Are you suffering from the effects of PMS? Well, the road to feeling better has approached your doorstep, just follow-it, and your symptoms will start to improve. PMS is
a condition which is presented by many symptoms due to imbalances in our body. Anxiety and irritability are likely
associated with excessive estrogen and a deficiency in progesterone levels
while your breast tenderness is due to increased fluid volume, an excess of the
hormones aldosterone and prolactin. Aldosterone
is produced in the adrenal glands and causes water retention, and usually
becomes elevated 2-8 days before we begin our period. Prolactin increases as a result of stress,
too much estrogen, or a magnesium deficiency and leads to PMS symptoms of
breast tenderness and swelling, anxiety and irritability. The good news is that
these symptoms can be reduced with making some small changes
in your diet. I am happy to suggest five
dietary recommendations that should help to alleviate your own symptoms. With this in mind, I want you to realize that
decreasing symptoms can take time, and you may not notice complete dismissal of
all symptoms during your next cycle; rather it may take 2-3 cycles.
1.
Increase consumption of fibre-rich fruits. Specifically, you can start by eating an apple
every day. Apples are packed with
pectin, a type of dietary fibre that is very effective for carrying estrogen
out of the body through regulation of your bowels. This will help balance your hormones and decrease
your PMS symptoms of anxiety, irritability and pain.
2.
Take 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil
daily. Flaxseed oil supplies omega 3 essential fatty acids,
which will reduce inflammation and corresponding pain associated with PMS.
3.
Reduce Caffeine Intake.
Caffeine consumption is strongly related to the presence and severity of anxiety
and breast tenderness as it impairs estrogen metabolism. Reducing the amount of caffeine will
therefore help the process of eliminating the estrogen so that you have a
better balance in the body. Another great effect that reducing your caffeine will have is the
ability to maintain vitamin and mineral content in your body, since caffeine is
a diuretic which flushes the body of many of these essential components.
4.
Include a high quality multi-vitamin/multi-mineral
twice daily. When selecting your brand,
there are some specific aspects to look for as they will
be beneficial in reducing your PMS symptoms. I am going to give you some ranges, simply to
make it easier as there are many multi-vitamins/multi-minerals on the market
that have different dosages. Look for magnesium citrate (200-300mg) to help improve premenstrual pain threshold and emotional instability. Please avoid magnesium oxide, magnesium glyconate,
magnesium sulfate or magnesium chloride as they are not absorbed as well and
have more laxative side effects. Next
you want to look for Vitamin B6 (50 -75mg) also known as pyridoxine as it shows
positive effects on all symptoms of PMS by reducing estrogen levels and
increasing progesterone levels throughout the cycle. B6 will also help to keep the
magnesium in the cells of the body, resulting in better sleep which may lead to
less anxiety. Zinc 200-300IUs) is a mineral that
will help reduce your breast tenderness caused by reducing prolactin levels. Finally, the multi should contain 200IU of Vitamin
E. There are different forms of Vitamin
E but I want you to look for d-alpha-tocopherol as it is the more natural
versus synthetic form. Vitamin E helps with anxiety and will also help to decrease
breast tenderness. In addition, it
increases energy which will be beneficial while reducing your coffee intake.
5.
Take a Probiotic. Our GI tract should contain thousands of
bacteria beneficial to our health. A
side effect of taking antibiotics is the destruction of these beneficial
bacteria. Since you are taking
Tetracycline, we want to re-inoculate the GI tract with some beneficial
bacteria. You are specifically going to
look for a brand containing acidophilus
and bifidus bacteria with 5 billion
viable cells. This should be taken 2X daily with meals, (away from birth control pills) and is extremely safe. You
should not experience any detrimental side effects but should notice a decrease
in symptoms of gas, and bloating.
The sooner you make the changes, the faster you will note improvements.
Keep in mind, complete ratification of symptoms takes time and may take
more adjustments. Contact me for a free 15 minute consult so that I can specifically help you on the road to health. Together we can evaluate your improvment and take more steps to reaching more stability of your cycle.
Sincerely,
Deanne Dietz, CNP
905-538-8611
