My Natural Cure for Heavy Periods, Cramps, and Anemia

   

I am actually feeling great on my little low carb diet. I haven’t lost any weight this week but I’ve lost inches. Last week I lost five pounds, three pounds over my two pounds a week goal. I’m not worried yet about my weight loss plateau, but it’s probably still time to cut out some of my chocolaty low carb Atkins treats. I’m sure if I can’t pronounce the additives and sweeteners my body can’t either.  Besides I’m measuring two inches smaller around the waist.  My blood pressure, the whole reason I’m doing this, is still wonky. 126/107 this morning. That bottom number is my nemesis. Don’t feel bad for me yet. I haven’t cut out my salt…precious…my precious…don’t touch my slatzy (Please imagine me here, huddled in a corner, protectively stroking my Redmond’s Sea Salt shaker…better add in some bulgy crazed eyes while you’re at it).

                With not much news on my diet I thought you’d want to stop in for something valuable today. Maybe I can help you with something that drove me crazy. I’m just going to put this out there to thousands of people. …Can…not…believe…I…am…blogging…about…this. But really, I would be socially irresponsible if I didn’t. How can I let my sisters all over the world continue to suffer when I’ve found some pretty awesome ways to deal with:

Anemia and Menstruation

                Phew. Typing those words was the hardest part. Now on to the honesty.  First off, I have a bachelors of science in FINANCE, and though I took at few upper division nursing classes, they were fluffy credit fillers at best (Loved that massage class).  So if you are having a problem with heavy periods and/or anemia, see your doctor and only do things like I’m going to suggest with the doctor’s ok.

My Natural Cure for Heavy Periods and Cramps: Now that the disclaimer is out of the way, let me tell you my story. My high school friends had heavy periods. I was the snot with the perfect period that they glared at as they moaned with cramps and filled maxi pads. I didn’t get too moody. The flow wasn’t too bad. It arrived on time and left on time.  But I had anemia. I’m not a big red meat eater, and never have been so that didn’t help.

                How I knew I had anemia was the face dragging, sluggish, feet-in-cinderblocks feeling I had when I walked down the high school hallways. The doctor did what most doctors do. He prescribed the good ol’ constipation causing Ferretts pills. I had to take a lot to not be anemic.

                Fast forward to many years later, battling increasingly pesky anemia, and motherhood.  I was probably mother of three toddlers by then. Enter the first really, really heavy period I ever had. I’ve lovingly adopted the term slaughtered cow for those kinds of periods. I know too many women can identify with the imagery here.  Here’s the, “You’re just going to have to trust me,” part because I have not been able to find again why this works. I searched long hours on the internet and never did save the link. Calcium/Magnesium and a B 50 vitamin slow the flow. When I say slow the flow, understand that I now pretty much choose how much of a period I allow my body to have.  If I am having a heavy period I take 2 B50 complex vitamins (over the counter kind from Wal-Mart). B50 complex vitamins will make your pee very yellow. If you are silly enough to lick them, they don’t taste good. I will take florescent yellow pee over slaughtered cow any day.  I also take two calcium vitamins but they have to have magnesium in them (over the counter kind from Wal-Mart).  This slows my period way down. If my period is being stubborn I take the pills again in two hours. I’ve never had to do it more than three times in one day.  An awesome side effect is it stops cramping. You heard me. Fake child labor, g-o-n-e.  You know how you give birth to little girls and then they grow up to be grumpy, crampy teenagers. Not mine. I shove some vitamins in their hand with a tall glass of water, voila, they turn into humans again.

                The kicker is, I’ve never been able to find since why these vitamins work on heavy menstrual periods. I have internet searched many hours of my life away on this one. I have a lot of followers. Let me invite you to figure out why 2 B50 pills and 2 Calcium/Magnesium pills slows a menstrual flow. Then return and report, because I would love to know.

                The monster, doctor baffling, flow:  That was all good and fine until my body threw a slaughtered cow party the likes of which I could never have imagined. It was as though I had an open artery just bleeding out, pouring if you will. The vitamins weren’t working. My friends were coming over with sales pitches on ablations. I couldn’t run away from them because, with no blood inside my body, the anemia was having a hay day.  Back to the doctor I went. They prescribe Ferretts, which I did not take for reasons I’ll mention in the anemia part of this article. They tested…ew…ultrasounds, new ones that were very uncomfortable, blood tests (had to practice my surprise face when they told me about the severe anemia..you think?). The whole time I’m thinking a hysterectomy is coming my way and one of my best friends, Tera, is waving around this essential oil bottle, promising me cloud-parting miracles. I did my talk to my hand, I’m listening to the grownups on this one thing. Since this time, I’ve been humbled and I realize that Tera is the grownup to listen to.

                After I came home with my paper work that had fancy words, I headed to the computer to look them up. If we could label what was wrong, then we could start fixing it. I was calling Tera ten minutes later because what was technically wrong was a bunch of big long words for you’re-bleeding-too-much-and-we-don’t-know-why (tack on, “If you’re still alive in a month, come back and see us”).  Cha-ching. Here’s your money.

                Tera had a bottle of Clary Sage essential oil. I won’t lie.  It smells a little like perfume a granola, hippie woman would wear (no offence to my granola friends. You’re definitely doing something right if you’re that healthy). She told me to swipe it across my abdomen and on the inside of my ankles…not pour the whole tiny bottle, just dab some on my finger and swipe. I love Tera. She has a lot of darling little kids and she’s pretty to boot, but I was thinking she was one bulb shy of a box on this one. However, I was desperate so I did it. The only bad side effect was my husband sniffing around, “Do you smell granola woman in here?”  I HAVE TO CAPITALIZE THE REST BECAUSE TERA IS AWESOME. NOT IN THIRTY MINUTES, BUT IN FIVE, MY FLOW ALMOST STOPPED. My slaughtered cow, artery severed flow that had lasted weeks and baffled the newest medical technology (and cost us well over a grand) just stopped. I swear as I sat on the edge of my bath tub, leaning back because of the anemia, and felt the flow ebb, tumble weeds blew by and the gentle sound of summer night crickets filled the room as the warm breeze of trial-over caressed my care worn face.  So I basically worship Tera now and I have my own bottle of clary sage. I’m happy to report I’ve only used it three times all these years and once on a daughter. It has worked every time.           

My Natural Cures for Anemia:  I mentioned that Ferrets don’t really work for me.  Turns out they don’t really work for a lot of people over thirty.  Your intestines develop a sort of plaque as you age and your body has a really hard time absorbing iron from the pills through the plaque.

Cure #1: I’m listing these in order of least favorite to favorite. My first cure was from my granny. Black Strap Molasses. If you put it in milk it tastes a lot like chocolate milk with cat pee in it (Don’t ask how I know that taste).  Here’s the kicker, put it in almond milk, because taking iron anything with dairy will make the iron not absorb. Almond milk, coconut milk, soy milk (never recommended, especially if you’re having menstrual issues)..doesn’t matter…all tastes like chocolate milk with cat pee in it. It works great. How much do you take? I would take ¼ cup molasses with about 10-16 oz of milk. Calorie friendly? No.  Works, yes, but is one of my weakest successes.

Cure #2: Floradix is AWESOME. My friend, Mary, came to visit when I was pregnant with baby #4. The anemia was worse than ever. The face dragging, sluggish, feet-in-cinderblocks feeling was constant. She told me about Floradix. It’s like raspberry juice married spinach leaves in a watery concoction. I can’t say it tastes bad. It doesn’t. It also does not taste good. I’m neutral on the flavor. WOW! Talk about work in a half hour. At the time I thought it was the best thing since indoor plumbing. I was dancing and running around (until they put me on bed rest for unrelated issues). I pause here to say that, yes, I did ask God why he waited until I had suffered a life time and was on my last baby to show me this cure. He and I have since made friendly. Apparently my character improves as I learn to endure trials cheerfully. Wow, do I get a lot of opportunities to improve my character (forcing myself to feel gratitude).

                There are some down sides to Floradix. You have to keep it in your fridge. It never takes a whole bottle for you to feel awesome. It only lasts thirty days in the fridge. It’s a bit pricey for something that goes bad in the fridge right before you need it again.

Cure #3 (And ALL TIME FAVORITE): I know I told you in my last post about my Dr. Frazier and about how he’s managed to fix just about anything I take to him. I came in with anemia. It was light anemia that I was allowing to exist because Floradix is pricey and calorie heavy molasses tastes like chocolate pee. He pulled out Ferrofood, an iron supplement….in a bottle…in a taste-free pill…with a long shelf life…that absorbs in my intestines…isn’t constipation causing….and isn’t as costly as trying to keep Floradix in my fridge. He has me on two a day, one in the morning and one at night, because let’s face it, I’m a little chronic in the anemia area. I may be on this stuff for the rest of my life.  When I’m menstruating I take two in the morning and two at night. Prognoses: ANEMIA SOLVED.

                I hope my suffering and learning here with be of help to someone. Let me know. I’ll just end with a disclaimer: I’m not a doctor. If you are bleeding too much, cramping, dragging your face with anemia, see a doctor just to be safe.

So to summarize my experience:

Natural Cure #1 for Heavy Menstrual Flow and Cramps= 2 B50 and 2 Calcium/Magnesium vitamins every 2 hours until the flow slows. I usually only have to take them once before mine slows.

Natural Cure #2 for Heavy Menstrual Flow and Cramps = Clary sage essential oil. Swipe it over your abdomen and on the inside of your ankles. I’ve seriously never had to do it more than once in a day to see an immediate result. This goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: NOT FOR PREGNANT WOMEN.  Besides, if you’re pregnant and bleeding, get to the hospital and see if you can save that baby.

Natural Cure #1 for Anemia= Black Strap Molasses

Natural Cure #2 for Anemia= Floradix

Natural Cure #3 for Anemia (And ALL TIME FAVORITE): Ferrofood and Dr. Frazier

Did you like this article? Do me a favor and PIN some of the article images at the top of this post. I don't know about sharing it on Facebook.  EWWWW guys would see it. Just as bad as that first romantic date, watching a movie on syndicated television when advertisements for women's hygiene products would come on. Really? They couldn't save that for day time???!! And here I am talking about it with thousands...oh, what have I sunk to?

Waking Up to Life at 43

                I have been really sick for a long time. Don’t feel bad for me. I have had a recent miracle in my life that has healed me when mainstream medicine wouldn’t.  First off, I want to say that I am not selling anything in this story. It’s just my little story. 

            I’ve always been a little on the sickly side. Everything made sense suddenly in 1994 when I was diagnosed with polycystic kidney and polycystic liver disease. Before you get too happy for me, I have no idea how those illnesses are doing. My nephrologist reported to me last month that my blood work is awesome, but unless we go in with an ultrasound, CAT scan or MRI, we just don’t know how all my cysts are looking. And I don’t really do those things unless I have to (Not surprisingly, I hate those tests).

            A lesson that I have learned about a life-long disease (or 2) is that looking at it and learning about it 24/7 does not make for a happy camper.  Learn what you need to know, decide what kind of life you want to live, and do what you need to do to make that happen. I hope that doesn’t sound callous. It’s just what I learned on my journey from slumped over and despondent, to barely coping, to thriving regardless of how bumpy my internal organs are.

            Now about this miracle healing: It all started one day in 1999. I had two little girls, a lovely home, a wonderful husband, and the strawberries I had planted in the back yard were coming along nicely (Though had I known about the starling attack that would destroy them…. I digress). I became weak for no reason at all.  It was like when you have the flu and you can barely lift your head or get out of bed. It lasted for a few days. I didn’t have the flu though. It was tough. I had a history of anemia and thought perhaps it was just my anemia come to visit with a vengeance. 

            It was a long time and new house later that it happened again. This time I had two little girls and one little boy. It was so bad I actually had to call my mother-in-law to come over and take care of my children while I lay on the couch, staring at the ceiling, cursing my traitorous body. It worked the day before! What was up with it?!!  It took about three days to pass. Things were really heavy….like a single sheet of paper weighed as much as a brick to me.

            I started searching for causes. I visited the doctor. No anemia and no solutions. He thought I was nuts, gave me my hypochondriac card and patted me on the head before sending me out the door. They wanted to see me in the office while it was happening. The last thing I could do when it hit was stand, let alone go to the office.  The next time it happened my mother piled me into a car and drove floppy, weak me to the doctor’s office. They took my blood. My blood was awesome except a high ANA count. Lupus! Well, that’s what they said. We have some lupus in our family but the symptoms of my lupus family members and my symptoms were not the same. Besides, to properly diagnose lupus you need a gazillion blood tests and lots of high ANA numbers.

            When I was up and about again I really dug in to study this thing. Was it adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue, mono (sans runny nose)? I just couldn’t tell. As it happened more and more doctors looked at lupus over and over again.  As years passed I learned a little about it. It became progressively worse, growing to a five or six day time span. It was adrenal triggered, meaning, if my son jumped out to scare me the illness would trigger and I would be down for a week. It came with a dilly-whopper of a migraine. There were warning signs that it was coming. At first my legs would ache in a certain way. After a while the migraine became the warning.  I learned that I could cut it to three days and stand up if I immediately adopted a Master Cleanse (That lemonade detox diet).  One of the best days of my life was when I discovered that Raw Apple Cider Vinegar allowed me to function at about 70% capacity with a migraine that I could cover with a Coke and 4 ibuprofen (Yeah, my neph would die if he knew about the ibuprofen but I figured, if I died a little sooner so I could live a little, it was worth it).

            The problem was that the trigger of what I dubbed “pseudo-flu” became more frequent. Once a year, became three times a year, became once a month, became once a week, became every week. Pretty soon I couldn’t leave the house without a bottle of Raw Apple Cider Vinegar in my purse.

            Let me just take an aside here to tell you about Raw Apple Cider Vinegar. Yuck. I know there are supposed recipes online that say it tastes good. Not. You can mix it in orange juice…if you want the experience to last longer. I’d put it in a little medicine cup, knock it back, and follow it with orange juice. Now we stick ½ tsp cinnamon (not stirred in) in it and follow it with orange juice. It’s easy to lie to ourselves and pretend it’s just sour wassail. Swish with something afterwards if you value your tooth enamel.

            Anyway, it was getting more and more risky to drive. See, to drive a car you have to tug on the steering wheel to turn it…and when paper is heavy, your arm is heavier, and lifting it to the steering wheel, or hoping you were strong enough to lift your leg to the break…well, it was just bad news.

            So it was that my husband drove me to our girl’s lunch date. He was the token male.  One of my girlfriends suggested I visit her chiropractor because he had a healing gift. I believed in chiropractors less than I believed in the Easter Bunny. They made you straight, but the minute you walked out your muscles pulled your spine right back to where it was before you walked in.  I left with a full, happy belly, knowing I wouldn’t be visiting a chiropractor. But it occurred to me on the way home, hadn’t I just the day before fasted and prayed, groveled, begged, and pleaded with God that he could help me just a little. I was afraid for my life and the doctors were not helping.

            What I didn’t want to do was waste more time or money. I decided it was just too much of a coincidence that she would recommend a doctor to me the day after my deep prayer, but I still wasn’t sold. So that night I asked Heavenly Father if this doctor was what He wanted me to do. While I was praying I saw a bright light in my mind. That was it. It was weird enough that I decided to call it a “Yes.” Off I went to Dr. Knucklebones.

            Dr. Knucklebones is actually Dr. Troy Frazier and he has changed/saved my life. I took in my front and back page, tiny type paper of symptoms. He looked over it, circled several areas, and told me………………………WAIT FOR IT GUYS………………………You will just never believe this…………………………That I had a mineral deficiency. Okay, I will admit that I did not believe him at all. But I took the mineral supplements and some other supplements along with homeopathic drops (Thinking back here to the day I said I’d never believe in hokey homeopathy) and I became human. It’s been months and months since I had a triggered episode of pseudo-flu/lupus/chronic fatigue/or-whatever-it-was.  I haven’t missed a day of taking my cheap mineral supplement.

            Since then Dr. Frazier has fixed anything I bring to him. My right arm used to go rubbery cold when I typed. My left leg was affectionately dubbed the decorative leg. It’s doing great. I’m exercising for the first time in years. My son jumps out to scare me all the time and I laugh and laugh. I didn’t think I had a mood disorder, but wow, am I so much happier now and clear minded, I bet I did.

            I woke up to my life, which was a bit in shambles. I could move around, jump around, play around…but I had no muscle mass left. I was like a little old lady. Holy cow, do I need to clean house. My kids still treat me like I’m fragile. My mother cheers when I run up the stairs. Gees, Mom, there aren’t that many stairs. I guess I was really, really bad off.

            In short, I’m learning to live again at 43, with a new lease on life. I thought I would share my journey with you. Surely someone out there is waking up into their life and finding it in a crazy rut.  My first rut is my weight. I can’t weigh too much. People with polycystic kidney and liver disease don’t usually die of the disease. They die of heart disease because their heart can’t pump blood through clogged, cystic organs.  For the first time in my life my blood pressure is sky high and I am 37 lbs overweight when I’m not pregnant. That’s a lot of extra weight for my heart to pump blood through.

            With some lifestyle changes my nephrologist said he will look at my blood pressure in six months to see if I need medication.  He is putting me on a higher protein, low carb diet (suspiciously the same one that was recommended by Dr. Frazier). This has to be done carefully because my kidneys shouldn’t be taxed too much and some proteins are very taxing on your kidneys.  I just finished my bowl of tuna fish. Just call me bad breath Johnson. I’ll keep you posted on my progress.