Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom (35 page)

Low levels of vitamins C and E and selenium. As with the B vi tamins, the liver also requires these substances to metabolize estrogen properly.
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A deficiency of magnesium, which is very common.
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Chocolate cravings have been linked to low magnesium levels. The liver needs magnesium, along with B vitamins, to metabolize estrogen optimally.

Lack of exercise.

SAD and PMS: Shedding Light on the Link

Many women with PMS notice that their symptoms get worse in the fall, when the days get shorter. Many of the symptoms associated with PMS are precisely the same as those associated with the form of depression known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Light acts as a nutrient in the body. When it hits the retina, it directly influences the entire neuroendocrine system via the hypothalamus and the pineal gland. In one study, patients with PMS responded significantly to treatment with bright light. Their weight gain, depression, carbohydrate craving, social withdrawal, fatigue, and irritability were reversed with two hours of full-spectrum bright light in the evening.
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This is not surprising, because both natural light and carbohydrate consumption in crease serotonin levels, which ease depression. Living under artificial light much of the time, without regular exposure to natural light, not only can profoundly affect the regularity of the menstrual cycle but also can create PMS.
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The link between PMS and SAD is a profound example of how women’s wisdom is simultaneously encoded in both the cycle of the seasons and our monthly cycles. Figure 4 (page 107) illustrates how the phases of the moon are linked to the phases of the menstrual cycle. In figure 8 (page 144), I’ve added the seasons to this diagram, so that one can clearly see that the time of the monthly cycle when PMS is most common parallels the calendrical period when SAD occurs. The natural tendency to turn inward during the premenstrual time of our monthly cycle is reflected in the natural tendency to turn inward during the autumn of the year. All of nature reflects this wisdom back to us. In fall and winter, the trees send their energy down into their roots, where profound activity and revitalization go on even though it is not obvious to us. The early luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, following ovulation, is when our energies go deep into our roots so that we can take stock and then prepare for the next cycle of outer growth in the world. Because our culture doesn’t understand this cyclic wisdom, we have been taught to be afraid of both the times in our cycles and the seasons of year when wisdom demands that we go into darkness, withdraw, and take stock of our lives.

We have been taught to be suspicious of these natural energies—and too many women see them as a weakness that needs to be overrid den and ignored. Heaven forbid we should follow our body’s wisdom and take a break from getting it all done!

The second half of the menstrual cycle and autumn are times when the tide is out and everything that you don’t want to see on the muddy bottom of the bay is uncovered for all to see. Women need to learn to pay attention to the information available to them at these times of the month and of the year. Think of this information as compost that you’ll be using to create new growth in your life once the light comes back. Remember Eckhart Tolle’s teaching that a woman’s “pain body” arises premenstrually (and also during the autumn and early winter of the year). It is our individual responsibility to recognize and do what we can to dissolve our pain bodies with our presence. To do that, we simply feel the discomfort in our bodies and witness it with the part of ourselves that exists beyond time and space. We should also resist the urge to tell ourselves a story about why it’s there. Instead, ask: What shape is it? Where is it located? Simply stay present with the pain body and breathe. It will eventually go away on its own—and you will have helped heal the planet by letting more light and a higher vibration into your body.

Treatment

Many women are given symptomatic treatments for PMS that over the long run don’t work. Treating a woman’s bloating with diuretics, her headaches with painkillers, and her anxiety with a drug such as Prozac often serves to create new side effects from the drugs themselves and ignores the under lying imbalances that lead to PMS in the first place. In the past, psychotherapy was often prescribed for women with PMS. Although it may provide insights about stress, it ignores the nutritional and biochemical aspects of this disorder. Many women with PMS are now given drugs that increase serotonin levels, such as Prozac. Studies have shown that these can be very helpful for alleviating symptoms of PMS in severe cases. These medications are best taken in low doses only during the luteal phase of the cycle.
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But if they are not used with the insight that PMS is part of a much bigger imbalance, they do not help a woman truly learn from, and create health through, her PMS. And besides, after a couple of years they stop working and, worse, may deplete the body’s own ability to make serotonin. Ultimately, when women are willing to be present with the emotions behind their PMS and heed their messages, they are eventually able to change their internal hormonal status
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outside hormones. The process of addressing our emotional and psychological stresses directly results in biochemical changes in our bodies.

Women’s Stories

Gwendolyn: Transforming Premenstrual Rage

Gwendolyn was thirty-six when she first came to see me. She was tall, thin, dramatic, and articulate, with a great sense of humor, but her PMS was so bad that she routinely flew into rages and became manic. In one high-energy premenstrual manic phase, she stayed up all night painting her kitchen and then, without any rest, put in a full day of work. This was followed by several days of depression and fatigue so severe that she was unable to get out of bed. At one point her family was so concerned about this behavior that they considered removing her children from her care and called me for my advice. Her PMS and severe mood swings had begun early in her teenage years and were often accompanied by self-destructive behavior that led her into some dangerous situations. During one of these times, she had been gang-raped. On another occasion, she had become pregnant and later got an abortion.

FIGURE 8: SAD AND PMS

PMS is to the monthly cycle as SAD is to the annual cycle. Both conditions respond to the same treatment while asking us to deepen our connection to our cyclic wisdom. We must also become comfortable with darkness, rest, and being versus doing.

By the time of her first visit with me, Gwendolyn had divorced and was meditating regularly and eating a whole-foods, macrobiotic type of diet, which was helping her to some extent. She was exercising regularly and taking the appropriate food supplements. These dietary and lifestyle practices are often enough to cure PMS in its mild stages. Despite these adjustments, however, she still went through an emotional hell each month. She had so much unfinished emotional business in her life that her premenstrual wisdom was forcing her to look even deeper at the imbalances in her life. Because of the severity of Gwendolyn’s symptoms, I initially prescribed high-dose proges terone therapy.

When Gwendolyn began her progesterone treatment, many aspects of her life were totally out of control. She came to see that the emotional crash that she experienced premenstrually each month actually was forcing her to peel off all the layers of denial in her life. Looking back, she came to see that this process was essential for her healing. A significant factor in her healing was joining a twelve-step program known as Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA). She realized that she had a history of moving from one abusive relationship to the next, never finding the “right” man but always obsessing about whomever she was with. Once when a boyfriend expressed his need to leave the relationship, Gwendolyn was premenstrual and flew into a rage, during which she beat him physically with a vengeance that both surprised and scared her. She realized that she had a significant relationship problem and went into counseling to explore and heal her abuse issues. She learned how a sex and love addiction is often the result of childhood sexual abuse, and she began to connect an early abuse experience and the rape with her current self-destructive behavior. She began to appreciate that her premenstrual rages were those of an unhealed child and that they needed to be addressed now that she was an adult. Meanwhile, she continued to meditate, exercise, eat well, go to counseling, and attend twelve-step meetings. As she began to recover, she told me, “In my premenstrual times, every ounce of anger, bitterness, and sense of betrayal erupted—often at such a rate that it became increasingly difficult to stay in my marriage and to continue to care for my autistic daughter and two younger children.”

Through supporting her physical body with natural progesterone, good nutrition, and the regular deep rest of meditation, Gwendolyn developed the inner strength necessary to “handle all that had to erupt and clear out of my body.” During her office visits, no matter how bad she felt, I repeatedly reminded her to stay with what she was feeling, that anger and rage were okay and a natural part of the healing process. She needed to feel her anger, even pound a pillow if necessary. Though it wasn’t okay to attack a person with her anger, she did need to respect it as a message telling her about her unmet need to express emotions that hadn’t been allowed in childhood. As her healing process continued, she found that underneath her premenstrual rage and anger, the wisdom and the truth lay waiting. By feeling her anger and staying with it, she discovered tears and a profound sense of abandonment left over from the abuses. “The feelings of abandonment are overwhelming sometimes,” she told me. “But if I allow the sadness to come, in the end I come out stronger.” After nine months of progesterone therapy, Gwendolyn was able to cut way back on her dosages. At that time, she said, “I continue on the progesterone only two days a month and only because of mild irritability. I hit an occasional emotional wall, but the difference now is that I am able to cope much better knowing where it is all coming from. I believe that when a woman has PMS, the physical, emotional, and spiritual all have to be addressed so that a human being can feel whole again.”