Over 75% of women have experienced the unpleasant symptoms of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), such as headaches, mood swings, irritability, depression, anxiety, fluid retention, sleep problems, breast tenderness, and sugar cravings that affect their daily activities, their relationships, work life, and well-being. Approximately 8% of these women have such extreme symptoms, known as premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Unfortunately, most women accept these symptoms without a second thought.  However, PMS suffering is unnecessary and women do not need to live with these symptoms. Once we understand the real causes of these symptoms – unhealthy habits, environmental toxins, and stress – we can suppress them.

Conventional treatments for PMS range from anti-inflammatory drugs such as Advil or Aleve to birth control pills, as well as prescription meds such as danazol, a drug that suppresses ovulation and causes increased facial hair, acne, and a deep voice.

Gonadatropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogs, which are newer and very expensive drugs, change brain chemistry to turn off the ovaries’ production of estrogen and progesterone, but they also lead to osteoporosis.

Fluid retention is addressed with diuretics like spironolactone. Bromocriptine is used to stop prolactin production and to treat breast tenderness.

Recently, Prozac, which patent was running out, began to be prescribed for PMDD under the name Sarafem. What’s wrong with this picture?

No wonder the drug companies want us to believe that PMS is an inevitable part of being a woman and require “medical intervention” with serious medication to correct them.

If this is true, it implies that ¾ of women are somehow defective. The real cause for PMS is a relative or absolute unbalance between estrogen and progesterone. There are many things that promote these hormone imbalances, such as a high-sugar, refined carbohydrate diet, caffeine, stress, dairy, hormones in dairy products and meat, and estrogen-like toxins from pesticides and pollution. Alcohol also contributes to this hormonal imbalance by damaging the liver and preventing it from excreting excess estrogen.

Constipation and imbalances in the gut bacteria can worsen the situation, because they lead to the reabsorption of estrogen from the gut back into the blood, even after the liver has tried to get rid of it.

Furthermore, a sedentary life negatively affects this estrogen dominance. Our body needs exercise to help balance hormones.

Fortunately, science has given us many ways to rebalance out hormones and resolve PMS and even PMDD symptoms. By making specific dietary changes, taking specific dietary supplements, doing a 30 min aerobic exercises 4 to 5 times a week, and reducing stress, you will have remarkable reduction in symptoms. You are not defective and you do not need drugs to survive.