Another missed day of work. Another early morning brought with pain that you can barely survive. Feeling tired all day and doing everything you can to make it through the day. Especially day one. Does this sound familiar to you? It sure does for me, but don't despair, there is hope!
Described above is how I used to feel most of the time when I got my menstrual cycle each month. I dreaded it and it honestly wiped me out. I really thought that it was normal and that women of all ages dealt with this! This just simply isn't true. You don't have to live like this, with the severe pain and dreaded weeks. Neither does your sister, daughter, mother, or anyone else you know of in your life.
Im writing this to share with you my journey and Im here to tell you there is hope and there are things to help you through this. Im going to share with you how to thrive during this.
Call it whatever you want. Mother nature, the red dot, the flow, period, a nightmare; it doesn't matter. What matters is educating yourself about your body and learning what works for you personally. Women were created to have menstrual cycles, not to eliminate them. There is a reason why your body is wired the way it is. Our hormones are so important for functions in our body and how we feel everyday. During our cycles, they rise and fall and sure we won't be bright and cheery every time we get it, but we can change how we feel and live through it. It preps you for your body changes physically, mentally, and emotionally. We are so intricately designed that when one of our hormones is off, our whole body feels it. Why do you I mention hormones you might ask? Well its what makes us who we are. Women. That's why if your hormones are off or extremely unbalanced, you could be experiencing painful periods, hormonal acne, excess fatigue, low energy, irregular cycles, extreme moodiness, and the list goes on. These are the common ways most women experience their period. The truth is that its 'NOT NORMAL'. I really dislike the phrase "PMS". It really puts a label on you as a women. It just makes it sound like a disease! Everyone talks about it. Its the way you feel and your body changes before you get your cycle. People around you or men around you think you are crazy. You aren't, it's how your body changes before your cycle starts again. PMS has been associated with other negative things that you shouldn't have to go through. Before your period and during it, these symptoms shouldn't be ruining your whole day, your week, relationships, day to day tasks, etc. If you have the signs that I have dealt with most of my life, then this is a red flag that your body is trying to tell you that something is wrong!
First day, yep that's the worst. Can i get an amen? I have to be honest with your for a moment. Waking up early at 3 or 4 in the morning when your cycle starts is not fun. Cramps and pain that come on almost immediately is not fun either. To top it all off, throwing up and then being exhausted for the whole day definitely isn't. I'm not saying this so you feel bad for me but to simply share these things so that if you relate to this, know you aren't alone! All those heat packs, sweats, chills, ibuprofen, tylenol, Advil, etc. They just don't seem to help that much. Know why? They just cover up what's really going on. The pain that is so unbearable; its not what you are meant to go through. Maybe you don't have them this severe, but you still deal with a lot of other intense symptoms. This is still a sign.
Sure you won't feel your best during this time, but you shouldn't feel horrible.
I wish I would have learned all the things I have learned and am learning now when I was in high school. I would have saved myself so much pain and frustration. For those of you who dealt or are dealing with lots of acne, you are not alone. Its not genetic, just because your mom or sister got it doesn't mean you have to endure this too. So your doctor prescribes birth control because you just want it to go away. It seems its worse around your period. That's true, but it shouldn't want to make you hide your face and take strong drugs to combat it. Birth control may see to help right away with just the acne but it won't help long term, and it will damage what you don't want damaged!
This is a reflection of what is truly going on in your body. Maybe your daughter or a friend is getting their period or developing too early. These too are signs from the body telling you to pay attention.
Now it's easy to get overwhelmed and easy to get down on yourself. Don't camp there. It won't help you feel any better. Instead look at yourself and say "I'm not going to settle for normal; I'm going to figure out what my body is telling me". This is the first step to freedom!
I want to share natural remedies and herbs that can help you through this time in your cycle. I am also going to share with you the first steps of figuring out what your body may be trying to tell you.
We are all on a different journey and that's okay. Some of these things may work for you and some not. Keep in mind I am getting my info from my experience, credible resources, and natural doctors I have heard speak. I am not a doctor ,so these are just my opinions, experience and knowledge that I have gained.
Natural Herbs & Remedies For Immediate Relief:
There are many herbs to use when it comes to your cycle. Here are a few that work great if you are willing to try them. Note that different amounts and herbs work for different people.
California Poppy: This is a remarkable herb. It helps the body cope with stress, help to relax muscles and pain. We all know we feel more prone to stress during our cycle, or we just get irritated more easily. This is a a great one, recommended by Dr. Patrick Flynn- "The Hormone Whisper". Taking this in a liquid form is best, taken in water or juice. Depending on the brand you choose will have different amounts to take. Best to make sure it is organic. You can also get capsules for this.
Passion Flower: Helps decrease inflammation and anxiety. Of course everything is a little inflamed or sore during this time so this herb can really help with that. It's also recommended by Dr. Patrick Flynn. Liquid is best and make sure it is organic. You can also get this in a tea form.
Chaste Tree (Vitex berry): Eases pain and symptoms of PMS and cycles. Encourages healthy cycles. Chaste Tree also helps feelings of tension. Be careful with this one if you are nursing or pregnant. Results are seen with this one more on a long term stance. It also can support progesterone levels.
Relieve Herbal tincture: An herbal tincture blend to help with pain. You can see more here at their website. This is a blend of fennel, ginger, and more herbs to help with pain!
https://www.vivwellness.com/period-pain/
Essential Oils!
These are my favorite to use during my cycle and applied with heat. Heat helps cramps tremendously and with essential oils added, its even better! Here's some phenomenal oils to help with pain , cramps, and relaxing.
Peppermint-Cooling effect to help with pain. Relaxes muscles and helps with headaches. You can apply with a hot compress.
Turmeric-Helps with inflammation, acne, and hormonal imbalance.
Lavender-Helps to calm muscles, help mood, and help with sleep.
Clary Sage & Cypress -Clary sage helps with your hormones, while cypress helps with circulation and improves mood.
Fennel-Helps with pain relief, nausea, and upset stomach you might have from throwing up or even dizziness.
Ylang Ylang- Reduces muscle tension, stress relief, and helps with mood swings!
How do you use them?
You can use them all as a combination or on their own. Simply add a couple drops of each to your tummy with a carrier oil like fractionated coconut oil, almond oil, or jojoba oil and rub it in. You can also do a hot compress if the heat helps you and lay the heat on top the oils on your uterine & ovaries area. This helps the oils to soak in faster so you experience relief quicker. Keep in mind natural herbs and oils have to be applied more often but they are so worth it! You can even do a warm epsom salt bath with lavender and chamomile essential oils. This is so relaxing for your body! Try diffusing some as well and use lavender on your skin! For consuming, you can try a turmeric tea, passion flower tea, or peppermint tea to help refresh and relax you. Also try to do low impact exercises like walking or yoga if you workout to help your body recover from what you are going through. I will have another post coming soon about this!
I hope some of these remedies can help to calm your symptoms while you figure out the root cause.
What About Finding Out What's Not Normal?
I want to ultimately stir you towards figuring out the root problem and the first steps. If you are someone like me who deals or have dealt with intense periods and symptoms like these, please cut out sugar! Sugar increases and creates inflammation in your body which will not help your pain! So first thing is cut out all added sugars! Get good at training yourself to read labels. This will benefit you in many other things.
Number two, eat healthy. While cutting out sugar, cut out grains for a time. Get lots of vegetables and fruit, good fats, and clean protein! This will help you feel better. Grains are harder for your body to digest and you really want to get anything out of your body that is going to be inflammatory.
Thirdly, get your hormones tested! This is something probably new to you. You aren't too old or young to get this done. Women's hormones change through the different stages in their life. You just want to make sure your body is doing it at the appropriate times and doing it in a healthy way with conjunction of the rest of your body. Hormones rise and fall during your cycle and you will have a time where you have low hormones. For example, if you have too low of your progesterone hormone, you might experience even more fatigue, you may stress easy, have more pain, mood swings, and more. This is just one piece of it. In a different post I will be explaining how that all works in your body. You can also look on some great resources like:
https://thewellnesswayclinics.com/s=hormones and
https://www.myhormonology.com/female-hormone-cycle/.
You will learn so much when you become in tune with your body! Testing your hormones can really help you figure out what is going on in your body and what could be unbalanced. I recommend: Dutch Tests. www.dutchtests.com
These are done at home between a couple days as a urine test. No blood taken for this one and its easy! This looks at your progesterone, testosterone, and estrogens. It will show you where your cortisol levels are-how stressed you might be! This creates some freedom when you learn what is going on in your body! This will equip you with tools for your health. It opens up a whole new world to discovering just how much is really connected to your hormones.
I hope this info encourages you and gives you hope! We are all on a health journey and its never too late to start yours!
Send us a message if you have questions! Im just here providing information to you so you can take hold of your health confidently and quit feeling defeated!
Stay tuned to see more info coming soon on "How your hormones work".