PERIODS AND PROBLEMS

OMG!  HMB, the latest disease acronym to hit the medical lexicon now has a pharmacological option for “treatment” (whatever that means!).  It stands for Heavy Menstrual Bleeding and it affects lots of woman, 10-20 percent of child bearing age, according to freemed.com, and the real number may be larger, as many cases go unreported.  Not to worry though, if you’re one of the millions of HMB sufferers, for the Pharmacology Fairy has come to your rescue.  Doctor’s have now received blessings from government regulators (or, if you prefer, pharmaceutical interest protectors) for dispensing Natazia, the first, FDA-approved, oral contraceptive, indicated for the “treatment” of HMB.  Never mind that the side effect profile for this hormone cocktail reads like a laundry list  of unpleasant stuff you don’t want to have happen to you, including: ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ acne, weight gain, headaches, breast pain, nausea, vomiting and ironically enough, problem periods and  irregular menstrual cycles!

If you are one of the multitudes of mademoiselles dealing with HMB, (whose symptoms include migraines, lethargy and anemia,  in addition to heavy bleeding), and you don’t want to deal with drugs or the other unenlightened medical protocol used to treat this condition, a hysterectomy, which 60 per cent of patients will undergo,  your best nutritional bet is Essential Fatty Acids.  Use a a couple of tablespoonsful flax seed oil, which contains anti-inflammatory Omega 3’s and make sure you’re getting some nutritional Omega-6’s, such as hempseed oil or evening primrose oil which can be important for stabilizing and slowing down bleeding.   If you prefer capsules, use a good blend that contains a 2 or 3 to 1 ratio of omega-6's to Omega 3's.  GLA (Gamma Linolenic Acid) is a derivative Omega-6 fatty acid with interesting anti-inflammatory properties and taking 100-200 mg a day is not a bad idea.  Make sure you’re getting fatty vitamins like A (20,000 IU a day) and E (400 IU a day) and probably K as well (maybe 200-300 mcg a day).  I’d be using K2, which is a little more body friendly than K1.   If you’re dealing with fat malabsorbtion, make sure your using digestive enzymes and everyone needs a good probiotic, but this is especially true if there are problems with fat digestion.  Take 80-100 billion units a day and look for multiple strains of bacteria.  That's alot of microbes, but the benefits for this supplement tend to be dose dependent, i.e. more is better. Bile salts and lecithin can help absorption of fats as well.  I’d also make sure I was getting 1000 to 2000 mg of vitamin C and 1 or 2 daily grams of magnesium (chelated is best) which can be helpful for all female health issues.

It’s VERY important to stay away from highly processed foods, trans fatty acids and hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats.  Anything that induces digestive stress should be avoided too.   The systemic inflammation that can arise from hard to process foods can make matters far worse than would otherwise be. Also, too many refined carbs can wreak havoc with insulin and sugar chemistry which can exacerbate heavy bleeding issues.

Heavy Menstrual Bleeding is not an inevitable condition.  Despite the inference that the best a woman can hope for is drug intervention, like all other so-health challenges, HMB,  more often than not, involves nutritional deficiencies and digestive issues.  Correct these conditions and it's likely you won’t have to deal with HMB.  Or TPS (Toxic Pharmacological Syndrome) or UMP (Unhealthy Medical Protocol) either!