Herbs, Homeopathy and Vitamins For PMT
Pre-Menstrual Tension: Many women suffer from pre-menstrual tension. According to Russell Setright, who wrote the “Get Well” book in 1990, 70% of women experience the symptoms which are related to pre-menstrual tension.
What Are The Symptoms of Pre Menstrual Tension? The typical symptoms are headache or migraine, mood swings, anxiety, depression and fatigue. Other symptoms which you might experience before the period are: painful and swollen breasts, pain in the stomach, water retention, and cystitis.
Rule Number One: To prevent PMT, or pre-menstrual tension, make your diet more alkaline. This means eating more fresh vegetables and fruit, brown rice instead of bread, and eating less of wheat products, sugar and dairy foods. Celery and alalfa and mung bean sprouts should form part of your daily diet, as these things are very alkaline. Often, a gluten-free diet helps people with PMT. Many people are sensitive to gluten in wheat flour and other products, and they do not realize it. So experiment – do without bread, cake and pastries for a week, and avoid all products which may contain gluten and preservatives or chemicals of any kind. This just could do the trick.
Supplements To Help Pre Menstrual Tension: For the emotional and mental symptoms, Vitamin B is helpful, especially B6 and B12. Another very helpful supplement is Evening Primrose Oil, which is useful in calming the nerves, giving a good night’s sleep, and in counteracting depression. Evening Primrose Oil has been scientifically proven to alleviate the symptoms of Pre-Menstrual Tension.
Dandelion: Blood Purifier and Diuretic Herb: Most herbs which encourage urine flow are useful in counteracting pre menstrual tension. This is because toxins are expelled from the body through the urine. Dandelion helps to remove toxins, as well as excess water from your system: If you get swollen legs, or swollen fingers, or a distended stomach before your period, then dandelion can help to reduce this fluid. Dandelion is a great blood-purifier, which also has a beneficial effect on the liver: It helps the liver to de-toxify, and can help prevent gall-stones. It is rich in many vitamins and minerals. Dandelion is the herb which is most used in PMT. Drink dandelion root coffee instead of that real coffee to help PMT.
Alfalfa Tea: Alfalfa is a great detoxifier of the blood. It is also highly alkaline which is healthful for the body. A body which is too acidic can result in pre-menstrual tension. You can drink up to five or six cups per day. To make alfalfa tea, simply put a teaspoon of alfalfa seeds into a large cup, and pour on boiling water. Let cool, to warm, then drink. You can use the ‘grounds’ for a top-up before taking fresh seeds for another cup. Again – drink less coffee, and more of the herbal teas such alfalfa and dandelion root coffee to help pre menstrual tension.
Liquorice, or Licorice, is recommended by Russell Setright: His dosage is 500mg per day, taken 5 days before the period. Liquorice can help soothe the nerves and detoxify the liver and intestines. However, in my experience,, while I just love liquorice, it has a tendency to lower the blood pressure. If you are like me, and you have LOW blood pressure anyway, then too much liquorice will further lower your blood pressure, and this can make you feel terrible, and your depression worse. So go easy on the Liquorice.
It is best to begin taking your supplements seven days prior to the period: These will help stabilize your system, and aid it in its natural production of hormones. Aldosterone is a hormone which is is linked to the menstrual cycle, and this is secreted seven days prior to the period.
It is best to avoid drinking coffee for AT LEAST three days prior to the period. Coffee depletes Vitamin B and other nutrients from the body, so it is good to limit your coffee drinking while you are suffering PMT.
Toxins in the body and the blood are usually the reasons that people get PMT. Some chemicals which are used as preservatives, and herbicides and pesticides – even plastics – get into our blood-streams and cause havoc with our hormones. It is helpful to many sufferers of PMT to fast on just fruit and vegetables for three days prior to the period. This helps to reduce toxins in the body: Being free of these toxins can have a remarkable effect in the curing of pre menstrual tension.
Homeopathic Remedies which might be useful for pre-mensrual tension are: Aconite, Bryonia, Chamomilla, Coffea, Nat. mur, Pulsatilla, Sepia. Of course, unless you know your remedies well, you should seek some advice from a health professional who understands Homeopathy.
I would recommend Homeopathic Remedy Coffea if you are especially irritable and cannot sleep, or if you drink too much coffee. In Homeopathy, the remedy Coffea comes from Coffee, but it actually has the opposite effect to coffee, in that it is a mild sedative. Homeopathic Coffea can be helpful in reducing the desire to drink coffee.
One Homeopathic remedy which I have found to be useful in helping to dry up excess fluid in the body is Homeopathic Bryonia. This can help depression and morbid thoughts too. It is a useful remedy to have in the house for chest infections and phlegmatic illnesses, as it dries up fluid. Worth a try if you think this might be suitable for you: I would take the Bryonia a week before the period is due, and take it for only three days, three doses per day of just a few drops. If you should feel worse, then stop taking the Bryonia.
Pulsatilla is a good one for PMT if you are excessively weepy and sad. Again, I would take this about a week before the period, but you could try taking it as soon as you have the pre-menstrual symptoms.
Different remedies work for different people: The professional Homeopath will take all your symptoms, and consider all sorts of things about you, your day, and your life before deciding on a remedy. But there are some fairly standard remedies for some conditions which will generally work for most people.
Regarding depression – Nobody ever talks about this, I’m glad you are, it’s about time.
Hi Stevie. On talking about depression: I think that awareness about depression is surely growing. Some famous people have acknowledged suffering from depression, which has changed the public’s perception of depression quite a bit. Something like one out of four, or one in five people, will suffer depression at some time in their lives.
The Causes of Depression: I believe that abuse, either physical or mental, poverty, having no job, losing a loved one in the family, the chemicals in our food, toxins retained in the body, vaccinations, prescription drugs of many kinds, electro-magnetic energies which disturb the individual’s nervous system and the ability to discern wisely, and lack of essential vitamins and minerals in the diet, can all contribute towards people succumbing to depression or alcoholism.
The biggest cause of depression out of all the above, I think, are toxic herbicides, pesticides, vaccinations, and harmful chemical food additives.
Right diet, with extra nutritional supplements whilst needed, cleansing the insides regularly, keeping the home free of toxic chemicals and electro magnetic radiation, and avoiding stress, has proved to be a successful method for many hoping to cure depression without using prescription medicines or drugs of any kind.
Severe depression can lead to alcoholism and drug addiction, including addiction to prescription medicines.
But you are right in that, whilst famous people can talk freely about their depression or their alcoholism on television, and in magazines, not so many of the average people on the street will openly acknowledge that they have, or do suffer from depression or a mental disorder of some kind. Maybe because depression, especially where alcohol is involved, can lead you into doing all sorts of shameful things, and these shameful things are usually accompanied by extremely antisocial behaviour.
So, unless you are a rich and famous person, it can be difficult to overcome the social stigma attached to being a recovering alcoholic, or a manic depressive, or a drug addict, because people remain suspicious of you. This really isn’t very helpful to the person recovering, as the negative judgement put on you by people who have heard about your antics, actually makes it more difficult for you to jump out of that whirl-wind cycle of behaviour that they have branded you for. This attitude by other people in the family or the community, can cause you to carry on repeating the same old negative behaviour, even when you have the best of intentions and have stopped drinking completely, simply because you continue to behave as people would expect you to. It can take years, I have found, to restore your public image to one of respect
The more that people realize that having depression or alcoholism is a matter of ‘There, but for the Grace of God, go I’, the better. Because, the reality is that almost anyone, under the kind of pressures mentioned above, can suddenly land themselves into a depressive and self-destructive state, without really understanding why or how it happened. It can take years of self-analysis before you grasp why you have behaved as you did. Meanwhile, following regular fasting or cleansing techniques, keeping the life as stable as possible, and taking good care of yourself go a long way to aiding recovery.
Remember that there IS light at the end of the tunnel. I believe that, although it may take some time to get well, that it is better to persevere with a natural, holistic approach if you can. A holistic approach which uses nutrition, detoxification, and maybe some homeopathic treatment, and appropriate herbal medicines is the best thing. These natural measures do not have the negative side effects which drugs do, and will not further add to the chemical imbalances of the body and brain which have caused the depression.
Thanks for your comment.
Regards,
Merrilyn.