Lara Briden's Blog, page 14

How to Treat Heavy Periods with Diet and Natural Progesterone

[image error]Yes, you can use natural treatment for very heavy periods but you need the right treatment for your cause of heavy periods.

There are three main causes of heavy periods: 1) thyroid disease, 2) low progesterone or “unopposed” estrogen, and 3) endometriosis or adenomyosis.

Let’s look at each cause (and possible treatments) and then I’ll provide the top five ways to generally lighten flow. (You still want to treat the underlying cause, if you can.)

Heavy periods from thyroid disease

According to...

Maybe It’s Not PCOS (and PCOS Cannot Be Diagnosed by Ultrasound)

PCOS is being overdiagnosed and causing women a lot of unnecessary distress and worry. That’s the conclusion of a British Medical Journal study called: “Are expanding disease definitions unnecessarily labelling women with polycystic ovary syndrome?”

The main problem is reliance on the ultrasound finding of polycystic ovaries, which means almost nothing. Why? Because polycystic ovaries are a common and basically normal finding.

PCOS cannot be diagnosed by ultrasound

It’s normal for all women...

Maybe It’s Not PCOS

[image error]PCOS is being overdiagnosed and causing women a lot of unnecessary distress and worry. That’s the conclusion of a British Medical Journal study called: “Are expanding disease definitions unnecessarily labelling women with polycystic ovary syndrome?”

The main problem is reliance on the ultrasound finding of polycystic ovaries, which means almost nothing. Why? Because polycystic ovaries are a common and basically normal finding.

PCOS cannot be diagnosed by ultrasound

It’s normal for all women...

Natural Treatment of Menstrual Migraines

Suffering from hormonal headaches or menstrual migraines?

Here’s what you need to know.

Hormonal birth control can cause or worsen migraines

All types of hormonal birth control are potentially a problem for migraines but high estrogen pills are particularly bad and also carry a higher than average stroke risk for women with migraines. If birth control is the cause of your headaches, the best strategy is to just try stopping it.

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Natural Treatment of Hormonal Migraines

Suffering from hormonal headaches or migraines?

Here’s what you need to know.

It could be your birth control

Most types of birth control (estrogen and progestin-only) can cause migraine or non-migraine headaches. If birth control is the cause of your headaches, your best strategy is to just try stopping it.  If you develop a new throbbing type of headache on the Mirena IUD, it could be a condition called intracranial hypertension.

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Is Birth Control the Cause of Your Headaches or Migraines?

[image error]“When I stopped the pill my headaches completely disappeared,” said one of my patients last week and it’s a pretty common story. Headaches (both migraine and non-migraine headaches) are surprisingly high on the list of birth control side-effects. Right up there with depression, anxiety, hair loss, weight gain, bladder infections, and loss of libido.

Migraine and non-migraine headaches from birth control

For migraine headaches, the link with the pill has long been recognized, and most migraine...

The Role of Histamine and Mast Cells in PMS and PMDD

Here’s something important about PMS or PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder): At least some of the time it’s caused or worsened by histamine or mast cell activation

Histamine can cause allergy-type symptoms such as hives and nasal congestion. Or it can cause anxiety, headaches, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and breast tenderness, the typical symptoms of PMS.

How histamine causes premenstrual symptoms

It makes sense that histamine can cause premenstrual symptoms. After all, histamine is pro-...

Histamine Intolerance and a Brand New Way of Treating PMS or PMDD

[image error]Here’s something important about PMS or PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder): At least some of the time it’s caused or worsened by histamine intolerance.

Histamine intolerance is the condition of having too much histamine, and it can cause allergic symptoms such as hives and nasal congestion. Or it can cause no allergic symptoms but instead cause anxiety, headaches, fatigue, brain fog, insomnia, and breast tenderness—the typical symptoms of PMS.

How histamine causes premenstrual symptoms

It...

If You’re Not Thinking About Ovulation, You’re Not Thinking About Health

[image error]This is my open letter to every clinician, personal trainer, and blogger who offers health advice without thinking about periods.

Dear Sir,

Your health advice may cause your clients to stop ovulating. That’s a problem because regular ovulation is not just for making a baby. It’s also an important indicator or “vital sign” of your client’s general health. Furthermore, regular ovulation is the only way your client can make the steroid hormones she needs for a healthy brain, bones, and metabolis...

Is It PCOS or Hypothalamic Amenorrhea or Both?

[image error]If you’ve lost your period, you may have noticed that it’s tough to get the right diagnosis.

First, you’re told you have the hormonal condition PCOS, and then you’re told that maybe you don’t. And then you’re told you might have hypothalamic amenorrhea, and now you’re really confused.

This is the blog post for you.

PCOS is the state of having irregular periods because of insulin resistance and elevated androgens (male hormones).

Hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA) is the loss of periods because of u...