sounds like you have really bad mineral wonkyness.

Hormonal depression is not fun. Often it's just water retention where the water stays close to the head, presses on the brain, and either causes a headache/migraine or depression. Sometimes it's a lack of iron, calcium and magnesium, sometimes it's dehydration. We tend to need more fluids around our period, which is one of the reasons why we get constipated around that time.

So drink the cleansing drink, herbal teas, broths, as much as possible throughout the month and that will ease PMS issues. Analyze your diet and supplementation - are you taking a good Iron supplement? Have you had your blood tested for adequate Iron and red blood cells? A basic physical will reveal this and it MUSt be done, there's no other really good way to know. You can check your inner eyelid and tongue - if they are pale, you are still anemic and that means depression and exhaustion all the time - not fun! And you HAVE to supplement iron, there's no other way to alleviate anemia. Food alone will not do it, believe me I tried.

So cal-mag fizz, Now's Iron supplement, cod liver oil, wheat germ oil, Udo's Choice, Nutritional Yeast Flakes and lots of good protein should be mainstays in your lifestyle if you're going to beat this thing.

You also have to do comprehensive liver cleansing (herbs, not just flushing) so it can manage your hormones better.

Good luck!

[Daisy]

Thanks for the excellent reply Shelley, that's really helpful. I think you're right, my minerals are probably wonky. Can liver flushes/Epsom salts contribute to this?

[shelley]

Yes they can! Well, liver flushes only do because so much dreck comes out and so that depletes us of essentials in order to deal with the dreck. Diarrhea depletes us terribly, people will die of diarrhea faster than constipation. Epsom salts acts as a diuretic/laxative and is simply a salt form of magnesium, so it can throw off your calcium balance if you dont' take in calcium - one of the many reasons why I recommend supplementation of calcium during cleansing.

[J F]

Can people who are not technically anemic (I've always tested for normal or high ferritin levels) have periods of feeling anemic when they have a cleansing diet? During the day, my tongue and eyelids can go from pale to pink and back again. Usually, just getting a good red meat meal will be enough to have me feeling balanced. I wondered if my sometimes tendency to get pale and tired had less to do with being "anemic" and more to do with just not eating the right balance of foods to keep me running optimally throughout each day, or if I'm doing any kind of cleansing, not being mindful to make sure I get the right kinds of foods to compensate for that.

[shelley]

OH yes that's very common. It's a sign that you need to back off cleansing/fasting and switch to tonifying/superfoods for a few days. That's why cleansing should be balanced occasionally with some rebuilding (meats) rather than long periods of total fasting.