Saturday, January 2, 2010

Good news and bad news

The bad: Lyla's back. (Code name my h.s. girlfriends and I used in reference to our menstrual periods when our guy friends were around.) She arrived a few weeks ago, and she was heavy! Hey, I thought you might want to know, especially if you've been following my quest to "keep the monster at bay."

The good: She arrived without a demonic prelude! As in, no PMS! I was initially bummed to see Lyla's return, but the joy of having avoided my usual demons chased the woes quickly away. Plus I realized that Lyla's return will make following our preferred natural family planning technique possible again. Oh and I also didn't have any cramps which was unusual but delightful.

The most consistent changes I've made as part of my PMS game plan were eating (a lot) more mushrooms, purchasing/drinking organic milk and yogurt, using olive oil in place of lotion/moisturizer, taking more omega-3's and vitamin D, eating more almonds (huge stash in my fridge) and trying to get to bed earlier (I was doing pretty well until the holidays hit). I'm also in the process of a gradual weaning from shampoo/conditioner. I'm using a baking soda and water mixture with a bit of shampoo mixed in and vinegar for "conditioner" (Sorry if I smell like a salad these days... just blame it on the olive oil and vinegar). We also got BPA-free reusable water bottles for Christmas, and I've been really careful to avoid microwaving things in plastic (to avoid environmental estrogens). Apparently something's working. Yay! (Oops, I forgot olive oil in my pic. Dang.)

And, speaking of womanly cycles, I'm thinking of reading The Red Tent per Liz's suggestion. She says it's full of birthy-midwifey stuff. Sounds heavenly. I'll be checking it out from the library, I think... if I can ever figure out how to make time for reading books again.

9 comments:

Diana said...

That's really interesting! I'm going to try a couple of those things! Did you explain your choices in a previous post that I missed? If not, could you write about those sometime?

sara said...

I like The Red Tent but be warned that it's a little weird and graphic. A lot of my LDS friends won't read it or stopped reading in the middle. Masturbation and bestiality mentioned.

I like your ideas! I had never even thought about mushrooms before! Hoping mine stays away for a LONG time. We just had baby #5 and we've always just let our babies come as they come but not sure about #6!

Our Sentiments said...

I actually did not mind The Red Tent, then again I will read anything when I get into the reading mode.

I was the unlucky one to get my flow 5.5 months after the fact. I was so mad I was under the impression that you don't get it the whole time you breastfeed. I guess mother nature had a great laugh at my plans LOL.

Lani said...

Diana- You didn't miss a post, but I would be happy to explain them. I came up with a game plan to prevent PMS based on some internet research. I'll post details next time I have a chunk of time.

Heather@Women in the Scriptures said...

I was also going to give you a heads up about the Red Tent. The midwifery, menstruation, goddess part of it is interesting but it is pretty heavy in sexual content. I read it to the end but sometimes I wish I hadn't. She turns all the prophets into sex crazed maniacs. I think she kind of got the story a little messed up in parts. If you read it use your judgment and feel free to skip parts.

OrganicMama said...

Glad to hear you've made these changes! Some other things that can help are drinking nourishing herbal infusions like red raspberry and nettle. Also, I just read that Vitex Chasteberry tincture is a good overall tonic for balancing female hormones. Hope you had a lovely Christmas. :) OM

OrganicMama said...

I already commented on this but I was reading tonight and thought of you...
The book - Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health. I bet you'd love it. Deals directly with this topic as well as overall health!

debsfreckles said...

I used to use olive oil on my skin then my friend turned me to coconut oil. It doesn't smell like anything. And I use baking soda and acv on my hair and if I rinse good I don't think it smells;)

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing it's the Vitamin D that's helping. It's been a huge help to me with making periods lighter and more regular and better.