PMS seems to be less problematic

The last many months PMS has been mostly fine.  Such a huge relief.

I get those awful PMS symptoms at a much reduced rate and for a shorter duration each month. It's much calmer in my head most month and that is such a relief.

There was a month earlier this year where my periods were late and I had more severe PMS symptoms during the extra few days during which I was waiting for my periods to arrive. It was like the old days when I used to get PMS really severely, where my head felt like it was being squeezed from the inside. This wasn't a literal feeling, but rather an emotional squeeze. I survived, as usual. But I am thankful that this was an anomaly, not the usual way for me these days. The severe PMS and late periods was most likely due to me feeling really stressed about things in my life. I don't think I was doing enough in terms of the vitamins, minerals, supplements and stress relief. And that has changed.

I am back to doing what I normally do to reduce my PMS symptoms:

• Good quality omega 3 fatty acids in the right ratio
• Protein at each meal, like boiled or fried eggs for breakfast, sometimes a protein shake when I am in a hurry (which had been too much previously)
• Lots of leafy green vegetables - organic
• Lots of berries - organic
• Different assortment of nuts each day - organic
• Vitamin C and zinc supplement
• Magnesium and other mineral supplement in micro levels
• Exercise every day for about an hour - a mixture of strengthening, cardio, flexibility and toning exercises on different days
• Some meditation for at least 10-15 minutes most days of the week

Organic foods are my preference, because when you have PMS or really any condition, the less chemicals you put in your body, the less you're stressing it.

And for those who think this isn't enough for PMDD - well it is. I had severe PMDD and I treated it with food, supplements, exercise and meditation and it worked. Medication isn't the answer. It only masks the symptoms while your body continues in its dysfunction.

Enjoy a PMS-free month!

PMS Hell - PMS Sugar Imbalances

Ahh PMS, that word is known to bring dread to many a man - and us women who suffer it, don't think much of it either.

My PMS hell is terrible sometimes, to the point where I cannot handle the sugar imbalances I experience. They are so bad, that I have to eat something sweet or with carbohydrates every few hours, otherwise I start feeling light-headed, dizzy, anxious, have this weird taste in mouth, like I haven't eaten, I feel totally hungry all the time and no matter how much I eat, I feel like I haven't eaten enough, especially if I eat something that has protein in it. If I exercise, it makes the sugar problem even worse. Although if I eat some chocolate (or other high sugar food), I feel much better, but even still, I need to eat lots and often. 

I think it has something to do with my hormones being out of balance, but as I have not had any tests done when I am in the middle of this hell, always when I am feeling normal again, the tests are always normal, so the doctors think I am a hypochondriac! Great.

• I have been tested for diabetes - nope, don't have it.
• I have been tested for hypoglycaemia - nope, don't have it either.
• I have been tested for abnormal hormones - all normal
• I take vitamins, I take minerals, I take supplements.

The only thing I can relate it to, is constantly eating irregular meals with foods that may be too high in sugar and not enough protein, which in normal circumstances may not be healthy, but in PMS, causes such havoc.

These symptoms I experience are getting rarer and rarer, because I now know what is wrong with me and can correct it with the right (and regular) foods.

The thing is, because these symptoms present as both physical (dizzy, light-headed, unable to concentrate or think clearly) and psychological (anxiety, panic), initially I didn't realise they were connected to the same thing - PMS causing (or exacerbating) imbalances in my sugar levels. And because I experience high levels of anxiety and stress when I do have PMS anyway, these symptoms were completely exaggerated, to the point where I thought I was going crazy, but of course I wasn't, it was just the effects of the PMS I was suffering.

I insisted on going to several specialists, to get checked over properly, as I read so much and thought it had to be something sinister that was causing this serious problem. All of them, again told me it was "all inside your head", that it was just "stress" and that they "couldn't help me". What kind of attitude was that? It left me more emotional and more confused until I just thought, "Oh well, this is it. Must be some terrible disease no-one has realised yet".

Still, I researched more. I wasn't ready to give up yet. Finally I came upon some material about PMS causing blood sugar imbalances, just in the two weeks during PMS. It reminded me of many times when I had the PMS sugar imbalances, the last thing I ever did was to eat, so of course it got worse, but I remembered that when I did, I felt better. So this information struck a chord with me. I researched some more.

I discovered that there are so many layers to PMS and to health in general. I discovered the "Zone" diet and amazingly enough, it helped me. I didn't follow it religiously as I still needed more simple carbohydrates than it recommended, but because I ate more healthily, I ate more protein and I ate more regularly, it helped.
 
At the start, it was hell. 

All the nutritional stuff I was doing was making me feel even worse, even exercise seemed to lower my blood sugar levels further and make me feel awful. I discovered that I couldn't eat a low carbohydrate diet because it made me feel like I had PMS sugar imbalances (and all the other problems of PMS) all month. 

I modified the diet to suit me and I started to feel better. Much, much, much better. And all month long. The weight started to drop off me - I had been putting on all this weight in my middle zone (which is unusual for a pear shaped woman like me) - and with my new diet, I felt so much better and in control of my life again.

When I told my doctor, he was curious to know what I was doing and he seemed really perplexed by it. He said, "Maybe for you, we shouldn't just look at the blood test results, we should look at how your symptoms and recovery present themselves". That was a great vindication for me, as he really didn't think it was anything other than stress, but at least now I know what it was - simply (ha!) sugar imbalances during PMS!

All that time I researched the Internet, magazines and libraries, I found a whole gamut of information about health and nutrition. As I couldn't see this information anywhere in one place on the Internet, I decided to build the web site and put all this information in there.