PMS and Cramping are NOT Normal

It’s said that between 75%-80% of women have menstrual cramps. Serious cramps and heavy bleeding may indicate hormonal imbalances. If you’re like me, you get to the point that you can’t walk and literally cry in pain if you don’t take ibuprofen. At least, I USED to have to take it. NOTE TO MEN: I strongly encourage you to read this and do your own research if you have a wife, girlfriend, or daughter. NOTE TO ALL: I’m not a medical professional. I’m only writing about my personal experiences.

A Change in Lifestyle

For the past five months, I have done a 180 on my lifestyle. I started researching the ingredients in every day cleaning products, shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, and everything else that comes in contact with my body. I found that several of the ingredients are carcinogens (cancer causing ingredients) and preservatives that are 100% unnecessary.

In July 2024, I threw my shampoo, conditioner, laundry detergent, body wash, and house hold cleaning products into the garbage without hesitation. I have suffered from several health conditions for a majority of my life, including extremely painful periods, and I wanted to detox.

Your Body is Designed to Metabolize Toxins

Your body is designed to take toxins from the body. Your kidneys and liver are great for that! But what happens when you’re in toxin overload? Think about it. You take a shower and slather on artificially fragranced body wash, shampoo, and conditioner. Once you’re out, you put on heavily scented lotion, deodorant, perfume, and face cream. After that process, you put on clothes that are loaded with toxic chemicals from laundry detergent and dryer sheets that absorb into your blood stream. Your body may be designed to rid itself of those chemicals, but what happens when it has entirely too many?

I stopped putting anything on my body that I wouldn’t eat. These are my exchanges:

Shampoo: castile soap or baking soda, apple cider vinegar rinse (I only wash my hair every 7-10 days)
Body wash: castile soap with essential oils
Lotion: coconut oil
Toothpaste: equal parts coconut oil and baking soda. I mix and put in a glass jar
Deodorant: DIY with baking soda (or arrowroot powder), corn starch, coconut oil, and essential oils
Hand soap: castile soap with essential oils
Dish and laundry detergent: Castile soap (+baking soda for laundry)
Household cleaning products: Vinegar, peroxide, baking soda

You can also find handmade goat milk soap made with olive oil and essential oils. It doesn’t have to be castile soap. I’ve just found that it works well and I can buy it by the gallon.

But What Does This Have to do with Your Period?

Actually, it has EVERYTHING to do with your period. Triclosan, is found as an antibacterial agent in toothpaste and soap and is an endocrine disruptor, along with fragrance/perfume. Perfumes often contain phthalates, which are known carcinogens and cause hormonal imbalances. Those are just a couple examples.

What I’ve experienced the Last Four Months

The last four periods have been very different than the periods I’ve had for the past ten years. I haven’t had a period where I’ve not had to take ibuprofen for pain. I’m not sure if many women experience this, but I had external pain along with the cramping. It was a deep, bruise feeling that would linger for the first two days.

July, 2024: I started seeing a difference immediately after switching all of my products. The pain was there and very noticeable, but it wasn’t unbearable. I went about my day as usual with no pain reliever.

August 2024: Still painful but the external pain wasn’t as noticeable.

September, 2024: I started my period, cramped for an hour, then got up and built a temporary goat shelter with the blistering cold wind and with no pain.

October, 2024: Happy Halloween to me! I got my gift right on time! The pain was hardly noticeable. On a scale of 1 – 10, it was a 2 at the MOST. The external pain was gone and the period was a lot lighter than the ones I’d had in the past.

My Hair Stopped Falling Out and my Eyebrows Got Thicker!

Are you someone that loses a handful of hair every time you wash? I was that person. My shower walls were covered in hair constantly and the drain was always stopped up. After I threw my shampoo in the trash and started using baking soda (and sometimes castile soap with ACV), my hair is lighter and fluffier. My drain is also empty. I can see new growth all over my head still. There are shorter hairs throughout which indicates new hair is growing.

Do it for Your Long-Term Health

I strongly encourage everyone to go this route, whether you’re male or female and whether or not you have PMS symptoms. Our bodies weren’t designed to be covered in anything artificial. We are nature. Study after study shows how dangerous the ingredients in every day products are. Why else would there be so many fragrance free or dye free options?

Other Notes

I encourage everyone that has read this to do your research. Get your shampoo bottle and start looking up the ingredients online like I did. You may be surprised at some of the things you’ve been putting on your body!

I also want to add that I eat a whole food diet with minimal processed foods and minimal processed sugar. I snack on frozen fruit, peanut butter, nuts and fresh veggies. For meals, I cook at home and include a salad with eggs and fresh vegetables along with baked chicken and rice (Less and less rice as the time passes). For salad dressing, I use apple cider vinegar, olive oil, garlic, and oregano dressing that I mix myself. Breakfast includes oatmeal, eggs, fruit, bacon and sometimes a salad or grits. We cook with olive oil, butter, and use pink salt.