Treating Methods for PMS

Clin­i­cal features

It is esti­mated that 50% of the pre-menopausal men­stru­at­ing female pop­u­la­tion expe­ri­ences pre­men­strual syn­drome. The pre-menstrual syn­drome is a recur­rent (monthly) dis­or­der char­ac­ter­ized by phys­i­cal and emo­tional upsets for some days before the onset of men­stru­a­tion. PMS symp­toms are: fluid retention, distended stom­ach, ten­der breasts, weight gain, con­sti­pa­tion, insom­nia, headaches and mood swings. In an attempt to bring some order to the clin­i­cally and meta­bol­i­cally con­fus­ing pic­ture of PMS, Dr. Guy Abra­ham has sub­di­vided PMS into four dis­tinct sub­groups accord­ing to spe­cific symp­toms and hor­monal patterns.

Aeti­ol­ogy

Imbal­ance in the hor­mones estro­gen and progesterone. This may only be to a sub­tle degree, but it is enough to pro­duce PMS. It is this defi­ciency of female hor­mones that is the basic cause of all the phys­i­cal and men­tal symp­toms asso­ci­ated with PMS.

The secre­tion of estro­gen and prog­es­terone is under the con­trol of the pitu­itary gland. The pitu­itary is influ­enced by the hypo­thal­a­mus which responds to stress and other psy­cho­log­i­cal dis­tur­bances. This helps explain why PMS can vary from month to month.

Accord­ing to Abra­ham, PMS suf­fer­ers con­sume 62% more refined car­bo­hy­drates, 275% more refined sugar, 70% more dairy prod­ucts, 78% more sodium, 53% less iron, 77% less man­ganese and 52% less zinc. PMS patients given a mul­ti­vi­t­a­min and min­eral sup­ple­ment con­tain­ing high doses of mag­ne­sium and pyri­odix­ine in an uncon­trolled study showed a 70% reduc­tion in pre­men­strual symptoms.

Aro­mather­apy Treatment

Var­i­ous essen­tial oils and aro­mather­apy tech­niques are very suc­cess­ful in reduc­ing the sever­ity of PMS and some­times over­com­ing it, though for max­i­mum ben­e­fit it is impor­tant to com­bine aro­mather­apy with a nutri­tional approach.

Other Treat­ments

• Evi­dence sug­gests that many of the symp­toms of PMS are related to dietary imbal­ances and nutri­tional defi­cien­cies. Over con­sump­tion of refined sugar, salt, animal fat, and dairy prod­ucts may con­tribute to this vari­able symp­tom com­plex, whereas foods rich in linoleic acid such as cold pressed veg­etable oils and seeds may be beneficial.
• Increase green leafy veg­etable intake, except for the bras­sica fam­ily of foods (cab­bage, brus­sels sprouts and cauliflower).
• Remove all refined starches, processed foods and  addi­tives from diet.
• Eat foods rich in vit­a­min B, par­tic­u­larly vit­a­min B6. Whole grains and meat are rich sources of vit­a­min B6. Stud­ies have shown that vit­a­min B6 helps reduce the amount of cir­cu­lat­ing estro­gen and ele­vates progesterone.
• Suf­fers should avoid tea, cof­fee, and alco­hol and they should never resort to diuret­ics to ban­ish excess fluid-related weight.
• The Chi­nese herb dong quai has been found to relieve PMS symptoms.

Meta­phys­i­cal Cause

Allow­ing con­fu­sion to reign. Giv­ing power to out­side influ­ences. Rejec­tion of the fem­i­nine processes. Inability to speak one’s mind, uncon­trolled emotions.