Reviewed by Dr. Amber Hayden, DO
How can you treat PMS symptoms effectively and predictably? The surprising answer is: naturally. Natural PMS symptom relief targets the source of your frustrating symptoms by rebalancing your hormones so you don’t have to suffer each month.
If you use over-the-counter drugs like MidolTM or PamprinTM you could get some short-term help with their jumble of pain relievers and diuretics but only for cramping and bloating. Those aren’t even the worst symptoms!
What about the irritability, anxiety, fuzzy thinking, cravings and dizziness? Or the insomnia, weight gain, headaches and nausea? These and other PMS symptoms are often far more disruptive and distressing, and over-the-counter PMS medication can’t touch them. That’s because drugstore options simply can’t get to the root of the PMS problem. Effective natural relief for PMS focuses on resolving your symptoms at their source — and that makes all the difference.
The main cause of PMS symptoms: estrogen and progesterone imbalance
In a woman’s system, estrogen and progesterone naturally ebb and flow throughout the month. When these fluctuations become more severe, or the ratios of estrogen to progesterone increase, symptoms erupt and intensify into premenstrual syndrome.
Sex hormones like estrogen and progesterone are governed by a brain-body axis that is also connected to stress hormones, thyroid hormones and the hormone insulin. While the food choices you make influence insulin, the amount of stress you encounter influences cortisol production and regulation. Both food and stress can ultimately affect your sex hormone balance and the severity and frequency of PMS symptoms.
Restore (and maintain) hormonal imbalance to reduce PMS symptoms
By taking some simple steps to help your body rebalance naturally, you can find real relief for your worst PMS symptoms. You don’t have to change everything about your life over night, but it is important to know that diet and lifestyle can feed PMS. With this powerful information, you can take one step at a time.
Each little thing you do will likely give you some good results. As you go forward, you’ll have more ability to make additional adjustments. Your goal is to find that sweet spot when you feel good every day, you’re having some fun and PMS is not ruining your life for one to two weeks every month.
Try any two of these to get started:
1. Use herbal hormone support. Several herbs are very helpful for many common PMS symptoms. Chasteberry is great for addressing breast tenderness, cramps and bloating. Maca and dong quai can ease moodiness and anxiety. Black cohosh and lemon balm help with sleep and irritability.
2. Upgrade your diet. Focus mostly on changes that will keep insulin and blood sugar from spiking and then dropping suddenly and leading to mood swings and irritability. You can prevent these extreme highs and lows by including protein with every meal and snack, and avoiding high sugar, high carb foods (including alcohol). As you take these away, or limit them, add in fiber, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates to every meal. You’ll be full and satisfied, and feel more stable.
3. Take a quality multivitamin. Research strongly shows that certain nutrient deficiencies can lead to PMS symptoms. Vitamins and minerals serve as important cofactors in hormone production and when they are low, your body can’t make them effectively. Find a high-quality multivitamin/mineral complex with calcium, magnesium, Vitamin E, Vitamin B6 and Vitamin K like the one we’ve formulated just for women, Essential Nutrients, in our SHOP.
4. Shrink your stress burden. You may have already thought about it, but finding better PMS relief is a great reason to take up a meditation, yoga and/or deep breathing practice. And try hard to get regular exercise because it directly calms your nervous system, especially premenstrually. We can’t stress how important this step is to really changing your monthly experience.
Keep in mind that stress can also be physical, perhaps caused by an injury or a food sensitivity, or possibly connected to some past emotional trauma. Make a plan for long-term solutions so you’re able to find ways to bring down the stress you carry from day to day permanently.
Because relief from PMS means better quality of life every month
We know that each woman is different, which is why we recommend a combination approach to rebalancing your hormones. You can find the best relief by supporting your sex hormones with the right herbs, along with making dietary changes, adding a high-quality multivitamin/mineral complex and reducing stress.
