Natural suggestions you've used for pre-menstral exhaustion and mood swings?

[jennyviktoria14]

Hello all--

I am looking for some natural remedies, opinions, ideas to help with pre-menstral exhaustion and mood swings (very short fused around here…).  

My background:  I have a 4 yr old, and after having a burst ovarian cyst about a year ago and emergency surgery because of it while using Mirena, I no longer am using any hormonal birth control (among other factors).  After over a year of letting my body adjust to its natural rhythm, I have realized it has been ages since I have not been on hormones or pregnant!  Apparently it's been ages since I've had to deal with the monthly gifts of exhaustion and mood swings…so, I would be ever so grateful if you could share your best ways to deal with these rhythms!  (and so would my daughter!)

thanks much!!

[MissCee]

This is a pretty good link that talks about taking magnesium and vitamin B for mood swings and pms :) http://www.livestrong.com/article/69748-vitamins-pms-mood-swings/ I started taking those when my periods started (around 8 weeks post-partum) and it's really helped! They should help with fatigue as well, but also drinking a lot of water and upping my iron intake helps me with fatigue during that time too. :)

[heatherdeg]

There's a PMS/PMDD support thread in Mental Health forum here at MDC but it would likely point you to a B-complex plus an additional B6 such that between the two of them you had 150mg of B6/day.  The B-complex will give you some B-12 plus the necessary uptake assistance for the B6.

Magnesium has a calming effect.  It's a great nutrient and we're usually deficient; but if you're exhausted--I would try the B-complex with extra B6 first.

I realize it seems too simple to work, but for some of us, it's "cured" PMDD (which I honestly thought was a complete farce until I actually had it  :/ ).  Some women have to increase the B6 to 200mg/day in the second half of the month.

And I wouldn't suggest doing it all at once: you want to be able to tie any reactions you have (good or bad) to a single source.

Hope this helps!