PMS Blog

A Chinese Medicine look into PMS and why you feel so bitchy.

I work with people who bleed throughout their cycles and while most will come and see me for period pain, or cycle irregularities, not many come in for PMS as it is deemed normal. But just like period pain, PMS is COMMON, but not NORMAL.
So if you are feeling off each month, this blog is for you. You are not a bitch, it’s an imbalance of your Wood Element.

What is PMS?

PMS (premenstrual syndrome) occurs before the period arrives and sometimes continues when the period starts. It is more common for those between the ages of 30 and 40, the symptoms can range from mild to severe, and can range in duration - from 1 day before you bleed to up to 2 weeks* before you bleed.

Of course, from a Chinese Medicine point of view, there are a few different reasons why PMS occurs. The main one I see is linked to the Wood Element. The organ system of the Wood Element is the Liver. The Liver in Chinese Med is very different to how we see it in Western terms, so bare with me a little here. The Liver is known as the General of the body. It ensures the smooth flow of Qi (vital energy pronounced chee) around the body, it stores the period blood before it moves to the uterus, it nourishes the eyes and the body’s sinews, the channels runs into the breasts, and it covers the temple, neck, and shoulder areas.

When an imbalance occurs with the Liver, the Liver can become stagnated. Liver Qi stagnation can occur from either an excess or a deficiency. When the Liver isn’t doing it’s job to ensure the smooth flow of Qi or if the Liver doesn’t have enough Blood to nourish the other parts of the body, the emotion related to the Wood Element will be expressed. And what is the emotion related to the Wood Element? Yeah you got it, it’s anger and frustration.

Now, this usually happens before you bleed because this is when the Liver is the most active. The Liver stores the period blood and a couple of days before you bleed, all the Liver’s energy is focused on moving the blood into the uterus. The Liver likes to be rested, full of Qi, and have a plentiful amount of Blood energy to do it’s job well. Without this, it gets grumpy and mad, making you feel grumpy and mad.

*BIG SIDE NOTE - if you are suffering from severe PMS symptoms for more than a week and it includes severe depression, it is a very good idea to also speak to a Western medical practitioner who is wonderful with menstrual health as there could be an underlying mental health condition occurring. If you want to know more, please get in contact and we can chat about building a medical team around you to help you feel better sooner!

So what can cause PMS?

Chinese Medicine sees PMS resulting from emotional strain, irregular diet, as well as overworking, both physically and mentally - looking at all of you!

Emotional strain - the number one way to cause the Liver to become angry and frustrated is high levels of unmanaged stress. Have you ever noticed how much worse your cycle, period, and PMS is when you are dealing with something super stressful in life? It is all connected according to Chinese Medicine. Stress management is important! Unprocessed and unmanaged anger, guilt, worry, and resentment can also put a strain on your Qi, not allowing the Liver to smoothly circulate it around the body, causing more anger, guilt, worry, and resentment.

Irregular diet - snacking, making poor food choices, forgetting to eat, not eating enough, eating too much, skipping meals, drinking coffee for breakfast, eating while distracted, eating cold foods, eating raw foods. This all affects your digestive system, leading to a Blood deficiency. When Blood is deficient, the Liver can no longer nourish the uterus, breasts, eyes, and the sinews, causing a deficiency. This deficiency annoys the Liver and it becomes stagnant and mad.

Overworking physically and mentally - rest is so important but some of us don’t make time for it. It might be due to you not feeling like you deserve rest, but let me tell you, you do. When you overwork and don’t rest, you drain your Qi. This once again stagnates the Liver, causing the emotions of anger and frustration to become your go to emotions, especially before your period.

What are the signs and symptoms of PMS?

There are many different signs and symptoms that can occur before the period can begin and the intensities can change month to month.

They include but are not limited to:

Frustration and irritability
Agressivness and rage
Depression and sadness
Anxiety
Fatigue
Loss of concentration and brain fog
Changes in libido (don’t even look at me! haha)
Changes in bowel movements
Acne and pimples
Oily skin and hair
Food cravings
Crying
Clumsiness
Abdominal bloating
Swollen or sore boobs
Sleeping problems

It’s a lot. No wonder you are feeling exhausted! However, there is no need to have to put up with these each month, you can work on balancing your Wood Element to help you feel better!

Self care for PMS - what to do?

Express and unpack emotions
Emotions are normal and healthy. Even anger. You are allowed to feel mad. But it is how you deal with this emotion that can determine how it affects your physical health.
Best tip I have for when you are mad is either grab a pillow and scream and yell into it as much as you can until you start to feel better. Or grab some ice cubes (or cheap plates - depends how raging you are) and go smash them outside to move that anger out. Anger is a large, outward emotion that needs to be let go of outwardly, in a safe way. Bottling it up and leaving it there is not going to help in the long run.
Seeking talk therapy can also help if you are needing to at least speak to someone about why you are harbouring these emotions.

Get your body moving before your period arrives
If you are struggling more with irritability and anger before your period, it is a good idea to get that body of yours moving. That doesn’t always mean going to the gym. Chuck your favourite music on and dance around like a possessed human. Go do a boxing class. It doesn’t have to be for long and it doesn’t have to deplete you, but get your body moving and allow that Qi to move around.

Eat foods that will soothe, move, and replenish your Qi
This can be hard while you are in your throws of PMS, because really, you are probably so tired and angry that you’ll eat whatever you can to make yourself feel better. So it’s a good idea to try eat like this throughout the rest of your cycle instead.
You want to have a base of carbohydrates like rice and starchy veg, lots of cooked leafy greens and fruit, then top it off with protein.
You want to avoid heavy, greasy, spicy foods, drop the amount of caffeine you are drinking (trust me, you don’t need it as much as you think you do), and back off the alcohol. You can have a small, and I repeat SMALL, glass of organic red wine a few days before your period to help move Qi, but only if you can then put the bottle away (into the pantry not into your stomach…)

Take some deep breaths and ground yourself
You never want to be told to relax, but you need to relax. You need to shut off that laptop and put that phone down. You need to disconnect for a bit and reground yourself. You are useless to everyone if you are not grounded. Here is my favourite breathing exercises to help move you into your rest and digest nervous system:

- Breathe deep into your belly through your nose to the count of 4
- Hold for the count of 2
- Exhale through your mouth for the count of 6

Do this 5-10 times and then let your breath go back to natural 

You can implement this breathing technique whenever you need it which might be 5-10 times a day, on the loo, at your desk, in bed, on the couch, whenever you need!

How Acupuncture and Chinese herbs help?

Well firstly, let’s take the whole acupuncture and Chinese Med out of the picture for a second and ask yourself this question. When was the last time you took 45 minutes out of your week for yourself to lay in a dark, calming room, and did some deep breathing to help relax your body? It has been a while yeah? Or maybe never? Let me tell you, that in itself is sooooo helpful to help lower stress. Now add in acupuncture which has been shown to help lower stress and you have a double de-stress whammy right there!
That acupuncture I give, includes acupoints that help to soothe the Liver, nourish Blood energy, tonify Qi, calm your Spirit, and get that uterus full of blood and ready to bleed beautifully. The Chinese herbal medicine can help work on the Wood Element, nourishing that Liver, working on Liver Qi stagnation.

I am also a really good sounding board if you are feeling stressed and angry and need to get those emotions out. You can be as grumpy or sad as you like when you come in for a treatment, I honestly do not care! Bring it in, let me help! Remember, PMS is COMMON, but it isn’t NORMAL and you DON’T need to deal with it each month!

x Stay warm
Dr Alice

Written by a human
AI is great, but I treat from the heart so I may as well communicate from the heart - expect spelling and gramma mistakes, human, not perfect x