Posted by janejane on July 11, 2010, at 7:25:14
In reply to Re: PMDD and estrogen therapy? » janejane, posted by ihatedrugs on July 10, 2010, at 22:22:33
I'm glad this topic is being discussed too. :-) If you haven't already, try doing a search of the archives here. I remember reading through a bunch of threads when I started looking at this stuff last spring. Google of course will bring up a lot of info too. (Just remember to be a critical reader and don't necessarily believe everything.)
Have you had a chance to read more about the different PMS types yet? (Sorry I don't remember which sites were better than others. If you find good ones, be sure to put links for others, though.) I wouldn't automatically assume you have D since A is apparently so much more common, and can be associated with depression and moodiness too (not just anxiety). It's important to know which kind you have because if you try to raise the wrong hormone, you may get a worsening of symptoms.
As for getting tested, I do think your best bet is to try googling "bioidentical hormones" and your zipcode (or town, whatever) to see what docs come up. It took me a while to find someone who I felt I would be comfortable with who also took my insurance. (It turned out that she was less experienced than she claimed, though.) You might also want to just search for holistic/integrative docs generally because they are usually more open-minded and will probably be at least familiar with bioidenticals. Another option is online sites that sell saliva testing kits. (You'll have to research which ones are most reputable because I don't know.) I would think it'd be hard to get reimbursed by insurance for those, but I haven't looked into it. Many experts say saliva is better than blood, but others seem to disagree.
I love matcha tea too. I really do feel that it calms me and helps me to focus. (I tried taking a theanine supplement and didn't get the same effect.) I used to drink matcha every day (sometimes twice a day) for a while, in addition to drinking a lot of iced green tea (it was like water to me). Then I came across a study that found that women who are heavy green tea drinkers have 13% lower circulating estrogen than non-tea drinkers. The caveat is that those women were post-menopausal, so it's possible that the results are not be relevant to us. (Interestingly, they theorized that Asian women have a lower incidence of breast cancer because of tea drinking.) I quit drinking green tea for a while to see if it helped, and didn't feel any better, so I'm not sure it makes a difference, for me. (I mentioned green tea in my last post since it's a possible issue, but I probably should have been more thorough in my discussion of it.) If you like matcha, and don't have a worsening of symptoms, I say go for it. I've been drinking more green tea again lately, though not as much as before. I might try drinking grapefruit juice during my down times as dusty suggested, to see if it makes a difference. (I'm not on meds right now.)
You mentioned B vitamins, but are you taking other supplements, such as magnesium? As you probably know, magnesium been known to help with PMS, anxiety, constipation, and a bunch of other stuff. (It's supposed to be involved in over 300 biochemical reactions in the body.) Most Americans are deficient, and because it's bulky, multis typically don't have 100% of the DV, so it's something you'd most likely have to take separately. If you want to add it, avoid magnesium oxide since it isn't well absorbed. If you have heart problems, magnesium taurate/taurinate, I believe is often recommend. I take glycinate myself, though I used to take citrate. It (citrate) seemed to help with my sleep at one point, but doesn't seem to anymore. Not sure why. Citrate is apparently more likely to cause diarrhea than others, but whichever kind you take, start low and titrate up slowly to avoid having an unpleasant reaction. I know others prefer different types (e.g., malate, orotate), and if you do a search of the archives here, you'll find a lot of posts about preferences, and many examples of people touting the benefits of it.
How about fish or krill oil? It seems to help a lot of people with mood, and I do find them useful for menstrual cramps. If you happen to cholesterol problems, it might help that too, as you probably already know. (A McGill study showed krill to be very effective for reducing LDL and triglycerides and raising HDL.) I don't tolerate either one very well, but I think I'm an anomaly. Just one gelcap is enough to give me stomach problems and make me anxious. They say that the SEs go away after a while, but if I take either one for more than a few days, my face turns into an oil slick and I get acne. I also have unusually high HDL ("good" cholesterol), and there was a Swedish study that suggested super high HDL might be bad so I'm cautious about taking something that might raise it. (Most docs think over 60 is great, but mine is over 100 which is kind of freaky, I think.)
When I have cramps, I take a product by now foods called super omega 3 6 9 that includes a little fish oil as well as borage and flax. I don't take it at other times since I don't think it does much for me otherwise. Borage of course is supposed to be good for PMS too, as is evening primrose, if I recall correctly. I just found a bottle of borage in the cupboard that I forgot I bought (luckily hasn't expired yet) so I might try it plain next month. I will have to look up whether it affects hormones.
If you haven't already done a trial of fish or krill oil, I'd recommend you try that first (before taking the supplement that I do), because there is a lot of good evidence that it helps with mood. (As I said before, I think I'm a bit of an anomaly in my reaction, though I've seen anecdotal reports of others with similar experiences.)
Krill is a bit more expensive than regular fish oil, but you wouldn't have to take as much of it, and it contains something called PS (sorry too lazy to look up the full spelling) in addition to EPA/DHA that's supposed to improve cognitive function, and possibly mood. I really wish I could tolerate it because there is so much good stuff that it's supposed to do, but I just don't. Everybody's different, though. Oh yeah, fish/krill can apparently thin the blood, so if you think clotting might be an issue, it might be good for that, too.
I assume you're taking a daily multi that includes zinc? If not, it might be something to start since you'll get your other bases covered that way. Zinc in particular is often touted as good for PMS. You'll want to balance it with copper, though, so I think a multi is the best way to get it. Lots of people just take extra zinc, but I'm a bit more cautious since I've got this weird serum copper deficiency so I can't take too much zinc without worrying about my copper going lower (apparently it's rare, but it doesn't hurt to be careful about megadosing in any case).
poster:janejane
thread:953868
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20100703/msgs/954089.html