I'm gonna talk about periods / PMS / perimenopause now.

I'm gonna talk about periods / PMS / perimenopause now.  I found something that helps me and I'm not going to keep it to myself.  Avert your eyes if you don't want to read further.

Over the last few years my PMS has gotten increasingly worse.  It used to only consist of feeling emotional and having bad lower back aches - not fun, but not debilitating.  But I'd say over the last 5 years it had gotten to the point where I couldn't tell if it was my period coming or if I was legitimately sick.  My whole body would hurt, I would feel feverish (sweating / hot with simultaneous chills), I would be super fatigued, and grumpy, and get menstrual migraines.  If that would be the case for like, a day - then ok, but it started to stretch out for up to a week before my period actually started.  Needless to say, I was feeling really NOT COOL about that AT ALL.

Then my periods started coming later and later and I started sweating a ton at night and barely sleeping... and I thought that this must be me going through "The Change," but every doctor has told me that my hormones are normal and that I'm too young for that.

After doing some research I found out that there is not a lot of information or help for women dealing with hormone issues.  Gynecologists (even if they think you are going through the change) often don't recommend or even offer hormone replacement therapy; they just let you suffer through this mess.  I don't know about all y'all, but I can't afford to be out of commission for almost 2 weeks / month.  I got shit to do!  My life is far from over, and I do NOT surrender.

I found out through my research that a low-dose birth control pill will often help reduce / eliminate the symptoms of perimenopause.  I feel that it would be beneficial for doctors to raise that option to more people my age (I'm 40 right now); after all, this is the stage of life where we are 2nd most prone to unplanned pregnancies (right after teen pregnancy).  I feel like for anyone who is not trying to conceive, isn't a clot risk, and who is suffering through these symptoms that it is a no-brainer.  Help us feel better!

ANYWAY.  I had to ask for it, but I was prescribed a low-dose BC pill and it made me sick as shit.  I'd never taken a birth control pill before in my life, but circumstances seemed to dictate that I should.  I found out after several days that it was not going to work for me.  So my research continued.

I found myself on r/menopause (the menopause sub on reddit) and there is a wealth of information there.  It was on reddit that I learned about estrogen dominance and its symptoms (many of which I had) and what I could do about it.  A supplement called "DIM" was recommended to help balance hormones.  Generally, I am not a fan of supplements because they aren't regulated like prescription medications, but I ordered a 300mg bottle of DIM and started taking it at night.  It made me feel sick as shit.  I stayed on it for about a week before I gave it up.

And then one day a week or two later I was like "Why do I have a bad attitude?"  And then later that day I started my period.  Almost exactly 28 days after my last one.  No crazy, long, brutal PMS and no delay - just me noticing that I had a bad attitude and there it was.

Obviously, I can't take a supplement that makes me feel that bad to avoid feeling bad.  That doesn't make any damn sense.  However, I ordered 150mg of it and tried that.  It was still strong enough to make me sick.  So I ordered a 75mg dose, which is what I've been on for about 2 weeks now.  No sickness.  My period was due yesterday.  I've been grumpy for a few days.  Today I am cramping pretty bad and spotting.  I'm pretty sure it's arriving, and I will gladly take my current symptoms over what I used to go through.

So I'm going to stick with 75mg of DIM for now.  I could probably try a 100mg dose of it, too, but after buying 3 bottles I'm at least going to finish one.  😂

All of this is to say:  If you are feeling bad and not getting help from your doctors you're probably going to have to do the work, and you're definitely going to need to advocate for yourself.  And I know that is hard as hell to do - especially when you're feeling bad.  But it doesn't get better if you don't.

Obviously:  I am not a doctor and please don't consider my success with a supplement to be medical advice.  It could be a terrible idea for all I know.  But I do feel better and more functional and I need that right now.  If you are suffering from possible hormone-related issues, I urge you to do your own research and try your best to make some educated decisions / arguments for yourself.  I have a feeling that hormonal / perimenopause issues are just another thing that is swept under the rug because it doesn't affect the "important" half of the population... so, you know, fuck that.  Feel better.