How Homeopathy Treatment can Help Premenstrual Syndrome PMS

Most women don’t think about PMS until it actually occurs; it’s one of those conditions that is also banished from conversation until it strikes, and even then endured in silence. There’s help — natural, side-effect free homeopathy for harmonious transformation.

Are you one of those who remain physically healthy all the month, and yet suffer from a feeling of tension a week or so before the menstrual period? If you are, you are in the company of the 40-50 out of the 100 women who suffer from a similar problem. Probably like them, you have uncomplainingly accepted the symptoms that occur, because you assumed that it was natural for a woman not to feel well once a month.

Characteristically, before the menstrual period, the symptoms appear with monthly regularity in an otherwise normal, healthy woman, and disappear the moment menstruation begins. This is called as Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS).

Prevalence of PMS

• Out of every four menstruating women, three have experienced PMS.
• 80% of all women experience one or another symptom of PMS once in a life time.
• Approximately 20% women in their reproductive age have moderate to severe PMS.
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 199 million women have PMS.
• Woman in cities with sedentary lifestyles are more likely to suffer from PMS.

Common Symptoms of PMS

Most common among the symptoms encountered are general tension and irritability, depression and anxiety, palpitation, or a marked thirst. Physical signs trouble some women, like the swelling of the face, hands and feet or painful swellings of the breasts. Her abdomen may be so blown up that her clothes may not fit her, the skin becomes greasier, and skin diseases like pimples (acne) become worse at this time. Ulcers of the mouth, congestion of the nose, and sinuses are also common at this time.

Causes of PMS

The cause of premenstrual syndrome has been the source of much research and it is now admitted by almost all scientists that the imbalance of the sex hormones, oestrogen and progesterone, brings about a disturbance in the delicate mechanism of a female body.

A number of things which may contribute to the symptoms of PMS are:

• Hormone changes: During your menstrual cycle, levels of hormones such as oestrogen and progesterone rise and fall. Hormone changes are thought to be the biggest contributing factor to many of the symptoms of PMS. The fact that PMS improves during pregnancy and after the menopause, and when hormone levels are stable, supports this theory.
• Chemical changes in the brain:It's also been suggested that changes in hormone levels during the menstrual cycle may affect the levels of certain chemicals in your brain, such as serotonin. Serotonin is known to help regulate your mood and make you feel happier, so a reduction in the level of serotonin caused by changes in hormone levels may explain the mood changes often associated with PMS.
• Lifestyle factors: There are also a number of lifestyle factors that can increase your risk of PMS. These are outlined below.
  1. Weight and exercise - Research has shown you're more likely to have PMS if you're obese (you have a body mass index of more than 30) and if you do little exercise.
  2. Stress - You may find symptoms of PMS get worse as you become more stressed. While it's not a direct cause, stress can aggravate the symptoms of PMS.
  3. Diet - Eating too much of some foods and too little of others may also contribute to PMS symptoms. For example, too much salty food may make you feel bloated. Alcohol and caffeinated drinks can disrupt your mood and energy levels. Low levels of vitamins and minerals may also make your PMS symptoms worse.

Complications of PMS

If ignored, it may lead to:

• Depression
• Premenstrual dismorphic syndrome – (women become critical of their body parts)
• Disruption at work and relationships

What you can do with PMS?

If you are one of those who suffer unpleasant symptoms before a period, you can help your doctor by recording on a calendar, the exact date on which your symptoms appear or disappear. After three or four months, you will be able to coordinate the appearance of these symptoms with the onset of menstruation. However, not all symptoms can be attributed to premenstrual syndrome, but if there is a rhythmical recurrence of the symptoms, always at the same menstrual phase, then you can be sure that the condition is due to premenstrual syndrome and is the right time to contact a doctor.

Homeopathy Treatment for PMS

Women’s hormones are an intricate, delicate, and incredibly complex symphony - a symphony that is needed in order to carry out the miraculous feat of conception, pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing a newborn baby. This ever-shifting symphony can easily be thrown out of whack. To come back into balance, nature offers us homeopathy.

The disagreeable character of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is sufficiently mild to be tolerated by most; in some it induces considerable misery. One of the simplest methods of treating premenstrual syndrome is to approach a qualified and experienced homeopathy.

Homeopathy treatment approach for PMS:

• Holistic approach
• Understanding the root cause of the disease
• Identifying the distressing complaints
• Customized treatment plan

How Homeopathy helps in treating PMS?

• Reduce pain and discomfort before and during periods
• Relief from headaches
• Relax muscle spasms thus, reducing back pain and Reduce water retention
• Reduce emotional hypersensitivity such as, irritability, anger, sadness and dislikes

Clinical Trial: Efficacy of Homeopathy in treating PMS

Critics contend that alternative therapies in general and homeopathy in particular lack clear scientific evaluation of efficacy. Controlled clinical trials, they aver, are urgently needed, especially for conditions that are not helped by conventional methods. The objective of the following work was to assess the efficacy of homeopathic treatment in relieving symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

It was a randomised controlled double-blind clinical trial. Two months baseline assessment with post-intervention follow-up for three months was conducted at Hadassah Hospital’s outpatient gynaecology clinic in Jerusalem, Israel. The subjects were 20 women, aged 20-48, suffering from PMS.

Homeopathic intervention was chosen individually for each patient, according to a model of symptom clusters. Recruited volunteers with PMS were treated randomly with one oral dose of a homeopathic medication, or placebo (dummy pill). The main outcome measure was scores of a daily menstrual distress questionnaire (MDQ) before and after treatment. Psychological tests for suggestibility were used to examine the possible effects of suggestion. Mean MDQ scores fell from 0.44 to 0.13 (P<0.05) with active treatment, and from 0.38 to 0.34 with placebo (between group P=0.057). Improvement >30 per cent was observed in 90 per cent of patients receiving active treatment and 37.5 per cent receiving placebo (P=0.048). Homeopathic treatment was found to be effective in alleviating the symptoms of PMS in comparison to placebo.