Menstrual Issues

[Guest guest]

I'm interested in knowing about other women's experience with

menstruation on a raw diet. These email may not be of interest to

everyone, but if it interests you, feel free to respond.

 

- I've always had very severe symptoms: extremely painful cramps and

nausea, preceded by hormonal depression, headaches, and other symptoms.

 

- This morning I THOUGHT out a whole email, but hurt too much to get out

of bed to write until now. (so this email isn't eactly the " original. " )

 

- Most months, over the past 30 years I've taken medication for cramps.

These past two, mostly-raw months, though, I haven't taken my usual

Alleve. It wasn't because raw " cured " my misery (at least not yet) but

because the nausea was greater than usual, and the idea of swallowing

anything was out of the question.

 

- I notice a few things. For one thing, for years, and years, I had

totally irregular cycles. Distance between periods was usually somewhere

between 34 and 45 days, though some times it was, say, 65, or 96, or even,

twice... 16 days. The last few years, having eaten a mostly vegan (but not

entirely vegetarian) diet, I became regular. It almost is shocking to me,

after such irregularity, to get my period almost exactly every 28 days.

 

- I forgot this, but now I remember that during other raw experiences, my

periods come SOONER. (around every 25 or 26 days.) has that happened to

anyone else.

 

- In general, with medication, some days I could muster up enough ummph

to work through it (especially depending on timing of onset), but it's

awful, even when I take Alleve. I have a cubicle job, so I was pretty much

out of sight on those days, I laid low, didn't initiate conversation with

anyone, and went home when I couldn't work any more.

 

 

- Timing of onset. My period used to start in the middle of the night

(wake me up with terrible cramps) Back in the really dark days of high

school menstrual issues (decades ago), I'd get so sick that I'd vomit

intermittantly over a period of, say, 8 hours. Thank goodness those days

are over! (But sometimes I get close to that level of nausea). These days,

I notice that it usually starts in the morning, or afternoon.

 

- I learned that some of what I interpret as cramps is actually, well,

unpleasant bowel-related things that you don't talk about. But seriously,

it's as though getting my period is a bowel-blocker. I don't know why, but

once I figured that out it helped a lot in controlling the degree of pain

(raw!) It took me years, anyhow to figure out that a portion of the

extreme discomfort is gas and constipation... so there, I said it. Weird.

(And raw doesn't completely prevent, this, either, at least not yet.)

 

- breathing. I also get very out of breath doing regular activities,

during the days right before my period.

 

- Breast pain. I used to have so much pain, that I had to wear a light bra

to bed for half the month. I remember a time when a hug of a relative

could be like an assault, they hurt so much. There is only the very

slightest, tiniest remnant of that symptom now. Thank goodness! I don't

know if aging changed the hormones, or if diet did, or some

combination of both, but glad that one's gone.

 

- Duration. My periods don't last as long (5 days, instead of 7), and what

used to be 3 days of cramping (with a first day of extreme suffering) has

now come down to two days of cramps, where I can usually " fake it " through

the second day, and even, (often, these days, after the first few hours of

" wow,-I can't-believe-I-still-hurt-this-much,-after-all-these-years " )

sometimes through the second half the first day. By " fake it " I mean,

function at work, or at a social gathering, feeling bad, but not letting

it show.

 

I'm just wondering, if there will ever be a day when I won't suffer so

much (either on the physical pain or emotional side) in connection with my

period. Does anyone have a raw-led-to-no-more-menstrual-problems story?

(or visa versa?)

 

I'm also curious how a raw diet effects age of menopause and fertility. I

don't know that there's ever been any research on this at all, so I'm sure

all ideas will be anecdotal. I do remember learning of research that

showed that a VEGAN diet resulted it earlier menopause. (I don't have any

kids, and at 43, I still want to keep the option open...)

 

 

(Wow, imagine, how much we'd know if just half the money spent on viagra

research were spent studying the effect of healthful diet on all these

things...)

 

Any good teas or herbal solutions?

 

Any thoughts?

 

Margie

 

P.S. I once created this page on my website:

http://www.rawfoodwiki.org/index.php/Menstruation

Anyone can add to it, and I haven't looked at it for a while. (Random

users sometimes put nefarious stuff on my site site, but that page still

looks good.)

 

I'm now reminded of the whole " raw diet stops bleeding altogether, and

that's healthy " movement. I've never really come to a decision on that.

Kind of interesting reading about the gorrillas there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marjorie Roswell

3443 Guilford Terrace

Baltimore, MD 21218

mroswell

410-467-3727

RawFoodWiki.org

50BushFlipFlops.org

BaltimoreVillage.org

[Guest guest]

Jeezie Peezie Margie! I thought I had problems, WHEW! Ok, I have two excellent books to recommend to you and promise between the two of them you will be able to easily pinpoint what and why you've had these experiences, what's to come and how to minimize the agony if not remedy most of it. 1. New Menopausal Years - The Wise Woman Way - Alternative Approaches for Women 30-90 by Susun S. Weed, an absolutely excellent read (my opinion, has helped me tremendously). I highly recommend this book for all of the women in this group. Additionally, a good read for the men respectively, it will change and enhance your relationships with your significant others, sisters, mothers, daughters and female friends. 2. The Estrogen Alternative - Natural Hormone Therapy with Botanical Progesterone by Raquel Martin. Really good information is given in this book concerning all women's issues as well. If you don't already have these, please pick them up as soon as possible. I will write to you off line about my little book of experiences. Elaine Margie Roswell <mroswell

wrote: I'm interested in knowing about other women's experience with menstruation on a raw diet. These email may not be of interest to everyone, but if it interests you, feel free to respond.

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[Guest guest]

Greetings, Margie! My personal experience with raw food and menstruation is that my cycle does change each time I become either more raw or less raw. I experience painful cycles as well, but in my research, I have found that this is related to the level of your body's toxicity. Keep in mind that your uterus and your intestines are right near each other. When your colon is impacted with waste, it puts pressure on your uterus resulting in pain and blockages. In addition, toxins do assist in hormonal imbalances. I find that when I do detox, that I have less painful menstrual cycles and I bleed less. Regarding your last point about the "raw diet stops bleeding altogether, and that's healthy" movement. There is actually some truth to that because when you are consuming a purely 100% living foods diet, then depending on your level of toxicity you will eventually stop bleeding. You will

still be able to have children, you just won't hemmorage because your body will cease to expel the toxic tissue. Remember, the key with your diet is consistency. Always move towards constant elevation. Don't expect immediate results. They may happen, but in most cases, give it at least 3 to 6 months of a consistent 100% raw diet with periodic cleansing/detox (colon cleanser, colonic, colemas, enemas, senna leaf tea, etc). Also as your body is making its adjustment, things might get worse or better initially, but give it time to regulate. Please share your results with us Sisters. I pray that you have much success on your journey. Love, Zakhah