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Up to 90% of all women in the UK have experienced at least one symptom of PMS (1). Although many don’t seek medical help for their symptoms, a lot of women feel PMS significantly impacts their quality of life.
In this article, you’ll learn about the hormone imbalances behind PMS, along with some dietary and lifestyle modifications to naturally support the condition.
What is PMS?
PMS, short for premenstrual syndrome, is a collection of symptoms experienced in the time leading up to menstruation. Although every woman experiences PMS slightly differently, symptoms include physiological as well as psychological symptoms.
For example, the syndrome encompasses mood swings and low mood, irritability, breast tenderness, bloating, headaches, and skin issues. Other women will experience sleeping problems, tiredness, digestive disturbances, sugar cravings, excessive hunger or thirst, forgetfulness, or foggy headedness.
Although symptoms typically occur in the run-up to menstruation, for some women they start as early as the middle of the cycle, only passing off shortly after menstruation finishes.
What Causes PMS?
At the root of PMS symptoms are imbalances in two major female hormones, oestrogen and progesterone. These are involved in coordinating your body’s cyclical preparations for pregnancy.
Female reproductive hormones fluctuate every day. Your monthly cycle is considered to begin on the day your period ends. At this point, oestrogen and progesterone are both low. In the initial part of the month, oestrogen naturally rises as it’s responsible for building up your womb lining, making it ready to host an egg.
Ovulation, when an egg is released, usually happens around days 12 – 14. The second half of the month is characterised by a rise in progesterone. This maintains your womb lining in preparation for pregnancy in case the egg is fertilised. However, in the absence of fertilisation, progesterone levels drop again prior to menstruation.
Why do Hormones Become Unbalanced?
- Lack of Ovulation
If ovulation doesn’t occur, progesterone is not released, and oestrogen levels will tend to remain high during the second half of the cycle. This situation often happens during perimenopause. In fact, many women notice their PMS symptoms become worse in the run-up to the menopause.
Elevated oestrogen relative to progesterone is known as oestrogen dominance. It’s responsible for many of the symptoms connected with PMS such as bloating, breast tenderness and mood swings.
- Poor Liver Health
Your liver’s job is to clear away oestrogen when it’s no longer needed. If its function is compromised, for example if it’s too busy clearing away other toxins, it might not metabolise oestrogen efficiently. The result is oestrogen remains elevated.
- Compromised Gut Health
Used oestrogen is deposited into your colon to be eliminated to the outside world via your faeces. If your gut microbiome, the population of bacteria resident in your intestines, is out of balance, oestrogen can be reabsorbed into your bloodstream. This is because certain species of bacteria are necessary for effective oestrogen metabolism and excretion. If these bacteria are lacking, this process won’t proceed smoothly.
- Ongoing Stress
If you are constantly stressed, your body will produce stress hormones at the expense of progesterone, and its levels will nosedive. You might not be able to avoid stress, but there is a great deal you can do to learn how to manage it.
At The Forbes Clinic, we have a range of mind/body therapies we can recommend tailored to your situation. These include Emotional Freedom Technique and Neuro-psychoeducation.
- Environmental Oestrogens
Chemicals from industry and agriculture, as well as plastics, contain oestrogen-like substances. These can activate your body’s oestrogen receptors, artificially pushing up levels of the hormone.
To reduce your exposure, switch to natural household cleaners and personal care products over chemical-based ones and avoid using plastic to store food or liquids. Eating organic where possible helps to further avoid these hormone-disrupting chemicals.
Natural Ways to Balance Hormones
- Support your friendly gut bacteria to aid oestrogen clearance by feasting on plants and fermented foods.
- Help out your liver by avoiding processed foods and alcohol. Dandelion coffee can help support liver function and makes a great alternative to caffeine drinks. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage, along with onion, garlic, and turmeric contain natural plant substances supporting liver function.
- Make sure you’re consuming plenty of healthy fats from seeds, nuts, and oily fish.
- Healthy hormones depend on a balanced circadian rhythm, so make sure you’re getting regular, quality sleep. Set a consistent bedtime if you can.
Natural Dietary and Lifestyle Support for PMS
Every woman is unique in her PMS journey. This means your path to optimal health will be unique, too. The first step is an Integrative Health Assessment, after which further therapies may be recommended if appropriate. For example, you may benefit from a consultation with a Functional Nutritionist, or if unresolved trauma is contributing to your condition, we may recommend the German New Medicine approach.
Because the symptoms of PMS are so varied, it can be useful to test your hormone levels to discover what exactly lies behind your symptoms.
The DUTCH test, standing for Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones, analyses four urine samples taken at intervals throughout the day. It looks at oestrogen, progesterone, and testosterone (women produce testosterone, too). It also assesses the stress hormones cortisol and DHEA to detect whether stress is contributing to hormone imbalance. Finally, it looks at melatonin, involved in your sleep/wake cycle.
The test will detect any deviation from the norm according to the time of day. Furthermore, because hormones don’t operate in isolation, it will reveal if they’re out of balance with one another, too. In addition, the test examines how your body is metabolising these hormones. In other words, it assesses what is happening to them after they’ve been produced. These processes have a major influence on PMS symptoms.
This test is particularly beneficial when carried out in conjunction with a practitioner, because of its complexity. However, we do offer convenient at-home tests without interpretation if you prefer.
If you would like to benefit from balanced hormones and are seeking solutions to your PMS symptoms, we’re here to help. Book your Discovery Call today.
