menses & flares

[Guest guest]

Hi group, I have been doing some reading, trying to get some idea of

why I and so many others flare during menses. What I have found so far

is that during menses there is a huge release of prostaglandins. This

is normal. The problem is when you have an imbalance of prostaglandins,

and the inflammatory one is more prevelant than the anti-inflammatory

ones. An imbalance occurs if you eat too much meat, sugar, refined

flour (cookies, cakes, ..) and if you don't get enough nutritious

foods. I have read that zinc is essential for converting the efa's we

take into the anti-inflammatory prostaglandins. Along with magnesium,

and the b vitamins. ALso I have read that 10 days before menses, the

zinc in the body starts to go way down. So right there we see a need

for extra zinc in order to convert the efa's into the anti-inflammatory

prostaglandins. I also read that you can take all the flax seed, borage

oil .. that you want, and you will not get rid of an inflammatory

problem until you change your diet in order to convert them into the

anti-inflammatory prostaglandins.

Also menses is the estrogenic phase of the cycle. If you are estrogen

dominant and progesterone deficient, you will have inflammatory issues.

From all I have read, I seem to be both estrogen dominant and

progesterone imbalanced, so I am working on both of these issues right

now.

Oh, aspirin blocks the prostaglandins. The problem is that it blocks

the good and the bad ones. But I began to flare during my last menses

and popped an aspirin, and the redness went away. It's just a bandaid,

but I think it will take a while to change a body that has been out of

balance for so long. So I needed a little booster.

If anyone else has any knowledge in this area, please let me know.

Sharon