PMS Not So Bad This Month

This past month, I have not had such bad PMS nor did I have really bad period pain either and my periods came 28 days after the previous month's menstruation. This menstrual cycle was one of my more nicer ones, so that was a great relief.

I think it was because I didn't eat much of anything that was bad for me - I think I had only one packet of chips (and they were made with all organic ingredients) and I generally ate mostly healthy things every day, lots of vegetables and fruit (all organic of course), some protein, some nuts and seeds most day (pecans, walnuts, sesame seeds, hazelnuts, almonds) and every meal I had for lunch and dinner was home made from scratch by me. The only junk food I may have had was chocolate, always dark and mostly always organic (or at least European). But as we all know, chocolate is actually good for you, especially dark chocolate and definitely organic, so it's not a bad thing to eat chocolate.

I also did some exercise every day, just a little and that helped to ensure my circulation was working properly.

In addition to that, I did some affirmations most nights (and some days) as well as proper breathing and some meditation, plus I did a little bit of massage on my legs - both upper and lower parts - on a number of days, so that also helped with circulation.

The only part of my periods that was a little annoying was that my stomach got bloated and my ankles hurt (from the fluid retention) for a few days. The bloating though, stayed throughout my whole period, but as soon as it was over, my stomach went back to being flat again. The other thing that is really annoying about my periods is that I get excessively tired (hypersomnia) for 2-3 days just before my periods, during PMS and all through my periods. I think it is because of the iron loss in the blood so I am replacing it with an iron supplement this month to prevent this next month, as I know that I am slightly anaemic.

The PMS I had was less severe and didn't affect my ability to function, so it was quite bearable. I only felt it at certain times on a few days, but it was not anything severe so it was nice. I can only wish my cycle was this good every month with little PMS and basically no menstrual pain.

PMS and PMDD - How I am coping today

Well I have been saying: "It's only PMS" every time I feel like crying about some silly thing or other and the feeling immediately dissipates. That's how I really know that it's not a real feeling, because when I am really upset about something then no matter what I say the feeling doesn't immediately go away. Plus, when I don't have PMS, I do not tend to get so irrational and overly emotional like now. 

It's rather interesting how I can influence my mind so much as to dissipate (and cut off before they manifest too badly) those negative emotions with just those 3 simple words - "It's only PMS". It's rather comforting to know that it is just PMS making me feel like that and not something else, because it's almost like I wave those excessive emotions away with my hand when I say, "its only PMS". 

It is really interesting how I can be feeling normal emotions one second and then I feel like crying the next second and as soon as I say those words, I go back to feeling normal again. It truly is an amazing shift and it's interesting to observe that shift of emotions and generally within a few seconds: normal -> irrational -> normal. Oh and I have stopped sighing so much today. I think it is entirely due to the fact that I have been feeling more on an even emotional level today (compared to yesterday).

And my menstruation is supposed to start in a few days, so no wonder I am getting such strong PMS now - it is so close to the start of my cycle. And I described in my previous post why it was my fault that I am experiencing rather bad PMS (probably the worst in quite a while).

So, ladies, if I can do it, so can you. It is more of a challenge to do the natural way for some women, but it does work. I have to just get back to exercising, meditation, eating more regularly and I will be fine. I think I will do a little bit of dancing today - release some of those hormones.

PMS is Back With a Vengeance!

PMS is back this month with a vengeance! And it's all my fault.

It's not so much the physical symptoms (although I do have some fluid retention around my whole body and breasts), it's more the emotional symptoms that have come back. Grrr!

But it's my own fault really. I know I have to do everything I need to, in order to make myself better, but this month I have not been doing everything. I have been eating well in general, but I haven't been eating at regular times. I also have done absolutely no exercise (its freezing here and winter makes me so apathetic in terms of exercise) and I have been doing no meditation and no self-massaging. And, on top of that, I have been under some stress, which is not helping. So what else am I going to expect?

I am feeling all the classic symptoms this month so much more than usual:

• wanting to cry
• feeling angry
• feeling easily irritated
• hating everyone
• isolating myself
• no energy
• very apathetic

Great set of symptoms huh? No wonder men get so scared when we utter those three letters - PMS and now PMDD.

But, what I have been doing to make myself feel better is the following:

• When I feel any negative emotion boiling up I simply tell myself "it's only PMS" and that seems to make me feel better. If I don't know why I am feeling bad, then I usually take hold of whatever is annoying me and making it so much bigger and more horrible than it really is and then I just feel worse and worse and worse, with the negative feelings feeding on the PMS and then I fall into a pit of despair and depression, which is not helpful for me. So by telling myself that "it's only PMS" it means I am cutting off the negative emotions before they spiral out of control. It's basically a reality check I decided on trying (I don't even remember how I came to think like this) to make me realise that these negative emotions were not real (or really ultra exaggerated) and only a symptom of PMS. Seriously, it's amazing (almost magical) how well it works. Just now I started to feel like crying (for absolutely no reason whatsoever) and I told myself "its only PMS" and that emotion went. But I warn you, some days (like today), I have had to say that little phrase at least 50 times and some days it could be more, so it's that simple to get rid of the emotions as they tend to come back again and again (those hormones again), but if you persevere, I am kind of re-training my brain a little to the point where my emotions do not feel quite so out of control, as I know they will pass. If I tell myself this same phrase over and over again, it seems to help me, because it makes me realise its not me going crazily emotional over absolutely nothing, it's just PMS/PMDD
  
  
• Whenever the irrational thoughts come into my mind, I take a big breath, take a stand back for a second and tell myself why I am being irrational with irrefutable logic, as many times as I need to, or as long as I need to in order to get my mind into being rational again. I know how hard it to rein in that negative and irrational and highly emotional thinking, but I have done it, so you can too.
  
  To give other women a good idea about just how irrational/highly emotional I can get and even though it is quite embarrassing, I will give examples about the seemingly silly things I get irrational about when I have PMS/PMDD, so that other women know they are in good company: (1) I went to a food court for lunch and I got so upset that I had tears in my eyes and wanted to cry so bad (I stopped the tears before they came out, but if I wasn't in such a public place, I would have bawled like a cry-baby) because one food vendor had no food without butter. I am lactose intolerant and I cannot handle dairy products. And it wasn't like there were no other food vendors around, because there were, but I just was so upset that this food vendor had no food for me, as if they hated me - I just took it so personally. Just one example of total irrationality. (2) It was Christmas one year with my family and just before everyone was due to open up their presents, I went to the toilet. When I came back everyone had already unwrapped their presents and were looking at them or playing with them - and I had only been gone about 1 minute. I got so upset that my family disregarded me that badly that I told them I hated them (I was in my early 30's and not a teenager!) and ran to my room, where I proceeded to ball my eyes out with those great hiccuping tears, rather than tell them off for being so damn impatient (like they couldn't wait one minute), like a normal person would. They had to coax me out of my room and apologise profusely before I would emerge back to the lounge room and finally open my presents. Ah yes, another embarrassing example of my extreme emotional ride at PMS time. I could go on, as there are so many more examples, but I will leave it at this for now. But suffice it to say, a lot of people around me tell me that they used to be on tenterhooks when I had PMS in the past, afraid to say anything to upset me (as basically just about everything did) - and we are talking about 2 weeks of PMS out of every 5 weeks or so that I used to have. That's pretty bad. So what I am saying here is that my tips really work.
  
  
• I use some herbal teas to make me feel more relaxed - the one I use has chamomile, lemon balm and peppermint. It's organic (of course) and really nice. I also use to it to relax me before going to bed
  
  
• This evening, I am going to do some meditation, as that seems to help even more than any vitamins or herbs to dissipate both the emotional symptoms, but also the physical symptoms (such as bloating)
  
  
• I am also going to have a lovely bath with some rock salt and some lavender - that always seems to make me feel better any time
  
  
• I really need to eat food more regularly, as that will raise my energy levels and give me less reason to feel bad
  
  
• What I would really love, is a massage every day - as that would definitely put me in a better mood, but alas I am not wealthy enough to do that
  

Today is like one week prior to my periods and I am feeling the PMS (or rather PMDD) rather acutely, so I started my action plan (as above) last night and it has helped a lot. I have basically been using points 1 and 3 so far in the last day as I am still within the rational realms. I haven't had to use point 2, which is reserved for those exceedingly irrational days and hopefully this month I wont have to. The thing that is important is to cut off those negative emotions before they take hold, because if you try when they are at their worst, it is so much harder to get back to normal.

Its all about controlling your mind. Seriously. Our hormones start of in the brain, in the pituitary gland. Our hormones work very closely with our emotions and I really believe that PMS (once it does take hold, when we are not doing the proper nutrition, meditation, massage) can be controlled by your mind. I have proved it to myself time and time again. You have to tell yourself that these emotions are not real (or an exaggeration, which again means they are not real) and that you are ok. It really is that simple.

So remember (me and every other woman who reads this):

• Cut off those negative emotions/crying/irritation/etc before they take hold

I am still sighing somewhat (really big sighs where I am trying to get some air as I am not breathing properly enough), but I don't feel so much of the negativity by relieving my mind of the PMS symptoms a little as I have listed above.

So I just wanted to show other women that no matter how bad it is, there is always something you can do to make yourself feel better - if I can then anyone can!

Healthy Foods to Help Reduce PMS/PMDD Symptoms

This evening I made quite a gourmet meal for myself and the family. The food was extremely filling and totally sumptuous (if I do say so myself).

I am following the diet strategies I have laid out on this site.

I made the following:

• Baked organic chicken with herbs
• Organic brown rice - boiled
• Chickpea, kidney bean, tomato and red onion salad (all organic) - with some olive oil, tiny bit of balsamic vinegar and sweet paprika as the dressing
• Organic garden salad - with cos lettuce, mignonette lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes (from our garden)
• Onion, okra and gourmet mushroom sauce - made with wholemeal spelt flour, water, oil, herbs and salt

Sounds like a lot of food, but when you eat just a little of each food, the meal is just perfect. I had a few pecans and a few small pieces of pineapple (both organic) about an hour later.

Now, first let me say that this meal was so unbelievably delicious. It's probably because I made it with organic ingredients, which always have more flavour and partly because I was absolutely starving by the time we ate. None of the above were from any recipe books - I came up with each item myself. Nothing was very difficult to make anyway.

The interesting thing to note, is that again my teeth felt whiter after the meal and I had a lot more energy after the meal. Even though it felt like a lot of food, I don't feel bloated and full after the meal. I shall try to incorporate more legumes into my meals, more times in the week and also mushrooms too, as they have a lot of essential nutrients and antioxidant properties. Very good to eat at any time.

In regards to PMS
I am officially in PMS mode at the moment, as my ability to not get so easily irritated is just a tiny bit compromised.

But, because I am eating much better (very little processed food, mostly natural food), exercising, massaging my legs and meditating, I have found that I feel okay. So this is quite nice.

On a side note, I am not even taking any herbs, vitamins or other supplements at the moment, so to feel okay without taking anything is pretty good. It's very indicative of what a good diet, exercise, fresh air and less stress can do for a person - makes PMS better.

Since this is working so well for me, I shall continue doing it for the foreseeable future.