No Period Cramps

Birth Control Pills For Period Cramps Has Risks

Posted by Cathy on with 2 Comments

Birth Control for Menstrual Cramps Carries Risks

The Dr. Oz web site says birth control pill are safe for young girls period cramps. Dr. Oz and his writers haven’t done the research because studies show the risks are great, especially for young developing bodies under the age of 18.  Educate yourself and your daughters on the risk associated with oral contraception, the birth control pill.  The research is overwhelming.  There are serious risks to taking the pill for long periods of time and when starting usage at an early age.  Dr. Larry Norton from Memorial Sloane Kettering Hospital in New York City said this on the Oprah Magazine website when asked about the safety of birth control pills.

“Birth control pills are an estrogen-progesterone combination, so they bring up the same fears as HRT. Some disagree with me, but I just don’t see a reason to take the Pill—even for younger women. The fact is, breast cancer cells, at least in the formative stages, like estrogen. So the more continuously you feed them the estrogen, the greater the likelihood you’ll have a malignancy. With the sexually transmitted diseases that we have to worry about nowadays, I think barrier methods make a lot more sense.”

Say no to birth control pills for young girls painful menstrual cramps.  There are better, safer, natural choices to relieve menstrual cramps and PMS.  The “PILL”  was never intended to be used for severe menstrual cramps.   Do your own research, because too often doctors don’t even know these studies exist.  Learn about herbal remedies for period cramps  have been relieving menstrual cramps and PMS for hundreds of years. There are many natural alternatives for period pain. Learn about ours here.  Natural options such as Traditional Eastern herbal combinations have been used for generations, safely,most and are successful at relieving menstrual cramps and most period symptoms.

“Stop Your Bitching…naturally” End PMS & Menstrual Cramps

Posted by Cathy on

“Stop Your Bitching…naturally! The Step By Step Guide to Balance Your Hormones & Ending PMS & Menstrual Cramps”

And the Guidebook “30 Days of Tips to Stop Your Bitching…naturally!” will be available in print mid-October 2013!

The ebook is currently available at www.gkbooks.net

 

Are your Periods out of control? Are you a moody mess during your
menstrual cycle! Well, the answers are here in “30 Days of Tips to
Stop Your Bitching… naturally!”

This fun and easy to follow Guidebook is packed full with simple tips,
one for each day of the month. It takes just 5 minutes to read each
day to learn the secrets of creating balance and harmony for your ever
changing hormones. Download this Ebook to your phone and you will be
shocked how fast you can change your monthly mood swings, cramps, and
end the cycle of bitching when you follow the easy steps everyday.

Written by a Traditional Chinese Medicine doctor this books translates the
wisdom from Eastern medicine philosophies to modern day reality. Not
the usual stuff you hear from Western medicine. This book teaches
you how to create balanced hormones regardless of age– teen, young
woman to pre-menopausal women will all learn valuable insights into
why moods and uncontrollable symptoms make them crazy each month. Get
it today and learn the secrets nobody is talking about. From food to
sunscreen, estrogen dominance to cervical mucus you won’t believe
nobody told you how these are all affecting your thinking, your skin,
your weight and your moods. If you’re depressed, this will help. If
you’re over weight this explains hormonal cravings if you sometimes
feel overwhelmed with mood swings here are the answers. Girls, moms,
dads, boyfriends and husbands you need to get the women in your life
on this program. Super simple, 30 Days of Tips will change your life.

 

 

 

 

 

Acetaminophen Can Be Fatal Study Says

Posted by Cathy on

Acetaminophen, also known as Tylenol, causes severe liver toxicity and too much can be fatal.

A study released on Nov. 22, 2011 in the UK showed repeated doses of “slightly too much acetaminophen” can be fatal.

This study was published online November 22 in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. “On admission, these staggered overdose patients were more likely to have liver and brain problems, require kidney dialysis or help with breathing and were at a greater risk of dying than people who had taken single overdoses,” senior author Kenneth J. Simpson, MBChB (Hons), MD, FRCP (Edin), from the University of Edinburgh and Scottish Liver Transplant Unit in the United Kingdom, said in a news release. “They haven’t taken the sort of single-moment, one-off massive overdoses taken by people who try to commit suicide, but over time the damage builds up, and the effect can be fatal,” he adds.

In the U.K. and the U.S. acetaminophen hepatotoxicity is the leading cause of acute liver failure (ALF).

When asked why people repeatedly ingest Tylenol or acetaminophen the most common answer is pain.  Young women often use it several days a month for menstrual cramps and period pain. However, using Acetaminophen (Tylenol) month after month for menstrual cramps has overdose risks.  Unfortunately, many women don’t realize there are other natural answers to menstrual cramps.

Looking for a natural pain reliever for menstrual cramps?  PMS Relief Herb Pack has been used for centuries in the East and is now available in the West.

________________________

This study received no external funding. The authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
Br J Clin Pharmacol. Published online November 22, 2011.

Herbal Medicine May Help Reduce Menstrual Pain Says Cochrane Collaboration

Posted by Cathy on with 2 Comments

PMS Relief

A study involving nearly 3,500 women in several countries suggests natural herbs may be more effective in relieving menstrual cramps than drugs, acupuncture or heat compression.

Australia-based researchers said herbs not only relieved pain, but reduced the recurrence of the condition over three months, according to the Cochrane Library journal. Who writes The Cochrane Library Journal? An international not-for-profit and independent organization, dedicated to up-to-date, accurate information about the effects of health-care readily available worldwide.

Who is Cochrane Collaboration? Watch video

The Cochrane Collaboration produces and disseminates systematic reviews of health-care interventions and promotes the search for evidence in the form of clinical trials and other studies of interventions. The Cochrane Collaboration was founded in 1993. They publish the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews quarterly as part of the Cochrane Library.

Women looking for a natural treatment for menstrual cramps can be confident that Chinese herbs have been reviewed in clinical trials and have been used safely for hundreds of years. The evidence came from 39 trials, involved 3475 women – 36 in China, and one each in Taiwan, Japan and the Netherlands. Participants were given herb formulas to regulate their ‘qi’ (energy) and blood, warm their bodies and boost their kidney and liver functions.

“Chinese herbal medicine gave significant improvements in pain relief when compared to pharmaceutical drugs. It also reduced overall symptoms. The research revealed that Chinese herbal medicine was also better at alleviating pain than acupuncture or heat compression.”

“All available measures of effectiveness confirmed the overall superiority of Chinese herbal medicine to placebo, no treatment, NSAIDs, OCP, (oral contraception pills) acupuncture and heat compression, and, at the same time, there were no indications that Chinese herbs caused any adverse events,” says lead author Xiaoshu Zhu who works at the Center for Complementary Medicine Research at the University of Western Sydney, Australia.

Some of the Chinese herbs include Chinese angelica root (danggui), Szechuan lovage root (chuanxiong), red peony root (chishao), white peony root (baishao), Chinese motherwort (yimucao), fennel fruit (huixiang), nut-grass rhizome (xiangfu), liquorice root (gancao) and cinnamon bark (rougui). In one trial involving 36 women, 53 percent of those who took Chinese herbs reported less pain than usual compared with 26 percent in the placebo group. (No coincidence these herbs are all included in our PMS Relief Herb Pack)

See Full Study here: http://www.mrw.interscience.wiley.com/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD005288/frame.html

Can Cash Register Receipts Cause PMS?

Posted by Cathy on

As women, our hormonal cycles can make us an emotional mess! From our first period to our last, we are dominated by our hormones.  These tricky little messengers can run around amuck in our bodies for years and are often never “on a short lease and house trained.”  This is my motto and the way I like my hormones.

 

In other words, I want some predictability.   I don’t want the unknown creeping into my day and then I blow a fuse without any warning.  I think my family appreciates this too, especially my kids!   But life is not always so predictable and neither are our hormones.  If you agree, then it’s time to do something about them!

 

Hormonal balance is possible, in fact it’s absolutely essential to maintaining our good health. This has become harder to do with all the chemicals we find everywhere and so many products we take for granted our safe to us.  The fact is our bodies absorb many chemicals through our skin that can throw our hormonal balance into a spiraling nose dive.  As you probably know hormonal imbalance is the precursor to PMS, menstrual cramps, peri-menopause and menopause symptoms. So keeping the balance is crucial no matter what your age.

  

Here's one tip on a chemicals you may have already heard about but didn't realize it could be sneeking into your body in ways you never considered.

The chemical is BPA’s (Bisphenol A)  a known endocrine disrupting chemical which acts like estrogen in our body. Did you know that cash register receipts are made from thermal papers that contain high amounts of BPA’s.  When you touch these receipts or even handle cash today, (much of the BPA’s are landing on our cash) you potentially have high amounts of BPA’s on your hands. The cumulative effect is the effect we are worried about here.  Your action step to prevent BPA’s entering your body is easy.

Wash your hands before you eat or touch you mouth.

It should be part of our daily hygiene anyway.  But often times we eat on the run, pick up fast food and have just touched the receipt of the food we bought.   Just be cognitive, that you may not really need that receipt.

Politely decline taking the receipt. Washing your hands may seem like a simple baby step to creating better health and healing for your body from PMS to menopausal symptoms.  But,  adding a whole lot of small healthy steps together takes you from a standstill to a full sprint in creating better health.  If you have more questions revisit the information on BPA’s in the book, Stop Your Bitching…naturally! or get "30 Days of Tips To Stop Your Bitching…naturally!  The book of tips is an easy to follow guidebook with one TIP for everyday of the month to help you bring balance back to your hormonal shifts..NATURALLY.  

Get 30 Days of Tips FREE from October 18-20th, 2013 on Amazon downloadable books. 

 

 

Natural Menstrual Cramp Relief fast with PMS Relief Herb Pack from Pacific Herbs

Midol For Period Cramps – Now On FDA Watch List For Serious Side Effects

Posted by Cathy on

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has added all acetaminophen containing products to its quarterly list of products to monitor because of serious risks or new safety information. The side effects include liver disease or liver complications and skin rashes according to the FDA website. (www.FDA.gov)

 

The quote below is direct from the FDA website:

"What you may not realize is that more than 600 medications, both prescription and over-the-counter (OTC), contain the active ingredient acetaminophen to help relieve pain and reduce fever. Taken carefully and correctly, these medicines can be safe and effective. But taking too much acetaminophen can lead to severe liver damage."

 

If you are taking a OTC pain reliever like Midol, Tylenol, Premsyn PMS (a brand name of acetaminophen) for menstrual cramps for several days every month then consider other options for your pain. Period pain is often times one of the main reasons young women take OTC pain relievers and they often not understanding the risks.  Doubling up on acetaminophen by taking a cold and flu product or drinking alcohol while taking this OTC pain killer can cause serious liver damage.

 

If you have unrelenting menstrual cramps and period pain each and every month. Run, don't walk to this link and the book, "Stop Your Bitching…naturally!  A Step By Step Guide to Balance Your Hormones and End PMS & Menstrual Cramps".  You'll have all the answers you need to get off the liver damaging pain killers like acetaminophen.

 

 

Herbal Medicine Honors For Dr. Guo

Posted by Cathy on

My favorite nonprofit organization has just announced the recipient for a very special award and I wanted to share the news because it has everything to do with Chinese herbs, one of my favorite topics to write about.

 

ABC also know as American Botanical Council in Austin Texas just announced its “Excellence in Botanical Research Award” recipient for 2013 will be,  Professor De-an Guo, PhD, of Shanghai, China.
Dr. Guo’s research has centered on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) quality control, biochemistry, and metabolism; his phytochemical investigations of traditional Chinese herbal medicines have resulted in the identification of 100 new chemical entities. In addition to his professorship, Dr. Guo serves as director of the State Engineering Laboratory for TCM Standardization Technology and as director of the Shanghai Research Center for TCM Modernization at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He earned his doctorate in pharmacognosy from Beijing Medical University’s School of Pharmaceutical Sciences in 1990, and conducted his postdoctoral studies in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas.
Among his many accomplishments, including more than 430 published scientific papers to date, Dr. Guo acted as the vice-editor-in-chief of the 2005 edition of the Pharmacopoeia of the People’s Republic of China and editor-in-chief of the 2010 edition. At present, he sits on the editorial boards of several highly respected international scientific journals, including Planta Medica and Phytomedicine. Dr. Guo is an expert committee member of the United States Pharmacopeia and a member of the ABC Advisory Board.
“Professor Guo is not only an established scientist, he has provided leadership in the modernization of TCM,” said past recipient of ABC’s Farnsworth Award, Professor Ikhlas Khan, PhD, a research professor of pharmacognosy and associate director of the National Center for Natural Products Research at the University of Mississippi. “He is a deserving recipient and I am proud to call him my friend.”

 

All I can say is WOW!   Dr. Guo is more than deserving and a life time of research in the field of Chinese herbs and Traditional Chinese Medicine is nothing short of inspiring.  Congradulations Dr. Guo.
ABC Founder and Executive Director Mark Blumenthal said; “He is clearly one of the leading figures in scientific medicinal plant research in China, a country with a vast spectrum of traditionally used medicinal plants that are undergoing modern scientific research and validation.”

Teens Use The Pill For Cramps and Acne?

Posted by Cathy on

The results of a study by the Guttmacher Institute were just released.  It tells an interesting story about why American teenage girls are choosing birth control pills for noncontraceptive reasons. 

 

The study points out that little data has been gathered previously on the use of oral contraception for purposes beyond that of preventing pregnancy.   The federally funded survey done from 2006-2008 titled the "National Survey of Family Growth" examined the reasons why women and teens are  using the pill for noncontraceptive reasons.

 

The Guttmacher Institute estimated from this survey that 1.5 million women in the U.S. are using oral contraception for noncontraceptive purposes.  This includes reasons such as acne, primary dysmenorrhea, prevention of migraines, fibroids, excessive pelvic pain, bleeding and other "side effects" of menstruation.  The Guttmacher institute says "The reliance on birth control pills for noncontraceptive reasons is highest among pill users who are teenagers. In fact, teens are more likely to report using the pill for noncontraceptive purposes than for birth control: Some 82% of 15-19 year-olds who use OCPs say they do so for non-contraceptive reasons".6  The three most common reasons are: menstrual pain, menstrual regulation and acne.   The survey did not ask about other hormonal methods of contraception ie. the ring, patch, implant or IUD.  The data was gathered using in-person interviews with 7356 women aged 15-44.

 

Oral contraception is artificial hormone regulation of the endocrine system and the risks of these drugs can be serious.  A friend of mine, healthy at age 30 suffered a stroke from birth control pills and four years later still has no use of her left arm and walks with an extreme limp. She started the "Pill" at age 15 to alleviate her painful periods.  I do not want to scare you, so I will refrain from further stories from patients or friends, about the use of birth control pills.   But, do the 82% of teenagers using the pill for noncontraception reasons understand the risks of these drugs?  Do they know all the possible ramifications of their choices? My friend has said many times,

 

"I wish I had known, I never would have taken the pill if I knew this could happen." 

 

Dr. Larry Norton is a well known breast cancer doctor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City and when interviewed on Oprah.com  had this to say about birth control pills.  "Birth control pills are an estrogen-progesterone combination, so they bring up the same fears as HRT. Some disagree with me, but I just don't see a reason to take the Pill–even for younger women. The fact is, breast cancer cells, at least in the formative stages, like estrogen. So the more continuously you feed them the estrogen, the greater the likelihood you'll have a malignancy. With the sexually transmitted diseases that we have to worry about nowadays, I think barrier methods make a lot more sense." 1

 

Do our teenagers have this information?  Do they know that in 2005 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that "combined estrogen-progestogen oral contraception is carcinogenic to humans."2

 

Do these teenagers know about  BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 genes?  Are teens getting checked to see whether they carry this gene mutation?  This mutation gives a woman "a 36-52 percent risk of  developing breast cancer by age 70"3.   Personally, I would want this information to make my choice about oral contraception an informed one.  I want to know about any drug that can possibly cause cancer cell growth, especially if I have a gene that puts me at a higher risk for cancer.

 

The Breast Cancer Fund has a book called "State of The Evidence"4   (this book is free and online) in which they sum up a number of studies on birth control pills with the following statements: "Numerous studies have shown an increase risk of breast cancer in women using oral contraceptives …. especially those who start taking birth control pills earlier in life and take them for a longer period of time."5

 

What do you think?  Do the teenagers possess this information and are they making informed choices about their health?  Is all the information available to them and are  the facts presented  properly?  Drugs have serious ramifications and not all are immediately evident.  Teens choosing oral contraception for menstrual cramps and acne is a personal choice that requires some serious study.

 

Women have more choices today than ever before.  Choices have ramifications and choices about our health and drug use are no exception.  Freedom of choice is a wonderful thing and I support it 100%.  I believe choices should be made after carefully weighing benefits and risks.  Due diligence is especially important when the choice could involve serious health consequences.

 

____________________________________________________

References:

1.  http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Breaking-News-on-Breast-Cancer/2#ixzz1dzBMRJKk

2. http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2005/pr167.html

3. Dr. Susan Love  http://blog.dslrf.org/?p=24

4. & 5.  Breast Cancer Fund  http://www.breastcancerfund.org/assets/pdfs/publications/state-of-the-evidence-2008.pdf

6.  Guttmacher Institute study   http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/Beyond-Birth-Control.pdf

BPA Ban Continues in California

Posted by Cathy on

Today  we all get a victory lap.  I've blogged and posted video's about the dangers of BPA's for PMS, menstrual cramps, menopause symptoms and today BPA's are that much closer to being banned in food products. 

The Governor of California signed a bill today to reduce bisphenol-A (BPA's)  to trace amounts in baby products. This new California law follows on the heels of 10 other states, Canada and the European Union. The tide is turning and hopefully soon we will see a complete ban on this toxic chemical in our food supply.   

Canned food is still allowed to be lined with BPA's  in the U.S., Health Canada has acknowledged the risks involved with this practice and banned BPA's in Canada completely.

BPA's enter our bodies without us knowing about them.  They are widely used in plastic water bottles and when we drink this water we unknowingly ingest these harmful endocrine disrupting chemicals. They attach to hormone receptor sites and act like hormones in the body.   BPA's can lead to a host of health problems including PMS, breast cancer, early puberty and exacerbate menopause hot flashes and night sweats in the body. 

Cheap Chinese Herbs Are Not Worth It

Posted by Cathy on

Best Chinese herbs for sleep If you are looking for cheap Chinese herbs you won’t find them here.  Sorry, but I refuse to buy cheap quality raw materials for my products.  Why?  Well like just about anything, you get what you pay for.  So if you don’t mind having heavy metals and bacteria in your Chinese herb products then go ahead… buy those cheap ones.

If you want to know your herbs are tested for contaminants they keep reading.  You are in the right place.

But how do you know what’s good and what’s not.   First, find out who is the manufacturer or processor of the herbs.  When you buy drugs you are told who makes it.  When you purchase fruits and vegetables labels tell you the processor and country of origin.  When you buy herbs, a product you plan on ingesting, the rule should be the same.  If  a seller is not telling you where the herbs are processed and by whom, don’t buy them from these companies. Don’t be fooled, if the information is missing from the website, it’s missing for a reason.

I offer a free report titled “What you need to know before purchasing Chinese herbs”. It’s available on our home page and it’s FREE!  Get educated, Chinese herbal remedies are offered all over the internet cheap for a reason.  Because cheap Chinese herbs are cheap quality and not worth the money you are paying for shipping.

We are completely transparent about our manufacturer our testing and our finished products.  Watch our 3 minute factory tour and see how our herbs for sleep, PMS Relief, and Menopause  are processed in our pharmaceutical factory.

Look for lot numbers and expiration dates on every product.   Lot numbers can be traced to batches of herbs and with our products correspond to “COA’s or Certificates of Analysis which detail all the testing and list quality assurance numerical standards of each test performed.   Many herbal companies do not have the high tech equipment or resources to perform COA’s. Check with the manufacturer and ask at the retail store where you purchase herbs if they are requiring COA’s from their suppliers.

We guarantee everything we sell and we guarantee our herbs are pure, unadulterated botanicals with no fillers and nothing artificial.  Ask the other guys who sell herbs cheap if they will make that guarantee.

 

 

Pain Killers & Drug Overdoses Now Higher Than Gun Shot Cases

Posted by Cathy on

Drug abuse treatment with herbsOnce upon a time we were a nation where statistically more people died of gunshot wounds than from legal drugs.   This statistic has now been turned upside down.  Whether it's from sleep aids or pain killers, legal drugs can lead to death.

Drug Abuse… make that "Legal Drug Abuse"… is now our nations fastest drug problem.

Seems ironic because legal drugs can only be obtained by prescription. Doesn't that make the doctors the problem?  I can't answer that, either way the FDA has a new action plan as of April 18th, 2011, a plan to fight the prescription drug abuse epidemic.

The Obama Administration now urges "education on opioid risks and benefits" to educate doctors on proper pain management.  Isn't this something doctors should already know? 

Approximately 38,000 (drug-induced deaths) people died UNINTENTIONALLY from drug overdoses in 2007 according to the Center for Disease Control. (Numbers  are not yet available for the last couple years.)  

More people died of legal drug overdoses unintentionally than from gunshot wounds in 2007. 

When looking for a statistic on how many people die from herb overdoes in 2007 the number is ZERO.  Just to compare apples to apples, we won't look at other years (where the number of herb deaths from unintentional overdoses are also zero.) Zero drug overdoses from herbs or herbal remedies.

Zero deaths from herbs, whether they are Chinese herbs, Ayurvedic herbs, Western herbs any herbal remedies or herbal supplements, deaths are zero. Yet, approximately 27,000 people died because doctors prescribe to many pain killers.  I would more aptly call them people killers.  

The drugs that kill include all those extended-release and long-acting opioid medications hydromorphone, oxycodone, morphine, oxymorphine, morphone, methadone, and transdermal fentanyl.  In addition, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reports that hospital emergency department visits involving prescription drug abuse have doubled just over the past 5 years.

Overdoses from crack cocaine and others illegal drugs, are not even close to the same problematic level.

I for one and happy to see attention being brought to this national health crisis.  We need a healthcare system that delivers preventative medicine.  Natural medicine such as herbs that can treat the root causes of pathologies,  not drugs that cover up symptoms while creating mass havoc in the body with side-effects, including the unintentional side-effect of death.