I'm doing a little horn-tooting here! My husband, Bruce Barrow, is an awesome film editor and just won his fifth NW regional Emmy for an Oregon Public Broadcasting documentary. This one was for Silent Invasion, a show about invasive non-native plants and animals that are changing Oregon's ecology. It's specific to Oregon but has national implications. They also set up website hotline for people to report when they see invasives. The show also won the prestigious duPont-Columbia University Award for broadcast journalism. Congrats, OBP.

Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) or premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) is a condition that causes extreme distress for many women every month.  The syndrome is understood as a cyclical recurrence of symptoms that causes physical as well as emotional symptoms.  The range of intensity can be minor to severe, wreaking havoc on personal and work relationships, and a woman’s sanity. Physical symptoms are commonly breast tenderness and swelling, water retention, headaches, abdominal bloating, digestive changes, and fatigue.  Emotional symptoms range from depression and anxiety to severe irritability.  You just want to be left alone, except you want to fight with someone.  Add to that the food cravings, weight gain and feeling fat.  You want to end your relationship, and every issue gets blown out of proportion.  What are your options to deal with this monster?

As a naturopathic doctor, I don’t have that many patients that are thrilled with the conventional medical approach using Prozac or birth control pills as a means to treat PMS.  There are effective natural treatments, but they require more work on the patient’s part.  Improving diet, exercise and sleep habits are critical components, but not easy.   The first step is to reduce or eliminate coffee.  Yikes!  If you are still reading after that, you can use green tea to avoid caffeine withdrawal.

A healthy balanced diet is the foundation.  Then there are some foods which can be added to help.  Flaxseed meal is a great source of a fiber which helps with hormone balance.  Just a couple of tablespoons a day added to cereal or yogurt is helpful.  The cabbage, broccoli and kale family of foods is also recommended to help the body eliminate excess hormones, and may even reduce breast cancer risk.

Supplements are also important.  Start with B vitamins, the most important of which is B6.  There is a good deal of research supporting this nutrient in treating PMS, and it is necessary for making brain neurotransmitters that keep us feeling good.  Try 50 to 100 mg. to start.  The second most important nutrient is magnesium.  This mineral is in some foods such as whole grains and nuts, but many of us are deficient.  It is a calming mineral, and can also help headaches and constipation.  Too much can cause loose stools so divide your daily dose into two, and keep each dose the under 300-400 mg.  Other nutrients and amino acids can be individualized to support your anti-PMS program.

Progesterone cream can also have a calming and PMS moderating effect.   It is pretty easy to find at natural food/pharmacy stores and the cream form makes it popular because of its simplicity to use.   Lastly, herbal medicines, both Western and Chinese, can be prescribed for you by a qualified natural health practitioner.   PMS can be tamed, it just takes a little effort and a holistic approach.

It's a total advertising ploy by Madsen (post a link and enter to win) for this cargo bike, but I got suckered in because I think it would be so great to have this to haul stuff. I got groceries yesterday on my bike and could barely stuff everything in my 20-year-old paniers. The weather has been stunning in Portland the past week, and bikers have been out in droves. I'm loving it and vowing that I will stop being a fair-weather commuter and get serious this fall when rains come back. 

Here at the 'Rags we receive a lot of emails from customers and occasionally we receive emails from people who will never be customers, as in the case of this email. We received this email from a woman who had a particularly adverse reaction to the mere idea of reusable menstrual pads.

To whom this may concern,

While browsing for a treatment for allergies today….I stumbled upon your product "Gladrags"…. just had to give my opinion. I THINK THIS IS THE MOST DISGUSTING THING I HAVE EVER HEARD! IF ANYTHING SHOULD BE DISPOSABLE …MENSTRAL(sic) PADS ARE IT! I BELIEVE YOUR PRODUCT TO BE UNSANITARY

Her reaction to GladRags got us to thinking about the different possible ways we all think about our menstruation as well as the ways those of us who use "alternatives" might talk with naysayers about our choices. What are your experiences of talking to people about alternative menstrual products? Any memorable reactions? We would love to hear.

After helping set up the pads to Sri Lanka donation, I was thinking of donating pads to Sri Lanka in my mother’s name for Mother’s Day, but decided a card would be cheaper.  Then, yesterday a friend posted a note on facebook.  She is from Sri Lanka.  She posted an upsetting message about the recent bloody strife in Sri Lanka and feeling like there was nothing she could do.  Her brother is living there as an activist and blogger.  He wrote an equally heartbreaking post about the recent tragedy that you can read here.  My friend’s pain inspired me to actually do something about it and donate.  There are many ways you can protest, but the best way to help the people suffering now is to donate money.  Menstrual products are an often forgotten form of aid, but once you put yourself in the shoes of a woman who has been displaced from her home it is hard to imagine living without them.

If you would like to donate pads please visit our site here.  We have only until the 20th of May to get all our donations in, because ECS World is sending a shipment out on the 23rd.  So please order soon.

Visit ECS World or Sarvodaya if you would like to donate money.

I know it's only been a week, but after such a lovely introduction from Brenda on her recent GladRags newsletter, this durn persnickety female felt a little guilty about being overwhelmed with things like this and this last week.  Let me make it up to you with a GladRags tribute to the Gabbiest Gabber of them all, Gabby Hayes! On second thought, maybe not. So since the topic is somehow connected to gabbing, let me gab a bit about the day we're celebrating today (in the United States at least) Mother's Day.  One of my favorite blogs that I have loyally checked on purty durn near every Sunday morning for the past three years is Post Secret.  In case you haven't heard about this phenomenon, it's a participation-based blog where people mail their secrets in on an artfully rendered postcard (NO letters allowed–the idea is to let your secrets go free!) and then Frank, the person on the other end of that agreement picks his two dozen favorites and posts them anonymously on his blog.  If you click here within a week of this blog post, you'll see the mostly mother's day-themed secrets.  This website changes every week with no archives available.  I hope it will inspire you to have your own cathartic experience and participate in this amazing project.

I'm really interested in women's education (or lack thereof) of their bodies. So when I came across a blog called "Beautiful Cervix Project" in which a woman studying to be a midwife documents how her cervix changes throughout her cycle, I was intrigued. There isn't too much to it really, just 33 pictures with a few words of description for each, but it is really informative. How many of us have seen a picture of a cervix, let alone have a sense of how it changes throughout our cycles? Since I first found the blog she's added pictures of other women's cervices at various life stages (after kids, postmenopausal). Yet another important step toward demystifying our bodies! Check it out here!

We were recently contacted by Srini Perera who asked us for donations of menstrual pads to help with aid efforts in Sri Lanka. Srini lives in California now, but she is from Sri Lanka. She, her husband, and family all work hard to help procure supplies to send there. Currently thousands of displaced families are living in temporary camps in northern Sri Lanka.  Rather than sending disposable pads to a community that is struggling with many basic needs and doesn’t have waste disposal systems to handle all of the trash created by such products, Srini is encouraging donations of GladRags for a long-term, sustainable solution. Srini and her family formed ECSWorld.com to inspire and coordinate donations.  GladRags is happy to support their work.  Purchase any number of GladRags Regular Day Pads 3packs (SL3) to donate and GladRags will donate two more pads! We have set up a special product page for her donors to use (and anyone else who wants to help). Srini has a shipment going to Sri Lanka on May 20.   Order quickly to make sure your donation makes the cut!  This donation would make an excellent Mother's Day present for the socially conscious mother. To purchase pads for women in Sri Lanka, click here. To read more about ECS World, click here.