How Acupuncture Can Support you Through the Seasons
9 Feb 2019
9 Feb 2019
Is period pain keeping you for going to work? Hanging out with friends? Or just generally making you miss out on life – period?
The amount of women who experience pain during their period is staggering. But what’s even more thought provoking is why none of these women are getting help. It’s often not because they aren’t asking. You may be begging your doc for any answers or solutions.
The truth is your solution is often only ever hormonal birth control. Which I’m sure you’ve tried already. Unfortunately this isn’t the answer for painful periods for most women. Not only because using the pill is simply a band-aid solution turning off your hormone production, but also because it may be actually contributing to the root cause problem.
When it comes to painful periods we are often concerned with estrogen dominance. The tricky thing with estrogen dominance is it can come in a few forms.
Estrogen dominance can be more than just painful periods. You might also experience symptoms such as:
If this sounds like you then I cannot urge your enough to get your hormones tested.
Estrogen dominance can be helped, but if you’re treating high estrogen when it is in fact a progesterone problem, you’re actually doing more harm than good.
In the meantime, some gentle things to help support your body are:
1. Improve liver detoxification.
Regardless of what’s going on with your hormones, sending your liver some TLC will only help. Drinking dandelion tea, using castor oil packs, and snacking on lots of green leafy veggies are all simple ways to improve your detox pathways.
2. Make sure you’re pooping everyday.
Our detox pathways are like the highway to remove extra hormones and toxins, our bowel movements are the exit ramps. We need to be having a regular bowel movement in order for our body to properly detoxify. Your bowel movements should be soft, formed and easy to pass, without blood or mucus, and happening at least daily, maybe skipping a day here and there. If you are someone who has a bowel movement 2-3 times per week, we need to chat. There may be a few reasons going on, but first try increasing your water intake to at least 2L per day, making sure you’re getting lots of fibre in your diet from avocados, hemp hearts and chia seeds, and actually give yourself time to go to the bathroom! Sometimes we’re so busy we just forget.
3. Work on your posture.
This has nothing to do with balancing your hormones, but everything to do with minimizing pain. We are spending more and more time sitting our desks, slouched over, and cutting off the blood supply to our pelvis. This means our uterus isn’t getting all the nutrients and blood it needs and can actually be contributing to more painful periods. If you work in an office setting at on a screen, make sure your desk is set up ergonomically so you aren’t pulled to slouched down to type or see your screen. Every hour you should be spending at least 5-10 standing up or walking around to get your blood pumping and also give your brain some time to absorb and refocus. If you can get a standing desk, even better.
4. Get tested!
If you’ve been suffering for years with painful periods, it’s time to get some answers. Working with an ND to do some in depth hormone testing can be a game changer when it comes to your overall quality of life. You shouldn’t need to spend a week every month suffering.
If you’re ready to get started, click here to book a 15-minute complimentary meet and greet today!
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
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9 Feb 2019
9 Feb 2019
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