Anushka and Lily of Bare Health Studio are back and blogging! This time we're talking PMS, because anything with physical and emotional symptoms that's experienced by millions once a month deserves attention. We're breaking it down, so the decision on whether you need to chat to someone about managing your symptoms might feel a little clearer. There's also PMM. What's that? Read on!

Thanks Tsuno!
Did you know that natural interventions can support premenstrual, acne, weepiness and other symptoms? For most women, PMS symptoms can be a thing of the past.

Picture this, your period arrives unexpectedly, you had no idea it was coming because you didn’t experience your usual warning signs of food cravings, irritability and breast tenderness and crying for “no-reason”. Yes! It is possible to relieve and eliminate PMS symptoms. PMS is common, but doesn’t have to be inevitable each month.

What is PMS?
PMS stands for premenstrual syndrome, referring to a large and varying set of physical and emotional symptoms that many women experience leading up to menstruation (a period). These symptoms can vary in intensity for each individual woman and differ from cycle to cycle. 

Is it PMS?
To qualify as PMS, your symptoms must occur during the ten days before your period and then disappear during or shortly after your bleed. Take a look at the list and take note of which applies to you. For your own record it can be useful to keep a journal or use a menstrual cycle tracking app that allows you to record your symptoms.

Is it PMM?
Premenstrual magnification (PMM) refers to when emotional and physical symptoms (sugar cravings, acne, anxiety, digestive upset) you tend to experience day-to-day are temporarily worsened. The best strategy for PMM is to address the underlying condition, so it is not aggravated by the natural increase in inflammation that occurs at the end of your luteal phase.

And what about PMDD?
Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)is a condition of severe premenstrual anxiety, irritability, or depression.  Mood symptoms are common with PMS, if they are severe enough they can be qualified for the medical diagnosis of PMDD - which is more common in the second half of your cycle. If you're feeling like your symptoms are affecting your everyday life, it's best to see a GP. 

At Bare Health, we can guide you to keep a calendar and track your symptoms but it’s out of our scope to “diagnose”, so we would refer you to a GP for a diagnosis, and then we're right there to support you with diet, lifestyle, and herbal medicine.

Back to PMS, and it's possible causes 

• Excess or deficiency of sex hormones (progesterone and oestrogen) in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle
• The body’s incapability to adapt natural changes in hormone levels that occur during the menstrual cycle
• Imbalances in prostaglandins contributing to systemic inflammation and oxidative stress
• Imbalances in neurotransmitters (often linked to hormonal imbalances)
• Nutritional deficiencies
• Poor liver function
• Prolonged stress
• Lack of exercise
• Obesity
• Excess consumption of alcohol, caffeine, salt
• Pharmaceutical and recreational drug use
• Heavy metal toxicity
• Exposure to xenoestrogens
• Smoking

The causes of PMS appear to be a complicated relationship between hormones, neurotransmitters, nutrients, and psychosocial factors. Just as each individual woman is unique, the imbalances that lead PMS will be different for each woman. For this reason, each woman requires an individualised approach to treatment.

 Bare Health Studio is an online multi-modality wellness clinic offering nutrition and naturopathy services. Our practitioners use evidence-based and traditional nutrition and naturopathic principles for the prevention and management of acute and chronic conditions, including PMS. Our practitioners understand modern-day needs and our individualised treatment plans are achievable and easily integrated into daily life.

What it looks like in our clinic...
Bare Health Studio has a holistic approach to health and wellness, this means we approach disease prevention and management through a multidimensional lens. Our initial consultation for the management of PMS (or any presenting complaint), is a comprehensive assessment of health, lifestyle and dietary history in order for us to gather all the information we need to better understand your main health concern.

During your consultation we’ll chat to you all about your dietary behaviours, nutrient adequacy, food quality and lifestyle. We’ll get into the nitty-gritty of your health history, this will include chatting about everything from family health history to personal medical history to working through the body systems including looking at the female reproductive system (periods, hormones and all that juicy stuff), nervous system (sleep, stress, anxiety), digestive system and much more. This allows your practitioner to get a better understanding of your health as a whole and what is going on with you.

The information gathered will be used to determine the factors that could be contributing to your presenting symptoms, in order to address the underlying cause. A personalised treatment plan will be made to support your PMS as well as any other relevant health concern(s) that may have arisen during the consultation. This will include dietary and lifestyle modifications. You may also be recommended supplements to support your health needs and further testing may be discussed.

At Bare Health studio we can help you to take control of your health. Your PMS might be your body’s way of telling you that something in your life is not working for you. Our practitioners will work with you to provide individualised support allowing you to reclaim your cycle and make PMS a distant memory.

DISCOUNT CODE ALERT!
Think it might be time to chat PMS with Bare Health? We have a special $10 off discount code for you to use on your first consult. Head here and use code TSUNO10 to start reducing your symptoms.