Results of my blood tests have just come through

I recently had a blood test to check up on my iron levels (and a few other things).

My iron and ferritin (iron store) levels are still very low and I need to continue supplementation, which I am doing. It also means I need to start eating things like liver a few times a week. I really don't like beef liver, so I'll try chicken liver, which is more mild in taste and while it has less iron/vitamin B12, it still has them in ample amounts and enough to help me replenish my iron/ferritin.

In addition to this, my TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) was quite high. It was in the normal range, but right at the top of the normal range and basically double what it was only three months ago! This is probably because my thyroid is getting hypothyroid due to the multiple nodule goitre I have on my thyroid. Apparently high stress (which I am under at present) can increase the amount of cortisol circulating in the body and this can cause the thyroid to function less effectively as well.

With the low iron/ferritin levels and high TSH (potentially hypothyroidism) results, it means I will get more tired, feel lethargic, feel cold easily and put on weight easily. The higher TSH results also mean more bleeding during menstruation.  Thyroid disorders often go hand-in-hand with PMS and PMDD!

Low iron/ferritin levels not only have the above symptoms, but they can make you feel depressed and anxious, as part of the symptoms. Once the iron/ferritin levels go back to normal, these symptoms also disappear! This means that PMS symptoms can become worse if iron levels are too low and become more like PMDD symptoms.

The blood test was taken when I was still really sick from the flu and I had my periods at the time, so that is probably why they the iron and ferritin levels were extra low.

I have just ovulated. I know because of the symptoms I get during ovulation is the same every month. This means PMS is coming!

Understanding PMS - Blood Sugar level Problems Subsided

I have just realised why my blood sugar problems have became worse recently.

I took a B-complex vitamin and a high vitamin C with bioflavonoids on Thursday and one of each again on Friday. It was on Thursday that I had the worst of the blood sugar problems and even though I ate a lot on Friday, I still didn't feel that well. Whereas on Saturday, I decided not to take any vitamins to see if that made a difference to my symptoms - and man did it make a huge difference. I didn't have the blood sugar problems at all. Very strange.

In the past, when I have taken evening primrose oil or tyrosine or even the herbs angnes vitex and dong quai in the few days before (anywhere up to a week before) my periods, I noticed that instead of making me feel better, they actually made me feel worse - in particular, my feelings of anxiety, nervous tension, mental confusion, insomnia, irritability and irrational thoughts, many of which were not present before I took the vitamins / supplement / herbs, suddenly presented themselves with intensity. And not only did those symptoms present themselves, but actually got worse a few hours after I took the supplements!

This was really odd. Even still, I couldn't quite believe the negative effects the supplements were having on me, as they helped me in the past and are well known to be beneficial supplement that help relieve PMS. So I tried them again and again, at different times of the month as I thought that maybe so close to menstruation, my hormones were not at the right levels to accept any supplementation. I didn't know why this was so, but that is how it appeared to be.

When I tried to supplements at the start of the month, just after I completed menstruation, they appeared to help me and not produce the devastating symptoms before, but I was still experiencing side effects.

I think now, with the advantage of hindsight, that because I may have been experiencing another medical condition, that could have been the impetus for my inability to get normal relief from the usual PMS supplements. I had a slight thyroid problem, but which presented very acutely initially - I think as sub-acute thyroiditis, but the doctors couldn't diagnose me properly, even though I could feel my thyroid was swollen, as I felt the swelling at the back of my throat, like I had swallowed something that was stuck there - it caused a whole host of problems. Apparently I have two little lumps on my thyroid, which may or may not be causing me problems - which were viewed on an ultrasound when this whole thyroid problem started. I insisted on the ultrasound as I was having pains in the left side of the middle of my throat (which is exactly where the lumps are) and I felt like I couldn't swallow properly at the time and had a pain on the left side when I swallowed. I need to have these lumps monitored to ensure they stay the same size, don't grow and don't cause any problems. I am hoping they will shrink one day and go away! They're only small (only a few centimetres - less than an inch each), so it shouldn't be an issue for them to go away! The thyroid problem happened in 2003.

As I have bee under a lot of stress lately, it feels like my thyroid issues have resurfaced a little, as it feels like the left side of my throat is somewhat swollen, which always happens when I am really stressed.

The function of the thyroid is to regulate metabolism. The thyroid uses iodine and tyrosine to make the thyroid hormones. When I took tyrosine in 2003 (when my thyroid wasn't functioning particularly normally), it gave me symptoms of high anxiety and nervous tension - symptoms of hyperthyroidism, which was really odd, because when I took tyrosine years before (for PMS), it actually relaxed me (which is what it is supposed to do).

The thyroid is closely tied to the hypothalamus (which is the master gland and controls all the hormone glands in the body). If one gland is not working properly, all the rest may have issues. Interestingly, a thyroid that is not working properly can have symptoms similar to PMS, so some cases of PMS can be really be caused by thyroid problems and vice versa. Doctors are aware of this and will usually test all the hormones to work out what is causing the problems. The tests may not reveal everything that is going on, especially if these hormone studies are done when you have a problem, they could show to be within the normal range (even though they may be at the higher or lower end of the scale), the doctors will tell you everything is fine. But, if no hormone studies have been done when you were well, there is nothing to compare them with. That's why my doctor maybe realised with me, even though my test results showed as normal, maybe for me it wasn't totally normal and that's why he made the comment that my test results should not be given the most credence, that it should be my symptoms that should be given higher priority.

I still believe that I had a thyroid problem, albeit a relatively mild one (even though it did not feel very mild to me at the time) and although it has healed up for the most part, my thyroid is still something I should always be aware about and try to ensure it stays healed!

So maybe what happened in the past and what happened recently are related to my thyroid playing up. It seems to follow a very clear pattern.

The last time I had this problem, it was actually very severe and problematic and took me a long time to recover from it. I am definitely not having the same thyroid symptoms as before, so that is positive for me, but I as I am experiencing a lot of stress right now, it makes me more aware of my thyroid and makes it feel a little swollen, but not painful.

I think some yoga and exercise may be what I need right now, to calm my mind and bring some distressing to my body, which in turn will make me feel better and experience less PMS.

PMS Defined

What is PMS?

PMS is defined as a set of symptoms that can occur for anywhere up to 2 weeks before a women menstruates. Yes, two weeks of hell for some women. There are five sub-groups of PMS symptoms, as described below:

1. PMS-P (PMS Pain)
Symptoms - cramps, reduced pain threshold, aches and pains, light or noise intolerance, joint pain.

2. PMS-A (PMS Anxiety)
Symptoms - anxiety, mood swings, nervous tension, irritability, irrational thoughts, jealousy, low self-esteem, inability to cope, insecurity, agitation, crying spells

3. PMS-C (PMS Craving)
Symptoms - sweet cravings, food cravings, headache, dizziness or fainting, increased appetite, fatigue, heart pounding (exaggerated insulin response to carbohydrates), lethargy, excessive thirst, nausea, low blood sugar

4. PMS-D (PMS Depression)
Symptoms - depression, forgetfulness, crying, mental confusion, insomnia, anger, erratic behaviour, clumsiness, crying spells

5. PMS-H (PMS Hyper hydration)
Symptoms - water retention, breast tenderness and/or enlargement, weight gain (more than 1.4kg), swelling of extremities, abdominal bloating, skin problems,

In addition to all these lovely symptoms above, PMS can aggravate pre-existing health conditions, like candida, herpes, allergies and make them a lot harder to manage.

Not all women will experience all the symptoms above every month and even some women that do experience most the symptoms will not experience them exactly the same every month.

PMDD
A very small percentage of women (between 2-9% of women who experience PMS) may have PMDD, where they experience symptoms so severe, they become destructive. PMDD symptoms have some similarity to moderate-major depression and occur in the two weeks before menstruation and subside when bleeding occurs. In addition to the emotional (or mental) symptoms, there are physical symptoms which also occur in the two weeks prior to menstruation and which subside as soon as menstruation starts (or soon after).

To be diagnosed with PMDD you must experience 5 or more of the following symptoms:

Psychological Symptoms

• anxiety and tension
• mood swings
• irritability
• fatigue
• depression
• changes in appetite
• sleep difficulties
• feeling overwhelmed and out of control

Physical Symptoms

• Bloating and breast tenderness

When PMDD is being diagnosed, the focus is usually on the psychological, behavioural, and emotional symptoms than the physical ones. The thing that should be noted, is that in PMDD the symptoms experienced are much worse than in normal PMS.

Anyone that suspects they may have PMDD needs to contact a medical professional to get all the support, advice and treatment required to manage it. Women with PMDD should also realise that it can be alleviated through nutritional means in conjunction with conventional treatment.

References:
1. "The Physicians Handbook of Clinical Nutrition" - Henry Osiecki

2. Vital Health Zone - www.vitalhealthzone.com

3. "You Can Beat PMS" - Colette Harris and Theresa Cheung