Out of control cravings for sweets luteal phase

[sjlee000]

I´m 50 and raiding the cupboards for anything sweet or carby. It is always in the second half of my cycle and ranges from a week before my period OR sometimes for the full 2/3 weeks post ovulation time.

I´ve always had this tendancy to crave at this time but the past few months it is worse. Is this down to dropping estrogen levels? Last night I had a sugar binge and this morning I´ve got my day 21 migrane. Now, I know the excess sugar could cause the migrane, but I don´t get a migrane everytime I eat too much cake & the thought of stuffing a whole large packet of sour worms & doritos doesn´t appeal to me usually!

I wonder is it the dropping estrogen causing low serotonin, causing the cravings? Perhaps as soon as I start getting fussy for sugar, I should slap on a low dose estrogen patch and see what happens. I take progesterone for this 2 weeks.

I´m definately changing from only needing progesterone to now needing estrogen more often even though I´m still having cycles.

It is horrible because I know from reading Lara´s book that insulin resistance is a real issue for women at my age. I do try and manage these episodes the next day by fasting a little while & my recent fasting blood sugar levels were normal.

Any thoughts?

Thanks Sam

[Lara]

Thanks so much for sharing your story.
At 50, you may feel better with estrogen therapy (in addition to progesterone), even though you're still cycling. And yes, estrogen could help to reduce cravings and stabilise appetite.

As I discuss in my book and recent satiety blog post, it can also help to take magnesium and up your protein and just generally be willing to eat more during the premenstrual phase.

[sjlee000]

Thanks Lara. I´ll try a low dose estrogen patch all month long, rather than just for 2 weeks and see how I get on.

The cravings drive me crazy!

I think I´ll have to re read your book as I´m getting more symptoms the older I get.