Cranky Head, Food Cravings and PMS: Cures for The Moody Woman

I've been dealing with cranky, nasty, irritable (sometimes sad) PMS and PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder, the moodier cousin of PMS, ever since my daughter was born 13 years ago. 

Because I research and write about natural mood balancing so often, I've learned that premenstrual syndrome isn't a straight and narrow pathway of causes and treatments. What makes one lady hit the roof one month and another woman start sobbing can be entirely different underlying biochemical and emotional triggers.  

Vitamin deficiencies, too much caffeine, hormonal and neurotransmitter imbalances all contribute to the syndrome we attribute to some women during their monthly menstrual cycle.  

So how do you figure out what helps you and what doesn't?

While anti-depressants that elevate serotonin can help, my personal health belief is to go natural, and to try one thing at time, to track symptoms and to get very body-aware.

Get your hormones and neurotransmitters tested to see what’s low before and during PMS. Next, if you're in peri or full menopause, consider bioidentical hormone replacement. Try fish oil (be sure whatever you take is balanced between the 3-6-and 9's with the highest ratio the EPA's (3's). Try B6, magnesium, calcium (strong evidence here between PMS and low calcium).....and don't underestimate what stress can do to exacerbate premenstrual symptoms.

Stress triggers cortisol output from the adrenals, which not only adds to your irritability, but causes blood sugar spikes which makes crave and grab sugary snacks, which makes your blood sugar spike again, your weight go up and your abs get fat......it’s all a vicious cycle you don’t want to tackle in the middle of being moody.   

I recently talked to a doctor I once saw for bioidentical hormone replacement and complained that despite the 8 billion supplements I take to sleep at night, I still have bouts of nighttime or early waking. He said I probably have high cortisol.  A lightbulb went off in my head because for some time I’d pegged myself as a high cortisol person, okay arms and legs but a flabby gut despite working out and (mostly) watching what I eat.

So, I pulled my last year’s endocrine lab results, tests I get once in a while because I have a pituitary disorder and sure enough my cortisol was high. Interesting but the doctor didn’t seem to think it was important to mention this, probably because cortisol spikes up and down all day, certainly in front of doctors, and one high number does not make for a problem.  

Still, now I’m obsessed with lowering my cortisol. After doing a lot of research and reading, talking to my friends at the health food store who swear by this, I’ve started taking Holy Basil, a sacred herb out of India that can lower cortisol. Vitamin C and DHEA can also help….

Cortisol in chronically high doses is a killer, so when they say that stress kills, one reason is high cortisol. This hormone is your friend during times when you need to get motivated, or during fright and fight, but keep it turned on, like in the case of chronic stress, and you’ve set yourself up for aging faster, fatter abs, bad PMS, and more……