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!
