Period and mood swings

[satu]

Hi,

I haven't been on BE Board since October as I don't do BE anymore, but I have a period related problem so I thought that from my experience, this is where I can find people who know about hormones. I've already done a bit of research on the internet, but thought I'll ask as I haven't found an answer to my question.

I have an anxiety related condition, which gets a lot worse during the follicular time of the cycle. It starts getting worse around the 3rd day of the period and gets worse during the next 3-4 days. Then it stays really nasty about 5-7 days. This is in my opinion very clearly and strongly affected by female hormones. So I'm really talking about mood swings, but not the ones during PMS, which I can handle with vitamins B6 when I have it.

B6 stops working after the period starts and there's no point in continuing. That's my experience. I don't drink coffee and I've cut down sugar a lot. It's possible I'm not quite taking enough magnesium at the moment so that can have an effect. What I've gathered together is that during the follicular when the progesterone levels stay low, the estrogen is affecting serotonin and dopamine (and a couple of other hormones) and this could be why I feel bad.

As far as I understand higher progesterone levels prevent estrogen from making us feel down and bad and when the progesterone is low like during follicular, the estrogen affects the good feelings hormones. So of course this way progesterone is the female good feeling hormone.

So what would be the way to make myself feel better physically when the progesterone is low so that my anxiety problem doesn't worsen as a result. When the progesterones are up, I'm much better. Is there any supplements I can try? Any further diet modifications? I'll add the magnesium as well.

Thank you in advance.

[Wahaika]

Hello Satu,

Are you currently taking any stress/cortisol meds?

How much magnesium and how often? Anything else?

What is your diet and exercise?

Wahaika

[satu]

Hi Wahaika,

Thank you for your reply.

I'm not on any medication at the moment. The only thing I take is 4-6 g valerian during stressful times, which is during the follicular during about 10 days and the amount varies depending on how I feel. There can be a day in between without any. I haven't had any probs with this.

I'm not taking a magnesium supplement so whatever I get from food is what I get. I'm planning to maybe supplementing since I'm not even eating much broccoli like I did before. I take a multivitamin and an iron tablet in the morning. I swap between 2 different multivitamins so take one on the first day and the other one the next day and the other one again. The first one has 180.9mg of magnesium as oxide-heavy) and 1mg of magnesium as amino acid chelate. The other multivitamin has 33.3mg of magnesium. I take 100mg of iron as I had a bit low iron levels a few weeks ago.
Another supplement that I might need is calcium. To my understanding lack of it causes also anxiety and depression and since I'm totally lactose intolerant and I haven't had a supplement for the last couple of months, this could be also the cause of the problem.


I do 30-45mins of walking 2-3 times a week and have an hour of ballroom and latin dance per week.

My average daily diet is as follows:

Breakfast:
A slice of toast with butter or peanutbutter, jam and honey.
A hot chocolate with water and soy milk

Lunch:
A sandwich with 2 slices of bread (either rye or wheat), butter, ham, cheese and pickle.

Dinner:
Potato or vegetables or pasta or rice
sauce
chicken or sausage or fish or pork and beef mince (I don't like to eat too much red meat)
A little bit of salad or cucumber or frozen vegetables

Snacks in between and in the evening:
A piece of fruit
50g chocolate or nougat
A few little bits of candy or a cookie

All dairy products are non-lactose as I'm totally lactose intolerant. I know I need to add more fruit and veggies as we're living with my parents at the moment and we've needed to adjust to their eating habits, but as soon as we'll move into a new flat I'm looking to start our own habits which include a bit more fruit etc.

Again thank you.
Satu

[Wahaika]

Hello Satu,

Yep, you are getting this on the estrogen rise while progesterone is still low.
beboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=medical&action=display&thread=4082

One thing that you could try is to raise testosterone a bit to see if that helps. It is also somewhat independent of the cycle so here's what to try:

Get a little more protein and a little less starchy carbs. I suggest adding a couple of eggs in the morning and maybe get rid of the potatoe in the evening.

Try some resistance exercise (like weight bearing) when you can. It makes a big difference.

Get an amino acid called L-Arginine, about 1000mg per day, maybe twice if needed.

Take 50mg of chelated zinc every day.

Get an amino acid called L-theanine. Take whatever the bottle recommends.

Take 3000mg vitamin C spread throughout the day.

1000mg calcium and 1000mg magnesium at the same time once per day.

1000mg of Evening Primrose Oil and omega-3 Fish Oil together three times per day.

Are you able to get this protein powder?:
beboard.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=Healthy&action=post&thread=4438&page=1

Get rid of the soy milk. If the problem is estrogen related the soy is making it worse.

You could also try some aveena sativa (Wild Oats extract) and some Gingko Biloba extract.

What brands of multi are you using? It would be good to take one that does the same job.

Also, get 20 minutes of direct sunlight per day.

Wahaika

[satu]

Hi Wahaika,

Thank you again for your reply.

I have some testosterone gel at home so I'll try applying that daily.

I'll definately add protein and try do decrease my starchy carbs intake as suggested. This is something I've meant to do anyway as I've noticed I need to. I already started with the above things today.

I don't go to gym, but I could do some gym from time to time, but probably not every week. I have a history of gym and I got so tired of it, but I have spoken with my partner that we could sometimes go to gym.

I'll try L-Arginine and L-theanine. I read about them and they might be a good help.

How important is adding zink? I'm just trying not to take too many supplements. My multivitamins get me about 10mg per day.

I'll add vitamin C, calcium and magnesium as directed.

I started Evening Primrose Oil today. I don't have omega-3 yet. I'll give this one a thought. Maybe it's just me but I never noticed it helping before.

The link for the protein powder didn't work, but we have loads of them for sale here so it's easy to find.

Probably a good idea to get rid of the soy milk because of the estrogen properties. I was having it instead of non-lactose cow milk because it gives estrogen and it's good to boost feminine shapes. I could try oat milk so I could get a bit of avena sativa in it. I've tried Gingko Biloba before for another purpose and it had a negative effect on my anxieties.

The multivitamins I'm taking are an Australian Woolworths homebrand and English Holland & Barrett hair, nails and skin formula. I'm just finishing these bottles before moving onto a different brand. Haven't chosen the new one yet.

Sunlight is already taken care of.

How long do you think I should keep doing this? Maybe take supplements for a month or so and see what happens and then keep adjusting my diet and keep some of the supplements (magnesium and calcium) as part of my diet. I would prefer not to take so many supplements at the same time for a long time.

Thank you so much. You've been helping people on this board for a long time. It's very much appreciated. I've sometimes wondered how you know so much about so much.
Satu

[Wahaika]

Hello Satu,

I'm going to change my mind on the aveena sativa / anything made of oats, and the Gingko Biloba. Those might be a bad idea when trying to bump up testosterone. The oats products will bind with testosterone and estrogen so maybe the best thing is to leave those out for now.

The zinc is probably already in your multivitamins to some extent. It is just one more thing that helps with testosterone because it inhibits aromatization at high dosages. It will help keep testosterone from being used to create estrogen locally. Just add up what you are taking already and take it if you can. Do not exceed 80mg in a day.

If you do all of this you should know after a week if you feel better, especially with the resistance exercise (sit ups and push ups if nothing else). But you're right, the real test is the follicular phase.

Wahaika

[satu]

Thank you Wahaika,

I'll leave the aveena sativa and Gingko Biloba.

I'll buy the amino acids today as well. I bought other things yesterday and started them. I'll take the zink in my multivitamin.

I hope to notice a difference within a week. I'm better now generally, but I'll keep doing this until and during the next follicular phase and see how it goes.

Oh, I didn't mention I do sit ups and push ups on a few days a week. I have an abs video that I do and I always add some sit ups. It's good to hear that this is enough.

Thank you so much for your help. I'll let you know within a few weeks how it goes during follicular.
Satu

[satu]

Hi Wahaika,

I took some supplements as recommended by you. I'm now over the bad time of the month mostly and it was easier.

I took the following:

I used testosterone gel and it seemed to help a bit.

I cut down on potato, added more vegetables and have had a bit more protein.

I did sit ups and push ups, but not enough as I had to leave early in the morning and was exhausted in the evening. I'll work on this one more next week as I'm very tired at the moment because of a course I've been taking.

I took L-Arginine about 1000mg per day. It has 5mg zink with it.

I took 250mg of L-theanine for 2 weeks. I think I'll try taking it more. This bottle was very high dose and very expensive, but I have a problem finding it at a reasonable price as they don't sell it in too many shops.

I took 1000mg vitamin C per day. I thought maybe the 3000mg would be too much for a long time in a row. I notice I had more energy first. Then it settled.

I took 1000mg calcium and about 1000mg magnesium at the same time once per day.

I didn't take Evening Primrose Oil as after trying a couple of days, I noticed it caused me to get more anxious and it causes menstrual cramp type of things to me.

I didn't take omega-3 Fish Oil, but if you think I could benefit from this a lot, I'll get it.

I haven't had soy milk, but I don't think that does anything to me as I take so little per day, just a tiny bit with hot chocolate in water once a day.

I felt better. Still depressed and anxious, but I think that's because of how busy and tired I've been. I can really see how well these help me during my next follicular as it will be a more normal month to me.

If you have any suggestions, please let me know. Thank you so much for all the advice you've given me.
Satu

[Wahaika]

Hello Satu,

It looks like you are doing better. My only suggestion is to continue working toward getting some good resistance exercise every day and make sure to get your sleep. If you are drinking any soda pop, especially with caffeine, you should also stop that for a while.

Wahaika

[satu]

Thank you Wahaika.

I'll try to do more resistance exercise and getting enough sleep is already a big important thing to me. I don't drink soda pop more than like once per 2 months so problem there and even then it's non-caffeinated.

Again thank you.