Lost in Menstruation

So the focus of this entry is how to manage all aspects of your menstrual cycle without a standard (insert your favorite antidepressant here) to deal with mood swings and Pre Menstrual Syndrome (PMS), without a standard doctor recommended pain killer ( insert your favorite pain killer here) for cramps, without a mild diuretic for bloating (like Premysin or Midol), and without your favorite birth control pill to control cramps, the regularity of your period or your acne.

Not that some or all of these options might be helpful for many women. Any of your garden variety over the counter in the United States pain relievers can be used quite successfully for pain control over cramps. Premysin and Midol provide relief for many women for bloating and water retention associated with menstruation. Studies have shown that Sarafem (which is essentially a 2 week course of prozac) and Zoloft are helpful in reducing severe PMS and Pre Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder ( PMDD). Also birth control pills are passed out not only just to sexually active women looking to prevent pregnancy, but also to teens and girls looking to reduce acne, decrease severe menstrual cramps and mid cycle pain that some girls and women experience, to regulate cycles in those girls and women with irregular cycles, and also to reduce the amount and length of menstrual bleeding.

Notice a trend here? Do you think this is a new trend? In Confessions of a Kamikaze Cowboy pp 65-66 Dirk Benedict writes of doctors “Doctors don’t cure anybody of anything! They don’t cure because they treat symptoms, not causes. They push drugs, which create more disease, for which they then create more drugs. Drugs! Legal if your family doctor prescribes them…” and he wisely goes on to iterate on how almost every family has a home pharmacy in their medicine cabinet, and how macrobioticly “ My medicine cabinet and my kitchen cupboard are one in the same. My food is my medicine.” Now as we have discussed menstruation is not a disease so we are not in need of a cure, it is a natural condition that perhaps we can learn to better manage. Is there any real reason to fill our teenage girls with birth control pill hormones that trick their body into believing that it is pregnant so that they don’t have as many zits come prom season? Is there a good reason to develop dependence on antidepressants to get us through some bad moods that annoy our families and co-workers? Is it a good idea to be putting massive amounts of ibuprofen through our kidneys three days a month to alleviate our pain? Although we are aware of the pharmaceutical options that can be as easily obtained as fast food (some doctor’s offices are now co-located at Walmart and Target right next to your McDonalds and your Pizza Hut how handy...) perhaps there are alternatives in our cupboards that will help us better manage our cycles and our lives.

My disclaimer so that I don’t get sued: Of course you should always consult your doctor before making any medical decisions and this is not intended as medical advice.

Part one the macrobiotics of menstruation described the menstrual cycle in terms of yin and yang phases and gave some macrobiotic diet suggestions for coping with cramps and easing the pre menstrual cycle. This part will delve into some other nutritional options that result from scientific research rather than macrobiotic practice and literature. These are definitely nutritional recommendations that would work for both a full fledged sister of the grain or someone who eats a standard western / European diet.

A lot of the next part of nutritional / herbal / recommendations are going to be a drill down from the following amazing science published article that I’m sourcing from

https://www.vitanica.com/articles_fattyacids_01.htm

So as you may or may not know, prostaglandins and their hormonal balance are implicated in both PMS and menstrual cramps. Prostoglandins are any one of a number of hormone-like substances that participate in a wide range of body functions such as the contraction and relaxation of smooth muscle, the dilation and constriction of blood vessels, control of blood pressure, and modulation of inflammation. ( ref medterms.com) In other words their role in menstruation is in contraction of the uterus which contributes to cramping. Prostaglandins are a lot like cholesterol; there are good and bad prostaglandins similar to how there are good and bad forms of cholesterol in your body. There are two “good” prostaglandins that actually help to prevent cramps and even out PMS and there is one “bad” prostaglandin that works to cause the contraction and the cramping. When these three prostaglandins are not properly balanced Dr Hudson theorizes that cramps and severe PMS ensue.

One of the main issues that causes low levels of the good prostaglandins is not enough dietary intake of essential fatty acids, most importantly linoleic acid (essential omega 6 fatty acid) and alpha linolenic acid (essential omega 3 fatty acid). Since the body cannot manufacture these building blocks, it is necessary to have a dietary intake of these two substances. Dr Hudson suggests that these essential fatty acids can come from diet or supplementation. Since macrobiotics frowns on supplementation, take this as you will, but from a dietary standpoint her recommendations are very much in line with macrobiotic eating.

Many seeds and nuts are excellent sources of the necessary fatty acids to balance prostaglandin production. To get both linoleic and linolenic acids your best choices are flax seeds and pumpkin seeds (pumpkin seeds are on the macrobiotic recommended list). Sesame seeds (macro recommended occasional use) and sunflower seeds are also great sources of linoleic acid. Also flaxseed oil, pumpkin seed oil, sesame seed oil (macro recommended), and sunflower oils. Flax and pumpkin are not to be used for cooking however but can be used on salads etc.

Supplementation with flax oil capsules, borage oil, black currant oil, fish oil and evening primrose oil also all help your body make “beneficial prostaglandins; the end result likely will be less uterine contractions and less menstrual pains” Fish oil supplementation along with vitamin E supplementation has been studied during the second half of the menstrual cycle and has been shown to reduce the severity of cramps. Flax seed oil supplementation throughout the month has also been shown according to Dr Hudson to reduce the severity and length of abnormal menstrual bleeding.

PMS was studied with evening primrose oil (EPO) and was shown if taken throughout the month to the end that” The effects of EPO have been shown to be best for clumsiness and headaches although all symptoms including depression, irritability, bloating and breast tenderness showed a marked improvement.”

There are many other vitamins that are mentioned as being important for prostaglandin production. Including many B Vitamins and magnesium and calcium which have been shown to be helpful for PMS and cramp reduction. Also if you are anemic, getting your iron levels in line can have a positive impact on cramps and shortening an irregular or long cycle. One of the best supplements in my opinion for highly absorbable iron is yellow dock root which is not only vegetarian, but also faster acting (works to raise hemoglobin over a shorter period of time usually within a week). Also foods that produce gas such as dairy can also make cramping worse as the intestinal bloating and swelling that gas provides can put more pressure and result in discomfort during uterine contractions (in other words gas can make cramps a lot worse).

I did not include a number of other supplements that are supposed to help various symptoms, as I wanted to focus this blog on what had been studied and proven to help as a supplement or a source of a specific building block for good prostaglandins. I welcome commentary / personal experiences on any supplement or dietary changes that my fellow cowgirls kamikaze or otherwise have found helpful.

Again let me stress that you should consult a doctor if you have severe issues that are outside the norm of the menstrual cycle and what follows is a good link on when to seek medical advice for cramps

https://www.riversideonline.com/healt...th/DS00506.cfm


Here is where this gets personally interesting for me. Jessica Porter in The Hipchicks Guide to Macrobiotics is big on (to paraphrase) listening to your own macrobiotic compass to determine what food you need. I believe someone has all ready cited this passage on Dirk’s board (if I had to guess without looking I would name Asmay). So I had started doing that, and when I was in the throws of PMS in my last cycle before I read this article, I had a strong craving for a small amount of tahini in my rice. I had not experienced this up to that point, and found this odd, but went with my compass. Well tahini comes from sesame seeds which help according to Dr Hudson’s article to balance prostaglandins. I have to say that the following week resulted in one of the easiest cycles I have had in recent memory. I did not know this at the time, but now I believe strongly that I was medicating myself toward a better hormonal balance with the tahini sesame seed butter. I tried this intentionally the following month eating handfuls of pumpkin seed and sesame seed the week prior to my cycle, and again, found marked improvement again in reducing the severity of cramping.

Is this due to the consumption of unsalted pumpkin seeds and unsalted sesame seeds? I can’t say for certain, but my kidneys are now two cycles free of ibuprofen, and I can run when I do have mild cramps that are manageable which I could not do before without the ibuprofen. Are my cramps eliminated? No but they are definitely much less severe I would say 10% of what they were before I went macro and added the pumpkin and sesame seeds.

I do not believe that you have to subscribe to the macrobiotic diet to see these studies, read this article and find some benefit if you are interested in improving your life throughout your monthly cycles, which is why I think this part is better than the strict macrobiotic interpretation of the situation.

Stay tuned for part 3 which will focus on exercise / meditation to improve the quality of your cycle. Till next week all

Peace Love Faith Hope Bancha Tea and Whole Grain

SS