Nutrition > Birth Control for PMS, PCOS, and heavy periods

Have you ever gone to the doctor because your menstrual cramps were so bad, you actually needed to take a day off of work or school?

I’ve been there and it did not vibe with my extremely busy New York City lifestyle.

You go to the doctor hoping to get some answers and instead you end up with a diagnosis like “dysmenorrhea”, “PCOS”, “endometriosis”, or “PMS” with no solutions offered except getting hormones injected or taking pills in hopes of controlling the clear hormonal imbalance in your body.

Eventually, you get tired of taking a pill every day and relying on a manufactured hormone that comes from who knows where controlling your own body’s reproductive organs. So you stop the pills or injections, or get that IUD or implanted arm device taken out.

But then all of your symptoms return and you’re frustrated because the only solution your doctor

has is to return to hormones or even more drastic measures like getting surgery to remove parts of you or maybe even your entire reproductive organ.

Until the inevitable time when you have to go back on the hormones because you just can’t live your life with your symptoms.

It’s tough. It’s really, really tough.

The problem with this approach is this:

1. It assumes that hormonal abnormalities should be corrected with more hormones.

2. It’s missing the information that our diet effects our hormones.

The fact is that what we eat effect our hormone levels.

An approach to any hormone imbalances needs to look at diet or it’s not treating the underlying

trigger.

If we have issues with PMS now, our body is telling us that our estrogen is high.

High estrogen is associated with an increased risk of breast, ovarian, and uterine cancer. The

symptoms now can evolve into something much worse in the future.

Were you planning on having children? Women with higher estrogen levels also have an increased risk of ovulation issues which can lead to difficulty conceiving.

While dietary changes can be overwhelming and take time, work, and patience, isn’t it better than surgical removal of our uteruses to stop the symptoms once and for all but also render us infertile?

Isn’t making a dietary change less drastic than that?