[Guest]

Can you please give more information maybe?

Hi ItsASecret
I did not know that Naturopaths attend medical school? I have 2 friends who are naturopaths, neither attended medical school or residency. If you are referring to allopathic medicine, I also have relatives who are docs and nurses in that field, and they barely get an education in nutrition let alone herbals, etc. And unfortunatley none of them were ever able to give me much help with my previous chronic fatigue and other maladies. Not even my naturopathic friends although they sure did try, and I was very grateful for that. But my sis (a nurse) allowed me to use her pharmaceutical textbook when we were researching the lithium and fish oil for depression. Both fell into the proper category. Sometimes, no, MAAAany times, we can get much better results from people who had something that WORKED with a challenging condition like PMDD, than from someone who has an idea...if you are a woman you know how desperate we can be with something like this if you are a man, well I hope your spouse doesn't deal with it for your sake Plus, doctor visits get very expensive with trial and error efforts. There are countless former patients who went the trial and error route, like many of us have to, no choice. So for us, gathering information from them is priceless.

At any rate, there's still the homeopathic route as well, and we haven't even seriously investigated that route yet, though I understand there are highly effective homeopathic treatments for some conditions. If I find anything worthwhile I'll be sure to post it! If you have or had PMDD, and tried anything that worked or didn't work, it would be really nice, and helpful, if you would post that for all of us. We just want to get back to being princesses - instead of witches!!

[ItsASecret]

They have the "Dr". in front of their names for a reason. There are real doctors, and then there are open a shop and sell some herbals as a business type shops. I would go with the former.

Pharmaceuticals as well as herbals are not a thing to mess with, unless someone is educated (more than a couple weeks or a couple junior level undergrad courses) it can be very risky. People need to be well aware of what they are getting themselves into.

[Guest]

Fortunately, some of the truly knowledgable people willingly share their knowledge on the internet for everyone. More than once I've found that I knew more than the "doc" (whether naturopathic or allopathic). And thank God I did - it made all the difference. Simply because of necessity, and a good dose of curiosity and desperation. Once it was my own grandmother having drug interactions - my cousin - a respected head of pharmacy company - was the advisor in this case. Sorry, sometimes just taking the time to READ makes all the difference. No one can hold all necessary info in their head. THAT'S why the internet is so valuable, including Googling

I considered naturopathy as a profession at the urging of someone else; there really isn't a "medical school" experience to be compared with allopathy, and I do personally know two "docs" of naturopathy who simply don't know everything. Everyone is unique in their responses to this stuff, which is why I completely agree with you that neither pharmaceuticals nor herbs should be used with ignorance. One of the best sources of info I've seen, DR. Sahelian, repeats again and again that it is impossible to know how any one individual will respond to any treatment. Thus, the 1000's of lives lost every year in hospitals due to prescription errors, etc.

*** For anyone looking for help, whether you go to an allopathic or naturopathic Doc, do be responsible and educate yourself (as much as possible) by all means!

[ItsASecret]

I have just this last 2 weeks been researching this

More than once I've found that I knew more than the "doc"

and I do personally know two "docs" of naturopathy who simply don't know everything.

Followed by...

Everyone is unique in their responses to this stuff, which is why I completely agree with you that neither pharmaceuticals nor herbs should be used with ignorance.

I know you have good intentions with your information but these statements worry me when there is plenty of other people reading this information. They may actually start trying random medications or taking random herbals because anecdotal evidence from a blog said it worked from them (while being conveniently only offered by one online company). The problem people face is deciding which sources are reliable, their doctor...or wikipedia. The information from a medical journal, or a blog. Its tough and complex and it seems like sometimes a good education like degree is almost a necessity when researching because not many people will understand those big words on a journal article or the words spewed by physicians.

[Guest]

Thank you

Aaaahhhh thanks, now I see where you're focusing, and I guess in my mind, as I write, that's not where I'm focusing. So just to reiterate, let me quote myself

"*** For anyone looking for help, whether you go to an allopathic or naturopathic Doc, do be responsible and educate yourself (as much as possible) by all means!"

I sure appreciate your opinion. Blogs are for sharing. We are each responsible for our own health, and pursuit of health, no matter where we get our information... I once received a cortisone shot for a sprained ankle that just wouldn't let the swelling go down. That one shot turned my life upside down for 2 years. Had I done my own investigating, rather than trust the doctor even AFTER I put in writing all of my counter-indications on his health history form (he obviously didn't READ it), I would have saved myself 2 years of and misery, literally. I had no idea what a powerful drug that is. In my opinion, the doctor was responsible for his lack of professionalism, but it was ME who was to blame for going along with his treatment when it seemed to contradict what I already knew about my own body.

We each must be our own advocate for our basic day to day health, starting with the simplest of nutritional choices. Whenever I read of someone's success or lack of success with a product or regimen, I do not take that as the final word, but continue to gather information from numerous sources.

If you want to take a single individual testimony on something, that is certainly your prerogative, as well as mine or anyone elses. But being responsible for our own health simply means we won't ever do that. It is counterproductive. Dr.'s with integrity aren't going to dispute their patients' desire to intelligently and responsibly seek more information for challenging conditions that Dr.s don't have a sure answer for in the first place. People on this forum ask for help in terms of what has worked for others, what hasn't worked, what they've heard, what a friend tried, etc. I know you have good intentions as well, but it is more helpful to not undermine the experience of others, but to share your own information, whether personal or from observation, whether successful or unsuccessful.
I really look forward to hearing that!

[Guest]

P.S. I think everyone is capable of evaluating their own abilities to comprehend the information they read on their own health. I'll bet plenty of people are intelligent enough to simply read, gather info, and take it to a doctor that they feel confident in for an opinion of how it might help their treatment. I know I've done that

[NO_MORE_PMDD]

Hi Ladies,
We absolutely have to take an active role in healing ourselves. You know your body better than any doctor; However, finding a good doctor who is very knowledgeable in PMDD and hormonal imbalance can be very helpful. PMDD is hormonal imbalance caused by estrogen dominance. Estrogen dominance can mean high estrogen or progesterone deficiency. You need enough progesterone to counter the effects and balance your estrogen levels. Natural progesterone is the solution - and it actually saved my life!! I suffered from PMDD to the extreme of wanting to commit suicide. I saw doctor after doctor and sadly I was more educated than several of them. Just because someone holds a title does not automatically mean they have the experience, insight and knowledge necessary to tackle the task. That goes with any industry...you can become a divorce lawyer, but it doesn't mean you are qualified to service a client on trial for murder. There are a lot of Doctor's out there that will prescribe for patients and they don't have the experience behind them to know how to treat with natural progesterone. Often times, they prescribe a low dose which will actually aggravate the estrogen dominance symptoms - which is what happened to me in the beginning. I had to play an active role, continuously reading and searching for a doctor who also knew what was happening. I finally found one and we have a mutual relationship and she works with me (open mindedly - while backed up with education and her experience) to create the correct balance. Once I started taking the "right" dose of progesterone almost all the PMDD symptoms disappeared completely. My current dose is 600 mg taken day 14-28 and the rest of the month I am on 300mg/day. I am extremely deficient and my doctor has never had someone as deficient as me nor had treat at such high doses. So with that in mind, know that our bio identity is different from person to person depending on many variable - genetics and life/lifestyle history. You may also have vitamin deficiencies (especially if you on BCP) that also contribute to the aggravation of PMDD. I also added vitamin/mineral supplementation to help support my body.

I was on BCP for 20 years and my gallbladder/liver are toxic from the synthetic hormones I took for all those years. It literally made me so sick and almost cost me my life. Doctor's were unable to put all the pieces together at one time and it has taken the past 2.5 years of my life to figure everything out and get on track to start healing.

The good news about PMDD is You DON'T HAVE TO LIVE THIS WAY ANYMORE...and No you are not crazy - just a hormonal imbalance which you can treat naturally and restore yourself to a normal life!! It is truly amazing~
Best wishes to you all who struggle!!

[WildChild]

I do have a nautropath although I'm healthy enough that I haven't seen her in years. I really support the intelligent use of diet, suppliments, exersize and using allopathic or natropathic each as appropriate. My own belief, based, of course, on my experience, which may be completely different from someone else's. Is that diet, stress and chemical exposure are the big 3. I was a vegetarian for years and am going back toward it, have bought organic when I can and trust the producer, avoid anything that could contain rBGH or antobiotics. It does make a difference for me. When I slip I notice a change.

[Guest]

To No More Pmdd:

Is your doctor a gp, endocrinologist, gynecologist, psychiatrist, naturopath, other? Is your progesterone cream over the counter or Rx? Just wondering if there is a particular category of doc or cream that might be more helpful.

A local university is currently running a PMDD study and we've made some contact. Surprisingly the person in charge seemed unfamiliar with natural progesterone cream(wild yam, soy, etc) They only exclude for bc. It's also the psychiatry dept., not a medical dept doing the study. I have read PMDD is not considered a hormone imbalance, but an inappropriate biological response to normal hormone fluctuations. (So why is it a "psychiatric" condition?) Is this what your doc indicates? I'm not sure we'll be participating in the study or not, but considered it might be a good educational experience on PMDD - now I'm not so sure!! ha!

Thank you for any additional input.

[ItsASecret]

Surprisingly the person in charge seemed unfamiliar with natural progesterone cream(wild yam, soy, etc)

The reason they don't is because 'natural' sources contain extremely low concentrations of chemicals, as well as thousands if not 10's of thousands of chemicals. So it would literally mean eating countless pounds of yam to get even a slight possible result, and even then it is no guarantee. Not only that the compounds work synergistically so it is really difficult to know how any effect was elicited, and the screening process for that type of research is extremely costly and very very time consuming. It takes a drug approval for docs to know of and prescribe medications so it is not surprising that a doc has no idea of something not approved.

So why is it a "psychiatric" condition?

Because of the psychiatric symptoms of mood. Psychiatry is a medical profession though, they have a medical degree.

I'm not sure we'll be participating in the study or not, but considered it might be a good educational experience on PMDD - now I'm not so sure!! ha!

Studies often pay participants so that can be a reason for doing it but its all up to the individual.