Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Leading the change to better periods and hormones
Articles about common period problems including irregular periods, PCOS, endometriosis, painful periods, PMS, PMDD, heavy periods, and perimenopause. From the perspective of a women’s health specialist with more than twenty years of experience. Treatments include diet and lifestyle changes as well as simple nutritional supplements such as magnesium and zinc.
According to a 2017 study, pain is the most frequently reported symptom of PCOS. Even though pain is not a symptom of PCOS!
The solution to this paradox is that both PCOS and period pain are common, so it’s easy to have both a PCOS diagnosis and period pain (including pain due to endometriosis).
That’s true whether the PCOS diagnosis is valid (i.e., there are symptoms of androgen excess) or invalid (i.e., the diagnosis was mistakenly based on an ultrasound finding).
There’s a lot more to treating premenstrual mood symptoms than just calcium, the pill, and SSRI antidepressants. Alternative strategies for premenstrual syndrome (PMS) and premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) include iodine, magnesium, vitamin B6, vitex (chaste tree), progesterone, and a natural antihistamine approach.
A menstrual cycle is, by definition, an ovulatory cycle in which ovulation is the main event and progesterone is made.
Any other kind of bleed is either an anovulatory bleed or a pill-bleed — neither of which are real menstrual cycles. Ovulatory cycles are the only way to make progesterone which is important for general health, not just for making a baby.
Normal period pain or dysmenorrhea should be mild and respond to simple treatments like ibuprofen, zinc, or a dairy-free diet.
If period pain does not respond to simple treatments, it could be something more serious such as endometriosis or adenomyosis.
Debilitating period pain is never normal.