Dr. Lara Briden - The Period Revolutionary
Top 6 natural treatments for premenstrual mood symptoms
Are premenstrual mood symptoms caused by progesterone or helped by progesterone? And why do antihistamines give such relief?
In this episode, Lara discusses premenstrual mood symptoms including:
– the role of histamine and mast cell activation
– progesterone sensitivity, and
– effective natural treatments such as magnesium, iodine, and body-identical progesterone.
Links:
– Lara Briden's mailing list https://www.subscribepage.com/larabriden
– Magnesium in the gynecological practice: a literature review
– 8 Ways magnesium rescues hormones https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28392498/
– Taurine: 5 benefits for women's health https://www.larabriden.com/benefits-of-taurine-for-womens-health/
[Music] are premenstrual mood symptoms caused by progesterone or helped by progesterone and why do antihistamines give such relief join me today for some new treatment ideas for the irritability sensitivity sleep disturbance and even rage you might experience leading up to your period welcome back to the podcast i'm your host lara briden a naturopathic doctor and author of the books period of paramanual and hormone repair manual i'm currently still in christchurch new zealand where i live but i'm gearing up to go over to canada where i'm from and one of my first stops will be vancouver where i hope to give a little public presentation and book signing for more info make sure you're on my mailing list which you can join from the link in the show notes okay on to the topic of premenstrual mood symptoms i'll start by saying that premenstrual mood is my favorite thing to treat because in most cases it responds so well and so quickly to some pretty basic strategies and if that has not been your experience with the conventional treatments of ssris and hormonal birth control i encourage you to keep listening because there are other options some of the treatments i'll discuss today have been clinically trialled but some have not and that's largely because of the rather startling lack of research on this topic for example there is still no clear understanding of what causes premenstrual mood symptoms what little science there is points to an abnormal response of the brain to the normal fluctuations in estrogen and progesterone probably because of inflammation and importantly what little science there is suggests there is not one single mechanism to explain premenstrual mood symptoms in all women instead there are probably at least several things going on with different women which means that different treatments work for different people and i've definitely found that to be true with my patients so you might just need to try a few treatments or combination of treatments until you find the one that works for you in my 25 years with patients i've had a chance to try a lot of pre-menstrual treatments and today i'll share the six treatments i've found to be most effective before i do that however i want to get a few things out of the way first these are treatments for mood symptoms that occur in the second half of a natural menstrual cycle mood symptoms on hormonal birth control are side effects of hormonal birth control and a separate topic second the same treatments can relieve physical premenstrual symptoms such as headaches and breast pain third these six treatments are by no means the only natural treatments like so many aspects of the menstrual cycle premenstrual mood symptoms are an expression of general health so anything you do to improve general health will also improve premenstrual mood that includes moving the body getting outside and getting more rest fixing the gut reducing inflammation avoiding alcohol and being fully nourished in every way including protein b vitamins zinc essential fatty acids and more finally i just want to acknowledge the existence of severe premenstrual mood symptoms which may be diagnosed as premenstrual dysphoric disorder or pmdd natural treatment can relieve pmdd especially the antihistamine treatment but not necessarily in every case so please check with your doctor okay let's go treatment number one is an antihistamine approach which can mean first trying an over-the-counter antihistamine medication to see if that gives relief talk to your pharmacist about non-drowsy versus drowsy medication depending on what time of day you're planning to take it if that works you could then try natural antihistamine treatments such as quercetin sami vitamin b6 which we'll come to and a dairy free diet by which i mean specifically avoiding a1 casein which is the protein found in milk from holstein or friesian cows goat sheep and a2 dairy are usually fine and interestingly there is a study currently underway at deakin university in australia to assess how a1 versus a2 casein might cause inflammation and psychological distress in women you probably know histamine as the amine that causes allergies and inflammation but it's also a stimulating neurotransmitter that affects the brain and histamine goes up and down with the menstrual cycle because it's influenced by estrogen and progesterone signs of high histamine or mast cell activation include irritability anxiety insomnia brain fog headaches and breast pain all classic premenstrual symptoms other signs of high histamine include hives nasal congestion joint pain fluid retention and nausea so if you have those symptoms as well as premenstrual mood symptoms you probably want to start with an antihistamine approach treatment number two is magnesium wonderful magnesium which reduces inflammation and calms the brain and according to a 2017 literature review is evidence-based treatment for premenstrual mood symptoms i'll put a link to that paper in the show notes some researchers think that the mechanism for magnesium giving such relief is that it quote normalizes the action of progesterone on the central nervous system i usually prescribe 300 milligrams of magnesium glycinate to be taken during the week or two leading up to the period and i sometimes give it in combination with the amino acid taurine which also calms the brain for more about how to take and troubleshoot magnesium and taurine see my magnesium and taurine blog posts link in the show notes treatment number three is vitamin b6 which was actually my personal eureka moment for pms when i first tried it 30 years ago i was in naturopathic college at the time and i thought it was normal to feel a little edgy or irritable leading up to my period and then i tried vitamin b6 and the symptoms just evaporated and i thought oh my goodness this stuff really works i also realized okay so it's possible for the period to just arrive with no symptoms possible for me and possible for many many of my patients since then vitamin b6 has done well in at least one clinical trial and probably works via several mechanisms including boosting serotonin and gaba as well as lowering histamine and prolactin there are some safety considerations around the dose of vitamin b6 which i discuss on my blog i'll just say here that i usually prescribe b6 in the range of 30 to 60 milligrams but only during the luteal phase taking b6 for only part of the month is one way to reduce the potential but rare risk of nerve damage another way is to use the form paradoxical 5-phosphate or p5p rather than paradoxine check with your clinician or pharmacist treatment number four is iodine preferably molecular iodine at the dose of one to three milligrams which can be an absolute game changer not just for premenstrual mood symptoms but also for endometriosis and especially for breast pain in fact if you have breast pain iodine is the first pms treatment to try like vitamin b6 there are some safety considerations mainly that if you have existing thyroid disease especially autoimmune thyroid disease then you cannot use one to three milligrams of iodine but must stay at a lower dose of 300 micrograms that thyroid safety issue is why i always screen my patients for thyroid antibodies or tpo antibodies before prescribing iodine a negative result for thyroid antibodies means it's probably safe to try higher dose iodine and please don't let that precaution put you off when iodine is the right treatment it can make a dramatic difference to premenstrual mood symptoms treatment number five is the oh so popular vitex or chase tree which is the herbal medicine most people try first for premenstrual mood and it can be helpful in fact vitex is one of the better researched natural treatments and works by a few mechanisms including directly calming the brain increasing progesterone and most importantly lowering prolectin with my patients i sometimes test prolactin to try to determine if vitex is going to be the right treatment if you have very hyperlectin of course speak to your doctor but if your prolactin is just on the high end of normal then vitex could be helpful for premenstrual mood headaches and breast pain i generally avoid vitex for pcos because i find it can sometimes worsen androgen symptoms and as an aside the other great herbal medicine for premature mood is buplerum finally treatment number six is natural progesterone or body identical progesterone which is entirely different from the progestins of hormonal birth control as i explained in episode five progesterone can be calming and soothing because it has a natural antihistamine effect and because it converts to a tranquilizing neurosteroid called allopregnanolone which is usually calming to the gaba receptors in the brain i say usually because about 1 in 20 women seem to experience a paradoxical anxiety effect from aloe pregnant alone probably because of something unusual going on with their gaba receptors something that might involve inflammation and histamine if you have that kind of progesterone sensitivity you might find your premenstrual mood symptoms kick in early just a few days after ovulation when progesterone starts to climb in other words premenstrual mood symptoms potentially caused or triggered by progesterone for most women however premenstrual mood symptoms typically kick in a little later about eight or nine days after ovulation when progesterone starts to drop so for most women premenstrual mood symptoms are at least in part the result of withdrawal from progesterone and can therefore be relieved by taking progesterone either as a cream or an oral capsule as i described in my books if you take a body identical progesterone capsule be sure to take it at bedtime because it can make you very sleepy and yes conceptually there is quite a big difference between premenstrual mood symptoms being caused by progesterone which is the conventional view and premenstrual mood symptoms being caused by withdrawal from progesterone which seems to be the case for most women thankfully the research is starting to look a little more closely at the withdrawal theory and i'll just finish by saying that natural progesterone capsules can be worth trying even if you think you have progesterone sensitivity sometimes it just requires a higher dose to calm and stabilize the gaba receptors and possibly over a few cycles before things start to improve as always there's a section in my forum at larabraden.com to discuss the episode please chime in there with your experience i hope that's been helpful and thanks so much for listening please share and leave a review and i'll see you next time when i'll discuss how to prevent and treat post pill acne
#Top #natural #treatments #premenstrual #mood #symptoms
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Thank you so much Dr Briden. I am 52 and am having horrible PMS mood symptoms (physical symptoms too). 😢
Is there a brand of b6 you can recommend? There are so many out there, im not sure what is good or not… Thanks!
is vitex agnus safe for long term? I tried it for six months and my number and intensity fo headaches decreased but my period became more scanty, I dont know if that is a normal reaction to the Vitex or to other herbs I was taking (e.g fennel)
What about spearmint tea
Can we eat goat cheese doc ??? Thanks so much love your book
Do you still see patients? What causes autoimmune symptoms to flare in luteal phase? What can help?
very clear and helpful information on all thing hormones , its time to get my life back and implement some of these approaches with healthy lifestyle habits.. along with patients. thank you for these videos .
What about Evening Primrose? I tried and calmed down my anxiety symptons, but I had some spotting…that's why I only tried during one cicle
When and how often to take the antihistamines? Just in the week leading up or?
Thank you for this very educational video! I found that coffee and dairy greatly trigger my PMDD. I wonder what your opinion is on butter. It does contain only minor amounts of protein, so I would hope it to be save to consume. Dr Eric Berg says in his videos, that fatty dairy, and butter is fatty dairy, is higly estrogenic and to be avoided with PMS. What is your opinion?
I loved your book and am just about to re read it! So much information… luckily my gp knows about you too and was supportive of of me trying different protocols 🤩
I’ve been taking utrogestan for 4 cycles now following advice from your fabulous book.
I’ve always struggled with headaches, nausea and mood swings and from my late 30’s started experiencing insomnia and rage as well.
200mg works a treat days 12-14 but then I find I need to go up to 300 and 400mg as my cycle progresses to get the same level of relief.
I have a scrupulously clean diet and lifestyle but still have crp markers hovering at around 4 due to autoimmune ulcerative colitis.
So glad you are talking about this topic, I spent years trying all the conventional treatments but luckily drew the line at the sterilisation option I was offered!