Posted by dusty rhoads on March 17, 2010, at 11:39:01
I have been suffering with severe PMDD for about 5 years, and just found something helpful that I wanted to share. My PMDD makes me extremely irritable, anxious, depressed and withdrawn for about 3 weeks of every month.
I've been doing a lot of research on PubMed, and learned that women with severe PMDD tend to have lower estrogen and melatonin levels than other women. I also stumbled across a couple of studies that link grapefruit consumption with increased bioavailability of estrogen. I could not find any other natural substance that increases estrogen - some of the ones that are commonly thought to do so (soy, black cohosh, etc) can actually decrease estrogen!
I have been drinking grapefruit juice (diluted with half water), about a glass a day, over the past week, and have also been taking a very small amount of melatonin (0.25 mg) at night before bed. (I think most people could take more melatonin, but I also have fibromyalgia and am hypersensitive to many substances.) I've also been exercising every day. My result so far is that I feel markedly calmer, less anxious, not irritable at all, and even happy. I am a little bit sleepier, but I'll take this over raging anger any day, and am hoping that as I get used to these substances, the sleepiness may go away. I have a glass of grapefruit juice sitting on my desk at work, and throughout the day as moments arise that make me anxious or angry, I take a gulp of grapefruit juice and actually feel calmer within 10 or 20 minutes. Sounds crazy, I know, but it actually seems to be working.
So I just wanted to share my good experience. I should also add a warning that, as many of you know, grapefruit juice can interact with many prescription drugs and hormones, and can increase or decrease their bioavailability. I think this includes some SSRI's, MAOIs, birth control pills, etc. So if you want to try it, do your research carefully.
As a side note, my daily regimen also includes a potent multivitamin, the whole range of essential fatty acids (fish oil, evening primrose oil, flaxseed oil, etc), calcium + magnesium, and vitamin d. I don't drink alcohol or caffeine.
poster:dusty rhoads
thread:939815
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20091202/msgs/939815.html